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:

47. From Secrets of Heaven

On our inner and outer natures. While it is recognized in the Christian world ¹ that we have an inner level and an outer level or an inner self and an outer self, there is little knowledge of the nature of either: 1889, 1940. The inner self is spiritual and the outer self is earthly: 978, 1015, 4459, 6309, 9701-9708. An inner self that is spiritual is formed into an image of heaven, and an outer self that is earthly is formed into an image of this world-how this happens, and how it is the reason the ancients called the human being a microcosm: 3628, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6314, 9706, 10156, 10472. This means that the spiritual world and the earthly world are joined together in us: 6057, 10472. It means that we have the ability to look upward toward heaven and downward toward earth: 7601, 7604, 7607. When we look up we are in heaven's light and see what it shows us, while when we look down we are in the world's light and see what it shows us: 3167, 10134. In humankind a pathway has been created from the spiritual world into the earthly one: 3702, 4042.

[2] The inner self (which is spiritual) and the outer self (which is earthly) are completely distinct from each other: 1999, 2018, 3691, 4459. The distinction is like that between a cause and its effect and like that between what is prior and what is subsequent; it is not along a continuum: 3691, 4145, 5146, 5711, 6275, 6284, 6299, 6326, 6465, 8603, 10076, 10099, 10181. So the difference is like that between heaven and this world or between something spiritual and something earthly: 6055. Our inner and outer natures are not along a continuum but are separated on distinctly different levels that have well-defined boundaries: 3691, 4145, 5114, 6326, 6465, 8603, 10099. Anyone who does not perceive the distinctions between our inner and outer natures in keeping with their levels and who does not understand what the levels are like cannot comprehend our inner and outer selves: 5146, 6465, 10099, 10181. Things that are on a higher level are more perfect than things that are on a lower level: 3405. There are three levels in us that are in accord with the three heavens: 4154. The outer things in us are relatively remote from the Divine, so they are more obscure and general: 6451. They are also relatively disorganized: 996, 3855. Inner things are more perfect because they are closer to the Divine: 5146, 5147. There are thousands upon thousands of things in our inner self that appear as one general thing in the outer self: 5707. So the more inward our thinking and perception are, the clearer they are: 5920. It follows then that we should concentrate on what lies in the deeper levels: 1175, 4464.

[3] When we are focused on love and caring, the deeper levels of our mind are actually raised up by the Lord. Otherwise they would face downward: 6952, 6954, 10330. When our inner natures are actively raised up by the Lord, the result is an inflow and enlightenment for us out of heaven: 7816, 10330. When we turn our attention to spiritual matters we are raised up: 9922. To the extent that we are raised up from outward concerns toward inward ones we come into the light and therefore into intelligence; or as the ancients used to say, this happens when the mind withdraws from sense impressions: 6183, 6313. Being raised up from outward to inward concerns is like being lifted out of a fog into the light: 4598.

[4] The inflow from the Lord comes through our inner self into our outer self: 1940, 5119. There can be an inflow from our inner self into our outer self, because inflow is spiritual, not physical-that is, there can be a flow from the spiritual self into the earthly self but not from the earthly self into the spiritual self: 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6322, 9110. From the inner realm, where it is peaceful, the Lord governs the outer realm, where it is chaotic: 5396a.

[5] The inner self can see everything in the outer self, but not the reverse: 1914, 1953, 5427, 5428, 5477. While we are living in this world, the thinking in our outer self comes from our inner self; our spiritual thinking flows into our earthly thinking and presents itself in earthly forms: 3679. When we are thinking well, those thoughts are coming from our inner or spiritual self into our outer or earthly self: 9704, 9705, 9707. How the outer self thinks and intends depends on its relationship with the inner self: 9702, 9703.

There is inner thinking and there is outer thinking: 2515, 2552, 5127, 5141, 5168, 6007 (which include information about what each type of thinking is like). As long as we are living in this world we do not perceive the thinking and feeling that are going on in our inner self; we perceive only the thinking and feeling that result from this in our outer self: 10236, 10240. In the other life, though, our outer layer is stripped away and we are brought into our true inner nature: 8870. We can then see what inner things are like: 1806, 1807.

[6] Our inner self produces our outer self: 994, 995. The inner self then clothes itself in whatever enables it get results in the outer self (6275, 6284, 6299) and to live in the outer self (1175, 6275). When the Lord regenerates us, he joins our inner or spiritual self to our outer or earthly self: 1577, 1594, 1904, 1999. The outer or earthly self is then put in its rightful place by means of the inner or spiritual self and becomes subservient: 9708.

[7] The outer self needs to be subservient and subject to the inner self: 5077, 5125, 5128, 5786, 5947, 10272. The outer self was designed and created to serve the inner self: 5947. The inner self must be the master and the outer self a servant and in a certain respect even a slave: 10471.

[8] The outer self needs to correspond to the inner in order for the two to be joined together: 5427, 5428. What the outer self is like when it corresponds to the inner self and what it is like when it does not: 3493, 5422, 5423, 5427, 5428, 5477, 5512. There are things in the outer self that correspond to and stand in harmony with the inner, and there are things that do not correspond or stand in harmony: 1563, 1568.

[9] The outer self derives its nature from the inner: 9912, 9921, 9922. How great the beauty of the outer self is when it is joined to the inner self (1590) and how ugly it is when it is not (1598). Love for the Lord and caring about our neighbor join the outer self to the inner: 1594. Unless the inner self is joined to the outer there is no fruitfulness: 3987.

[10] Things that are deep within flow down into more outward levels by stages until finally they flow into the outermost or last, which is where they become manifest together and persist: 634, 6239, 9216. They not only flow in by stages, they also all come together on the last [and lowest] level in accord with the design: 5897, 6451, 8603, 10099. All that lies within is held in a connection from first to last: 9828. This also gives things that are on the outermost level strength and power: 9836. The result is that answers and revelations come through the outermost level: 9905, 10548. This is also why the outermost level is more holy than the inner levels: 9824. So in the Word, "the First and the Last" means every single thing and therefore all there is: 10044, 10329, 10335.

[11] The inner self is open when we are in accord with the divine design and closed when we are not in accord with the divine design: 8513. Without the inner self, heaven has no way of being joined to the outer self: 9380. Both evils and the falsities that come from them close the inner self and limit us to the outermost level (1587, 10492); especially evils that result from self-love (1594). If we refuse to receive what flows in from the Divine, our deeper levels are closed until we are reduced to the sensory level, which is the last [and lowest]: 6564. In the intelligent and learned of this world who take stances against the truths of heaven and the church on the basis of facts they have learned, the inner level is more completely closed than it is for similarly minded simple people: 10492.

[12] Since the inner self is in heaven's light and the outer is in this world's light, if we are focused on the outer to the exclusion of the inner (that is, if our inner self is closed) we have no appetite for profound truths about heaven and the church: 4464, 4946. In that case, in the other life we cannot bear things of an internal nature: 10694, 10701, 10707. We do not believe anything: 10396, 10400, 10411, 10429. We love ourselves and the world more than anything else: 10407, 10412, 10420. No matter how we may seem outwardly, our deeper levels-the processes of our thinking and feeling-are ugly, foul, and profane: 1182, 7046, 9962. Our ideas and thinking are materialistic and not in the least spiritual: 10582. What we are like when our inner level, which faces heaven, is closed: 4459, 9709, 10284, 10286, 10429, 10472, 10492, 10602, 10683.

[13] As our inner, spiritual self is more and more opened, the kinds of goodness and truth we have multiply; as our inner, spiritual self is more and more closed, the kinds of goodness and truth we have disappear: 4099. The church exists in our inner, spiritual self because that self is in heaven; it does not exist in our outer self apart from the inner: 10698. Therefore if we do not have the church in our internal life, having the trappings of it in our external life does nothing for us: 1795. Outward worship apart from inner worship is no worship at all: 1094, 1175. About people who are focused on the inner aspects of the church, worship, and the Word; people who are focused on outward aspects that contain the inner; and people who are focused on outward aspects that lack the inner: 10683. When the inner aspects are lacking, the outward aspects take on a hardness: 9377, 10429.

[14] Merely earthly people are an embodiment of hell unless they become spiritual by means of regeneration: 10156. Everyone who is absorbed in the outer level apart from anything inner, or anyone whose inner, spiritual self is closed, is in hell: 9128, 10483, 10489.

[15] Our inner selves turn actively toward the things we love: 10702. Absolutely everything must have both an inner level and an outer level if it is to exist at all: 9473.

[16] In the Word, "lofty and high" means inner: 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599. So in the Word, "higher" means more inward and "lower" means more outward: 3084.

Footnotes: