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Genesis 31:8

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8 If he said thus; The speckled shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore speckled; and if he said thus: The ringstraked shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore ringstraked.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3727

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3727. In regard to the signification of a “pillar,” as being a holy boundary, thus the ultimate of order, this comes from the fact that in the most ancient times stones were placed at the boundaries, which marked the possession or inheritance of one person from that of another, and were for a sign and a witness that the boundaries were at that place. The most ancient people, who in every object, and in every pillar, thought of something celestial and spiritual (n. 1977, 2995), in these stones also which they set up, thought from them concerning the ultimates in man, and thus concerning the ultimate of order, which is truth in the natural man. The ancients who were after the flood received this from the most ancient people who were before the flood (n. 920, 1409, 2179, 2896, 2897), and began to account those stones holy which were set up in the boundaries, because as before said, they signified holy truth which is in the ultimate of order. They also called those stones “pillars;” and thus it came to pass that pillars were introduced into worship, and that they erected them in the places where they had their groves, and afterwards where they had their temples, and also that they anointed them with oil, concerning which something shall be said in what follows. For the worship of the Ancient Church consisted in the perceptives and significatives of the most ancient people who were before the flood, as is manifest from the sections just cited. As the most ancient people spoke with angels and were together with them while on earth, they were instructed from heaven that stones signify truth, and that wood signifies good (see above, n. 3720). This is the reason why “pillars” signify a holy boundary, thus the truth which is the ultimate of order in man; for the good that inflows through the internal man from the Lord is terminated in the external man, in the truth therein. Man’s thought, speech, and action, which are the ultimates of order, are nothing else than truths from good, being the images or forms of good; for they belong to man’s intellectual part, while the good which is in them, and from which they are, belongs to his will part.

[2] That pillars were erected for a sign and for a witness, and also for worship; and that in the internal sense they signify a holy boundary, or the truth in man’s natural which is the ultimate of order, may be seen from other passages in the Word-as from the following, concerning the covenant between Laban and Jacob:

Come now, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee; this heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap to me, and this pillar, for evil (Genesis 31:44-45, 51-52).

That in this passage a “pillar” signifies truth, will be seen in the explication of the passage.

[3] In Isaiah:

In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak with the lips of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the boundary thereof to Jehovah; which shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt (Isaiah 19:18-20);

“Egypt” denotes the memory-knowledges that belong to the natural man; an “altar,” Divine worship in general, for in the second Ancient Church, which began from Eber, the altar was made the primary representative of worship (n. 921, 1343, 2777, 2811); the “midst of the land of Egypt” denotes what is primary and inmost of worship (n. 2940, 2973, 3436); a “pillar,” the truth which is the ultimate of order in the natural. That this is in the boundary for a sign and for a witness is manifest.

[4] In Moses:

Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning and builded an altar near Mount Sinai, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel (Exodus 24:4); where in like manner an “altar” was representative of all worship, and indeed of good in worship; while the twelve pillars were a representative of the truth which is from good in worship. (That “twelve” denotes all things of truth in one complex may be seen above, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272; and that the “twelve tribes” in like manner signify all things of the truth of the church, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown in the following chapter.)

[5] Inasmuch as altars were representative of all the good of worship, and as the Jewish Church was instituted in order that it might represent the celestial church which acknowledged no other truth than that which is from good, which is called celestial truth-for it was not in the least willing to separate truth from good, insomuch that it was not willing to mention anything of faith or truth unless it was thinking of good, and this from good, n. 202, 337, 2069, 2715, 2718, 3246—therefore there was a representative of truth by means of the stones of the altar, and it was forbidden to represent it by pillars, lest thereby truth should be separated from good, and should be representatively worshiped instead of good. For this reason it is written in Moses:

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God which thou shalt make thee; and thou shalt not set thee up a pillar, which Jehovah thy God hateth (Deuteronomy 16:21-22);

for to worship truth separate from good, or faith separate from charity, is contrary to the Divine, because contrary to order, and this is signified by the prohibition, “thou shalt not set thee up a pillar, which Jehovah thy God hateth.”

[6] Nevertheless that they did set up pillars, and thereby represented those things which are contrary to order, is evident in Hosea:

Israel according to the multiplying of his fruit, multiplies his altars; according to the good of their land they make goodly pillars; but He shall overturn their altars; He shall lay waste their pillars (Hos. 10:1-2).

In the first book of Kings:

Judah did that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah; they also built them high places, and pillars, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree (1 Kings 14:22-23).

In the second book of Kings:

The sons of Israel set them up pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree (2 Kings 17:10).

Hezekiah removed the high places, and he brake the pillars and cut down the grove and ground to pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, for they did burn incense to it (2 Kings 18:4).

[7] Inasmuch as the Gentiles also had by tradition the belief that the holy of worship was represented by altars and by pillars, and yet were in evil and falsity, therefore by “altars” among the gentiles are signified evils of worship, and by “pillars,” falsities; for which reason it was commanded that they should be destroyed. As in Moses:

Ye shall overthrow their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their groves (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3).

Thou shalt not bow to their gods, nor worship them, nor do after their works; because destroying thou shalt destroy them, and breaking thou shalt break in pieces their pillars (Exodus 23:24).

The “gods” of the nations denote falsities; their “works,” evils; to “break in pieces their pillars” denotes to destroy worship from falsity.

[8] In Jeremiah:

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon shall break in pieces the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire (Jeremiah 43:13).

In Ezekiel:

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon with the hoofs of his horses shall tread down all thy streets; he shall slay the people with the sword, and shall cause the pillars of thy strength to go down to the earth (Ezekiel 26:11);

speaking of Tyre. “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” denotes that which causes vastation (n. 1327); the “hoofs of the horses” denote the lowest intellectual things, such as are memory-knowledges from mere things of sense; that “hoofs” are the lowest things will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be confirmed elsewhere; “horses” denote intellectual things (n. 2760-2762); “streets,” truths, and in the opposite sense, falsities (n. 2336); to “tread them down” is to destroy the knowledges of truth, which are signified by “Tyre” (that “Tyre,” which is the subject here referred to, signifies the knowledges of truth, may be seen above, n. 1201); to “slay the people with the sword” denotes to destroy truths by that which is false. (That “people” is predicated of truth, may be seen above, n. 1259, 1260,(3295),3581; and that a “sword” signifies falsity combating, n. 2799.) From all this we see what is meant by “causing the pillars of strength to come down to the earth.” That “strength” is predicated of what is true and of what is false, is also evident from the Word.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

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Exodus 34

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1 Yahweh said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

3 No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain."

4 He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.

5 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.

6 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

7 keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation."

8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

9 He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."

10 He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.

11 Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12 Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you:

13 but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;

14 for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15 "Don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.

17 "You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

18 "You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.

19 "All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.

20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.

21 "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

22 "You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end.

23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.

24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.

25 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.

26 "You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."

27 Yahweh said to Moses, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."

28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29 It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

30 When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.

31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

34 But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35 The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.