274. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. That this signifies Divine truth itself united to the Divine good proceeding from the Divine love of the Lord is evident from the signification of seven as denoting, all things in the aggregate; and from the signification of lamps of fire burning before the throne as denoting Divine truth united to Divine good proceeding from the Divine love of the Lord. For lamps signify truths; hence seven lamps signify all truth in the aggregate, which is Divine truth; and fire signifies the good of love. And because the lamps were seen burning before the throne upon which the Lord was, it is signified that the good or love was from the Lord. Because the seven spirits of God signify all the truths of heaven and the church from the Lord, as may be seen above (n. 183), it is therefore said, "which are the seven spirits of God." (That seven signify all, may be seen above, n. 256; that fire signifies the good of love may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 10055.)

[2] That lamps signify truths, which are called truths of faith, is evident from the following passages in the Word, as in David:

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalms 119:105).

The Word is said to be a lamp, because it is Divine truth. Again:

"Thou lightest my lamp; Jehovah God maketh my darkness resplendent" (Psalms 18:28).

To light a lamp signifies to enlighten the understanding by Divine truth; and to make the darkness resplendent signifies to dissipate the falsities of ignorance by the light of truth. In Luke:

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps shining" (12:35).

The loins being girded signifies the good of love (see Arcana Coelestia 3021, 4280, 4462, 5050-5052, 9961); and the lamps shining signifies the truths of faith from the good of love.

[3] In Matthew:

"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" (6:22, 23).

The eye is here called a lamp, because it signifies the understanding of truth, and hence also the truth of faith; and because the understanding derives its all from the will - for the quality of the former is according to that of the latter, just as the truth of faith derives its all from the good of love, - when therefore, the understanding of truth is from the good of the will, then the whole man is spiritual, which is signified by the words, "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." But the contrary is the case when the understanding is formed from evil of the will; that it is then in mere falsities is signified by the words, "if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (That the eye signifies the understanding may be seen above, n. 152, and that darkness signifies falsities, in Arcana Coelestia 1839, 1860, 3340, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711, 7712). He who does not know that the eye signifies the understanding cannot by any means comprehend the meaning of these words.

[4] In Jeremiah:

"I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp" (25:10).

To take away the voice of joy and the voice of gladness signifies to remove the interior happiness derived from the good of love and the truths of faith. To take away the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride signifies to remove all the conjunction of good and truth, which constitutes heaven and the church with man. To take away the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp signifies to deprive them of the doctrine of charity and faith. (What is signified by a millstone, and by grinding, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 4335, 7780, 9995, 10303). Similarly in the Apocalypse:

"And the light of a lamp shall shine no more in" Babylon; "and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more" there (18:23).

In Isaiah:

"Let your salvation burn as a lamp" (62:1),

signifying that the truth of faith should be from the good of love.

In Matthew:

"The kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The five foolish took their lamps, but no oil: but the five wise took oil also." Wherefore when the bridegroom came the wise went in to the marriage, but the foolish were not admitted (25:1-12).

By lamps are here signified the truths of faith, and by oil is signified the good of love. (What the rest of this parable signifies may be seen above, n. 252, where it is particularly explained.)

4280. In that lower sense the words 'he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh' mean where conjugial love is joined to natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hollow of the thigh' as the place where conjugial love is linked to it, see above in 4277. The reason why the place where it is linked to natural good is meant is that it is the place where the thigh is joined to the feet. 'The feet' in the internal sense means natural good, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986.

[2] As regards 'the thigh' meaning conjugial love and 'the feet' natural good, that is one of those realities known in the past which have grown old and died. The Ancient Church, which existed in an age of representatives and meaningful signs, was extremely well acquainted with these meanings, such knowledge of them constituting their intelligence and wisdom. Indeed it constituted the intelligence and wisdom not only of those who belonged to the Church but also of those outside the Church, as becomes clear from the oldest books written by gentiles and from the stories in them which are nowadays called myths - for meaningful signs and representatives spread from the Ancient Church to those gentiles. With these also 'the thighs and loins' meant that which belonged to marriage, and 'the feet' things that were natural. The origin of this meaning of 'the thighs and the feet' lies in the correspondences of all the members, organs, and viscera of the human being with the Grand Man, which - that is to say, such correspondences - are being dealt with now at the ends of chapters. The correspondences with the thigh and the feet will be discussed again further on, where actual experience will be used to corroborate that their meaning is as indicated above.

[3] These things are bound to seem like enigmas at the present day because, as has been stated, that knowledge has grown very old indeed and died. Yet how far that knowledge excels other types of knowledge becomes clear from the consideration that the internal sense of the Word cannot possibly be known without that knowledge, as well as for the reason that the angels present with man perceive the Word according to that sense. It becomes clear also from the consideration that by means of that knowledge man is provided with communication with heaven. And what is unbelievable, the internal man himself does not think in any other way; for when the external man understands the Word according to the letter the internal man does so according to the internal sense, though while living in the body a person is not at all conscious of doing so. This becomes particularly clear from the fact that when anyone enters the next life and becomes an angel he has no need to learn the internal sense but knows it instinctively, so to speak.

[4] What conjugial love is which is meant by 'the thighs' and also by 'the loins', see 995, 1123, 2727-2759; and conjugial love is the basic love of all loves, 686, 3021. Consequently people who have genuine conjugial love in them also have celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour. For this reason the expression 'conjugial love' is used to mean not only that love itself but also all celestial and spiritual love. These kinds of love are said to be joined to natural good when the internal man is joined to the external, that is, the spiritual man to the natural - that joining together of them being meant by 'the hollow of the thigh'. The fact that with Jacob and his descendants in general no such conjunction existed will be evident from what follows, for this is the subject dealt with here in the internal historical sense.