Stones in the Bible in general represent truths, or things we know concerning the Lord and what He wants from us and for us in life. This is why the people of Israel built altars of stone, and is also why stoning was a principal form of capital punishment (using truth to destroy falsity, or in the negative sense using falsity to destroy truth). It is also why precious stones are described in such detail on Aaron's breastplate and ephod, and also in the New Jerusalem in Revelation; precious stones represent true ideas directly from the Lord with the various colors showing various forms of love. Stones are not alone in representing truth, of course -- it sometimes seems that almost everything in the Bible represents either true ideas or desires for good. But that makes sense, since our thoughts and our desires together are everything we are in life, and the interplay between them is what life is all about. The many ways they are represented in the Bible reflect the incredible variety in our feelings and thoughts, though we can only distantly understand how those representations work. In the case of stones, in their weight, strength and permanence they tend to represent true ideas that come from a desire for good, the understanding we can have if we are truly good and loving -- and in the highest sense the exalted ideas that come from the Lord's love. Those ideas are ones that are not easily moved or changed, and make wonderful foundations for the things we want to build in our spiritual lives.

220. (iv) TRUTHS AND DIFFERENT KINDS OF GOOD IN THEIR OUTERMOST FORMS, OF THE SORT FOUND IN THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD, WERE REPRESENTED BY THE CURTAINS, VEILS AND POSTS OF THE TABERNACLE.

The tabernacle constructed by Moses in the desert was a representation of heaven and the church. That is why its description was revealed by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Thus all its contents, the lampstand, the golden altar for incense and the table holding the bread of the Presence, represented and stood for the holy things of heaven and the church. The holy of holies, where the Ark of the Covenant stood, represented and so stood for the inmost of heaven and the church. The Law itself inscribed upon two tables stood for the Word, and the cherubim above it meant protection to prevent the holiness of the Word being violated.

Now since externals derive their essence from internals, and both of these derive theirs from the inmost, which in this case was the Law, therefore all the details of the tabernacle represented and stood for the holy things of the Word. Hence it follows that the outermost parts of the tabernacle, the curtains, veils and posts which covered, contained and supported it, meant the outermost form of the Word, which is the truths and forms of good contained in its literal sense. It was because that was their meaning that all the curtains and veils were made of lawn interwoven and violet and purple, and double-dyed red, with cherubim (Exodus 26:1, 31, 36). I explained in ARCANA CAELESTIA in the commentary on that chapter of Exodus the general and the specific representations and meanings of the tabernacle and all its contents. It was there shown that the curtains and veils represented the externals of heaven and the church, so also those of the Word; and that lawn or fine linen meant truth of spiritual origin, violet truth of celestial origin, purple celestial good, double-dyed red spiritual good, and the cherubim the protection of the interiors of the Word.