Spiritual Meaning of

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The signification of seeing God, is to be endowed with intelligence and faith; for in the internal sense to see denotes to see spiritually; and to see spiritually is to see from faith; hence it is that in the Word to see signifies to have faith (AC 2325, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400, 6805, 9128). That they saw the God of Israel, that is, the Lord, is because the laws promulgated from Mount Sinai signify in a wide sense the Word in its whole complex; and the Word is Divine truth from the Lord, which in its supreme sense treats of the Lord alone. Wherefore they who are in enlightenment when reading the Word, see the Lord; and this takes place from faith and from love. This is effected in the Word alone, and not in any other writing whatever. From this it is plain why Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy elders, saw the Lord. That He was seen by them, and not by the sons of Israel who were set apart, is plain from (verses 9 and 10) which precede; for it is there said that Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and in this verse, and unto the sons of Israel who were set apart He sent not His hand. The reason why the former saw God, and not the latter, was that Moses and Aaron represented the Word as to the internal and the external senses (AC 9374),and Nadab and Abihu represented doctrine from both (AC 9375), and the seventy elders represented all who are in good from the truths thence derived (AC 9376, 9404) but the sons of Israel who were set apart represented those who are in the external sense of the Word separate from the internal.

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