9841. 'And you shall take two shoham stones' means the interior memory formed from the truths of faith that spring from love. This is clear from the meaning of 'stones' as truths, dealt with in 114, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, and of 'shoham stones' as the truths of faith springing from love, 9476. The reason why the memory is meant by these stones is that the names of the sons of Israel were engraved on them and an engraving on stones means a memory composed of real things which are to remain there permanently. The engraving or inscription of the Law on tablets of stone for example means those things which have been imprinted on a person's memory and life and which for this reason are to remain there permanently, see 9416 (end). The engraving or inscription on stones has this meaning because the human memory has truths imprinted on it, also ideas that have the appearance of truth, so much so that it is fashioned from them. Stones furthermore mean truths, and when an engraving on them is mentioned a memory where truths reside is meant, as is meant by 'the engraving on the hands' in Isaiah,

Even though they may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you upon [My] hands. Isaiah 49:15-16.

This explains why those stones are called 'stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel' in verse 12 below.

[2] The reason why the interior memory is meant by 'the shoham stones', on account of the engraving on them, is that even as the inscriptions, which were the names of the sons of Israel, mean spiritual truths, regarding which, see what follows below, and also the actual stones mean spiritual truths, so a person's interior memory must consist of such truths. For a person has two memories, exterior and interior; the exterior memory is natural, shaped therefore by such things as occur in the world, whereas the interior memory is spiritual, shaped by such as occur in heaven, see 2469-2494, 5212, 8067.

[3] The meaning of stones with engraving on them as the [interior] memory on which truths have been inscribed has its origin in representatives in heaven. People who enter the next life after death, bringing with them truths of faith that are present solely in the natural or exterior memory, and not in the spiritual or interior memory, seem to themselves when they go out to be wandering about among stony rocks and in forests. But those bringing with them truths of faith present in the spiritual memory as well seem to themselves when they go out to be walking among cultivated hills and also in gardens. The reason for this is that truths present in the exterior or natural memory, where they exist as known facts, are not at all part of life unless they are present at the same time in the interior or spiritual memory, for the truths present in this memory have become part of life, the interior or spiritual memory being the book of a person's life, 2474; and the things that compose life are represented in heaven by gardens, olive groves, and vineyards, and by rose beds and lawns, and those that compose charity by the hills where such places are situated, 6435. Those however which do not compose life are represented by stony places and thickets which are bare and rugged.

[4] What the truths of faith that spring from love are must also be stated briefly. Truths of faith springing from love are ones which love dictates, and so ones which derive their very being from love; in those truths there is life, because whatever springs from love has life in it. Truths of faith springing from love therefore are those which are directly concerned with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, these being the truths which love dictates. The whole Word consists of teachings that present such truths, for in its spiritual sense the Word deals solely with such things as have to do with the Lord and such as have to do with the neighbour, thus such things as have to do with love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. For this reason the Word too has life in it. This is what is meant by the statement 'on these two commandments the Law and the Prophets depend', Matthew 22:38, 40, 'the Law and the Prophets' being the Word in its entirety. The truths of faith springing from love however do not consist in a bare knowledge of such truths that resides in a person's memory and consequently in his understanding. Rather they are affections inherently present in the person's life; for what a person loves and therefore does is inherently present in his life. There are also truths of faith which are not directly concerned with love, but merely lend support closely or remotely to those which are directly concerned with it. These truths of faith are called secondary truths. For the truths of faith are like families and their successive generations coming down from one and the same father. The father of those truths is the good of love, received from the Lord and consequently offered to Him. Thus their father is the Lord, for whether you say the Lord or love received from Him and consequently offered to Him, it amounts to the same thing. Love is spiritual togetherness and causes Him to be where that love is; for assuredly love causes the one who is loved to be present within itself.

