272. And they had on their heads crowns of gold. That this signifies all truths disposed into order from the Divine good, thus also all the former heavens is evident from the signification of the four-and-twenty elders sitting upon four-and-twenty thrones, clothed in white garments, as being all the truths of the heavens, thus all the heavens, both the higher and the lower, as just explained (n. 270, 271); and from the signification of a crown of gold, as being Divine good from which truths are derived, which will be treated of in what follows. All the truths of heaven and of the church are from Divine good; truths which are not from that source are not truths. Truths which are not from good are like shells without a kernel, and like a house inhabited not by men, but by wild beasts; and such are the truths which are called truths of faith, without the good of charity; the good of charity is good from the Lord, thus good Divine. Now because the elders upon the throne signify the truths of the heavens, and crowns of gold the good from which they are derived, therefore the elders were seen with such crowns. The same is signified by the crowns of kings; for kings, in a representative sense, signify truths, and the crowns upon their heads signify the goods from which the truths are derived (that kings signify truths may be seen above, n. 31); hence it is that crowns are of gold, for gold in like manner signifies good (see n. 242).

[2] That crowns signify good and thence wisdom, and that truths are the things that are crowned, is evident from the following passages. In David:

"I will make the horn of David to bud; I will ordain a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish" (Psalms 132:17, 18).

Here by David, and by anointed is meant the Lord, as may be seen above (n. 205); by horn is signified His power; lamp denotes the Divine truth from which is Divine intelligence; by crown is signified the Divine good from which is Divine wisdom, and from which is the Lord's government; and the enemies who shall be clothed with shame are evils and falsities.

[3] Again:

"Thou showest anger with thine anointed. Thou hast condemned his crown even to the earth" (89:38, 39).

Here also by anointed is meant the Lord, and by anger a state of temptation, in which He was when in combats with the hells. Lamentation is then described by anger and condemnation, as in the last temptation on the cross, when the Lord lamented that He was forsaken. For the cross was the last of the temptations, or combats with the hells; and after that last temptation He put on the Divine good of the Divine love, and thus united the Divine Human with the essential Divine which was in Himself.

[4] Again, in Isaiah:

"In that day shall Jehovah Zebaoth be for a crown of ornament, and for a mitre of comeliness unto the remnant of his people" (28:5).

Here by a crown of ornament is signified the wisdom which belongs to good from the Divine; and by a mitre of comeliness is meant intelligence belonging to truths from that good.

[5] Again:

"For Zion's sake will I not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her justice go forth as brightness, and her salvation burn as a lamp. Thou shalt be a crown of comeliness in the hand of Jehovah, and a mitre of a kingdom in the hand of thy God" (62:1, 3).

Here by Zion and Jerusalem is meant the church; by Zion, the church which is in good, and by Jerusalem, the church which is in truths from that good: hence it is called a crown of comeliness in the hand of Jehovah, and a mitre of a kingdom in the hand of God. The crown of comeliness denotes wisdom, which belongs to good, and a mitre of a kingdom denotes intelligence, which belongs to truth. And since by crown is signified wisdom, which belongs to good, therefore it is said to be in the hand of Jehovah; and since by mitre is signified intelligence, which belongs to truth, therefore it is said to be in the hand of God; for where good is treated of the word Jehovah is used, and where truth is treated of the word God (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2586, 2769, 6905).

[6] In Jeremiah:

"Say unto the king and to the mistress, Let yourselves down, sit ye, because the ornament of your head is come down, the crown of your comeliness" (13:18).

Here by crown of comeliness is signified the wisdom which belongs to good, for comeliness is the Divine truth of the church (see Arcana Coelestia 9815).

[7] Again:

"The joy of our hearts is ceased: our dance is turned into mourning. The crown of our head hath fallen" (Lamentations 5:15, 16).

By the crown of the head which is said to have fallen is signified the wisdom of those who belong to the church by means of Divine truth, which wisdom has ceased, together with internal blessedness.

[8] In Ezekiel:

"He put a jewel upon thy nose and earrings upon thine ears, and a crown of ornament upon thy head" (16:12).

By Jerusalem, which is here treated of, is signified the church at its first establishment. By a jewel upon the nose is signified the perception of good; by earrings upon the ears are meant the perception of truth and obedience; and by a crown upon the head is signified wisdom therefrom. In Job:

"He has stripped me of my glory, and taken away the crown from my head" (19:9).

Here also by glory is meant intelligence derived from Divine truth, and by a crown wisdom therefrom.

[9] Also, in the Apocalypse:

"I saw, and, behold, a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him; he went forth conquering and to conquer" (6:2).

The white horse and He that sat on him is the Lord as to the Word; the bow signifies the doctrine of truth by which He fought. It is therefore evident that the crown, as being said of the Lord, is the Divine good which He also put on as to the Human as the reward of victory.

[10] And in another place:

"Afterwards I looked, when, behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle" (14:14).

A white cloud signifies the Word in its literal sense (see Arcana Coelestia 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8281); the Son of man denotes the Lord as to Divine truth; a golden crown, the Divine good from which the Divine truth is: and the sharp sickle denotes the dissipation of evil and falsity.

[11] That a crown denotes Divine good from which is the Divine truth, was represented by the plate of gold upon the front of the mitre which was upon Aaron, which plate was also called a crown and a coronet, concerning which it is thus written in Exodus:

"Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah; and thou shalt put it upon a thread of purple, and it shall be on thy mitre, over against the region of the face" (28:36, 37).

(That this plate was called a crown of holiness and a coronet, may be seen Exodus 29:6, 39:30; Leviticus 8:9; but what was specifically signified thereby may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 9930-9936, where the terms are explained.)

1888. To illustrate that the sense of the letter of the Word is representative of Divine arcana and is the receptacle of, and thus the storehouse containing, celestial and spiritual things which are the Lord's, let two examples be taken, which will consequently reveal the position with all else The first example shows that David is not used to mean David but the Lord, the second that names mean nothing other than real things. Of David the following is said in Ezekiel,

My servant David will be King over them, and they will all have one Shepherd. They will dwell in the land, they, and their sons, and their sons' sons even for ever. And David my servant will be their Prince for ever. Ezekiel 37:24-25.

And in Hosea,

The children of Israel will return and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king. Hosea 3:5.

These promises were written by prophets who lived later than David, yet it is explicitly stated by them that he 'will be' their king and prince. From this it may become clear to anyone that in the internal sense David means the Lord. The same applies in all other places, including the historical descriptions, where David is referred to by name.

[2] As regards the names of kingdoms, regions, cities, and men meaning real things, this becomes quite clear in the Prophets. Take this single example in Isaiah,

Thus said the Lord, Jehovih Zebaoth, Do not be afraid - O My people, inhabitant of Zion - of Asshur; he will smite you with a rod, and he will lift up the staff over you in the way of Egypt. Jehovah Zebaoth will lift up the scourge over him, as when Midian was smitten in the rock of Horeb, and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up in the way of Egypt. He will come against Aiath; he will pass over into Migron; he will command his arms towards Michmash. They will cross the Mabarah. Geba will be a lodging-place for us. Hormah ¹ will tremble. Gibeah of Saul will flee. Make a noise with your voice, O daughter of Gallim. Hearken, O Laish. Wail, O Anathoth. Madmenah will wander about. The inhabitants of Gebim will gather themselves together. This very day he is in Nob to stay. The mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, will shake her fist. He will cut down the entangled boughs of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one. Isaiah 10:24, 26-34.

[3] These verses include little more than mere names, which would not make any sense at all if, without exception, those names did not mean real things; and if the mind remained fixed on those names, no acknowledgement that it was the Word of the Lord would ever be made. But who is going to believe that all those names in the internal sense contain arcana of heaven? Or that through them the state of people is described who endeavour by means of reasonings based on facts to penetrate the mysteries of faith? Or that by means of each name some particular aspect of that state is described? Or that those reasonings are dispersed by the Lord by means of the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith? That 'Asshur' means reasoning, which is the subject in these verses from Isaiah, becomes quite clear from what has been shown regarding 'Asshur' in 119, 1186; and that 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, from what has been shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. See these paragraphs and consider whether or not this is true. It is the same with all other names, and with individual expressions.

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