10182. 'Its horns shall be of one piece with it' means the powers of truth derived from the good of love and charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'horns' as the powers of truth, dealt with in 2832, 9719-9721. The reason why derived from the good of love and charity is meant is that all the power which truth possesses comes from that good. Therefore also the horns continued from the altar itself or were of one piece with it; for this altar was representative of the Lord, of His hearing and receiving everything of worship that springs from love and charity, 10177.

[2] The statement that all the power which truth possesses comes from the good of love is unintelligible to those who have only a material idea of power, and therefore the nature of that power must be described. In the heavens all power is derived from Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. This is the source of the power angels possess, for angels are recipients of Divine Truth from the Lord, 1752, 4295, 8192. By means of the power which they receive from that source they protect a person by removing the hells from him; for a single angel is stronger than a thousand who come from hell. This power is what Peter's keys serve to mean, though Peter, who in the same place is referred to as a rock, means the Lord in respect of the truth of faith springing from the good of love, see Preface to Genesis 22, and 3750, 4738, 6000, 6073(end), 6344(end), 10087, 'the Rock' being the Lord in respect of the truth of faith, 8581.

[3] The power that Divine Truth possesses is also meant by 'the voice of Jehovah' in David,

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; the voice of Jehovah strikes a flame of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah strips the forests bare; Jehovah gives strength to His people. Psalms 29:3-5, 7-9, 11.

'The voice of Jehovah' is the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, see 9926.

[4] The power that Divine Truth possesses is also meant by 'the Word' in John,

All things were made through the Word, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:3.

'The Word' is the Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, see 9987. Therefore also the Lord, when He was in the world, first made Himself Divine Truth, which is also meant in John 1:14 by the Word became flesh. The Lord made Himself Divine Truth then to the end that He might fight against all the hells and overcome them, and in so doing might restore all things to order there, and at the same time in the heavens, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152.

[5] The fact that truths springing from good possess all power, while on the other hand falsities arising from evil have no power, is very well known in the next life. For this reason the evil who come there from the world have their belief, which is no more than persuasion, and also their knowledge of any truth, taken away from them. This then leaves them with the falsities belonging to their evil.

[6] The statement that truths springing from good possess such power is unintelligible to those who have the idea that truth or a belief in truth is no more than mental activity, when yet a person's mental activity, under the control of his will, constitutes all the strength which the body has; and if the Lord were to instill it through His Divine Truth into that body the person would possess the strength of Samson. But yet it is the Lord's good pleasure to impart strength to a person through faith springing from love in the things that belong to his spirit and that contribute to eternal life.

[7] From all this one may see what should be understood by the power of truth springing from good, the power meant by 'the horns' of both the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense. That this power is meant by 'the horns' is clear from places in the Word where 'horns' are mentioned, as in Ezekiel,

On that day I will make a horn grow up for the house of Israel. Ezekiel 29:21.

In Amos,

Have we not by our own strength taken horns for ourselves? Amos 6:13.

In the first Book of Samuel,

Jehovah will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed. 1 Samuel 2:10.

In David,

Jehovah has exalted the horn of His people. Psalms 148:14.

In the same author,

All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; the horns of the righteous will be exalted. Psalms 75:10.

In Jeremiah,

The Lord has cut down in His very fierce anger ¹ the whole horn of Israel. And He has exalted the horn of your foes. Lamentations 2:3, 17.

In Ezekiel,

You push with side and shoulder, and butt with your horns all the weak sheep, until you have scattered them abroad. Ezekiel 34:21.

In Zechariah,

I saw four horns. The angel said, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. The smiths have come to cast down the horns of the nations lifting up their horn against the land of Judah. Zechariah 1:18-21.

In Moses,

His horns are unicorn horns ² . With these he will strike the peoples together to the ends of the earth. Deuteronomy 33:17.

In these places it is self-evident that power is meant by 'horns', and indeed power in both senses, that is to say, of truth directed against falsity and of falsity directed against truth; for the state of the Church is the subject in the internal sense of every one of these places.

[8] Something similar occurs in Amos,

On that day I will visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut away and fall to the ground. Amos 3:14.

'The altars of Bethel' and 'the horns of the altar' mean the evils and falsities destroying the Church's goodness and truth, regarding which it says that they 'will be cut away'.

[9] From all this one may see what should be understood by 'the horns' mentioned so frequently by Daniel, and by John in the Book of Revelation. Daniel describes the beast which had ten horns and also a horn speaking, Daniel 7:8, 11, 20; and he says that the horn was making war with the saints and prevailing, until the Ancient of Days ³ came, Daniel 7:11, 21-22, 24. He also speaks about the horns of the ram and the horns of the he-goat, which they used to make war against each other, Daniel 8:3-21. And John mentions that the dragon had ten horns, Revelation 12:3, as did the beast coming up out of the sea, Revelation 13:1, and also the scarlet beast, Revelation 17:12. In this verse it is also stated that the ten horns are ten kings; and the same words occur in Daniel 7:24. By 'kings' in the Word truths are meant, and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

[10] It is because 'horn' means truth in its power, or in the contrary sense falsity destroying truth, that speech is attributed to a horn in Revelation 9:13; Daniel 7:8; Psalms 22:21.

