Arcana Coelestia #9416
9416. 'And I will give you tablets of stone' means the book of the law, or the Word in its entirety. This is clear from the meaning of 'tablets' as objects on which matters of doctrine and life have been inscribed, in this instance matters of heavenly doctrine and of life in keeping with it. The reason why those tablets mean the book of the law or the Word in its entirety is that the things which had been inscribed on them contained in a general way all matters of life and of that heavenly doctrine. This also explains why the things inscribed on them are called the ten words, Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 10:4. For 'ten' in the internal sense means all, and 'words' means truths that are matters of doctrine and forms of good that are matters of life. For the meaning of 'ten' as all, see 3107, 4638, 8468, 8540, and for that of 'words' as truths and forms of good that are matters of life and doctrine, 1288, 4692, 5272. This is why those tablets mean the Word in its entirety, just as the Law does, which in a restricted sense means the things which had been inscribed on those tablets, in a less restricted sense the Word that was written through Moses, in a broad sense the historical section of the Word, and in the broadest sense the Word in its entirety, see what has been shown in 6752. Furthermore the things which had been inscribed on those tablets belonged to the first stage in the revelation of Divine Truth; they were also declared in actual words uttered by the Lord before all the Israelite people. What belongs to the first stage means all the rest in their proper order; and the fact that those things were declared in actual words uttered by the Lord means direct Divine inspiration in all other stages of revelation as well. The reason why those tablets were made of stone was that 'stone' means truth, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, the lowest levels of truth, to be exact, 8609. The lowest levels of God's truth constitute the letter of the Word as it exists on this planet, 9360.
[2] There was not one tablet but two, to represent the joining of the Lord to the Church through the Word, and through the Church to the human race. This also is why they are called the tablets of the covenant, Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15, and why the words inscribed on them are called the words of the covenant, Exodus 34:27-28, also the covenant, Deuteronomy 4:13, 23. And the ark itself in which the tablets had been deposited was called the ark of the covenant, Numbers 10:33; 14:44; Deuteronomy 10:8; 31:9, 25-26; Joshua 3:3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17; 4:7, 9, 18; 6:6, 8; 8:33; Judges 20:27; 1 Samuel 4:3-5; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 3:15; 6:19; 8:1, 6; Jeremiah 3:16. For a covenant is a joining together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396. This explains why those tablets were divided from each other yet were joined together by being laid alongside each other. The writing on them ran across continuously from one tablet onto the other, like the writing on a single tablet. It was not, as people ordinarily think, that some commandments were written on one tablet and some on the other. For a single object divided in two, and the two parts then brought together or given each to the other, means the Lord and man joined together. The establishment of covenants was therefore accomplished in similar ways, that with Abraham for example by parting down the middle a heifer, she-goat, and ram, and laying each part opposite the other, Genesis 15:9-12; in verses 6 and 8 of the present chapter by putting blood in bowls and then sprinkling it half over the altar and half over the people; and generally in all sacrifices by burning one part on the altar and giving the other part to the people to eat. The like was also represented by the Lord when He broke bread, Matthew 14:19; 15:36; 26:26; Mark 6:41; 8:6; 14:22; Luke 9:16; 22:19; 24:30-31, 35. Here also is the reason why 'two' in the Word means things joined together, 5194, 8423, here the Lord and heaven, or the Lord and the Church, joined together, thus also goodness and truth joined together, which is called the heavenly marriage. From all this it becomes clear why it is that there were two tablets and that both sides of them were written on, from edge to edge, Exodus 32:15-16.
[3] Furthermore when the writing and engraving on tablets is mentioned in the Word it means those things that must be imprinted in people's memory and on their life, and so remain there, as in Isaiah,
Write it on a tablet among them, and express it in a book, 1 so that it may be for time to come forever, even to eternity. Isaiah 30:8.
In Jeremiah,
The sin of Judah has been written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it has been engraved on the tablet of their heart, and at the horns of your altars. Jeremiah 17:1.
In Habakkuk,
Jehovah said, Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that one running by may read it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; if it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come. Habakkuk 2:2-3.
Footnotes:
1. literally, on a book (i.e. on a scroll)
Matthew 15
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Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
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Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
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But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
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For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
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But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
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And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
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Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
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This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
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But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
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And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
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Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
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Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
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But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
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Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
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Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
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And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
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Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
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But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
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For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
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These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
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Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
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And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
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But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
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But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
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Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
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But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
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And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
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Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
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And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
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And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:
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Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
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Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
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And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
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And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
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And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
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And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
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And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
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And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
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And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala,
