10467. Verses 21-25. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people to thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not thine anger wax hot, my lord; thou knowest the people, that it is in evil; and they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that made us come up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what hath become of him. And I said to them, Whosoever hath any gold, tear ye it off; and they gave it me; and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. And Moses saw that the people was lax, for Aaron had made them lax unto annihilation by those rising up against them. "And Moses said unto Aaron," signifies perception from the internal concerning such an external; "What did this people to thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?" signifies whence is it that this nation has so turned itself away from the Divine; "and Aaron said," signifies that it was perceived; "Let not thine anger wax hot, my lord," signifies let not the internal turn itself away on this account; "thou knowest the people, that it is in evil," signifies that that nation is in an external separate from a holy internal; "and they said unto me," signifies exhortation; "Make us gods which shall go before us," signifies falsities of doctrine and of worship, thus things idolatrous; "for as for this Moses, the man that made us come up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what hath become of him," signifies that it is altogether unknown what other Divine truth there is in the Word, which raises man from what is external to what is internal, and makes the church; "and I said to them, whosoever hath any gold, tear ye it off," signifies the drawing forth of such things from the sense of the letter as favor the delight of external loves and the principles thence derived; "and they gave it to me," signifies a bringing together into a one, and the effect; "and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf," signifies the loves of self and of the world, from which and according to which is such worship; "and Moses saw the people that it was lax," signifies that it was perceived by the internal that that nation had turned away from what is internal, thus from the Divine; "for Aaron had made them lax," signifies that this was from the external things which they loved; "unto annihilation by those rising up against them," signifies that they lacked all power to resist the evils and falsities which are from hell.
