6843. And He said, Draw not nigh hither. That this signifies that he must not still think of the Divine from sensuous things, is evident from the signification of "drawing nigh to Jehovah," as being to think of the Divine. That "to draw nigh," when said of a man's approach to the Lord, denotes thought about the Divine, is because man cannot approach the Divine with the body, as a man approaches a man, but with the mind, thus with the thought and the will. There is no other access to the Divine, because the Divine is above the things of place and time, being in those things with man which are called "states," namely, states of love and states of faith, thus states of both faculties of the mind, that is, of the will and of the thought; by these man can approach the Divine. Hence it is that here, by "Draw not nigh hither," is signified that he must not think of the Divine, that is, from the external sensuous things which are signified by the "shoes that he was first to pull off." It is said still, because the external sensuous things of the natural are the last to be regenerated, and thus last receive influx from the Divine; and the state here treated of was not yet such that sensuous things could receive the influx. As regards sensuous things, see what now follows.