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.

2940. 'Ephron was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth' means those who were primarily able to receive the good and truth of faith. This is clear from the representation of 'Ephron', and also from the meaning of 'the sons of Heth' as those with whom the good and truth of faith could be received and with whom a new Church existed, dealt with in 2913, 2933; and from the meaning of 'the middle' or 'in the midst' as that which is primary or the chief thing, and also that which is inmost, dealt with in 1074. 'The middle' in the internal sense means that which is primary or the chief thing, and also that which is inmost, by reason of the representatives in the next life. When anything good is represented there by means of spiritual ideas, the purest of the good is in the middle and the less and less pure in consecutive degrees from the middle, until lastly at the circumference there is that which is not good at all. And this is why 'in the midst' means both that which is primary or the chief thing and also that which is inmost. The ideas comprising thought are also represented in the same manner, and so are affections too. And all changes of state are represented in that manner, in that everything good or evil is altered as to its position towards the middle. This has its origin in the form possessed by spiritual and celestial things, which is such.