671. Clothed in clean bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden sashes. This symbolically means, this [a preparation by the Lord for influx into the church] 1 in accordance with the pure and genuine truths and goods in the Word.
Clean bright linen symbolizes pure, genuine truth, as we will show below. A golden sash about the breast symbolizes the emanating Divinity that at the same time conjoins, namely Divine good (no. 46 above). To be clothed and girded means, symbolically, to appear and be seen in this truth and goodness, for garments symbolize truths that clothe goodness (no. 166). Sashes or girdles then symbolize truths and goods that hold everything in their order and connection (no. 46).
It is apparent from this that angels clothed in clean bright linen and girded about their breasts with golden sashes symbolize pure and genuine truths and goods, and because these come only from the Word, they symbolize truths and goods in the Word.
[2] That linen symbolizes Divine truth can be seen from the following, as that Aaron wore linen breeches when he entered the Tabernacle or approached the altar (Exodus 28:42-43). That the priests wore linen ephods (1 Samuel 22:18). That when Samuel as a child ministered before Jehovah, he wore a linen ephod (1 Samuel 2:18). That when David was transporting the Ark into his city he was girded with a linen ephod (2 Samuel 6:14).
It can be seen from this why, when the Lord washed the disciples' feet, He girded Himself in linen and wiped their feet with linen 2 (John 13:4-5).
Moreover, the angels seen in the Lord's sepulcher appeared in dazzling bright white clothing (Matthew 28:3 [cf. Luke 24]).
[4]. The angel who measured the new temple had in his hand a line of linen (Ezekiel 40:3). In order that he might represent the state of the church with respect to truth, Jeremiah was told to buy a linen sash and hide it in a hole in the rock by the Euphrates, and later he found it ruined (Jeremiah 13:1-7). We read, too, in Isaiah:
A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking linen He will not quench; He will bring forth justice in truth. (Isaiah 42:3)
By linen in these places nothing else is meant but truth.
Notes de bas de page:
1. I.e., a preparation by the Lord for influx from the inmost of heaven into the church, to expose its evils and falsities in their entirety and so to separate evil people from the good (no. 670 above).
2. The writer here follows the Latin translation of Sebastian Schmidt, who mistakes the Greek lention (levntion, a towel) to have the same meaning as the Latin linteum (linen).
