9840. Verses 9-14 And you shall take two shoham ¹ stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the remaining six names on the other stone, according to their generations. ² With the work of one who works on stones, ³ [like] the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; enclosed in sockets of gold you shall make them. And you shall place the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah on his two shoulders for remembrance. And you shall make sockets of gold; and two small chains of pure gold; on the borders ⁴ you shall make them, with the work of slender rope; ⁵ and you shall put the small chains of slender rope in the sockets.

'And you shall take two shoham stones' means the interior memory formed from the truths of faith that spring from love. 'And engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel' means on which the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual kingdom - the entire essential nature of them - have been imprinted. 'Six of their names on one stone' means the entire essential nature of truths springing from good. 'And the remaining six names on the other stone' means the [entire] essential nature of truths through which good comes. 'According to their generations' means both kinds in the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other. 'With the work of one who works on stones, [like] the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel' means the heavenly pattern which all the truths arranged into their proper order in the memory by the good of love take on, that is, the truths there which have been grasped by a regenerated person's understanding and then set in order by his will. 'Enclosed in sockets of gold you shall make them' means their being brought into being and kept in being by good. 'And you shall place the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod' means the preservation of good and truth by all exertion and power. 'As stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel' means out of mercy, for evermore for the spiritual kingdom. 'And Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah on his two shoulders for remembrance' means a representative sign of the Divine preservation of good and truth for evermore, out of mercy. 'And you shall make sockets of gold' means being brought into being and kept unceasingly in being by good. 'And two small chains of pure gold' means coherence with the good of the whole kingdom. 'On the borders you shall make them' means at the most external parts through which influx comes. 'With the work of slender rope' means the mode of the joining together. 'And you shall put the small chains of slender rope in the sockets' means being joined to the good from which truths spring, and so the preservation of the spiritual kingdom by all exertion and power.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1298. 'They had brick for stone' means that they had falsity in place of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'brick' as falsity, dealt with just above, and also from the meaning of 'stone' in the broad sense as truth, dealt with already in 643. The reason 'stones' meant truth was that the most ancient people used to mark out boundaries by means of stones and raise up stones to testify that something was so, that is, was the truth. This is clear from the stone which Jacob set up as a pillar, Genesis 28:22; 35:14; from the pillar of stones placed between Laban and Jacob, Genesis 31:46-47, 52; and from the altar which the children of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh erected beside the Jordan as an altar of witness, Joshua 22:10, 28, 34. Consequently 'stones' in the Word means truths, so much so that not only the stones of the altar but also the precious stones in the shoulder-pieces of Aaron's ephod and in the breastplate of judgement meant the holy truths of love.

[2] Regarding the altar, when sacrificial worship on altars was introduced, an altar in that case meant representative worship of the Lord in general. 'The stones' themselves however meant the holy truths belonging to that worship. This was why it was commanded that the altar had to be built of whole and not of hewn stones, and why it was forbidden to use any iron tool on them, Deuteronomy 27:5-7; Joshua 8:31. The reason was that hewn stones, and those on which an iron tool had been used, meant artificialities and thus fabrications in worship. That is to say, they meant things that derive from the proprium, or from the inventions of man's own thought and heart, which was to profane worship, as is clearly stated in Exodus 20:25. For the same reason no tool of iron was used on the stones of the Temple, 1 Kings 6:7.

[3] That the precious stones set in the shoulder-pieces of Aaron's ephod and in the breastplate of judgement in a similar way meant holy truths has been shown already in 114. This is clear also in Isaiah,

Behold, I will set your stones in carbuncle and lay your foundations in sapphires; and I will make your suns (windows) of ruby, and your gates into precious stones, and all your border into pleasant stones And all your sons will be taught by Jehovah, and great will be the peace of your sons. Isaiah 54:11-13

The stones mentioned here stand for holy truths, and this is why it is said that 'all your sons will be taught by Jehovah'. It is also the reason why it is said in John that the foundations of the wall of the city, holy Jerusalem, were adorned with every kind of precious stone, which are each mentioned by name, Revelation 21:19-20. 'The holy Jerusalem' stands for the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth, the foundations of which kingdom are holy truths. Holy truths were similarly meant by the tables of stone on which the commandments of the Law, or Ten Commandments, were written. This was why they were made of stone or had a stone base, concerning which see Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deuteronomy 5:22; 10:1; for the commandments themselves are nothing else than truths of faith.

[4] Now because stones in ancient times meant truths, and because later on when worship on pillars, on altars, and in the Temple began, pillars, altars, and the Temple meant holy truths, the Lord also is therefore called 'a Stone': In Moses,

The Mighty One of Jacob - from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. Genesis 49:24.

In Isaiah,

The Lord Jehovih said, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Corner-Stone, precious, of sure foundation. Isaiah 28:16.

In David,

The Stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner Psalms 118:22.

The same is meant in Daniel 2:34-35, 45, by the stone cut out of the rock which smashed Nebuchadnezzar's statue to pieces.

[5] That 'stones' means truths is clear in Isaiah,

By this the iniquity of Jacob will be expiated, and this will be the full fruit to remove his sin, when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isaiah 27:9.

'The stones of the altar' stands for truths in worship that have been dissipated. In the same prophet,

Make level the way of the people; level out, level out the highway; gather out the stones. Isaiah 62:10.

'The way' and 'the stones' stand for truths. In Jeremiah,

I am against you, O destroying mountain. I will roll you down from the rocks and I will make you into a mountain of burning. And they will not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. Jeremiah 51:25-26.

This refers to Babel. 'A mountain of burning' is self-love. 'Taking no stone from it' means that there is no truth from this source.