9419. 'And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister' means the Word and its representative. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the intermediary between the Lord and the people who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, thus also as the Word, as accords with what has already been shown just above in 9414; and from the representation of 'Joshua his minister' as its representative. The reason why 'Joshua' here means that representative is that what is representative serves and ministers, in order that the outward things of the Word and of worship may present themselves to the Lord through the intermediary, who was Moses. But these are matters such as are scarcely intelligible except to those who know about the ways in which a representation of the outward or literal sense of the Word is accomplished in heaven. That is to say, it is represented in one way with those who are acquainted with the outward sense of the Word and at the same time with the inward, that is, those who are acquainted with the outward sense of the Word and at the same time with true teachings of the Church, and in another way with those restricted to the outward sense, separated from the inward, as with this people. How it was accomplished with this people, see 4311.

[2] Some idea may be formed from this regarding the intermediary that 'Moses' represents and the ministering representative that 'Joshua' represents. That is to say, there is an inward holiness which Divine Truth emanating from the Lord possesses, thus which the Word and worship springing from it possess. This flows into heaven and is received there by angels. There is also an inflow of holiness indirectly through that inward holiness, as well as directly from the Lord, to good spirits present with a person engaged in reading the Word or in worship springing from it. This holiness is called an outward holiness, and when it flows in with a person it produces representative images formed in accord with the correspondences known to the person. All this helps one to see what use the intermediary serves, which Moses represents now, and what use the minister serves, which Joshua represents, namely that the outward holiness acts as intermediary, while the representative existing on the lowest level of order acts as minister. But it should be recognized that the idea of Divine Truth flowing in is unintelligible to a person unless the Lord sheds light on the idea. For the person sees what happens in no other way than this, that the holiness of the Word and the holiness of worship flows from the person to the Lord. But this order is inverted order, and is called physical influx, which is an appearance and not at all the reality; see what has been shown in the places referred to in 9223, 9227 (end).

9414. 'And Jehovah said to Moses' means instructions from the Lord for those restricted to the outward sense. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as instructions, when it includes the things stated after it that make up the instructions, as also in 7186, 7241, 7267, 7304, 7380, 7517, 7769, 7793, 7825, 8041 (the instructions come from the Lord because 'Jehovah' is used in the Word to mean the Lord, 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315); and from the representation of 'Moses' as that which acts as the intermediary between the Lord and the people, thus the Word in respect of its outward holiness since this acts as an intermediary. The fact that 'Moses' begins now to represent this intermediary is clear from the train of thought in all that follows. For that people was restricted to the external level of the Word, and as a consequence their worship was external, separated from anything internal, see 9380. Those who are like this cannot have any holy contact at all with the Lord, let alone be joined to Him, except through an intermediary. This matter will be explained more fully below in 9419.

[2] The fact that this people was restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, and that as a consequence their worship was similarly external, is plainly evident from events that followed. After forty days they fell completely away, worshipping the golden calf instead of Jehovah. Also, because of this Moses at that time threw the tablets from his hand and smashed them; and afterwards he was commanded to hew some other tablets on which the same words would be written. The meaning of this was that this people were altogether unwilling to accept any teaching at all from the inward sense of the Word as it exists in heaven, only from its outward sense separated from the inward, as the Word exists with them in the world even at the present day. This also explains why that people were no longer called Jehovah's people but Moses' people, as in Chapter Exodus 32 further on,

Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go down; for your people whom you caused to come up from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. Exodus 32:7.

Also in Chapter 33,

Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go up from here, you and the people whom you have caused to come up from the land of Egypt. Exodus 33:1.

For this reason also they were subsequently removed from the mountain. And in Chapter 34,

No man shall come up with you, and also no man shall be seen on all the mountain. Also no flock or herd shall feed before this mountain. Exodus 34:3.

For 'Mount Sinai' means the Law or Divine Truth and the Word as it exists in heaven, and so heaven as well, 8399, 8753, 8793, 8805. The reason why Moses previously represented the Word in general, that is, in respect both of its inward sense and of its outward sense, was that there the subject was the declaring of the Law, by which the revelation of Divine Truth in general was meant. This was the beginning of the revelation, for all else in the Word was written later.