9548. 'And you shall make a lampstand' means the spiritual heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'a lampstand' as the Divine Spiritual from the Lord in heaven and in the Church. The reason why 'a lampstand' means the Divine Spiritual is that 'the table' on which the loaves of the Presence were laid means the Divine Celestial, as has been shown in what has gone before. The Divine Celestial is the good of love, and the Divine Spiritual the truth of faith derived from that good; and both of these emanate from the Lord, 9227. The lampstand is the Divine Spiritual on account of the light it sheds; for Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good is what shines in heaven. There is no other source from which angels receive light. This is why in the Word the Lord is called the Light, and why 'light' means faith, also an intelligent understanding of truth and a wise discernment of good, which come from the Lord alone, see 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2776, 3094, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3337, 3339, 3341, 3636, 3643, 3862, 3993, 4060, 4180, 4302, 4408, 4414, 4415, 4419, 4527, 4598, 5400, 6032, 6313, 6315, 6608, 6907, 7174, 8644, 8707, 8861, 9399, 9407.

[2] 'A lampstand' means the spiritual heaven by virtue of Divine Truth which is present there from the Lord, and therefore also means the Church; and 'a lamp' means faith, also an intelligent understanding of truth and a wise discernment of good, which come from the Lord alone. This is clear from places in the Word where 'lampstand' and 'lamp' are mentioned, as in John,

I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. The seven lampstands are the seven Churches. Revelation 1:12-13, 20.

And in the same book,

I will remove your lampstand from its place if you do not repent. Revelation 2:5.

A Church is called 'a lampstand' in these places by virtue of Divine Truth which is present there from the Lord. The fact that 'a lampstand' means a Church is self-evident, for it says, 'The seven lampstands are the seven Churches'. The fact that a Church is called such on account of Divine Truth is evident from the statement, 'I will remove your lampstand if you do not repent'. And the fact that this Truth comes from the Lord [is also self-evident], for it says, 'In the midst of the lampstands one like the Son of Man'; and the Lord is called the Son of Man by virtue of His Divine Truth, see 2803, 2813, 3704.

[3] In the same book,

I will grant My two witnesses to prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. Revelation 11:3-10.

'The two witnesses' are the Word in both Testaments, in that they bear witness to the Lord. It is called 'an olive tree' by virtue of the Divine Good and 'a lampstand' by virtue of the Divine Truth which come from the Lord.

[4] In Zechariah, when the angel who was speaking said to the prophet,

What do you see? I said to him, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold; its bowl is on top of it, ¹ and its seven lamps are on it with seven pipes to the lamps. Two olive trees are beside it, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left of it. Zechariah 4:2-3.

This refers to Zerubbabel, who was about to lay a foundation for God's house and bring it to completion. He represents the Lord, in that He was about to come and to re-establish the spiritual heaven and the Church, these being what is meant by 'a lampstand', and the holy truths there what is meant by 'seven lamps'.

[5] The fact that 'a lamp' means faith, also an intelligent understanding of truth and a wise discernment of good, which come from the Lord alone, is clear in John,

The holy Jerusalem has no need of the sun or of the moon to shed light in it. The glory of God will give it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations that are saved will walk in His light. Revelation 21:23-24.

And further on,

There will be no night there, nor do they need a lamp or light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. Revelation 22:5.

'Lamp' in the first quotation stands for Divine Truth that comes from the Lord, and 'light' for faith, and so also for intelligence and wisdom. In the same book,

The light of a lamp will not shine in you any more, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will not be heard in you any more. Revelation 18:23.

[6] And in Jeremiah,

I will take away the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of mills, and the light of the lamp, that the whole land may be a desolation and devastation. Jeremiah 25:10-11.

This refers to the elimination of faith and consequently of intelligence in spiritual matters meant here by the lamp which will no longer be there and by 'the light of the lamp' which will be taken away.

[7] The like occurs in Job,

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out and [how often] does destruction come upon them? Job 21:17.

In David,

You light my lamp; Jehovah my God makes my darkness bright. Psalms 18:28; 2 Samuel 22:29.

In the same author,

By Your commands I have been made intelligent. Your Word is a lamp to my foot, and a light to my path. Psalms 119:104-105.

In Job,

When God causes a lamp to shine over my head I would walk in darkness towards His light. Job 29:3.

In Matthew,

The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is evil your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 8:16; 11:33-36.

'The eye' is used here to mean faith and consequent intelligence - the fact that these are meant in the internal sense by 'the eye', see 4403-4421, 4523-4534, 9051. And from this the meaning of the words, 'If your eye is good your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is evil your whole body will be full of darkness' is self-evident. Since faith and consequent intelligence and wisdom is meant by 'a lamp' the kings of Judah are called lamps to David, 1 Kings 11:36; 15:4; 2 Kings 8:19; and David himself is called the lamp of Israel, 2 Samuel 21:16-17. Not that the kings of Judah were lamps; nor was David. Rather they were called such because 'a king' means Divine Truth that comes from the Lord, 6148, and 'David' the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, the source of faith, intelligence, and wisdom, 1888.

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1888. To illustrate that the sense of the letter of the Word is representative of Divine arcana and is the receptacle of, and thus the storehouse containing, celestial and spiritual things which are the Lord's, let two examples be taken, which will consequently reveal the position with all else The first example shows that David is not used to mean David but the Lord, the second that names mean nothing other than real things. Of David the following is said in Ezekiel,

My servant David will be King over them, and they will all have one Shepherd. They will dwell in the land, they, and their sons, and their sons' sons even for ever. And David my servant will be their Prince for ever. Ezekiel 37:24-25.

And in Hosea,

The children of Israel will return and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king. Hosea 3:5.

These promises were written by prophets who lived later than David, yet it is explicitly stated by them that he 'will be' their king and prince. From this it may become clear to anyone that in the internal sense David means the Lord. The same applies in all other places, including the historical descriptions, where David is referred to by name.

[2] As regards the names of kingdoms, regions, cities, and men meaning real things, this becomes quite clear in the Prophets. Take this single example in Isaiah,

Thus said the Lord, Jehovih Zebaoth, Do not be afraid - O My people, inhabitant of Zion - of Asshur; he will smite you with a rod, and he will lift up the staff over you in the way of Egypt. Jehovah Zebaoth will lift up the scourge over him, as when Midian was smitten in the rock of Horeb, and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up in the way of Egypt. He will come against Aiath; he will pass over into Migron; he will command his arms towards Michmash. They will cross the Mabarah. Geba will be a lodging-place for us. Hormah ¹ will tremble. Gibeah of Saul will flee. Make a noise with your voice, O daughter of Gallim. Hearken, O Laish. Wail, O Anathoth. Madmenah will wander about. The inhabitants of Gebim will gather themselves together. This very day he is in Nob to stay. The mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, will shake her fist. He will cut down the entangled boughs of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one. Isaiah 10:24, 26-34.

[3] These verses include little more than mere names, which would not make any sense at all if, without exception, those names did not mean real things; and if the mind remained fixed on those names, no acknowledgement that it was the Word of the Lord would ever be made. But who is going to believe that all those names in the internal sense contain arcana of heaven? Or that through them the state of people is described who endeavour by means of reasonings based on facts to penetrate the mysteries of faith? Or that by means of each name some particular aspect of that state is described? Or that those reasonings are dispersed by the Lord by means of the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith? That 'Asshur' means reasoning, which is the subject in these verses from Isaiah, becomes quite clear from what has been shown regarding 'Asshur' in 119, 1186; and that 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, from what has been shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. See these paragraphs and consider whether or not this is true. It is the same with all other names, and with individual expressions.

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