10608. 'And also no one shall be seen on all the mountain' means that they are entirely remote from that Truth, and so stand outside it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the mountain', at this point Mount Horeb, as heaven in its entirety, thus also Divine Truth. It amounts to the same thing whether you say heaven or Divine Truth, since the angels, of whom heaven consists, are recipients of Divine Truth. The full extent of that mountain was called Horeb, but the higher part in the middle was called Mount Sinai; and this is why 'Horeb' means heaven, or what amounts to the same thing, Divine Truth in its entirety. The inward aspect of that Truth is meant by Mount Sinai, and the outward by the lower parts of the mountain surrounding it. So it is that 'Horeb', when used to include those surrounding parts, means that which is external, see 10543. The interest of the Israelite nation lay in what was external and closed off to anything internal and so in what was external separated from what was internal, or what amounts to the same thing, that nation stood outside anything that had an internal aspect; and this was why the command 'no one shall be seen on all the mountain' was given. The like is meant, in verses 8-10 of the previous chapter, by that nation's standing at the door of the tent in which Moses was and their bowing down to it, see 10545-10555.

[2] Something brief must be stated here to show why it is that Mounts Horeb and Sinai mean heaven and Divine Truth. The belief in the world is that angels live in the region above the sky, where they exist like puffs of wind and have no solid ground on which to stand. The reason why such a notion exists in the minds of very many people is that they have no idea that angels and spirits exist within a form similar to that in which people on earth do, that is, that they have faces, arms and hands, and feet, in short have actual bodies. Still less do people have any idea that they have abodes or dwelling-places, when in fact angels and spirits live among others in exactly the same way as people on a planet do, on land beneath their feet. Celestial angels live on mountains, spiritual angels on rocks, and those who have not yet become angels on plains between mountains or rocks; but hellish spirits live below mountains and rocks. These things have been stated in order that people may know why it is that in the Word mountains, especially Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai, mean heaven. Furthermore the more internal angels inhabit places higher up the mountains; and the higher they are, the more internal and perfect they are. From all this it is evident why Jehovah descended onto the peak of Mount Sinai when He proclaimed the Law, and why Moses was ordered to stand with Him on the top of the mountain. The mountains on earth do not constitute heaven; rather they represent the mountains on which angels in heaven live.

10544. Verses 7-11 And Moses took a tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tent of meeting. And so it was, that everyone asking Jehovah a question went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. And so it was, when Moses went out to the tent, that all the people rose and stood, each at the door of his tent, and looked after Moses ¹ until he had entered the tent. And so it was, when Moses entered the tent, that the pillar of cloud came down, and stood at the door of the tent, and talked to Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent; and all the people rose, and they bowed down, each at the door of his tent. And Jehovah spoke to Moses face to face, as a man (vir) speaks to his neighbour. And he returned to the camp, and his minister Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not move away from the midst of the tent.

'And Moses took a tent' means the holiness of worship, the Church, and the Word. 'And pitched it for himself outside the camp, far from the camp' means remote from the external things in which the interest of that actual nation lay. 'And called it the tent of meeting' means the external aspect of worship, the Church, and the Word, [which holds internal things within it.] 'And so it was, that everyone asking Jehovah a question went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp' means that all instruction regarding the truths and forms of good belonging to the Church and to worship was imparted to everyone through the outward sense of the Word, far removed from the external things in which alone the nation itself was interested. 'And so it was, when Moses went out to the tent, that all the people rose and stood, [each] at the door of [his] tent' means that that nation did not abide in the external aspect of the Word, the Church, and worship, but outside it. 'And looked after Moses until he had entered the tent' means that they see the external aspect of the Word, the Church, and worship, but that it goes beyond what they are capable of understanding. 'And so it was, when Moses entered the tent, that the pillar of cloud came down, and stood at the door of the tent, and talked to Moses' means that when the Word had gone beyond what they were capable of understanding, extremely poor visibility descended on them away to the outside, and yet there was clear perception from within. 'And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent' means the extremely poor visibility descending on those to the outside. 'And all the people rose, and they bowed down, each at the door of [his] tent' means that nation's holy regard for and adoration of what was external with them. 'And Jehovah spoke to Moses face to face' means Divine things in the Word that are joined together. 'As a man (vir) speaks to his neighbour' means the joining together of truth and good. 'And he returned to the camp' means going back to the external in which the interest of that nation lay. 'And his minister Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not move away from the midst of the tent' means Divine Truth ministering meantime in the holy things of the Church and worship in place of Moses.

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