Pots" and other large vessels in the Bible represent facts and factual ideas, which serve as containers for truth the same way pots serve as containers for water or wine. Pots fill their function because they are hard, strong and impervious; facts are also absolute and unchanging, filling their function the same way. And pots must be filled to serve any use, just as facts must be filled with truth to serve any purpose. To some extent this meaning also applies to cups, bowls and other smaller vessels, though it is a little more immediate. Generally you don't fill a cup so you can store a liquid; you fill it to drink it. Smaller vessels then often take more of their meaning from the substance they contain, and in many cases ("cup" and "wine" especially) actually mean the same thing.

9376. 'And seventy of the elders of Israel' means the Church's leading truths which belong to the Word or religious teachings and are in tune with good. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy' as something complete, thus all things, dealt with in 6508; and from the meaning of 'the elders of Israel' as the Church's leading truths that are in tune with good, thus truths which belong to the Word or to teachings derived from the Word since they are all in tune with good. For the meaning of 'the elders of Israel' as those truths, see 6524, 8578, 8585. The reason why those derived from the Word are in tune with good is that they come from the Lord and consequently have heaven within them; indeed, if you are willing to believe it, heaven in which the Lord is present resides in every single part of the Word.