8940. 'And if you make for Me an altar of stones' means a representative kind of worship in general that is composed of truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'an altar' as a representative of Divine worship in general, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4489; and from the meaning of 'stones' as truths, dealt with in 643, 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798, 6426, 8609. There is worship of the Lord that springs from good, and there is worship of Him that springs from truth. Worship of the Lord springing from good was represented by an altar of soil, and worship springing from truth by an altar of stone. Regarding the first and the second kinds of worship, see above in 8935. It was because an altar of stone was a sign of worship springing from truth that they were commanded to set up such an altar as soon as they crossed the Jordan and came into the land of Canaan, and to write on it the Commandments contained in the Law, that is, God's truths from heaven. For by the Ten Commandments are meant all God's truths in summary form. That altar is spoken of in Moses as follows,

When you cross the Jordan you shall set up for yourself large stones, and coat them with lime. Then you shall write on them all the words of the Law. Afterwards, you shall build there an altar to Jehovah your God, an altar of stones, which you shall not hew with any iron tool. ¹ With whole stones you shall build the altar of Jehovah your God, and present ² on it burnt offerings and eucharistic offerings. And you shall write on the stones of the altar the words of the Law, expressing them very plainly. Deuteronomy 27:1-8; Joshua 8:30-32.

[2] The reason why they were to write the words of the Law on stones of the altar was that truths were meant by 'stones', and worship that springs from truths by 'an altar of stones'. This was also the reason why the Ten Commandments, which were a sign of Divine Truths in their entirety, were inscribed on tablets of stone. The reason why it had to be done as soon as they crossed the Jordan was that the Jordan, which was the first and outermost boundary of the land of Canaan on the side where the wilderness lay, meant introduction into the Church or heaven, which is accomplished through cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, thus through truths from the Word, 4255. For all the rivers serving as boundaries of that land meant the first and outermost reaches of the Lord's kingdom, 4116, 4240. By 'the stones of the altar' the truths of faith are also meant in Isaiah,

He will remove sin when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isaiah 27:9

This refers to the ruination of the Church. 'The stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about' stands for the truths of faith that inspire worship after something similar has happened to them. As regards altars in general, they were made out of soil, stones, bronze, wood, and also gold - out of bronze, wood, and gold because these materials served to mean good. For an altar of bronze, see Ezekiel 9:2; for an altar of wood, Ezekiel 41:22; and for an altar of gold, which was the altar of incense, 1 Kings 6:22; 7:48; Revelation 8:3. That 'bronze' means good, see 425, 1551; that 'wood' does so, 643, 2784, 2812, 3720, 8354; and that 'gold' does so as well, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658.

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3705. 'The land on which you are lying I will give to you' means that the good on which the Natural rested was His own in origin. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' here as the good of the natural, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'on which you are lying' as on which it rested; and from the meaning of 'giving it to you' as His own in origin, also dealt with below. The reason 'the land' means the good of the natural, which Jacob will represent from now on, is that 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 1866. And since it means the Lord's kingdom it also means in the highest sense the Lord, 3038 - for the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, and anything there which does not originate in Him and have regard to Him is not part of His kingdom. The Lord's kingdom is also meant in the Word by 'heaven and earth', ¹ 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), though in this case the interior of that kingdom is meant by 'heaven' and the exterior by 'earth', 82, 1411, 1733, 3355 (end). Consequently 'heaven' in the highest sense means the Lord as regards His Divine Rational and 'earth' as regards His Divine Natural. Here therefore 'the land on which you are lying' means the Good of the Natural on which the Natural, represented by 'Jacob', rested. For 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Divine Natural, as stated many times above.

[2] Furthermore the word 'land' has various meanings, see 620, 636, 1066, 2571, 3368, 3379, the reason being that Canaan, which is called the Holy Land, means the Lord's kingdom in general; and when 'heaven' is mentioned together with 'earth', 'heaven' in that case means, as has been stated, that which is interior, 'earth' that which is exterior. This being so it also means the Lord's kingdom on earth, that is, the Church; and having that meaning, it also means a person who is the Lord's kingdom or who is the Church. With that person 'heaven' accordingly means that which is interior, 'earth' that which is exterior; or what amounts to the same, 'heaven' is the rational and 'earth' the natural since the rational exists more interiorly with man and the natural more exteriorly. And since 'land' [or 'earth'] has all these meanings it also means that which a person puts into effect - namely the good of love which he receives from the Divine - so that he may become the Lord's kingdom. From this it is evident in what way the meaning of 'land' in the Word varies.

[3] 'I will give to you' means that in origin it was His own. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'giving' in the Word when used in reference to the Lord, for as shown just above, the Lord is Divine Good and also Divine Truth, the former being called 'the Father' and the latter 'the Son'. Now because Divine Good is His and consequently that which is His own, it follows that 'giving to you', when spoken by Jehovah and used in reference to the Lord, means that which was His own in origin. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by the Lord's frequent reference to the Father's having given to Him - that is to say, to Himself, the Lord - as in John,

Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him power over all flesh, in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. I have glorified You on earth; I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; Yours they were, and You gave them to Me. Now they know that everything which You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them. I am praying for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours; for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. John 17:1-2, 4, 6-10.

Each reference here to the Father's giving means originating in the Divine Good that was His, and so in that which was His own.

[4] From this one may see how great an arcanum lies within the particular words spoken by the Lord, and also how greatly different the sense of the letter is from the internal sense, and more so from the highest sense. The Lord spoke in this fashion in order that mankind which at that time had no knowledge at all of any Divine truth might nevertheless be enabled in its own way to grasp and so accept the Word, while angels did so in theirs, for the angels knew that Jehovah and He were one and that the Father was Divine Good. For this reason also they knew that when He spoke of the Father giving to Him He would be giving to Himself and so drawing on what was His own.

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