10182. 'Its horns shall be of one piece with it' means the powers of truth derived from the good of love and charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'horns' as the powers of truth, dealt with in 2832, 9719-9721. The reason why derived from the good of love and charity is meant is that all the power which truth possesses comes from that good. Therefore also the horns continued from the altar itself or were of one piece with it; for this altar was representative of the Lord, of His hearing and receiving everything of worship that springs from love and charity, 10177.

[2] The statement that all the power which truth possesses comes from the good of love is unintelligible to those who have only a material idea of power, and therefore the nature of that power must be described. In the heavens all power is derived from Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. This is the source of the power angels possess, for angels are recipients of Divine Truth from the Lord, 1752, 4295, 8192. By means of the power which they receive from that source they protect a person by removing the hells from him; for a single angel is stronger than a thousand who come from hell. This power is what Peter's keys serve to mean, though Peter, who in the same place is referred to as a rock, means the Lord in respect of the truth of faith springing from the good of love, see Preface to Genesis 22, and 3750, 4738, 6000, 6073(end), 6344(end), 10087, 'the Rock' being the Lord in respect of the truth of faith, 8581.

[3] The power that Divine Truth possesses is also meant by 'the voice of Jehovah' in David,

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; the voice of Jehovah strikes a flame of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah strips the forests bare; Jehovah gives strength to His people. Psalms 29:3-5, 7-9, 11.

'The voice of Jehovah' is the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, see 9926.

[4] The power that Divine Truth possesses is also meant by 'the Word' in John,

All things were made through the Word, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:3.

'The Word' is the Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, see 9987. Therefore also the Lord, when He was in the world, first made Himself Divine Truth, which is also meant in John 1:14 by the Word became flesh. The Lord made Himself Divine Truth then to the end that He might fight against all the hells and overcome them, and in so doing might restore all things to order there, and at the same time in the heavens, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152.

[5] The fact that truths springing from good possess all power, while on the other hand falsities arising from evil have no power, is very well known in the next life. For this reason the evil who come there from the world have their belief, which is no more than persuasion, and also their knowledge of any truth, taken away from them. This then leaves them with the falsities belonging to their evil.

[6] The statement that truths springing from good possess such power is unintelligible to those who have the idea that truth or a belief in truth is no more than mental activity, when yet a person's mental activity, under the control of his will, constitutes all the strength which the body has; and if the Lord were to instill it through His Divine Truth into that body the person would possess the strength of Samson. But yet it is the Lord's good pleasure to impart strength to a person through faith springing from love in the things that belong to his spirit and that contribute to eternal life.

[7] From all this one may see what should be understood by the power of truth springing from good, the power meant by 'the horns' of both the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense. That this power is meant by 'the horns' is clear from places in the Word where 'horns' are mentioned, as in Ezekiel,

On that day I will make a horn grow up for the house of Israel. Ezekiel 29:21.

In Amos,

Have we not by our own strength taken horns for ourselves? Amos 6:13.

In the first Book of Samuel,

Jehovah will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed. 1 Samuel 2:10.

In David,

Jehovah has exalted the horn of His people. Psalms 148:14.

In the same author,

All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; the horns of the righteous will be exalted. Psalms 75:10.

In Jeremiah,

The Lord has cut down in His very fierce anger ¹ the whole horn of Israel. And He has exalted the horn of your foes. Lamentations 2:3, 17.

In Ezekiel,

You push with side and shoulder, and butt with your horns all the weak sheep, until you have scattered them abroad. Ezekiel 34:21.

In Zechariah,

I saw four horns. The angel said, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. The smiths have come to cast down the horns of the nations lifting up their horn against the land of Judah. Zechariah 1:18-21.

In Moses,

His horns are unicorn horns ² . With these he will strike the peoples together to the ends of the earth. Deuteronomy 33:17.

In these places it is self-evident that power is meant by 'horns', and indeed power in both senses, that is to say, of truth directed against falsity and of falsity directed against truth; for the state of the Church is the subject in the internal sense of every one of these places.

[8] Something similar occurs in Amos,

On that day I will visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut away and fall to the ground. Amos 3:14.

'The altars of Bethel' and 'the horns of the altar' mean the evils and falsities destroying the Church's goodness and truth, regarding which it says that they 'will be cut away'.

[9] From all this one may see what should be understood by 'the horns' mentioned so frequently by Daniel, and by John in the Book of Revelation. Daniel describes the beast which had ten horns and also a horn speaking, Daniel 7:8, 11, 20; and he says that the horn was making war with the saints and prevailing, until the Ancient of Days ³ came, Daniel 7:11, 21-22, 24. He also speaks about the horns of the ram and the horns of the he-goat, which they used to make war against each other, Daniel 8:3-21. And John mentions that the dragon had ten horns, Revelation 12:3, as did the beast coming up out of the sea, Revelation 13:1, and also the scarlet beast, Revelation 17:12. In this verse it is also stated that the ten horns are ten kings; and the same words occur in Daniel 7:24. By 'kings' in the Word truths are meant, and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

[10] It is because 'horn' means truth in its power, or in the contrary sense falsity destroying truth, that speech is attributed to a horn in Revelation 9:13; Daniel 7:8; Psalms 22:21.

[11] The anointing of kings with oil from a horn, 1 Samuel 16:1, 13; 1 Kings 1:39, represented truth springing from good, in its power; for truths in their power are meant by 'horns', good by 'oil', and those who are guided by truths springing from good by 'kings'. For the meaning of 'oil' as good, see 886, 9780; and for that of 'kings' as those who are guided by truths springing from good, thus - in the abstract sense - as truths springing from good, 6148. So it is also that in Psalms 132:17 a horn is said to bud, because all spiritual budding is that of truth springing from good. Therefore also in former times they made [imitations of] budding horns.

All power belongs to good and is exercised through truth, or what amounts to the same thing, belongs to truth springing from good, see the places referred to in 10019.

Footnotes:

2722. That 'he planted a grove in Beersheba' means doctrine from this with the cognitions composing it and the nature of it is clear from the meaning of 'a grove' and from the meaning of 'Beersheba'. As regards 'groves', holy worship in the Ancient Church was offered on mountains and in groves. It was offered on mountains because 'mountains meant the celestial things of worship, and in groves because 'groves' meant the spiritual things of it. As long as that Church - the Ancient Church - retained its simplicity their worship on mountains and in groves was holy, the reason being that celestial things, which are those of love and charity, were represented by places that were high and lofty, such as mountains and hills, while spiritual things, which derive from celestial, were represented by places with fruits and foliage such as gardens and groves. But after representatives and meaningful signs began to be made idolatrous because people worshipped external things without internal, that holy worship became profane; and they were therefore forbidden to hold worship on mountains and in groves.

[2] The fact that the Ancients held holy worship on mountains becomes clear from what is said about Abram in Chapter 12,

He removed from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, Bethel being towards the sea and Ai towards the east. ¹ And there he built an altar and called on the name of Jehovah. Genesis 12:8 (1449-1455).

It is also clear from the meaning of 'a mountain' as the celestial entity of love, 795, 796, 1430. The fact that people also held worship in groves is clear from what is said in the present verse, 'Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of [Jehovah,] the God of Eternity', and also from the meaning of 'a garden' as intelligence, 100, 108, 1588, and of 'trees' as perceptions, 103, 2163. The fact that worship on mountains and in groves was forbidden is clear from the following: 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.

In the same author,

The altars of the nations you shall destroy; you shall break down their pillars and cut down their groves. Exodus 34:13.

They were also commanded to burn the groves of the nations with fire, Deuteronomy 12:3.

[3] Now because the Jews and Israelites, among whom the representative ritual observances of the Ancient Church were introduced, were steeped solely in external things and were at heart nothing but idolaters, and because they were people who neither had nor wished to have knowledge of anything internal or of the life after death, and who did not know that the Messiah's kingdom was a heavenly kingdom, therefore whenever they were in freedom they held profane worship on mountains and hills, and also in groves and forests. They also made for themselves high places to serve instead of mountains and hills, and carved images of a grove instead of groves, as becomes clear from many places in the Word, as in the Book of Judges,

The children of Israel served the baals and the groves. Judges 3:7.

In the Book of Kings,

Israel made groves, provoking Jehovah to anger. 1 Kings 14:15.

And elsewhere in the same book,

Judah built for themselves high places and pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every leafy tree. 1 Kings 14:23.

Elsewhere in the Books of Kings,

Israel built for themselves high places in every city. And they set up pillars and groves on every high hill and under every leafy tree. 2 Kings 17:9-10.

And elsewhere in the same book,

Manasseh king of Judah erected altars to Baal and made a grove, as Ahab king of Israel had done. And the carved image of a grove that he had made he placed in the house of God. 2 Kings 21:3, 7,

From this it is evident that they also made for themselves carved images of a grove. The fact that king Josiah destroyed these images is mentioned in the same book,

Josiah made them bring out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels made for Baal and for the grove, and for the sun and moon, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem, and the booths which the women had woven [in the house of Jehovah] for the grove. He also cut down the groves which Solomon had made, as well as the grove in Bethel which Jeroboam had made. 2 Kings 23:4-5, 7, 14-15.

The fact that King Hezekiah as well demolished such things is also stated in the same book,

Hezekiah king of Judah removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the grove, and broke to pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made. 2 Kings 18:4.

[4] The bronze serpent, it is clear, was holy in the time of Moses, but when that which was external came to be worshipped, that bronze serpent became profane and was therefore smashed to pieces, for the same reason that worship on mountains and in groves was forbidden. These matters are made clearer still in the Prophets: In Isaiah,

You who inflame yourselves among the gods under every leafy tree, who slay the children in the rivers, under projections of the rocks. Even in the rivers you have poured out a drink offering. you have brought a gift. On a high and lofty mountain you have set your habitation and presented yourself there to offer sacrifice. Isaiah 57:5-7.

In the same prophet,

On that day a man will look to his Maker and his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel. And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and will not see what his fingers have made, both the groves and the solar pillars. Isaiah 17:7-8.

In Micah,

I will cut down your carved images and your pillars from the midst of you, and you will bow down no more to the work of your hands. And I will root out your groves from the midst of you and destroy your cities. Micah 5:13-14.

In Ezekiel,

That the slain may be in the midst of their idols, around their altars at every lofty hill, on all the mountain tops, and under every leafy tree, and under every entangled oak, the place where they offered an odour of rest to all their idols. Ezekiel 6:13.

[5] From all this it is now evident where idolatrous worship originated, namely in the worship of the objects themselves that were representative and carried a spiritual meaning. The most ancient people, who lived before the Flood, saw in every single thing - in mountains, hills, plains, and valleys, in gardens, groves, forests, rivers, and waters, in fields and crops, in trees of every kind, also in living creatures of every kind, and in the heavenly bodies giving light - something that was a representative and a meaningful sign of the Lord's kingdom. But they never let their eyes, still less their minds, linger over such objects; for them these objects served instead as the means for thinking about the celestial and spiritual things that exist in the Lord's kingdom. Indeed so much was this the case with those objects that there was nothing at all in the whole natural world that failed to serve those people as means. It is indeed true that in itself every single thing in the natural order is representative; but at the present day this is an arcanum and scarcely believed by anyone. But after that which is celestial, which is essentially love to the Lord, had perished with man, the human race existed no longer in that state, that is, in the state of seeing from worldly objects the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom.

[6] Nevertheless the Ancients after the Flood knew from traditions, and from collections made by certain people, that worldly objects had such meanings; and because these had such meanings they also regarded them as holy. From this arose the representative worship of the Ancient Church, which Church, being spiritual, did not enjoy any perception, only the knowledge, that a thing was so; for that Church, compared with the Most Ancient Church, dwelt in obscurity, 2715. It did not however worship external things but by means of external things people called to mind those which were internal. Consequently when they turned to those representatives and meaningful signs they entered the holiness of worship. They were able to turn to them because they were moved by spiritual love, that is, by charity, which they made the essential of worship, and as a consequence holiness from the Lord was able to flow into their worship. But when the state of the human race had become so changed and perverted that people departed from the good of charity, and thus did not believe any longer in the existence of a heavenly kingdom or in life after death, but supposed - as is also supposed at the present day - that their condition was no different from that of animals (apart from the fact that they as human beings could think), holy representative worship was turned into idolatrous worship and external things came to be worshipped. This was why worship among many gentiles at that time, and even among Jews and Israelites, was not representative, but a worship of the representatives and meaningful signs, that is, of external things devoid of internal.

[7] As regards 'groves' in particular, these had, among the ancients, varying meanings, such meanings depending in fact on the kinds of trees that the groves had in them. Groves where there were olives meant the celestial things of worship, groves where there were vines the spiritual things of worship, but groves where there were figs, cedars, firs, poplars, oaks, meant various things that were of a celestial and spiritual kind. Here however simply 'a grove' or plantation of trees is mentioned and by it was meant ideas belonging to the rational that were allied to doctrine and its cognitions; for trees in general mean perceptions, 103, 2163, but when they have reference to the spiritual Church they mean cognitions, the reason being that the member of the spiritual Church has no other perceptions than those acquired through cognitions drawn from doctrine or from the Word. For such cognitions become part of his faith, and so of his conscience, from which he has perception.

Footnotes: