913. Gold symbolizes the goodness of love because metals, like everything else found in the natural world, have a correspondence - gold to the goodness of love, silver to truths of wisdom, copper or bronze to the goodness of charity, and iron to truths of faith. For that reason these metals are found also in the spiritual world, since everything found there has a correspondence, inasmuch as they all correspond to the angels' affections and thoughts, which in themselves are spiritual.

That gold, owing to its correspondence, symbolizes the goodness of love, may be seen from the following passages:

I urge you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be enriched... (Revelation 3:18)

How dim the gold has become! How changed the finest gold! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, valuable as pure gold... (Lamentations 4:1-2)

He will... save the souls of the poor... And He will give them some of the gold of Sheba. (Psalms 72:13, 15)

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron, silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your registration peaceful, and your tax gatherers righteous. (Isaiah 60:17)

Behold, you are wise...! No secret has been hidden from you! With your wisdom and your intelligence you have gained for yourself... gold and silver in your treasuries... You were in Eden, the garden...; every precious stone was your covering..., also gold. (Ezekiel 28:3-4, 13)

The multitude of camels shall cover you...; all those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah. (Isaiah 60:6, cf. 60:9, Matthew 2:11)

...I will fill this house with glory... The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine... The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former... (Haggai 2:7-9)

Kings' daughters are among Your precious ones. At Your right hand stands the queen in the finest gold of Ophir... Her clothing is woven with gold. (Psalms 45:9, 13, cf. Ezekiel 16:13)

You have taken vessels for your adornment from My gold and My silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images... (Ezekiel 16:17)

...you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried My valuable possessions into your temples. (Joel 3:5)

[2] Since gold symbolized the goodness of love, therefore when Belshazzar with his great men was drinking wine from vessels of gold taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and at the same time was praising gods of gold, silver, bronze and iron, writing appeared on the wall, and that night he was slain (Daniel 5). And so on in many other places.

Since gold symbolized the goodness of love, therefore the Ark that contained the Law was overlaid inside and out with gold (Exodus 25:11). Therefore the mercy seat and the cherubim over the Ark were also of made of pure gold (Exodus 25:17-18).

[3] Since gold symbolized the goodness of love, silver the truth of wisdom, bronze the goodness of the natural love called charity, and iron the truth of faith, therefore people in ancient times called the succeeding periods of time from the most ancient period to the concluding one the golden, silver, bronze and iron ages. A similar symbolism is exhibited by the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream, whose head was fine gold, its breast and arms silver, its belly and thighs bronze, its lower legs iron, and its feet part iron and part clay (Daniel 2:32-33). This symbolizes the succeeding states of the church in this world, from most ancient times to the present day. The state of the church today is described in this way:

As you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. (Daniel 2:43)

Iron symbolizes the truth of faith, as we have said, yet when there is no truth of faith, but faith without truth, then it is iron mixed with miry clay, the two of which do not bond together. The seed of men with which they will mingle symbolizes the truth in the Word. This is the state of the church today. What it will be hereafter is briefly described in Daniel 2:45, but at more length in chapter 7, verses 13-18, 27.

2362. That 'behold now, I have two daughters, who have not known a man' means the affections for good and for truth is clear from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections, dealt with in 489-491. 'They have not known a man' means that they have not been defiled by falsity, for 'a man' means rational truth, and also in the contrary sense falsity, 265, 749, 1007. There are two types of affection, namely the affection for good and the affection for truth, see 1997. The first - the affection for good - constitutes the celestial church and in the Word is called 'the daughter of Zion' and also 'the virgin daughter of Zion'.

[2] But the second - the affection for truth - constitutes the spiritual church, and in the Word is called 'the daughter of Jerusalem'; as in Isaiah,

She has despised you, she has scorned you, the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Isaiah 37:22; 2 Kings 19:21.

In Jeremiah,

What shall I liken you to, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equate you with and comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Lamentations 2:13.

In Micah,

You, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you will it come and the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Micah 4:8.

In Zephaniah,

Shout with joy, O daughter of Zion! Make a noise, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Zephaniah 3:14.

In Zechariah,

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a noise, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king will come to you. Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5; John 12:15.

[3] That the celestial Church, which is the Lord's celestial kingdom, is called 'the daughter of Zion' from the affection for good, that is, from love to the Lord Himself, see in addition Isaiah 10:32; 16:1; 52:2; 62:11; Jeremiah 4:31; 6:2, 23; Lamentations 1:6; 2:1, 4, 8, 10; Micah 4:10, 13; Zechariah 2:10; Psalms 9:14. And that the spiritual Church, which is the Lord's spiritual kingdom, is called 'the daughter of Jerusalem' from the affection for truth and so from charity towards the neighbour, see Lamentations 2:15. Both of those Churches, and the nature of each one, have been dealt with many times in Volume One.

[4] Because the celestial Church exists from love to the Lord which is present within love towards the neighbour it is likened in particular to an unmarried daughter or a virgin. Indeed it is also called 'a virgin', as in John,

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes; for they are spotless before God's throne. Revelation 14:4-5.

And so that the same might be represented in the Jewish Church, the priests were commanded not to marry widows but virgins, Leviticus 21:13-15; Ezekiel 44:22.

[5] From the contents of the present verse it becomes clear how pure the Word is in the internal sense, however else it may appear in the letter. For when these words are read, 'Behold now, I have two daughters, who have not known a man; let me now bring them out to you and you may do to them as is good in your eyes; only do nothing to those men', nothing else comes to mind than something impure, especially to those leading an evil life. Yet how chaste these words are in the internal sense is evident from the explanation already given, which is that they mean the affections for good and truth and the blessedness perceived from the enjoyment of those affections by people who do no violence to the Lord's Divinity and [proceeding] Holiness.