9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

5247. And he shaved. That this signifies rejection and change as to what is of the exterior natural, is evident from the signification of “shaving the head and the beard,” as being to reject such things as are of the exterior natural; for the “hair” that was shaved off signifies this natural (see n. 3301). The hair both of the head and of the beard corresponds in the Grand Man to the exterior natural; and therefore sensuous men (that is, they who have believed nothing but what is natural, and have not been willing to understand that there is anything more interior or purer than what they could apprehend by the senses) in the other life when in the light of heaven, they appear hairy, so much so that the face is scarcely anything but beard. Such hairy faces have often been seen by me. But they who have been rational, that is, spiritual men, in whom the natural has been rightly subordinated, appear becomingly furnished with hair. Nay, from the hair in the other life may be known the quality of spirits in respect to the natural. The reason why spirits appear with hair is that in the other life spirits appear altogether as do men on earth. Hence it is that the angels spoken of in the Word as being seen are sometimes described even in respect to their hair.

[2] From what has now been said it is evident what is signified by “shaving,” as in Ezekiel:

The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, shall put off their garments wherein they minister and lay them in the bedchambers of holiness, and they shall put on other garments, neither shall they sanctify the people in their garments, and they shall not shave their heads and let down their hair, in polling they shall poll their heads (Ezekiel 44:19-20);

this is said of the new temple and the new priesthood, that is, of the new church; and the “putting on of other garments” signifies holy truths; their “not shaving their heads nor letting down their hair, but in polling to poll their heads” signifies not rejecting the natural, but accommodating it so that it may be in accord, thus making it subordinate. Everyone who believes the Word to be holy can see that these and the rest of the things said in the prophet about the new earth, the new city, the new temple, and new priesthood, will not be at all as is stated in the letter there; as that the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, will minister therein, and will then put off the garments of their ministry and put on other garments, and will poll their heads; but that all and everyone of these things signify such things as belong to a new church.

[3] Neither would the statutes have been commanded in regard to the high priest, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, in the following passages from Moses, if they had not contained holy things within:

The priest chief of his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and he hath filled his hand to put on the garments, shall not shave his head, and shall not tear his garments (Leviticus 21:10).

The sons of Aaron shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave the corner of their beard; they shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God (Leviticus 21:5-6).

Thus shalt thou purify the Levites. Sprinkle the waters of expiation upon them, and they shall make to pass a razor over their flesh, and they shall wash their garments; and they shall be pure (Numbers 8:7).

What is there that is holy or that is of the church in these things-that the high priest should not shave his head nor tear his garments; that the sons of Aaron should not make baldness upon their head nor shave the corner of their beard, and that the Levites when being purified should be shaved with a razor upon their flesh? But to have the external or natural man subordinate to the internal or spiritual, and thus to have both subordinate to the Divine, this is a holy thing, and is what the angels perceive when these passages of the Word are being read by man.

[4] So also it was with the Nazirite, who was holy unto Jehovah:

If any man should by chance die very suddenly beside him, and he hath defiled the head of his Naziriteship; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And when the days of his Naziriteship are fulfilled, the Nazirite shall shave the head of his Naziriteship at the door of the tent of meeting; and shall take the hair of his head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings (Numbers 6:9, 13, 18);

what the Nazirite was, and what holiness he represented, may be seen above (n. 3301). That holiness should abide in his hair can never be comprehended unless it is known what “hair” is by correspondence, thus to what holiness the hair of the Nazirite corresponded. In like manner it cannot be comprehended how Samson had strength from his hair, of which he speaks thus to Delilah:

There hath not come up a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother’s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And Delilah called a man, who shaved off the seven locks of his head and his strength went from upon him. And afterward when the hair of his head began to grow after it was shaved off, strength returned to him (Judges 16:17, 19, 22);

who without knowledge derived from correspondence can know that the Lord as to the Divine natural was represented by the Nazirite, and that the Naziriteship had no other meaning, and that Samson’s strength was from this representative?

[5] One who does not know, and especially who does not believe, that there is an internal sense in the Word, and that the sense of the letter is representative of the things in the internal sense, will scarcely acknowledge that there is anything holy in these things; when yet that which is most holy is in them. If a man does not know, and especially if he does not believe that the Word possesses an internal sense which is holy, neither can he know what the following passages bear in their bosom, as in Jeremiah:

Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off the hair of thy Naziriteship, and cast it away (Jeremiah 7:28-29).

In Isaiah:

In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired in the passages of the river, through the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and shall also consume the beard (Isaiah 7:20).

In Micah:

Make thee bald, and shave thee on account of the sons of thy deliciousnesses, enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, because they have migrated from thee (Micah 1:16).

Nor can he know what holiness is involved in that which is related of Elijah, in that he was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of skin about his loins (2 Kings 1:8); nor why the children who called Elisha bald were torn by she-bears out of the wood (2 Kings 2:23-24).

[6] By Elijah and by Elisha was represented the Lord as to the Word, thus by them was represented the Word, specifically the prophetic Word, as may be seen in what is prefaced to the eighteenth chapter of Genesis and at n. 2762. The “hairiness” and the “girdle of skin” signified the literal sense, a “hairy man” this sense in respect to truths, and a “girdle of skin” about the loins this sense in respect to goods. For the literal sense of the Word is its natural sense, because it is from the things in the world; and the internal sense is the spiritual sense, because it is from the things in heaven. These two senses are circumstanced as are the internal and external of man; and because there is no internal without an external, for the external is the ultimate of order in which the internal subsists, therefore it was a reproach against the Word to call Elisha bald, implying that it is devoid of an external, thus that the Word has no sense that is adapted to the apprehension of man.

[7] From all this it is evident that all the details of the Word are holy; but the holiness therein is not apparent to the understanding, except that of one who knows its internal sense; nevertheless by influx from heaven it comes to the perception of him who believes the Word to be holy. This influx is effected through the internal sense in which the angels are; and although this sense is not understood by the man, still it affects him, because the affection of the angels who are in it is communicated. From this it is plain also that the Word has been given to man in order that he may have communication with heaven, and that the Divine truth which is in heaven may affect him by means of the influx.

1071. And he drank of the wine. That this signifies that he desired to investigate the things which are of faith, is evident from the signification of “wine.” The “vineyard” or the “vine” as has been shown, is the spiritual church, or the man of the spiritual church; the “grape” “bunches” and “clusters” are its fruit, and signify charity and what is of charity. But “wine” signifies the faith thence derived, and all things that belong to it. Thus the “grape” is the celestial of that church, and the “wine” is the spiritual of that church. The former, or the celestial, is of the will, as has been said before; the latter, or the spiritual, is of the understanding. That his “drinking of the wine” signifies that he desired to investigate the things of faith, and this by reasonings, is evident from his becoming drunken, that is, fallen into errors. For the man of this church had no perception, as had the man of the Most Ancient Church, but had to learn what was good and true from the doctrinal things of faith collected and preserved from the perception of the Most Ancient Church, which doctrinal things were the Word of the Ancient Church. Like the Word, the doctrinal things of faith were in many cases such as without perception could not be believed; for spiritual and celestial things infinitely transcend human apprehension, and hence arises reasoning. But he who will not believe them until he apprehends them, can never believe, as has been often shown before. (See n. 128-130, 195, 196, 215, 232, 233.)

[2] That “grapes” in the Word signify charity and what is of charity, and that “wine” signifies the faith thence derived and the things that belong to it, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

My beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil, and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes (Isaiah 5:1-2, 4), where “grapes” denote charity and its fruits.

In Jeremiah:

Gathering I will gather them, saith Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree (Jeremiah 8:13), where the “vine” denotes the spiritual church; “grapes” charity.

In Hosea:

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree, at the beginning (Hosea 9:10).

“Israel” denotes the Ancient Church; “grapes” its being endued with charity. The sense is opposite when “Israel” denotes the sons of Jacob.

In Micah:

There is no cluster to eat; my soul desireth the first-ripe fig. The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men (Micah 7:1).

“Cluster” denotes charity, or what is holy; “first-ripe fig” faith, or what is right.

[3] In Isaiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it (Isaiah 65:8); where “cluster” denotes charity, and “new wine” the goods of charity and the truths thence derived.

In Moses:

He washed His garment in wine, and His vesture in the blood of grapes (Genesis 49:11); a prophecy relating to the Lord. “Wine” denotes the spiritual from the celestial, the “blood of grapes” the celestial relatively to spiritual churches. Thus “grapes” denote charity itself, “wine” faith itself.

In John:

The angel said, Put forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe (Revelation 14:18).

Here the subject is the last times when there is no faith, that is, when there is no charity; for faith is no other than of charity, and essentially is charity itself; so that when it is said that there is no longer any faith, as in the last times, it is meant that there is no charity.

[4] As “grapes” signify charity, so “wine” signifies the faith thence derived, for wine is from grapes. This will be evident from the passages already cited about the vineyard and the vine, and also from the following.

In Isaiah:

Gladness is taken away, and exultation, from Carmel; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither joyful noise; no treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease (Isaiah 16:10),

meaning that the spiritual church, which is “Carmel” is vastated; “not treading out wine in the presses” means that there are no longer any who are in faith. Again:

The inhabitants of the earth are burned, and man shall be left feeble; the new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish; they shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it; there is a crying in the streets because of the wine (Isaiah 24:6-7, 9, 11).The subject here is the vastated church, and “wine” denotes the truths of faith, there held to be of no value.

In Jeremiah:

They will say to their mothers, where is the corn and the wine? when they faint as one wounded in the streets of the city (Lamentations 2:12).

“Where is the corn and the wine” signifies where is love and faith; the “streets of the city” signify here, as elsewhere in the Word, truths; “being wounded in them” signifies not to know what the truths of faith are.

[5] In Amos:

I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof (Amos 9:14).

This is said of the spiritual church, or “Israel” of which planting vineyards and drinking the wine thereof is predicated, when it becomes such as to have faith from charity.

In Zephaniah:

They shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof (Zephaniah 1:13; Amos 5:11).

Here is described the opposite condition, when the spiritual church is vastated.

In Zechariah:

They shall be as the mighty Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their sons shall see it and be glad (Zechariah 10:7); said of the house of Judah, that it should be such from the goods and truths of faith.

In John:

That they were not to hurt the oil and the wine (Revelation 6:6), meant that no injury is to be done to the celestial and the spiritual, or to what is of love and faith.

[6] As “wine” signified faith in the Lord, in the Jewish Church faith was represented in the sacrifices by a libation of wine (Numbers 15:2-15; 28:11-15, 18-31; 29:7-39; Leviticus 23:12-13; Exodus 29:40). Wherefore it is said in Hosea: The threshing-floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall deceive therein; they shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria; they shall not pour out wine to Jehovah, neither shall [their libations] be pleasing to Him (Hosea 9:2-4).

Here the subject is Israel, or the spiritual church, and those in it who pervert and defile the holy and true things of faith by desiring to investigate them by means of knowledges and reasonings. “Egypt” is memory-knowledge, “Assyria” reasoning, “Ephraim” one who reasons.