585. And repented not of the works of their hands, signifies who did not actually turn themselves away from such things as are from self [proprium]. This is evident from the signification of "to repent," as being to turn oneself away actually from evil (of which presently) and from the signification of "the works of their hands," as being such things as man thinks, wills, and does, from self [proprium]. That this is the signification of "the works of their hands," will appear from the passages in the Word that follow, also from this, that works are things of the will, and of the understanding therefrom, or of love and of faith therefrom (See above, n. 98); also that "hands" signify power, and "their hands" self-power, thus whatever with man comes forth from self.

[2] In respect to man's self it is to be known that it is nothing but evil and falsity therefrom; the voluntary self [proprium voluntarium] is evil, and the intellectual self therefrom [proprium intellectuale] is falsity. This self man derives mainly from parents, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, in a long series back, so that at length the hereditary, which is his self, is nothing but evil gradually heaped up and condensed. For every man is born into two diabolical loves, the love of self and the love of the world, from which loves all evils and all falsities therefrom pour forth as from their own fountains; and as man is born into these loves he is also born into evils of every kind (respecting which more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.65-83).

[3] Because man, in respect to his self is such, means have been given by the Divine mercy of the Lord, by which man can be withdrawn from his self; these means are given in the Word; and when man cooperates with these means, that is, when he thinks and speaks, wills and acts, from the Divine Word, he is kept by the Lord in things Divine, and is thus withheld from self; and when this continues there is formed with man by the Lord as it were a new self, both voluntary and intellectual, which is wholly separated from man's self; thus man becomes as it were created anew, and this is what is called his reformation and regeneration by truths from the Word, and by a life according to them. (Respecting this see also The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in the article on Remission of Sins, n.159-172; and on Regeneration, n. 173-186.) To repent is to actually turn oneself away from evils, because every man is such as his life is, and the life of man consists mainly in willing and consequent doing; and from this it follows that repentance which is merely of the thought and of the lips, and not at the same time of the will and of action therefrom, is not repentance, for then the life remains the same afterwards as it was before. This makes evident that to repent is to actually turn oneself away from evils, and to enter upon a new life (on this see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.159-172).

[4] That "the works of the hands" signify such things as man thinks, wills, and does from self, can be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Jeremiah:

Provoke Me not to anger by the work of your hands, that I may not do evil to you; yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, that ye might provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands, for evil to you. Many nations and great kings shall make them to serve; that I may recompense them according to their work and according to the doing of their hands (Jeremiah 25:6, 7, 14).

"The work and doing of the hands" means in the nearest sense their molten images and idols; but in the spiritual sense the "work of the hands" signifies all the evil and falsity that are from self-love and self-intelligence. "Molten images and idols" which are called "the work of the hands" have a like signification, as will be seen in what follows, where the signification of "idols" is given. As man's self [proprium] is nothing but evil, thus is opposed to the Divine, it is said, "Provoke Me not to anger by the work of your hands, that I may not do evil to you;" "to provoke God to anger" signifies to be opposed to Him, which is the source of evil to man; and because all evils and falsities are from man's self [proprium], it is said, "Many nations and great kings make them to serve," which signifies that evils from which are falsities, and falsities from which are evils, will take possession of them; "many nations" meaning evils from which are falsities, and "great kings" falsities from which are evils.

[5] In the same:

The sons of Israel have provoked Me to anger by the work of their hands (Jeremiah 32:30).

And in the same:

Ye provoke Me to anger by the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt (4 Jeremiah 44:8).

"The works of their hands" mean here in the spiritual sense worship from falsities of doctrine which are from self-intelligence; such worship is signified by "burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt;" for "to burn incense" signifies worship; "other gods" signify falsities of doctrine, and the "land of Egypt" signifies the natural in which man's self [proprium] has its seat, and thus whence self-intelligence comes. Thus is this Word understood in heaven.

