1551. That 'silver' means truths is clear from the meaning of 'silver' as truth. The most ancient people compared the goods and truths present in man to metals. Innermost or celestial goods which flow from love to the Lord they compared to gold, truths deriving from these to silver. Goods of a lower or natural kind however they compared to bronze, and truths of a lower kind to iron. Nor did they just compare them; they also called them such. This was the origin of periods of time being likened to those same metals and being called the golden, silver, bronze, and iron ages, for these followed in that order one after another. The golden age was the time of the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial man. The silver age was the time of the Ancient Church, which was spiritual man. The bronze age was the time of the Church that followed, and the iron age came after that. Similar things were also meant by the statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream, whose head was of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and shins of iron, Daniel 2:32-33. That periods of the Church were to follow one another in that order, and actually did so, is clear in that very chapter of the same prophet.

[2] That 'silver' in the internal sense of the Word wherever it is mentioned means truth, or in the contrary sense falsity, is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment, and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isaiah 60:17.

Here it is evident what each metal means. The subject is the Lord's Coming, His kingdom, and the celestial Church. 'Instead of bronze, gold' is celestial good in place of natural good; 'instead of iron, silver' is spiritual truth in place of natural truth; 'instead of wood, bronze' is natural good in place of bodily good; 'instead of stone, iron' is natural truth in place of truth acquired through the senses. In the same prophet,

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the water, and he who has no money, ¹ come, buy and eat! Isaiah 55:1.

'He who has no money' ¹ is the person who does not know the truth but who nevertheless possesses the good that stems from charity, as is the case with many people inside the Church, and with gentiles outside it.

[3] In the same prophet,

The islands will wait for Me, the ships of Tarshish at their head, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah your God, and to the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 60:9.

This refers specifically to a new Church, or a Church among gentiles, and in general to the Lord's kingdom. 'Ships from Tarshish' stands for cognitions, 'silver' for truths, and 'gold' for goods, which are those things they 'will bring to the name of Jehovah'. In Ezekiel,

For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and you made for yourselves figures of the male. Ezekiel 16:17.

Here 'gold' stands for cognitions of celestial things, 'silver' of spiritual things. In the same prophet,

You were adorned with gold and silver, and your raiment was fine linen and silk, and embroidered cloth. Ezekiel 16:13.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Lord's Church is meant, whose adornment is being described in this manner. In the same prophet,

Behold, you who are wise, there is no secret they have hidden from you; by your wisdom and by your intelligence you have acquired riches for yourself, and you have acquired gold and silver in your treasuries. Ezekiel 28:3-4.

Here, in what is said in reference to Tyre, 'gold' is plainly identified with the riches of wisdom, and 'silver' with the riches of intelligence.

[4] In Joel,

You have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples. Joel 3:5.

This refers to Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia, which mean cognitions, and these are 'the silver and the gold they took into their temples'. In Haggai,

The elect of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold. The glory of this latter house will be greater than that of the former. Haggai 2:7-9.

This refers to the Lord's Church to which 'gold and silver' have reference. In Malachi,

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi. Malachi 3:3.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord. In David,

The words of Jehovah are pure words, silver refined in an earthen crucible, poured seven times. Psalms 12:6.

'Silver purified seven times' stands for Divine truth. At the time of their exodus out of Egypt the children of Israel were commanded that every woman should ask of her neighbour, and of her who sojourned in her house, vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments, and that they should put them on their sons and on their daughters, and so despoil the Egyptians, Exodus 3:22; 11:2-3; 12:35-36. Anyone may see from this that the children of Israel would never have been ordered to steal and despoil the Egyptians of those possessions in that way if these did not represent some arcana. But what those arcana are may become clear from the meaning of 'silver and gold, garments, and Egypt', and from the fact that what these possessions represented is similar to the words here 'rich in the silver and gold from Egypt', used in reference to Abram.

[5] Just as 'silver' means truth so in a contrary sense it means falsity, for people under the influence of falsity imagine falsity to be the truth, as is also clear in the Prophets. In Moses,

You shall not covet the silver and the gold of the nations, nor take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God. You shall utterly detest it. Deuteronomy 7:25-26.

'The gold of the nations' stands for evils, and 'their silver' for falsities. In the same author,

You shall not make gods of silver to be with Me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. Exodus 20:23.

In the internal sense these words mean nothing other than falsities and evil desires, falsities being meant by 'gods of silver', and evil desires by 'gods of gold'. In Isaiah,

On that day everyone will spurn his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you - a sin. Isaiah 31:7.

'Idols of silver and idols of gold' stands for similar things that are false and evil 'Which your hands have made' stands for what is a product of the proprium. In Jeremiah,

They are foolish and stupid; that wood is a way of learning vanities! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the smith and of the hands of the moulder. Their clothing is violet and purple These are all the work of the wise. Jeremiah 10:8-9.

Here 'silver' and 'gold' quite clearly stand for similar things that are false and evil.

