Arcana Coelestia #3727
3727. As regards the meaning of 'a pillar', the reason why it means a holy boundary and so the ultimate degree of order is that in most ancient times people used to place stones where their boundaries ran which separated one person's property or inheritance from another's. These served as a sign and witness to the existence of the boundaries there. The most ancient people, who in every object and in every pillar thought of something celestial or spiritual, 1977, 2995, thought, when they saw these stones set up as pillars, of the ultimate things present in man, and so of the ultimate degree of order, which is truth in the natural man. And it was from those most ancient people who lived before the Flood that the ancients who lived after it acquired this custom, 920, 1409, 2179, 2896, 2897, and began to regard the stones they set up on their boundaries as sacred, for the reason, as stated, that they meant holy truth as it exists in the ultimate degree of order, and also called those stones 'pillars'. This was how it came about that pillars were introduced into their worship, and why they erected them where they had their sacred groves and subsequently their temples, and also anointed them with oil, a point to be dealt with shortly. Indeed the worship of the Ancient Church consisted of things that had been perceived and things that had carried a meaning among the most ancient people prior to the Flood, as is evident from the paragraphs that have just been referred to. Since the most ancient people talked to angels and were in their company while still on earth, they received it from heaven that 'stones' means truth and 'wood' good; see just above in 3720. This then is why 'pillars' means a holy boundary, and so truth as it exists in the ultimate degree of order with man. For good which flows in from the Lord by way of the internal man terminates in the external man, and in the truth that is there. Man's thought, speech, and activity, which are the ultimates of order, are nothing else than truths stemming from good. In fact they are the images or forms which good takes, for they belong to the understanding part of the human mind, whereas the good that is within them, and from which they spring, belongs to the will part.
[2] The fact that pillars were erected as a sign and a witness, and were also introduced into worship, and that in the internal sense they mean a holy boundary, or truth within man's natural, which is the ultimate degree of order, becomes clear from other places in the Word, as in the following verses where the subject is the covenant made between Laban and Jacob,
Now come, let us make a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you. And Jacob took a stone and erected it as a pillar. Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have erected between me and you. This heap is a witness and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. Genesis 31:44-45, 51-52.
Here 'pillar' means truth, as will be seen in the explanation of those verses.
[3] In Isaiah,
On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak with the lips of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Jehovah, which will be a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt. Isaiah 19:18-20.
'Egypt' stands for facts which belong to the natural man, 'an altar' for Divine worship in general, for in the second Ancient Church that began with Eber the altar became the first and foremost representative in its worship, 921, 1343, 2777, 2811. 'The midst of the land of Egypt' stands for the primary and inmost aspect of worship, 2940, 2973, 3436. 'Pillar' stands for truth as it exists in the ultimate degree of order in the natural. The fact that it stood at the border as a sign and a witness is quite evident.
[4] In Moses,
Moses wrote down all the words of Jehovah and rose up in the morning and built an altar beside Mount Sinai, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Exodus 24:4.
Here similarly 'an altar' was the representative of all worship, and indeed was the representative of good present in worship. 'The twelve pillars' however were the representative in worship of truth that stems from good - 'twelve' meaning every aspect of truth in its entirety, see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272; and the twelve tribes likewise meaning every aspect of truth in the Church, as in the Lord's Divine mercy will be shown in the next chapter.
[5] Because altars were representative of all good in worship, and the Jewish Church was established so as to represent the celestial Church which acknowledged no other truth than truth stemming from good, which is called celestial truth (for the celestial Church was totally unwilling to separate truth from good, so much so that it was unwilling even to refer to anything of faith or truth without thinking about good, and doing so from good, see 202, 337, 2069, 2715, 2718, 3246), truth was therefore represented by the stones of the altar. And they were forbidden to represent it by means of pillars lest in so doing they separated truth from good and by representation worshipped truth instead of good. This accounts for the following prohibition in Moses,
You shall not plant for yourself a grove of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah your God which you shall make for yourself. And you shall not erect for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates. Deuteronomy 16:21-22.
For worshipping truth separated from good, or faith separated from charity, is contrary to the Divine since it is contrary to order, meant by 'you shall not erect for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates'.
[6] Despite this they did erect them and so represented things that are contrary to order, as is clear in Hosea,
Israel, according to the multiplying of his fruit, multiplies altars; according to the goodness of their land they make well their pillars. But He will overturn their altars, and lay waste their pillars. Hosea 10:1-2.
In the first Book of Kings,
Judah did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and they built for themselves high places and pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree. 1 Kings 14:22-23.
In the second Book of Kings,
The children of Israel set up pillars for themselves and groves on every high hill and under every green tree. 2 Kings 17:10.
In the same book,
Hezekiah removed the high places, and broke down the pillars, and cut down the grove, and smashed the bronze snake which Moses had made, because they had been burning incense to it. 2 Kings 18:4.
[7] Since gentile nations too derived through tradition the idea that the holiness of worship was to be represented by means of altars and pillars, and yet they were under the influence of evil and falsity, the altars among the nations therefore mean the evils of worship and the pillars the falsities. This was why the command was given for them to be destroyed. In Moses,
The altars of the nations you shall overthrow, and you shall break down their pillars and tear down their groves. Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3.
In the same author,
You shall not bow down to the gods of the nations, or worship them, or do according to their works, for you shall utterly destroy them, and utterly break down their pillars. Exodus 23:24.
'The gods of the nations' stands for falsities, 'their works' for evils, 'breaking down their pillars' for destroying worship arising out of falsity.
[8] In Jeremiah,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel will break down the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire. Jeremiah 43:13.
In Ezekiel,
By means of the hoofs of his horses Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel will trample all your streets, slay the people with the sword, and cause your mighty pillars to come down to the ground. Ezekiel 26:11.
This refers to Tyre. 'Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel' stands for that which lays waste, 1327 (end). 'The hoofs of horses' stands for the lowest form of intellectual concepts, such as facts based on mere sensory impressions - 'hoofs' meaning lowest concepts, as will in the Lord's Divine mercy be confirmed elsewhere. 'Horses' stands for matters of the understanding, 2760-2762, 'streets' for truths, and in the contrary sense for falsities, 2336. 'trampling' on them is destroying cognitions of truth, which are meant by 'Tyre' - 'Tyre', the subject here, meaning cognitions of truth, 1201. 'Slaying the people with the sword' stands for destroying truths by means of falsity - 'people' being used in reference to truths, 1259, 1260, 3295, 3581, and 'sword' meaning falsity engaged in conflict, 2799. From this one may see what 'causing your mighty pillars to come down to the ground' means - 'might' being used in reference either to truth or to falsity, as is also clear from the Word.
1 Kings 14
1
At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2
Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please get up and disguise yourself, that you won't be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Go to Shiloh. Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, who spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people.
3
Take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child."
4
Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
5
Yahweh said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall tell her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman."
6
It was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, "Come in, you wife of Jeroboam! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news.
7
Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: "Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel,
8
and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes,
9
but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back:
10
therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, until it is all gone.
11
He who dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and he who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat: for Yahweh has spoken it."'
12
Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
13
All Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14
Moreover Yahweh will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is day! What? Even now.
15
For Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Yahweh to anger.
16
He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin."
17
Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
18
All Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19
The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20
The days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.
21
Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
22
Judah did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done.
23
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
24
and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel.
25
It happened in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;
26
and he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
27
King Rehoboam made in their place shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.
28
It was so, that as often as the king went into the house of Yahweh, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.
29
Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
30
There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
31
Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.