[6] In the same:

I will speak with them My judgments upon all their wickedness, that they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, and have bowed themselves down to the works of their own hands (Jeremiah 1:16).

Here also "to burn incense to other gods" signifies worship from the falsities of doctrine, and "to bow themselves down to the works of their own hands" signifies worship from such things as are from self-intelligence; that this is from self [proprium] and not from the Divine is signified by "that they have forsaken Me."

[7] In Isaiah:

In that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall see the Holy One of Israel, and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he shall not see that which his fingers have made (Isaiah 17:7, 8).

This is said of the Lord's coming and of a new church at that time. "The Maker to whom a man shall then look" means the Lord in relation to Divine good, and "the Holy One of Israel whom his eyes shall see" means the Lord in relation to Divine truth. The "altars, which are the work of hands, and which the fingers have made, to which a man shall not look," signify worship from evils and the consequent falsities of doctrine that are from self-intelligence. So these words mean that everything of doctrine will be from the Lord and not from man's self [proprium], which is the case when man is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, when he loves truth itself because it is truth, and not for the most part because it gives him reputation and a name.

[8] In the same:

Jehovah gave the gods of the kings of Assyria to the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone (Isaiah 37:19).

"The gods of the kings of Assyria" signify the reasonings from falsities and evils, which are in accord with man's self [proprium]; wherefore they are called "the work of man's hands;" "wood and stone," that is, idols of wood and stone, signify the evils and falsities of religion and of doctrine that are from self [proprium].

[9] In the same:

In that day they shall reject everyone the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold, which your hands have made for you, a sin; and then shall the Assyrian fall (Isaiah 31:7, 8).

This describes the establishment of the church; and the "idols of silver and the idols of gold, which in that day they shall reject" signify the falsities and evils of religion and of worship which they call truths and goods; and because the falsities and evils of religion and of worship are from self-intelligence it is said, "which your hands have made for you;" that there shall then be no reasonings from such things is signified by "then shall the Assyrian fall."

[10] 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; his ¹ garment is hyacinthine and purple; they are all the work of the wise (Jeremiah 10:9).

This describes the falsity and evil of religion and of worship which are confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word. "Silver spread into plates from Tarshish" signifies the truths of the Word in that sense; and "gold from Uphaz" signifies the good of the Word in that sense; and because those falsities and evils are from self-intelligence they are called "the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner;" the truth of good also and the good of truth from the sense of the letter of the Word, by which the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity, which are from self-intelligence, are confirmed and as it were invested, are signified by "his garment is hyacinthine and purple, they are all the work of the wise."

[11] Moreover, the work of the workman, the artificer, and the mechanic," signifies in the Word whatever of doctrine, religion, and worship is from self-intelligence. This is why the altar, and also the temple, were built, by command, of whole stones, and not hewn by any workman or artificer. Respecting the altar it is thus said in Moses:

If thou makest to Me an altar of stones thou shalt not build it of hewn stones, for if thou move a tool upon it thou wilt profane it (Exodus 20:25).

And in Joshua:

Joshua built an altar unto the God of Israel in Mount Ebal, an altar of whole stones, on which no one had moved iron (Joshua 8:30, 31).

And respecting the temple, in the first book of Kings:

The temple at Jerusalem was built of stone, whole as it was brought; for there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building (1 Kings 6:7).

The altar, and afterwards the temple, were the chief representatives of the Lord in relation to Divine good and Divine truth, therefore "the stones of which they were built" signified the truths of doctrine, of religion and of worship; "stones" signifying in the Word truths. That nothing of self-intelligence must approach the truths of doctrine and thus worship, and consequently be in it, was represented by the stones of which the temple and the altar were built, being whole, and not hewn; for such is the signification of "the work of the workman and of the artificer;" "tool," also "hammer" and "axe" and "iron," in general, signify truth in its ultimate, and such truth is falsified chiefly by man's self, for this truth is the same as the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word.

[12] Thus much respecting the signification of "the works of man's hands;" but where "works of the hands" are attributed in the Word to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, they signify the reformed or regenerated man, also the church, and in particular the doctrine of truth and good of the church. This is the signification of "the works of the hands" in the following passages. In David:

The works of the hands of Jehovah are verity and judgment (Psalms 111:7).

In the same:

Jehovah will perfect for me; O Jehovah, Thy mercy is forever; neglect not the works of Thine own hands (Psalms 138:8).

In Isaiah:

Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the shoot of My plants, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified (Isaiah 60:21).

In the same:

O Jehovah, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy hands (Isaiah 64:8).

In the same:

Woe unto him that striveth with his Former! A potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its potter, What makest thou? or thy work, Hath he no hands? Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and thy ² Former, They have asked Me signs respecting My sons, and respecting the work of My hands they command Me (Isaiah 45:9, 11).

That here "Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, the Former," means the Lord, is evident from what follows in verse 13; and "the work of His hands" means a man regenerated by Him, thus the man of the church.

[13] In the same:

Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isaiah 19:25).

"Egypt" here signifies the natural, "Assyria" the rational, and "Israel" the spiritual; and "Assyria" is called "the work of Jehovah's hands" because the rational is what is reformed in man, for it is the rational that receives truths and goods, and from this the natural; the spiritual is what regenerates, that is, the Lord by spiritual influx; in a word, the rational is the medium between the spiritual and the natural, and the spiritual, which regenerates, flows in through the rational into the natural, and thus the natural is regenerated. In Moses:

Bless, O Jehovah, his strength, and accept the work of his hands (Deuteronomy 33:11).

This is said of Levi, who signifies the good of charity, and in the highest sense the Lord in respect to that good; reformation by means of it is meant by "the work of his hands."

Poznámky pod čarou:

427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads, signifies that those who are in truths from good are first to be separated. This is evident from the signification of "to seal," as being to distinguish and separate (of which presently); also from the signification of "the servants of God," as being those who are in truths from good (of which see above, n. 6); also from the signification of "forehead," as being the good of love. It is from correspondence that "forehead" means the good of love; for all things pertaining to man in the whole body, whether within or without, correspond to heaven, for the universal heaven in the sight of the Lord is as one Man, so arranged as to correspond to each and all the things in man. The whole face, where the organs of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and the thoughts therefrom in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nose to perception, the ears to hearkening and obedience, and the taste to the desire to know and be wise; but the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these are, for it forms the highest part of the face, and directly encloses the front and primary part of the brain, which is the seat of man's intellect. This is why the Lord looks upon angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord through the eyes; this is so because the forehead corresponds to the love, from which the Lord looks upon them, and the eyes correspond to the understanding from which they look to the Lord; for the Lord grants Himself to be seen through the influx of love into their understanding. (Respecting this see in the work on Heaven and Hell 145, 151; and that The Universal Heaven in its Whole Complex answers to One Man, n. 68-86; and that There is thence a Correspondence of all Things of Heaven with all Things of Man, n 87-102.) This makes clear the signification of "being sealed on the forehead," namely, to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and thereby to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love; for the Lord looks upon such in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to the Lord by thought from affection. The rest cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, for they turn away from Him and turn themselves to the opposite love, by which they are filled and attracted. (That everyone in the spiritual world, and man as well in respect to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552)

[2] "To be sealed" means not to be sealed, but to be reduced to such a state that their quality may be recognized, and that they may thus be conjoined with those who are in a like state and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state. This is signified by "to be sealed," and by a "sign" in the following passages. In Ezekiel:

Jehovah said to the man clothed in linen, Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and groan over all the abominations done in the midst thereof. And pass ye through the city after him and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near against any man upon whom is the sign (Ezekiel 9:4, 6).

This also treats of the separation of the good from the evil; and "to mark on the forehead" has a similar signification as in this passage in Revelation, namely, to be distinguished and separated from the evil and to be conjoined to the good; the casting out and damnation of the evil are treated of afterwards. Those who are in good are described by those "that sigh and groan over all the abominations done in the midst of the city Jerusalem;" "those that sigh and groan over abominations" mean those who are not in evils and in falsities therefrom, "sighing and groaning over them" signifying aversion and grief because of them, "Jerusalem" meaning the church, and "city" the doctrine. Afterwards that they should "pass through the city after him and smite, and the eye should not spare," describes the casting out and damnation of the evil; "to smite and kill" signifying damnation, for spiritual death, which is damnation, is signified in the Word by natural death.

[3] In Isaiah:

He shall come for bringing together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see My glory. And I will set a sign upon them (Isaiah 66:18, 19).

This is said of the Lord, and of a new church to be established by Him, and thus of a new heaven and a new earth (as is evident from verse 22 that chapter). "Bringing together all nations and tongues" has a similar signification, as:

Gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31);

"to gather together" signifies to receive to Himself those who are His own; "nations" signify those who are in good, and "tongues" those who are in a life according to doctrine; "to come and see the glory of the Lord" signifies to be illustrated by Divine truth, and thus to enjoy heavenly joy; for "the glory of the Lord" signifies Divine truth, and illustration and joy from it; "to set a sign upon them" signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil and conjoin them to the good.

[4] It is written of Cain:

That Jehovah set a sign upon him that no one might slay him (Genesis 4:15).

He who does not know this arcanum of the Word that the persons named in its histories mean in the spiritual sense things, or that every person there mentioned represents and thence signifies something of the church and of heaven, can know nothing beyond the historical things of the letter, in which nothing more of the Divine appears than in other histories; and yet there is in the Word, both prophetical and historical, and in each and all things of it, something Divine that does not appear in the letter except to those who are in the spiritual sense and who know it. The spiritual arcanum in the history of Cain and Abel is this: "Abel" represents the good of charity, and "Cain" the truth of faith, and that good and that truth are called in the Word "brethren;" and the truth of faith is called "the firstborn" because the truths that are afterwards to become truths of faith are first acquired and stored up in the memory, that from it, as from a storehouse, good may draw what it may conjoin to itself and make the truths to be truths of faith. For truth does not become of faith until man wills it and does it; but so far as man does this the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and through good into the truths that the man has acquired from childhood, and conjoins them to good and makes them to be truths of faith; before this they are nothing but the cognitions and knowledges, in which as yet man has no other faith than such as he has in things heard from another, from which he can withdraw if he afterwards thinks differently; therefore this faith is not his own but that of another in him; and yet if a man's faith is to remain with him after death it must be his own faith; and it becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for it then enters into the man and forms his spirit, and comes to be of his affection and thought; for man's spirit in its essence is nothing but his affection and thought.

[5] That which is of the affection is called good, and that which is of the thought therefrom is called truth; and man believes nothing to be true except what is of his affection, but of the interior affection that pertains to his spirit; consequently that which a man thinks from interior affection is his faith, and whatever other things he holds in his memory, whether he has drawn them from the Word or from the doctrine of the church, by reading or from preachings, or from his own understanding, are not faith, however much he thinks that they are, and it is at present said and believed that they are. This first-begotten and primary thing is what "Cain" represents and signifies in this history, for Cain was the first-begotten. When this, and not willing and doing the truth, that is, living according to it, is believed to be the faith that saves man, then there springs up a pernicious heresy that faith alone saves, whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith apart from the life; and yet this is not faith, but mere knowledge residing outside of man in his memory, and not within him in the life. If this is called faith it is historical faith, which is having in oneself another's faith, and such a faith does not receive life until the man sees that what he has thus imbibed is true, and this he first sees when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, charity, which is the good of life, is destroyed, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity, or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called in the Word "brethren," as was said above.

[6] That "Jehovah set a sign upon Cain lest he should be slain" signifies that He distinguished him from others and preserved him, because saving faith cannot be given unless historical faith precedes, and this is knowing from others the things of the church and heaven; in a word, it is a knowledge of such things as faith afterwards consists of; for unless man from infancy imbibed truths from the Word, or from the doctrine of the church, or from preachings, he would be empty, and into an empty man no operation could fall, and no influx out of heaven from the Lord could come, for the Lord operates and flows in through good into truths with man, and conjoins these, and thus makes charity and faith to be one. From this can be seen the signification of "Jehovah set a sign upon Cain that no one might slay him, and that whosoever should slay him vengeance should be taken on him sevenfold." Moreover, those who are in mere historical faith, that is, in a knowledge of such things as constitute faith, who are the persons or which is the faith meant by "Cain," these are preserved also because they can teach truths from the Word to others, which they do from memory.

[7] Because the "forehead" corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from Divine love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as was said above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was written "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the miter of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

Thou shalt make a plate, pure gold, and grave upon it with the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of blue; over against the faces of the miter it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and may be constantly on his forehead, that they may have acceptance before Jehovah (Exodus 28:36-38).

For Aaron as high priest represented the Lord in relation to the good of Divine love, therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love; the miter represented intelligence and wisdom; and the front part of it love, from which are intelligence and wisdom; therefore the plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," was placed upon a thread of blue; "pure gold" of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the "blue" of which the thread was made, on which was the plate, signifies the good of spiritual love (spiritual love is the love of truth); "the engraving of a signet" signifies endurance to eternity; "Holiness to Jehovah" signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human from which proceeds all the holiness of heaven and the church; these were upon the front of the miter which was upon Aaron's head, because the "miter" signifies the like as the head, namely Divine wisdom, and the "forehead" the Divine good of love. (That Aaron represented the Lord in relation to the good of love, see Arcana Coelestia, 9806, 9946, 10017; that "blue" signifies the love of truth, n. 9466, 9687, 9833; and the "miter" signifies intelligence and wisdom, n. 9827)

[8] Because the "forehead" signifies the good of love, the sons of Israel were commanded to bind the commandment respecting love to Jehovah upon their foreheads, as is taught in Moses:

Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes (Deuteronomy 6:5 (Deuteronomy 6:6, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).

It is said "they shall be for frontlets before the eyes," as a representation that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine love, and grants to angels and men to look at Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the "eyes" signify the understanding, and all man's understanding is from the good of his love and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they bound these words upon the hand also represented ultimate things, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore "upon the forehead and upon the hand" signifies in things first and last, and "first and last" signifies all things (as may be seen above, n. 417. This commandment was so bound because "on it hang the law and the prophets," that is, the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and the church:

That on this commandment hang the law and the prophets the Lord teaches (Matthew 22:35-38, 40).

This also makes clear why kings, in former times and also at present, when crowned, were anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand, and what this signifies; for kings formerly represented the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and because this is received in the good of love that flows in from the Lord, therefore they were anointed upon the forehead and upon the hand, the "oil" also with which they were anointed signifying the good of love. This is why kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good (See above, n. 31). From this it can be seen what "a seal upon the forehead" means, as also elsewhere in Revelation (Revelation 9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).

[9] But on the contrary, the "forehead" signifies that which is opposite to the good of love, namely, the evil of love, and thus what is hard, obstinate, shameless, and infernal. It signifies what is hard in Isaiah:

Thou art hard, for thy neck is a sinew of iron, and thy forehead brass (Isaiah 48:4).

It signifies what is stubborn in Ezekiel:

The house of Israel will not hearken unto Me; for the whole house of Israel are stubborn in forehead and hard in heart (Ezekiel 3:7, 8).

It signifies what is shameless in Jeremiah:

The forehead of a harlot remained to thee, thou didst refuse to be ashamed (Jeremiah 3:3).

It signifies what is infernal in Revelation (Revelation 13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4); for as the good of love is heavenly, and thence mild, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, stubborn, and shameless.