1296. That 'come, let us make bricks' means the falsities which they fashioned for themselves is clear from the meaning of 'brick'. 'Stone' in the Word means truth, and therefore 'brick', being man-made, means falsity, for brick is artificial stone. That 'brick' has this meaning becomes clear also from the following places: In Isaiah,

I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people. walking in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks. Isaiah 65:2-3.

'Burning incense upon bricks' stands for worship based on fabrications and falsities; and this is why these people are referred to as 'walking after their own thoughts'. In the same prophet,

On account of the pace and arrogance of heart of Ephraim, and of the inhabitants of Samaria, saying, The bricks have fallen but we will build from hewn stone. Isaiah 9:9-10.

'Ephraim' stands for one who, having become intelligent, has then lapsed into wrong, who calls or makes falsities, or 'bricks', his truths. 'Hewn stone' stands for what is a fabrication. In Nahum,

Draw yourself water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications; go into the mud and tread the clay; renew the brick-kiln. There the fire will devour you. and the sword cut you off. Nahum 3:14-15.

Here 'treading the clay' stands for falsities, 'renewing the brick-kiln' for worship based on them. 'Fire' is the punishment of evil desires, 'sword' the punishment of falsities. In Ezekiel,

Take a brick and lay it before you, and on it carve the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 4:1.

This text contains the command to besiege it, a prophecy implying that worship was falsified. The fact that 'brick' means falsity becomes clearer still from the meaning of 'stone' as truth, to be dealt with in what follows shortly.

902. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations. This symbolically means that the Word in its literal sense contains all of the doctrines of the New Church.

The wall of the city symbolizes the Word in its literal sense (no. 898), and its twelve foundations symbolize all of the doctrines of the church - its foundations symbolizing doctrines, and the number twelve all. The church, moreover, is founded on doctrine, for it teaches how a person is to believe and live, and its doctrine is to be drawn only from the Word. That it is to be drawn from the Word's literal sense may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 50-61.

Since the twelve foundations of the wall of the city New Jerusalem symbolize all of the church's doctrine, and the church is a church by virtue of its doctrine, therefore its foundations are described in more detail in verses 19 and 20 below.

The foundations of the earth are mentioned a number of times in the Word, and they do not mean the foundations of the earth, but the foundations of the church, inasmuch as the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285). And the foundations of the church are only ones that come from the Word and are called doctrines. For it is the Word itself that provides a foundation for the church.

[2] Doctrines drawn from the Word are symbolized by foundations also in the following passages:

Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

I will put My words in your mouth... to plant the heavens and found the earth... (Isaiah 51:16)

They do not acknowledge, they do not understand, they walk in darkness, all the foundations of the earth shake. (Psalms 82:5)

...the Word of Jehovah... who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1)

Jehovah... kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)

The impious... shoot in darkness the upright in heart, because the foundations are being destroyed... (Psalms 11:2-3)

Hear, O mountains, Jehovah's quarrel, you strong foundations of the earth; for Jehovah has a quarrel with His people... (Micah 6:2)

...the floodgates on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken... (Isaiah 24:18-20)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 14:32; 48:13; 51:13; Psalms 24:2; 102:25; 104:5-6; 2 Samuel 22:8, 16.

Whoever does not think that the earth symbolizes the church cannot help but think only naturally, even materially, when he reads in these places about the foundations of the earth. So it would be also if he were not to think of the city Jerusalem here as symbolizing the church when he reads about its wall, gates, foundations, streets, dimensions, and more, which are described in this chapter as features of a city, when in fact they are features of the church and so must be interpreted not materially, but spiritually.