8869. 'You shall not make for yourself a graven image' means no product of self-intelligence. This is clear from the meaning of 'a graven image' as that which does not come from the Lord but from a person's self. A product of one's own understanding is meant by 'a graven image', and a product of one's own will by 'a molded image'. Having either kind as a god or venerating it is loving all that comes from self more than anything else. People who do this do not at all believe that any of their intelligence or wisdom flows in from the Divine; for they attribute it all to themselves. And everything else happening to them which they cannot attribute to themselves they relate to fortune or to chance; they altogether refuse to recognize God's providence in such matters. They suppose that if some higher power is present it lies within the natural order, to which they ascribe all things. They do, it is true, say with their lips that some God and Creator has stamped such things on the natural order; but in their hearts they refuse to recognize any God higher than the natural order. This is what those people are like who at heart attribute everything to their own prudence and intelligence, and nothing to God. And those of them who love themselves venerate their own abilities. They also wish to be venerated by others, indeed to be venerated as gods, openly so if the Church did not forbid it. These are 'the makers of graven images', and the images themselves are what they hatch from their own understanding and will, and wish to be venerated as things that are Divine.

[2] The fact that those things are meant by 'graven images' in the Word is clear from places where they are mentioned, as in Jeremiah,

Every person has been made stupid by knowledge; every metal-caster has been filled with shame by his graven image, for his molded image is a lie; and there is no spirit in those things. Jeremiah 10:14; 51:17.

Because 'a graven image' means that which does not originate in the Lord but is a product of self-intelligence, the words 'every person has been made stupid by knowledge' and 'every metal-caster has been filled with shame by his graven image' are therefore used. And because what is hatched from self-intelligence does not have within it any spiritual life, which comes solely from the Lord, the words 'and there is no spirit in those things' are also therefore used.

[3] In Habakkuk,

What profit is a graven image since its image-maker has graven it, a molded image and a teacher of lies, since the image-maker trusts in the thing he himself has made, when he makes dumb gods? It has no breath in it. ¹ Habakkuk 2:18-20.

Here 'a graven image' stands for what is hatched from self-intelligence and has no life at all from the Lord within it.

[4] In Jeremiah,

A drought on its waters, and they will dry up! For it is the land of graven images, and they glory in idols. ² Therefore the ziim dwell with the iim, and the daughters of the owl dwell in it. Jeremiah 50:38-39.

This refers to Chaldea and Babel. 'A drought on its waters, and they will dry up' stands for truths that have no life at all in them, 'the ziim and the iim and the daughters of the owl dwell' stands for evils and falsities, and so for things which inwardly belong to death This is why the words 'the land of graven images' are used.

[5] In Isaiah,

Makers of the graven image, all are vanity; and their most desirable things are profitless. And they are their own witnesses; they do not see, nor do they know. Isaiah 44:9-11.

'Makers of the graven image' stands for those who hammer out teachings which are not products of truths from the Word but products of self-intelligence, in reference to which teachings the words 'their most desirable things are profitless' and 'they do not see, nor do they know' are used. Verses 12-16 of that chapter go on to refer to the art of conceiving ideas and of using reasonings to hatch them from self-intelligence - ideas which they wish to be recognized as Divine. Regarding these the following is said finally,

The rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He venerates it, bows down [to it]. And yet they do not know or understand; and their eyes do not see, so that their hearts do not understand. Isaiah 44:17-18.

'They do not know, do not understand, and do not see' stands for the absence of truths and forms of good within; for inwardly nothing that is the outcome of self-intelligence has either truths or forms of good in it, only falsities and evils, since it is the outcome of the person's proprium. The fact that the proprium is fundamentally evil, see 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1044, 1047, 1581, 3812 (end), 4328, 5660, 5786, 8480.

[6] In the same prophet,

To whom will you liken God, and what image will you compare with Him? The craftsman casts a graven image, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it. Whoever is too impoverished to make this oblation ³ chooses a piece of wood that will not rot; he seeks for himself a wise craftsman to make ready a graven image that is immovable. Isaiah 40:18-20.

'A graven image' cast by a craftsman stands for false teachings that spring from the self, and 'a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it' stands for the fact that it uses reasonings to make the falsities in those teachings look like truths.

[7] In the same prophet,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison, out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness. I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:6-8.

