4391. And made booths for his acquisition. ¹ That this signifies likewise in general an increase in good and truth then, is evident from the signification of “acquisition,” as being goods and truths in general; and from the signification of “making booths” or tents, as being like that of building a house, namely, to receive an increase of good from truth, with the difference that “building a house” is less general, thus is more interior; and “making booths” or tents is more general, thus more external. The former was for themselves (that is, for Jacob, his women and children), the latter was for the servants, the flocks, and the herds. “Booths” or “tents” in the Word properly signify the holy of truth, and are distinguished from tabernacles, which are also called, “tents,” by the fact that the latter signify the holy of good (n. 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 4128). In the original language the former are called “Succoth,” but the latter “Ohalim.” The holy of truth is the good which is from truth.

[2] That this is the signification of the booths or tents which are called “Succoth,” is evident also from the following passages in the Word.

In David:

Jehovah God rode upon a cherub and did fly, and was carried upon the wings of the wind; He made darkness His hiding place, and His surroundings His tent [succoth], darkness of waters, clouds of the heavens (Psalms 18:11-12).

And again:

He bowed the heavens when He came down, and thick darkness was under His feet; and He rode upon a cherub and did fly, and was carried upon the wings of the wind; and He put darkness round about Him for tents (succoth), bindings of the waters, clouds of the heavens (2 Samuel 22:10-12); where the subject treated of is Divine revelation or the Word. To “bow the heavens when He came down” denotes to hide the interiors of the Word; “thick darkness under His feet” denotes that the things which appear to man are relatively darkness (such is the literal sense of the Word.) To “ride upon a cherub” denotes that it was so provided; to “put darkness round about Him for tents,” or “His surroundings for His tent,” denotes the holy of truth in its hiding place, namely, within the literal sense; the “bindings of the waters” and “clouds of the heavens,” denote the Word in the letter. (That the “clouds of the heavens” denote the Word in the letter, may be seen above, preface to Genesis 18, and n. 4060.)

[3] The like is signified by these words in Isaiah:

Jehovah will create over every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and over her convocations, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the shining of a flame of fire by night; for over all the glory there shall be a covering. And there shall be a tent [succah] for a shade by day, and for refuge and hiding against flood and rain (Isaiah 4:5-6);

a “cloud” here also denotes the literal sense of the Word; and “glory,” the internal sense; as also in Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; a “tent” here also denotes the holy of truth. Interior truths are said to be in “hiding,” for the reason that if they had been revealed, they would in that case have been profaned (see n. 3398, 3399, 4289); which is also set forth by these words in David:

Thou hidest them in the hiding place of Thy faces from the ensnaring counsels of a man; Thou hidest them in a tent [succah] by reason of the strife of tongues (Psalms 31:21).

[4] That a “tent” denotes the holy of truth is evident also in Amos:

In that day will I set up the tent [succah] of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches, and I will set up the ruins, and I will build according to the days of eternity (Psalms 9:11);

to “set up the tent of David that is fallen,” denotes to restore the holy of truth after it has perished; “David” denotes the Lord relatively to Divine truth (n. 1888), for a “king” denotes Divine truth (n. 2015, 2069, 3009). As a “tent” signified the holy of truth, and “dwelling in tents,” the derivative worship, therefore the feast of tents, which is called the “feast of tabernacles,” was instituted in the Jewish and Israelitish Church (Leviticus 23:34, 42-43; Deuteronomy 16:13, 16); where also this feast is called the “feast of Succoth,” or “of tents.”

각주:

120. As by “Egypt” so also by “Euphrates” are signified memory-knowledges [scientiae seu scientifica], and also the sensuous things from which these knowledges come. This is evident from the Word in the Prophets, as in Micah:

My she-enemy hath said, Where is Jehovah thy God? The day in which He shall build thy walls [macerias], that day shall the decree be far removed; that day also He shall come even to thee from Asshur, and to the cities of Egypt, and to the river [Euphrates] (Micah 7:10-12).

So did the prophets speak concerning the coming of the Lord who should regenerate man so that he might become like the celestial man.

In Jeremiah:

What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what hast thou to do in the way of Asshur, to drink the waters of the river [Euphrates]? (Jeremiah 2:18), where “Egypt” and “Euphrates” likewise signify memory-knowledges, and “Asshur” reasonings thence derived.

In David:

Thou hast made a vine to go forth out of Egypt; Thou hast cast out the nations; Thou hast planted her; Thou hast sent out her shoots even to the sea, and her twigs to the river (Euphrates) (Psalms 80:8, 11), where also the “river Euphrates” signifies what is sensuous and of the memory [sensuali et scientifico]. For the Euphrates was the boundary of the dominions of Israel toward Assyria, as the knowledge of the memory is the boundary of the intelligence and wisdom of the spiritual and celestial man. The same is signified by what was said to Abraham:

Unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Genesis 15:18).

These two boundaries have a like signification.