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:

2447. 'From Jehovah out of heaven' means from the laws of order in regard to truth, because they separate themselves from good. This does not become clear except from the internal sense, by means of which the truth of the matter regarding forms of punishment and condemnation is disclosed, namely that the author of these is in no sense Jehovah or the Lord, but man, evil spirit, or devil himself; and this is so from the laws of order in regard to truth because they separate themselves from good.

[2] All order begins in Jehovah, that is, in the Lord, and it is in accordance with that order that He rules over every single thing. But there is much variation to His rule; that is to say, it may be His Will, or His Good Pleasure, or His Consent, or His Permission from which He rules. Things that have their origin in His will or in His good pleasure are products of laws of order which have regard to what is good, as also do many things that exist by His consent, and even some that do so by His permission. But when a person separates himself from good he subjects himself to the laws of order which are those of truth separated from good and which are such as condemn. For all truth condemns a person and casts him down into hell; but out of good, that is, out of mercy, the Lord rescues him and raises him up into heaven. From this it is clear that it is a person himself who condemns himself.

[3] Things that are the result of permission are for the most part of this nature - for example, besides countless others, the fact that one devil punishes and torments another. These things are from the laws of order in regard to truth separated from good, for there is no other way in which such devils could be kept under control and prevented from rushing on all the good and upright and destroying them eternally. The prevention of their doing this is the good which the Lord has in view. This is similar to what happens on earth where a benign and compassionate ruler exists who intends and does nothing but good. If he did not allow his laws to punish evil and criminal persons - though he himself punishes nobody but instead grieves that those people are such that their evils must punish them - he would leave his kingdom itself open to plunder by such people; and this would be a manifestation of a complete lack of benignity and compassion.

[4] From these considerations it is evident that Jehovah in no way rained down brimstone and fire, that is, condemned to hell, but that those subject to evil and to falsity which arises out of this did so, the reason being that they separated themselves from good and in so doing put themselves under the laws of order deriving from truth alone. From all this it follows that such is the internal sense of these words.

[5] In the Word, evil, punishment, cursing, condemnation, and many other things are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, similar to the attribution here that He rained brimstone and fire: in Ezekiel,

I will dispute with him with pestilence and blood; fire and brimstone will I rain on him. Ezekiel 38:22.

In Isaiah,

The breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone. Isaiah 30:33.

In David,

Jehovah will rain on the wicked snares, fire and brimstone. Psalms 11:6.

In the same author,

Smoke went up out of His nose, and fire out of His mouth devoured; glowing coals flamed forth from Him. Psalms 18:8-9.

In Jeremiah,

Lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it. Jeremiah 21:12.

In Moses,

Fire has flared up in My anger, and will burn right down to the lowest hell. Deuteronomy 32:22.

Similar attributions occur in many other places besides these. Why in the Word such things are attributed, as has been stated, to Jehovah or the Lord has been explained in Volume One, in 223, 245, 589, 592, 696, 735, 1093, 1683, 1874. The idea that such things come from the Lord is as remote from the truth as good is from evil, or heaven from hell, or what is Divine from what is of the devil. Evil, hell, and the devil do those things, and in no way the Lord who is mercy itself and good itself. But because those things do seem to come from Him, for reasons presented in the paragraphs just quoted, they are attributed to Him.

[6] From the wording of this verse, 'Jehovah rained from Jehovah out of heaven', it seems in the sense of the letter as though there were two of Them - one on earth, and one in heaven. But the internal sense teaches how this matter is to be understood, namely as follows: The Jehovah mentioned first means the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, which in this chapter are meant by 'the two men', while the Jehovah mentioned second means the Divine itself, called the Father, who is referred to in the previous chapter. The internal sense also teaches that this Trinity exists within the Lord, as He Himself says in John,

He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.

And referring to the Holy proceeding He says in the same gospel,

The Paraclete will not speak from Himself. He will receive it from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-15.

Thus there is but one Jehovah even though two are mentioned here. Two are mentioned because all laws of order spring from the Lord's Divine itself, Divine Human, and Holy proceeding.