These words refer to the Lord. They declare that He is Jehovah, that He is the Source of all wisdom, and that none at all springs from man. Their reference to the Lord is self-evident, as is the truth that He is Jehovah; for they declare that Jehovah has called Him in righteousness, and then 'I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another'. The truth that He is the Source of all wisdom which has to do with life is meant when it says that He is to open the blind eyes, bring the bound out of prison, and out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness; and the truth that no wisdom at all springs from man is meant by 'My praise I will not give to graven images'.

[8] Ideas belonging to self-intelligence are also meant by 'graven images' in the following places: In Isaiah,

And there came the chariot of a man (vir), a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babel has fallen; and all the graven images he has broken to the earth. Isaiah 21:9.

In the same prophet,

Then you will judge unclean the covering of the graven images of your silver, and the clothing of the molded image of your gold. You will throw them away like a menstruous rag; a piece of dung it will be called. Isaiah 30:22.

In Jeremiah,

Why have they provoked Me to anger through their graven images, through foreigners' idols? ⁴ Jeremiah 8:19.

In Hosea,

[As] they have called themselves, so they have gone for the sake of themselves. They sacrifice to the baals, and burn incense to graven images. Hosea 11:2.

In Moses,

Cursed is the man who makes a graven or a molded image, an abomination to Jehovah, the work of a craftsman's hands. Deuteronomy 27:15.

Footnotes:

440. Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand sealed, signifies the goods of life therefrom. This is evident from the representation and consequent signification of "the tribe of Manasseh," as meaning the voluntary [principle] of the church, and the good of life therefrom. It means the good of life because the good of life makes one with the voluntary of the church or of the man of the church, since that which a man wills he does when he can, for doing is nothing but the will acting, as can be seen from the fact that doing stops when the will stops, and doing goes on as long as there is a will; that which the will of a regenerated man does is called the good of life. For this reason, as the voluntary of the church is signified by "Manasseh" and his tribe, so the good of life is also signified. Moreover, the good of life is the outcome of charity towards the neighbor after regeneration, which is signified by "Asher and Naphtali," like an effect from its cause; for they who are in charity towards the neighbor are regenerated by the Lord, and those who are regenerated are in the good of life, since they act from charity, and all action from charity is good of life.

[2] There are two things that constitute the church, namely, the truth of doctrine and the good of life; both of these must be in a man that he may be a man of the church. "Ephraim and Manasseh" represented and thence signify in the Word these two, "Ephraim" the truth of doctrine, and "Manasseh" the good of life. The truth of doctrine is also called the intellectual of the church, and the good of life is called its voluntary; for truth is of the understanding, and good is of the will; for this reason also "Ephraim and Manasseh" signify the intellectual and the voluntary of the church, "Ephraim" its intellectual, and "Manasseh" its voluntary. That these might be represented and thence signified by "Ephraim and Manasseh" they were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt; for "Joseph" signifies the celestial-spiritual, or the spiritual kingdom itself that is adjoined to the celestial kingdom, and "the land of Egypt" signifies the natural; consequently "Manasseh" signifies the good of the will in the natural born of the celestial-spiritual, and "Ephraim" signifies truth of the understanding in the natural, also born from the same. The nativity of these is thus described in Moses:

And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, For God hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim, For God hath made me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction (Genesis 41:50-52).

The meaning of these words in the spiritual sense can be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 5347-5356), namely, that the name of the firstborn, "Manasseh," means the new voluntary in the natural and what is its quality; and the name of the second, "Ephraim," means the new intellectual in the natural, and what is its quality; or what is the same, "Manasseh" means the good of the new natural man, and "Ephraim" its truth (See n. 5351, 5354).

[3] That this is the signification of "Manasseh and Ephraim" can be seen from the fact that they were adopted by Jacob as "Reuben and Simeon," which is thus described in Moses:

And Jacob said unto Joseph, Now thy two sons, born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, they are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. They shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance (Genesis 48:3, 5, 6).

As "Reuben" signifies truth in the understanding, which is the truth of doctrine, and "Simeon" truth in the will, which is the good of life, therefore Jacob says that "Ephraim and Manasseh should be to him as Reuben and Simeon;" consequently "Ephraim" signifies intellectual truth, and "Manasseh" voluntary good. (But this may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 6234-6241.)

[4] The same can be seen from the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by Jacob, then Israel, as follows:

Israel blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me from then unto this day, the Angel that hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them shall my name be called, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth (Genesis 48:15-16).