9416. 'And I will give you tablets of stone' means the book of the law, or the Word in its entirety. This is clear from the meaning of 'tablets' as objects on which matters of doctrine and life have been inscribed, in this instance matters of heavenly doctrine and of life in keeping with it. The reason why those tablets mean the book of the law or the Word in its entirety is that the things which had been inscribed on them contained in a general way all matters of life and of that heavenly doctrine. This also explains why the things inscribed on them are called the ten words, Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 10:4. For 'ten' in the internal sense means all, and 'words' means truths that are matters of doctrine and forms of good that are matters of life. For the meaning of 'ten' as all, see 3107, 4638, 8468, 8540, and for that of 'words' as truths and forms of good that are matters of life and doctrine, 1288, 4692, 5272. This is why those tablets mean the Word in its entirety, just as the Law does, which in a restricted sense means the things which had been inscribed on those tablets, in a less restricted sense the Word that was written through Moses, in a broad sense the historical section of the Word, and in the broadest sense the Word in its entirety, see what has been shown in 6752. Furthermore the things which had been inscribed on those tablets belonged to the first stage in the revelation of Divine Truth; they were also declared in actual words uttered by the Lord before all the Israelite people. What belongs to the first stage means all the rest in their proper order; and the fact that those things were declared in actual words uttered by the Lord means direct Divine inspiration in all other stages of revelation as well. The reason why those tablets were made of stone was that 'stone' means truth, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, the lowest levels of truth, to be exact, 8609. The lowest levels of God's truth constitute the letter of the Word as it exists on this planet, 9360.

[2] There was not one tablet but two, to represent the joining of the Lord to the Church through the Word, and through the Church to the human race. This also is why they are called the tablets of the covenant, Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15, and why the words inscribed on them are called the words of the covenant, Exodus 34:27-28, also the covenant, Deuteronomy 4:13, 23. And the ark itself in which the tablets had been deposited was called the ark of the covenant, Numbers 10:33; 14:44; Deuteronomy 10:8; 31:9, 25-26; Joshua 3:3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17; 4:7, 9, 18; 6:6, 8; 8:33; Judges 20:27; 1 Samuel 4:3-5; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 3:15; 6:19; 8:1, 6; Jeremiah 3:16. For a covenant is a joining together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396. This explains why those tablets were divided from each other yet were joined together by being laid alongside each other. The writing on them ran across continuously from one tablet onto the other, like the writing on a single tablet. It was not, as people ordinarily think, that some commandments were written on one tablet and some on the other. For a single object divided in two, and the two parts then brought together or given each to the other, means the Lord and man joined together. The establishment of covenants was therefore accomplished in similar ways, that with Abraham for example by parting down the middle a heifer, she-goat, and ram, and laying each part opposite the other, Genesis 15:9-12; in verses 6 and 8 of the present chapter by putting blood in bowls and then sprinkling it half over the altar and half over the people; and generally in all sacrifices by burning one part on the altar and giving the other part to the people to eat. The like was also represented by the Lord when He broke bread, Matthew 14:19; 15:36; 26:26; Mark 6:41; 8:6; 14:22; Luke 9:16; 22:19; 24:30-31, 35. Here also is the reason why 'two' in the Word means things joined together, 5194, 8423, here the Lord and heaven, or the Lord and the Church, joined together, thus also goodness and truth joined together, which is called the heavenly marriage. From all this it becomes clear why it is that there were two tablets and that both sides of them were written on, from edge to edge, Exodus 32:15-16.

[3] Furthermore when the writing and engraving on tablets is mentioned in the Word it means those things that must be imprinted in people's memory and on their life, and so remain there, as in Isaiah,

Write it on a tablet among them, and express it in a book, ¹ so that it may be for time to come forever, even to eternity. Isaiah 30:8.

In Jeremiah,

The sin of Judah has been written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it has been engraved on the tablet of their heart, and at the horns of your altars. Jeremiah 17:1.

In Habakkuk,

Jehovah said, Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that one running by may read it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; if it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come. Habakkuk 2:2-3.

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