[11] The anointing of kings with oil from a horn, 1 Samuel 16:1, 13; 1 Kings 1:39, represented truth springing from good, in its power; for truths in their power are meant by 'horns', good by 'oil', and those who are guided by truths springing from good by 'kings'. For the meaning of 'oil' as good, see 886, 9780; and for that of 'kings' as those who are guided by truths springing from good, thus - in the abstract sense - as truths springing from good, 6148. So it is also that in Psalms 132:17 a horn is said to bud, because all spiritual budding is that of truth springing from good. Therefore also in former times they made [imitations of] budding horns.

All power belongs to good and is exercised through truth, or what amounts to the same thing, belongs to truth springing from good, see the places referred to in 10019.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3691. 'And went to Haran' means closer to that degree of good and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'Haran' as external good and truth, for 'Haran' means that which is external, and 'Laban' who lived there means that which is good and true, so that 'Haran' here means external good and truth. That this is what 'Haran' means, see 1430, 3612. From this it is evident that 'Jacob went out from Beersheba and went to Haran' means in the internal sense that he took himself to a position more remote from matters of doctrine that were Divine and so closer to external good and truth.

[2] The reason why the phrase 'that degree of good and truth' is used is that goods and truths are quite distinct and separate from one another according to the degrees they belong to. Interior goods and truths exist in a higher degree, exterior goods and truths in a lower one. In a higher degree are the goods and truths which belong to the rational, in a lower one the goods and truths that belong to the natural, and in the lowest degree are the sensory goods and truths that belong to the body. Interior goods and truths, or those which exist in the higher degree, flow into exterior goods and truths, or those existing in the lower degree, and present an image of themselves there, almost as a person's interior affections present themselves in his face and in the changing expressions seen there. From this it is evident that interior goods and truths are entirely separate from exterior goods and truths, or what amounts to the same, those which exist in the higher degree are entirely separate from those in the lower one, so separate that those which are interior or existing in the higher degree are able to manifest themselves independently of those that are exterior or existing in the lower one. Anyone who does not have a clear-cut idea of degrees cannot have a clear-cut idea of interior and exterior goods and truths, or of how a person's soul or spirit and his body are related to each other, or of how in the next life the heavens are related to one another.

[3] It is well known that there are three heavens, that one heaven is interiorly within another, and that the third heaven is the inmost. These heavens are utterly distinct and separate, each a separate degree from the others. Members of the inmost or third are closer to the Lord; members of the less interior or second are more remote; and members of the exterior or first are more remote still. No communication between those heavens is possible other than a communication like that of the inmost parts of the human being with the exterior parts of him, for anyone who is governed by love to the Lord and by charity towards the neighbour is a miniature heaven, corresponding in image to the three heavens. In addition, he receives from those three heavens an influx, in three similar degrees, of good and truth from the Lord. What each of these is like compared with the other two becomes clear from the two examples introduced above in 3688, 3690.

[4] Those who are governed by true love to the Lord, so much so that they have a perception of that love, are in the higher degree of good and truth. They are in the inmost or third heaven, thus closer to the Lord, and are called celestial angels. Those however who are governed by charity towards the neighbour, so much so that they have a perception of that charity but not so much a perception of love to the Lord, are in a lower degree of good and truth. They are in the interior or second heaven, accordingly more remote from the Lord, and are referred to as spiritual angels. Those however who are governed by charity towards the neighbour that arises solely from an affection for truth, so much so that they do not have any perception of that charity towards the neighbour except from the truth for which they have an affection, are in a still lower degree of good and truth. They are in the exterior or first heaven, accordingly more remote still from the Lord, and are termed good spirits.

[5] This shows to some extent the relationship of these degrees to one another, that is to say, it shows that things existing in a higher degree present an image of themselves that is formed from the things belonging to the degree immediately below them. Love to the Lord contains the closest image of the Lord. That image is called a likeness and therefore people who are governed by true love to the Lord are called likenesses of Him. Charity too contains an image of the Lord, though in a more remote way - for within genuine charity the Lord is present - and therefore people who are governed by such charity are referred to as His images, see 50, 51, 1013. But those who are governed by the affection for truth and consequently by a certain kind of charity towards the neighbour are also images of the Lord, yet in a more remote way still. Into these separate degrees the three heavens are distinguished, and in accordance with those same degrees the Lord flows in with Divine Good and Truth, and so with wisdom and intelligence, together with heavenly joy and happiness.