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10030. 'Covering the intestines' means which exists on last or lowest levels. This is clear from the meaning of 'the intestines' as last or lowest things. The reason why the intestines have this meaning is that they are the last and lowest of a person's internal organs, not only as regards their location but also as regards their function. As regards their location, they are below the stomach, to which they are attached; and as regards their function, they are the last organs to receive the things undergoing digestion in a person. Above them, as is well known, come the stomach, liver, pancreas, and spleen; higher still, the heart and lungs; and still higher, the head. It is also well known that these higher parts of the body discharge their filth and waste products into the intestines and banish them through these, partly by way of the stomach, partly by way of the ducts from the liver - called the hepatic ducts, and also the cystic or biliary ducts - and partly by way of the ducts from the pancreas, which like all the other ducts have their outlet into the duodenum. From all this it is now evident why last or lowest things are meant by 'the intestines'. The fact that the internal organs in the human body mean such things as belong to the spiritual world becomes clear from what has been abundantly shown at the ends of a large number of chapters where the correspondence of the Grand Man, which is heaven, with everything present in the human being has been the subject. For what specifically corresponds to the intestines, see 5392. The hells correspond to the impurities and excrement cast out from them, 5393-5396.

[2] Since several organs of the body are mentioned in what immediately follows, such as the lesser omentum, liver, kidneys, legs, breast, flank, and head, and the arrangement of them in sacrifices is dealt with, it must first be shown here that by parts of the human body in general the kinds of things that exist in the Grand Man, that is, in heaven, are meant. Here let the meaning of just those parts of the body which are used in Daniel to describe Nebuchadnezzar's statue be indicated. There, in Chapter 2:32-33, it says that its head was pure gold, breast and arms were silver, belly and side bronze, legs iron, and feet partly iron and partly clay. Anyone who does not know that the Lord's Word is spiritual supposes that these things were said in reference to earthly kingdoms. But the Word is not dealing with earthly kingdoms, only with God's kingdom, thus with heaven and the Church. The reason why these are described by means of the kinds of things that exist in earthly lands and their kingdoms is that worldly and earthly things correspond to the kinds of things that exist in heaven. For the whole natural order and the whole universe is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, see the places referred to in 9280, and earthly and worldly things are what a person comes to know of first.

[3] From this it may be recognized that Nebuchadnezzar's statue seen in a dream does not mean worldly but heavenly things. But what specifically is meant by the head, the breast, the belly and side, the legs, and the feet may be known from their correspondence, thus from the internal sense of the Word. From correspondence one can know that the head means the first state of the Church, the breast and arms the second, the belly and side the third, the legs the fourth, and the feet the last. Since the first state of the Church was a state of the good of love to the Lord it says that the head was of pure gold; since the second state was a state of truth springing from that good it says that the breast and arms were of silver; since the third state was the good of love and its truth in the external or natural man it says that the belly and side were of bronze; since the fourth state was the truth of faith it says that the legs were of iron; and since the last state was truth which, though called the truth of faith, is devoid of good it says the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. And such being the last state of the Church verses 34, 35 say that out of the rock a stone was cut, which smashed them all to pieces and scattered them, so that the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them, meaning that the good of love to the Lord, the good of charity towards the neighbour, and the good of faith were completely dispersed, so completely that there was no knowledge of what they were. No more than some knowledge of the truths of faith existed, without any knowledge of good; or if any knowledge of good existed it was not real good, thus was not the good that coheres with the truths of faith.

[4] This good is external good without internal, which is what the good of merit is, and what good pursued for selfish and worldly reasons is, thus good pursued for the sake of gain, position, and reputation, for the sake of friendship cultivated because of these things, or for the sake of currying favour. Or else it is pursued solely on account of fear of the law. It is not pursued on account of the good of charity, which is the good of one's fellow citizen, the good of human society, the good of one's country, or the good of the Church.

[5] The types of good mentioned above are meant by 'the clay' or 'the mire', the truth with which that good does not cohere being 'the iron'. Therefore verse 43 says, [Just as] the iron which you saw was mixed with the miry clay, they will mingle through the seed of man (homo) ¹ , but they will not cohere with one another, just as iron is not mingled with clay. 'The seed of man' is the truth of faith when it originates in the self, which is truth falsified and adulterated through application to evils that exist as the result of a regard for self and the world. From all this it is evident that the parts of a person's body from his head to the soles of his feet mean such things as belong to the Church.

[6] In general 'the head' means celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, 'the breast' spiritual good, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and 'the feet' natural good, which is the good and truth of faith, see 9913, 9914; and the same kinds of good are meant by 'gold', 'silver', 'bronze', and 'iron', 5658. But for what is meant specifically by 'the head', see 4938, 4939, 5328, 9913, 9914, by 'gold', 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 9510, 9881, by 'the breast', 4938, 4939, 5328, 6436, 9913, 9914, and by 'silver', 1551, 5658, 6914, 6917. From this it is evident what is meant by 'the belly' and 'the side', which are the parts below the breast. But for what 'bronze' means, [see] 425, 1551, 'the feet', 2162, 3147, 3761, 4938-4952, 'iron', 425, 426, and 'clay' or 'mire', 1300, 6669.

[7] From all this it may now be recognized that the members or organs of the human body mean such things as correspond to them in the Grand Man, which is heaven. They all have connection with the good of love and the truth of faith; and because they correspond to these they also correspond to the same realities in the Church, because the Lord's heaven on earth is the Church.

There is a correspondence of the human being and all parts of the human being with the Grand Man, which is heaven; see what has been shown from actual experience at the ends of a number of chapters, in the following places, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 3883-3896, 4039-4051, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4527-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 5846-5866, 5976-5993, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6326, 6466-6495.

What correspondence is, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3337-3352, 3472-3485.

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