878. 'He put out his hand' means his own power. 'And he took hold of it, and brought it in to himself into the ark' means that self was the source of the good he did and of the truth he thought. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hand' as power. Here therefore his own power from which he acts is meant. Indeed 'putting out his hand and taking hold of the dove and bringing it in to himself' is attaching and attributing to himself the truth meant by the dove. That 'the hand' means power, and also the exercise of power, and resulting self-confidence, is clear from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I will visit upon the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Asshur, for he has said, By the power of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. Isaiah 10:12-13.

Here 'hand' clearly stands for his own power to which he attributed what he had done, on account of which visitation was made on him.

[2] In the same prophet,

Moab will stretch out his hands in the midst of him as swimmer does to swim, but He will lay low his pride together with the powerfulness ¹ of his hands. Isaiah 25:11.

'Hands' stands for his own power resulting from projection of self above others, and so from pride. In the same prophet,

Their inhabitants were shorn of power, ² they were dismayed and filled with shame. Isaiah 37:27.

'Shorn of power' ² stands for having no power. In the same prophet,

Will the clay say to its potter, What are you making? or your work [say], He has no hands? Isaiah 45:9.

'He has no hands' stands for no power to it. In Ezekiel,

The king will mourn, and the prince will be wrapped in stupidity, and the hands of the people of the land will be all atremble. Ezekiel 7:17.

Here 'the hands' stands for power. In Micah,

Woe to those devising iniquity and working out evil upon their beds, which they carry out at morning light, and because they make their own hand their god! Micah 2:1.

'Hand' stands for their own power which they trust in as their god. In Zechariah,

Woe to the worthless shepherd deserting the flock! The sword will fall upon his arm and upon his right eye. His arm will be wholly withered, and his right eye utterly darkened. Zechariah 11:17.

[3] Since 'hands' means powers, men's evils and falsities are throughout the Word therefore called 'the works of their hands'. Evils come from the will side of man's proprium, falsities from the understanding side. The fact that this is the source of evils and falsities becomes quite clear from the nature of the human proprium, that it is nothing but evil and falsity. That this is the nature of the proprium see what has been stated already in 39, 41, 141, 150, 154, 210, 215. Because 'the hands' in general means power, the Word therefore frequently attributes hands to Jehovah, or the Lord. And in those contexts 'hands' in the internal sense means omnipotence, as in Isaiah, Jehovah, Your hand has been lifted up. Isaiah 26:11. 'Hand' stands for Divine power. In the same prophet,

Jehovah stretches out ³ His hand, they are all destroyed. Isaiah 31:3.

'Hand' stands for Divine power. In the same prophet,

Over the work of My hands command Me. My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isaiah 45:11-12.

'Hands' stands for Divine power. In the Word regenerate people are often called 'the work of Jehovah's hands'. In the same prophet,

My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured out the heavens. Isaiah 48:13.

'Hand' and 'right hand' stand for omnipotence.

[4] In the same prophet,

Has My hand been shortened, that it cannot redeem? Is there no power in Me to deliver? Isaiah 50:2.

'Hand' and 'power' stand for Divine power. In Jeremiah,

You did bring Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. Jeremiah 32:17, 21.

'Power' in verse Jeremiah 32:17 and 'hand' in verse Jeremiah 32:21 stand for Divine power. It is quite often stated that 'they were brought out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm': in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, On the day I chose Israel and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I lifted up My hand to them, to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Ezekiel 20:5-6, 23.

In Moses,

Israel saw the great work ⁴ which Jehovah did on the Egyptians. Exodus 14:31.

[5] All these quotations plainly show that 'the hand' means power. Indeed so much was the hand the symbol of power that it also became its representative, as is clear from the miracles performed in Egypt, when Moses was commanded to stretch out his rod or his hand and they were accomplished -

Moses stretched out his hand and there was hail all over Egypt. Exodus 9:22-23.

Moses stretched out his hand and there was darkness. Exodus 10:21-22.

Moses stretched out his hand and rod over the Sea Suph and it was dried up, and he stretched out his hand and it returned. Exodus 14:11, 27. ⁵

No mentally normal person can believe that any power resided in Moses' hand or rod. Rather, because the lifting up and stretching out of the hand symbolized Divine power, that action also became its representative in the Jewish Church.

[6] The same applies to Joshua's stretching out his javelin, described as follows,

Jehovah said, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand towards Ai, for I will give it into your hand. When Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand, they entered the city and took it. And Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Joshua 8:18-19, 26.

This also makes clear the nature of the representatives which comprised the external features of the Jewish Church. Consequently the Word is such that details recorded in its external sense do not give the appearance of being representatives of the Lord and His kingdom, such as the reference in these quotations to Moses or Joshua stretching out his hand, and all other details recorded there. In these it is never evident that such things are being represented as long as the mind is fixed solely on the historical details of the letter. From this it is also evident how far the Jews had receded from a true understanding of the Word and of the religious practices of their Church by focusing the whole of their worship purely on things of an external nature, even to the extent of attributing power to Moses' rod and to Joshua's javelin, when in fact these had no more power in them than a piece of wood. Yet because they did symbolize the Lord's omnipotence, which was at the time understood in heaven, signs and miracles were accomplished when by command they stretched out their hand or rod. Something similar happened when Moses on the hilltop held up his hands. When he did so Joshua was winning, but when he dropped them he was losing. So they held his hands up for him. Exodus 17:9-13.

[7] It was similar with the laying on of hands when men were being consecrated, as the people did to the Levites, Numbers 8:9-10, 12, and as Moses did to Joshua when the latter was to succeed him, Numbers 27:18, 23 - the purpose being to confer power. And this is why in our own times the ceremonies of ordination and of blessing are accompanied by the laying on of hands. To what extent the hand meant and represented power becomes clear from the following references in the Word to Uzzah and Jeroboam,

Of Uzzah it says that he reached out (his hand) to the Ark of God and took hold of it, and as a consequence died. 2 Samuel 6:6-7.

'The Ark' represented the Lord, and so everything holy and heavenly. 'Uzzah reached out to the Ark' represented man's own power, which is his proprium. And because the proprium is unholy the word 'hand' is left out but nevertheless understood. It is left out to prevent angels perceiving anything so profane as his touching with his hand that which was holy. And because he 'reached out' he died.

[8] In reference to Jeroboam,

It happened, when he heard the saying of the man of God which he cried out against the altar, that Jeroboam reached out his hand from above the altar saying, Lay hold of him. And his hand which he reached out against him dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself. He said to the man of God, Entreat now the face ⁶ of Jehovah your God, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God entreated the face ⁶ of Jehovah and his hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. 1 Kings 13:4-6.

Here similarly 'reaching out his hand' means man's own power, or proprium, which is unholy. He was willing to violate what was holy by stretching out his hand against the man of God, as a consequence of which his hand was dried up. Yet because he was an idolater and therefore not able to profane, as stated already, his hand was restored. The fact that 'the hand' means and represents power becomes clear from representatives in the world of spirits. In that world a bare arm sometimes comes into sight possessing so much strength that it can break bones to bits and crush their inner marrow to nothing at all. It consequently strikes so much terror as to cause heart-failure. It really does possess such strength.

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9407. 'There was so to speak a work of sapphire [stone]' means that it is translucent with inner truths on that level, and that all things in it are translucent from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a work of sapphire' as the character of the literal sense of the Word when the internal sense is discerned within it, that is, when Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, as it is in heaven, shines through it. For the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. In origin it is Divine, but as it passes through the heavens it is celestial in the inmost heaven, spiritual in the second or middle heaven, spiritual-natural in the first or lowest heaven, and natural and worldly in the world; this last is its character in the sense of the letter intended for people there. From this it is evident that the sense of the letter, which is the lowest in order, contains a spiritual and a celestial level of meaning, and inmostly the Divine Himself. And since these inner levels are contained in the lowest or literal sense and are seen by those who understand the Word in a spiritual manner, that sense is represented by 'a work of sapphire', which lets rays of heavenly light through, that is, which is translucent.

[2] To give some idea of that translucence, let human speech serve to illustrate it. Such speech has its origin in the end a person has in view which he wishes to make known through speech. This end is his love; for a person has what he loves as his end in view. From that end arises the person's thought, and finally his speech. Anyone who stops to think properly about this can see and discern the truth of it. The fact that the end is the primary component of speech is clear from the general rule that all intelligence has an end within it, and devoid of the end it is not intelligence. And everyone knows that thought is a secondary component arising from the first, for nobody can speak without thinking or think without having an end in view. The fact that spoken words ensue from this, and that these are the final component, which is properly called speech, is also well known. All this being so, when a person pays attention to what another utters he pays attention not to the words the speaker uses but to the meaning conveyed by them which is present in the speaker's thought. And one who is wise pays attention to the end in view that has given rise to the thought expressed in speech, that is, he pays attention to what the speaker's aims are and what it is he loves. These three components are present in human speech, in which the spoken words serve as the outward form.

[3] This comparison enables one to gain some idea regarding the Word in the letter. For those in heaven pay attention to the Word in the letter and perceive things there in exactly the same way as anyone is accustomed to perceive a person's thought as it presents itself in spoken words, or in the inmost heaven as anyone is accustomed to perceive a person's aims or end in view. But the difference is that when someone reads the sense of the letter of the Word this is not heard or understood in heaven, only the internal sense, because in heaven they perceive solely the spiritual and celestial levels of the Word, not the natural level of it. The one sense accordingly passes over into the other, for they correspond to each other and only things which have a correspondence have been used in the writing of the Word. All this shows what to understand when reference is made to the translucent nature of the Word, meant by 'a work of sapphire'.

[4] But a person who is unable to think on a higher level of understanding, that is, on a level altogether above material things, cannot grasp any of this, not even the idea that it is possible for a sense to exist in the Word other than the one perceived in the letter. If that person is told that the letter holds within itself a spiritual sense which has to do with truth, and that this in turn holds within itself a celestial sense which has to do with good, and also that these senses shine through the literal sense, he will be taken aback at first, then dismiss the idea as nonsense, and finally ridicule it. Actual experience has shown me that this is what people are like in the Christian world at the present day, especially the learned, and that those who reason against that truth boast of being wiser than those who uphold it. Yet the learning in earliest times, which were called golden and silver ages, had consisted in speaking and in writing in ways in which no attention was be paid to the literal meaning other than to enable hidden wisdom to shine through it, as becomes perfectly clear from the oldest books, including those by gentile authors, as well as from fragments in their languages. For their knowledge was primarily the knowledge of correspondences and the knowledge of representations, which forms of knowledge at the present day are some of those which have been lost.

[5] The reason why there appeared under the Lord's feet 'so to speak a work of sapphire' and why this means the translucence of the Word in the sense of the letter is that 'stone' in general means truth, and 'precious stone' truth shining through from what is Divine and the Lord's. For the meaning of 'stone' in general as truth, see 643, 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798, 6426, 8609, 8940-8942. As for 'precious stone' being truth shining through from what is Divine and the Lord's, this was meant by the twelve precious stones in Aaron's breastplate, which was called the Urim and Thummim, 3862, 6335, 6640.

[6] Something similar occurs in Ezekiel,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering - ruby, topaz, diamond, tarshish, shoham, and jasper, sapphire, chrysoprase, emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and your pipes was within you; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were perfect in your ways on the day you were created. Ezekiel 28:12-13, 15.

This refers to Tyre, by which the Church in respect of interior cognitions or knowledge of truth and good is meant, 1201. Its intelligence and wisdom as these had been in its infancy or earliest period are described by those precious stones. 'The day you were created' means the first state when they were regenerated, for 'creation' in the Word means the regeneration or new creation of a person, 16, 88.

[7] Similar things are meant by 'the precious stones' in John,

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. Revelation 21:19-20.

This refers to the holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven, by which a new Church among gentile nations is meant, after the present-day Church in our European world has been laid waste. 'The precious stones that are its foundations' are God's truths shining through on the lowest level of order.

[8] God's truth shining through on the lowest level of order, which is the Word in the letter, is meant by 'sapphire' in particular, as in Isaiah,

O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Behold, I am arranging your stones with antimony, and will lay your foundations in sapphires. Isaiah 54:11.

This too refers to the Church which will take the place of the former one, meant in verse 1 of that chapter by 'her that is desolate who is going to have more sons than the previously married one'. 'Arranging stones' stands for the Church's truths, 'foundations in sapphires' for truths shining through on lowest levels.

[9] 'Sapphire' is used with a similar meaning in Jeremiah,

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow, they were whiter than milk. Their bones ¹ were ruddier than pearls, ² polished like sapphire. ³ Lamentations 4:7.

'Nazirites' in the representative sense meant the Lord in respect of the Divine Natural, 3301, 6437, and therefore also Divine Truth emanating from Him as it exists on its lowest levels, that is, the Word in the sense of the letter. For 'the hair', which is implied by 'Nazirites' here, and is said to be 'brighter than snow and whiter than milk', means truth on its lowest levels, 3301, 5247, 5570, 'brightness' and 'whiteness' having reference to truth, 3301, 5319. 'Bones that were ruddy' means factual knowledge of truth, or truth on its lowest level, which acts as servant to all other levels, 6592, 8005, 'ruddiness' having reference to the good of love present in truths, 3300. From all this it is evident that 'sapphire' means truth on the lowest levels which is translucent with inner truths.

[10] In Ezekiel,

Above the expanse that was above the heads of the cherubs, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne there was the appearance of a man (homo) sitting upon it. Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1.

'The cherubs' are the Lord's protection and providence, guarding against access to Him except through good, 9277 (end). 'A throne over which there was the appearance of a man' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, 5313, 6397, 9039. From this it is evident that 'a sapphire stone' means truth translucent with inner truths; that is to say, 'a stone' means truth, and 'sapphire' translucence.

[11] The reason why all things of the Word are translucent with the Lord is that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is the one and only source of everything there. For what is primary is the one and only vital element present in the things which follow and are derived from it, because they have their being in it and come into being from it; and the Divine Truth is the Lord. Here also lies the reason why the subject in the highest sense of the Word is the Lord alone, His love, providence, kingdom in heaven and on earth, and especially the glorification of His Human.

[12] The fact that the Divine Truth is the Lord Himself is evident from the consideration that whatever emanates from someone is the someone himself. What emanates for instance from a person when he speaks or acts originates in his will and understanding; and will and understanding constitute a person's life, thus the person himself. For the human being is not a human being by virtue of the shape of face and body but by virtue of an understanding that sees what is true and a will that intends what is good. From this it becomes clear that what emanates from the Lord is the Lord; and the fact that this is Divine Truth has been shown often in what has gone before.

[13] But anyone unacquainted with the arcana of heaven may suppose that the nature of Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is no different from that of spoken words emanating from a human being. It is not spoken words however; rather It is the Divine filling the heavens, like light and heat from the sun filling the world. This may be illustrated by means of the spheres which emanate from the angels in heaven, dealt with in 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1520, 1695, 2401, 4464, 5179, 6206 (end), 6598-6613, 7454, 8063, 8630, 8794, 8797. In these places it has been shown and may be seen that they are spheres of the truth of faith and the good of love received from the Lord. But the Divine sphere which emanates from the Lord and is called Divine Truth spreads everywhere; as has been stated, it fills the whole of heaven and composes all of the life there. It appears before the eyes there as light, which enlightens not only angels' sight but also their minds. That same light is in addition what composes a person's understanding in the world. This is the meaning in John,

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was the true light which enlightens every person coming into the world. And the world was made by Him. John 1:4, 9-10.

These words refer to Divine Truth, which in this chapter is called 'the Word'; and Divine Truth or 'the Word' - it says - is the Lord Himself.

[14] That light, which is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, was described by the ancients as radiating rings of golden hue around the head and body of God represented as a human being. For the ancients had no thought of God except of Him in human form.

[15] When a person is governed by good, and because of good is guided by truths, this person is raised to that Divine light, and - according to the amount and essential nature of the good - to interior light. This provides him with a general enlightenment in which the Lord enables him to see countless truths and to perceive them from good. At this time that person is led by the Lord to discern and absorb those which are suitable to him. He is led to do so as regards the most specific things, in keeping with order, so far as it contributes to his eternal life. The words 'as regards the most specific things' are used because the Lord's providence reigns universally, and it does so because it is present in the most specific things. For specific things are at the same called what is universal, 1919 (end), 6159, 6338, 6482, 6483, 8864, 8865.

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