That here, too, "Ephraim" means intellectual truth, and "Manasseh" voluntary good, both in the natural, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 6274-6285). And again, in the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by Moses, as follows:

Respecting Joseph, In the firstborn of his ox he hath honor, and his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall push the peoples together to the ends of the earth; and these are the myriads of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasseh (Deuteronomy 33:17).

This may be seen explained above (n. 336[4]).

That "Ephraim" signifies the understanding of truth, and "Manasseh" the will of good, both in the natural, can be seen also from the following passages. In Isaiah:

In the fury of Jehovah of Hosts is the land darkened, and the people are become as fuel of the fire; a man shall not pity his brother; and if he shall cut down on the right hand he shall still be hungry, and if he shall eat on the left hand they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, they together against Judah ¹ (Isaiah 9:19-21).

"Manasseh shall eat Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh," here signifies that every good and truth of the church is to perish, the good through falsity, and the truth through evil, as may be seen above (n. 386, where the particulars are explained).

[5] In David:

Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine, and Ephraim is the strength of My head; Judah is My lawgiver (Psalms 60:7; 108:8).

"Manasseh" here signifies the good of the church, "Ephraim" its truth, and "Gilead" the natural; and since truth from good in the natural has Divine power it is said, "Ephraim is the strength of My head." Divine power is through truth from good in the natural, because the natural is the ultimate into which things interior flow, which are spiritual and celestial, and where they are together and subsist; consequently where they are in fullness, and in this and from this is all Divine operation. For this reason the sense of the letter of the Word, because it is natural, has in it Divine power (respecting which see above, n. 346, and Arcana Coelestia 9836); from this it can be seen why Ephraim is said to be "the strength of Jehovah's head;" Judah is said to be "His lawgiver" because "Judah" signifies internal Divine truth, or the Word in the spiritual sense, and "lawgiver" and "law" have a similar signification.

[6] In the same:

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh stir up Thy might and come for salvation to us (Psalms 80:1, 2).

From the spiritual sense it is clear that these words contain a supplication to the Lord to instruct those who are of the church, and to lead them by truths to good, thus to heaven. The Lord is called "the Shepherd of Israel" because He instructs and leads; it is therefore said, "Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock," "Joseph" meaning those of the church who are in truths from good; "Thou that sittest upon the cherubim" signifies the Lord above the heavens, whence He sends forth the light that illustrates minds, therefore it is said "shine forth." That the light of truth may penetrate even to those who are in natural truth and good, thus to the lowest in the church, is signified by "before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh stir up Thy might;" "Ephraim" meaning those who are in natural truth; natural truth is such truth as the truth of the Word is in the sense of the letter; "Manasseh" means those who are in natural good, which is the delight of doing good and learning truth; "Benjamin" means the conjunctive of truth and good, or the conjoining medium in the natural; "to stir up might" means the penetration of light even to that; "come for salvation to us" means that such may be saved.

[7] Because all the good that the natural man has flows in from the Lord through the spiritual, and without that influx there can be no good in the natural, and because "Manasseh" represented and thus signified good in the natural man from a spiritual origin, therefore to that tribe an inheritance was given both beyond or without Jordan and on this side or within Jordan, that is, to half the tribe beyond or without Jordan, and to the other half on this side or within Jordan (See Numbers 32:33, 39, 40; Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 13:29-31; 17:5-13, 16-18). The land beyond or without Jordan represented and signified the external church, which is with men in the natural man; but the land on this side or within Jordan represented and signified the internal church, which is with men in the spiritual man (on which see above, n. 434. Again, it is good that constitutes the church, and this good flows in immediately out of the spiritual man into the natural, and without this influx the church is not with man; and this is the reason that to the tribe of Manasseh, by which the good of the church was signified, was given an inheritance both within and without Jordan. That spiritual good flows into natural good immediately, but into natural truth mediately, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 3314, 3573, 3576, 3616, 3969, 3995, 4563); thus that there is a parallelism between spiritual good and natural good, but not between spiritual truth and natural truth (n. 1831, 1832, 3514, 3564). That "Manasseh" signifies the good of the church, or the good of life, which is the same as the good of the will, can be seen from the representation and consequent signification of "Ephraim," as being the truth of the church, or the truth of doctrine, which is the same as the truth of the understanding; for these were brethren, and good and truth are called brethren in the Word. (That "Ephraim" signifies the truth of doctrine, and thus the intellectual of the church, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 5354, where many passages from the Word in which Ephraim is mentioned are cited and explained; see also n. 3969, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, 6296.)

Footnotes: