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.

Elijah (referred to as Elias in the New Testament) was the renowned prophet sent to the split kingdoms of Israel and Judah. His first appearance is in Chapter 17 of I Kings where he comes to speak to Ahab, king of Israel. He contends with Ahab, and Ahab’s wife Jezebel, and later Ahab’s son Ahaziah. These contentions have passed down to us in many well known stories.

In II Kings, Chapter 2, Elijah is carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire, and his mantle is given to Elisha, his disciple and successor. Elijah represents the Lord as He comes to us in the Word, that is, the way we think about the Lord when we read the Word (especially the prophetic parts of the Word). Elijah and John the Baptist are similar in their symbolic meaning.

(Izinkomba: Arcana Coelestia 5247 [6], 6752, 9372 [2])

8142. 'And it was pointed out to the king of Egypt that the people had fled' means the thought of those steeped in utter falsities arising from evil, that they had become entirely separated. This is clear from the meaning of 'pointing out to someone' as thinking and reflecting, dealt with in 2862, 5508; from the representation of Pharaoh as those steeped in falsities arising from evil, dealt with above in 8132, 8135, or - when he is called 'the king of Egypt' - as those steeped in utter falsities, 7220, 7228, since 'king' means truths, 1672, 2015, 2069, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148, and therefore in the contrary sense means falsities; and from the meaning of 'fleeing' as becoming separated.