9435. 'And Moses went into the midst of the cloud' means the Word in its outward sense. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word, at this point the Word in its outward sense since it says that he went 'into the midst of the cloud', and 'the cloud' means the outward sense of the Word. For the representation of 'Moses' as the Word, see above in 9414, and for the meaning of 'the cloud' as its outward sense, in 9430. Moses remained at the foot of the mountain for six days, and then on the seventh day he received the call and went into the cloud, up into the mountain. This happened in order that he might represent that which acted as an intermediary between the people and the Lord, in keeping with what has been stated above in 9414. Degrees of ascent from the people to the Lord are described by this. When Moses went eventually into the mountain he first represented the outward holiness of the Word, which acted as an intermediary; for that mountain means heaven, where holiness dwells. But he was allowed no further in than the outermost part of heaven, where the outward holiness of the Word comes to an end. His being allowed only that far in has been demonstrated to me in a representative manner by means of a spirit, the upper part of whose face down to the chin appeared in the light of heaven, while the lower part from the chin downwards, together with the whole of the body, was in a cloud. This showed me how much of the outward holiness, which acted as an intermediary, Moses represented. The reason why the six days that Moses remained at the foot of the mountain has meant the state of truth, and the seventh day when he went up into the mountain means the state of good, in keeping with the explanation above in 9431, 9432, is that those who are being regenerated by the Lord mount by like degrees of ascent from the world into heaven. The person is raised from outward things to inward ones, because he is raised from the level of natural man, where outward things exist, to that of the spiritual man, where inward things exist. This kind of raising or ascent was also represented by Moses when he took on the representation of the outward holiness that acted as an intermediary. For the outward holiness of the Word is the gateway to the state of good, and so to heaven.

7240. 'And so it was on the day Jehovah spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt' means the state of the Church at that time, when the command was given through the law from God to those who belonged to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, when they were still in close proximity to those in hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'the day' as the state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 6110, here the state of the Church since that is the subject; from the meaning of 'Jehovah speaking' as the command, here the command given to those who belonged to the Lord's spiritual kingdom; from the representation of 'Moses' as the law from God, dealt with in 6771, 6827; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the place where those who belonged to the Lord's spiritual kingdom were molested by falsities. This place was on the lower earth, which is next to the hells, see 7090. 'The land of Egypt' where the children of Israel were, and which was called Goshen, means that lower earth; but the place where the Egyptians were means the surrounding hells, the source of the molestations by falsities.