576. Having breastplates fiery, hyacinthine, and brimstone-like, signifies reasonings combating from the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and from the falsities therefrom. This is evident from the signification of breastplates, as being armor for war, and in particular, defenses in combats (of which above, n. 557; also from the signification of "fire or fiery," as being the cupidity of the love of self, and thence of all evil (See above, n. 504; also from the signification of "hyacinth or hyacinthine," as being the cupidity of the love of the world and thus of all falsity (of which presently); and from the signification of "brimstone or brimstone-like," as being the lust of destroying the goods and truths of the church by falsities of evil see below, n. 578, here meaning falsity burning from these two loves. From this it can be seen that "breastplates fiery, hyacinthine, and brimstone-like," signify reasonings combating from the cupidities of the loves of self and of the world, and from the falsities from those loves.

[2] In regard to "hyacinthine," it signifies in the spiritual sense the heavenly love of truth, but in the contrary sense the diabolical love of falsity, and also love of the world; as can be seen from its being of the color of heaven, and that color signifies truth from a heavenly origin, so in the contrary sense, falsity from a diabolical origin. In the spiritual world the choicest colors appear; and these have their origin in good and truth; for colors there are modifications of heavenly light, thus of the intelligence and wisdom, that are with the angels in heaven. This is why hyacinthine, purple, and scarlet double-dyed were interwoven in the curtains of the tabernacle and in the garments of Aaron; for the tabernacle represented the heaven of the Lord, and the garments of Aaron the Divine truth of heaven and the church, and those things of which the tabernacle was constructed, and of which the garments of Aaron were woven, represented celestial and spiritual things, which are of Divine good and Divine truth.

[3] Thus:

The veil before the ark was of hyacinthine, purple, and scarlet double-dyed, and fine twined linen (See Exodus 26:31).

Likewise the screen for the door of the tent (verse 36).

And the screen for the entrance of the court (Exodus 27:16).

The loops on the edge of the curtain of the tent were hyacinthine (Exodus 26:4);

The ephod was of gold, hyacinthine, purple, and scarlet double-dyed interwoven (Exodus 28:6);

And also the breastplate of judgment (verse 15);

When the camp set forward in the wilderness, Aaron and his sons spread a cloth of hyacinthine over the ark, over the table of faces, over the lampstand and the lamps, over the golden altar, and over all the vessels of ministry (Numbers 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12).

This is because Divine truth proceeding from Divine love, which is signified by "the cloth of hyacinthine," embraces and protects all the holy things of heaven and the church, which the things covered represent.

[4] Because "hyacinthine" signified the celestial love of truth, it was commanded:

That the sons of Israel should make for themselves a fringe in the borders of their garments, and should put on it a cord of hyacinthine, that in looking upon it they might remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them (Numbers 15:38, 39).

Here "the cord of hyacinthine" stands evidently for the remembrance of the commandments of Jehovah; the commandments of Jehovah are the essential truths of heaven and the church, and these are remembered only by such as are in a celestial love of truth.

[5] That "hyacinthine" signifies the love of truth can be seen from the following in Ezekiel:

Fine linen in broidered work from Egypt was thy spreading forth, to be for thy ensign; hyacinthine and purple from the isles of Elishah was thy covering. These were thy traffickers with choice wares, with bales of hyacinthine and broidered work, and with treasures of precious garments (Ezekiel 27:7, 24).

This is said of Tyre, which signifies the church in respect to the knowledges of truth; so, too, it signifies the knowledges of truth belonging to the church, and her "merchandise and tradings" mentioned in this chapter describe the acquisition of intelligence by means of such knowledges; "broidered work from Egypt" signifies the knowledge [scientia] of such things as are of the church; and because this has a lower place, and is thus round about or without, it is called "a spreading forth," and is said to be "for an ensign." "Hyacinthine and purple from the isles of Elishah" signify the spiritual affection of truth and good; therefore these are said to be "for a covering," a "covering" signifying truth. "Bales of hyacinthine and broidered work" signify all truths, spiritual and natural, and these together with the knowledges from the Word are meant by "the treasures of precious garments."

[6] As "hyacinthine" signifies the heavenly love of truth, so in the contrary sense it signifies the diabolical love of falsity; and in that sense also "hyacinthine" is mentioned in the Word. Thus in Ezekiel:

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt in their youth. Oholah which is Samaria, and Oholibah which is Jerusalem. And Oholah committed whoredom while under me, and she doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors, which were clothed in hyacinthine, governors and rulers, all of them young men of desire, horsemen riding upon horses (Ezekiel 23:2-6).

Here "Samaria" and "Jerusalem" signify the church, "Samaria" the spiritual church, and "Jerusalem" the celestial church, which are called "Oholah" and "Oholibah" because these names mean a "tent," and a "tent" signifies the church in respect to worship; "woman" also in the Word signifies the church; "they committed whoredom in Egypt" signifies the falsification of the truths of the church by the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man; "she doted on the Assyrians" signifies the falsification by reasonings from those knowledges [scientifica]; "Asshur and Assyria" signify reasonings; they are said to be "clothed in hyacinthine" by reason of fallacies and falsities, which in external form appear to be truths because they are from the sense of the letter of the Word wrongly applied. And because of this same appearance they are also called "governors and rulers, young men of desire, riding upon horses," for those who reason from self-intelligence appear to themselves and to others of like character to be intelligent and wise, and the things they speak to be truths of intelligence and goods of wisdom, when yet they are falsities which they love because they are from what is their own [proprium]; "governors and rulers" signify principal truths, and "those riding upon horses" signify the intelligent.

[7] In Jeremiah:

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner; their garments ¹ are hyacinthine and purple; all are the work of the wise (Jeremiah 10:9).

This treats of the idols of the house of Israel, which signify doctrinals that are false, because they are from self-intelligence; therefore they are called "the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner, and all the work of the wise," and this because these doctrinals appear to them to be truths and goods; "silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz," signifies what appears in external form to be truth and good, because from the sense of the letter of the Word. From this it can be seen that "hyacinthine" signifies the love of what is false because it is from self [proprium] or from self-intelligence. "Hyacinthine" also signifies the love of the world, because the love of the world corresponds to the love of falsity, as the love of self, which is signified by "fire," corresponds to the love of evil; for all evil is from the love of self, and all falsity is from the love of the world which has its origin in the love of self; for spiritual evil, which is meant by the love of the world, is in its essence falsity, as spiritual good is in its essence truth (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 15).

Poznámky pod čarou:

The third ark represents the third or inmost heaven where the angels are closest to the Lord, and the Lord Himself is represented by the two tables of stone which had on them His law, written by His finger. For this reason it was the most holy possession that the children of Israel had and it had power to affect the Jordan river and to discomfit Israel's enemies. It was kept in the closed part of the tabernacle where only Moses and Aaron could go. From the ark in its chamber the holiness rested in a lower degree in the outer room of the tabernacle, which represented the second or middle heaven, and in an even lower degree in the courtyard, inside the curtain fence, which represented the first or outer heaven.The ark for Moses, made of rushes was also sealed inside and out. Moses represents the Lord's Word, and because he was then an infant, our first ideas about the holiness of the Word when we are very young. So it isn't a solid and lasting structure, but a crude one because our young ideas are so unformed as yet. It also represents the first ideas of the Word in the mind of JesusAt the time of Noah the very first church, represented by Adam, had come to its end, and a new one had to be opened by the Lord. The minds of the people that were in that church are represented by the ark, and all the animals represented loves and affections, both good and bad, that those people had. The minds of these people were not the same as those of the people of the former church. The old selfish will inherited from their ancestors is represented by the gopher wood from which the basic ark was built, but which was sealed off inside and out by the bitumin. Their ancestors, the Adamites, didn't have this "sealing off" and so couldn't divide what they knew from what they desired. Noah and his family represent the ruling loves and the wish to follow the Lord. The ark keeps the flood of falsities from drowning those minds, and the door and window represent the hearing and seeing of truth from the doctrines that remained from the Adamic church. And so, held safe, they could use those principles, learned from doctrine, to form a conscience, which if followed would allow the Lord to build a new will for good in the mind. This separation of the will and understanding that can be made in the mind still reflects today the way we are, and still allows us to build a conscience, despite our own selfish will.There are three arks mentioned in the Word, the ark of Noah, the ark of bulrushes for the baby Moses, and the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle. All three of these represent the human mind at some point in its development