8940. 'And if you make for Me an altar of stones' means a representative kind of worship in general that is composed of truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'an altar' as a representative of Divine worship in general, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4489; and from the meaning of 'stones' as truths, dealt with in 643, 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798, 6426, 8609. There is worship of the Lord that springs from good, and there is worship of Him that springs from truth. Worship of the Lord springing from good was represented by an altar of soil, and worship springing from truth by an altar of stone. Regarding the first and the second kinds of worship, see above in 8935. It was because an altar of stone was a sign of worship springing from truth that they were commanded to set up such an altar as soon as they crossed the Jordan and came into the land of Canaan, and to write on it the Commandments contained in the Law, that is, God's truths from heaven. For by the Ten Commandments are meant all God's truths in summary form. That altar is spoken of in Moses as follows,

When you cross the Jordan you shall set up for yourself large stones, and coat them with lime. Then you shall write on them all the words of the Law. Afterwards, you shall build there an altar to Jehovah your God, an altar of stones, which you shall not hew with any iron tool. ¹ With whole stones you shall build the altar of Jehovah your God, and present ² on it burnt offerings and eucharistic offerings. And you shall write on the stones of the altar the words of the Law, expressing them very plainly. Deuteronomy 27:1-8; Joshua 8:30-32.

[2] The reason why they were to write the words of the Law on stones of the altar was that truths were meant by 'stones', and worship that springs from truths by 'an altar of stones'. This was also the reason why the Ten Commandments, which were a sign of Divine Truths in their entirety, were inscribed on tablets of stone. The reason why it had to be done as soon as they crossed the Jordan was that the Jordan, which was the first and outermost boundary of the land of Canaan on the side where the wilderness lay, meant introduction into the Church or heaven, which is accomplished through cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, thus through truths from the Word, 4255. For all the rivers serving as boundaries of that land meant the first and outermost reaches of the Lord's kingdom, 4116, 4240. By 'the stones of the altar' the truths of faith are also meant in Isaiah,

He will remove sin when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isaiah 27:9

This refers to the ruination of the Church. 'The stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about' stands for the truths of faith that inspire worship after something similar has happened to them. As regards altars in general, they were made out of soil, stones, bronze, wood, and also gold - out of bronze, wood, and gold because these materials served to mean good. For an altar of bronze, see Ezekiel 9:2; for an altar of wood, Ezekiel 41:22; and for an altar of gold, which was the altar of incense, 1 Kings 6:22; 7:48; Revelation 8:3. That 'bronze' means good, see 425, 1551; that 'wood' does so, 643, 2784, 2812, 3720, 8354; and that 'gold' does so as well, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658.

Footnotes:

1752. That 'except for what the young men have eaten' means good spirits is clear from what comes before and what comes after. In what has gone before, at verse 13 above, Mamre, Eshkol, and Aner are referred to as being Abram's allies. By these, as is evident from the explanation given at that verse, the state of the Lord's Rational Man in relation to the External Man as regards the nature of its goods and truths was meant; and so the angels who were present with the Lord when He was engaged in conflict were meant. The same is clear from what follows immediately below. Here those who accompanied Abram are called 'young men', by whom none other than good spirits are meant, whereas by 'the men', referred to immediately after, angels are meant. The fact that angels were present with the Lord when He fought against the hells is clear from the Word, and also from the fact that when He was engaged in the conflicts brought about by temptations the angels were bound to be present, to whom the Lord from His own power gave the strength and seemingly the power to fight in company with Him; for all the power which angels have derives from the Lord.

[2] That angels fight against those who are evil becomes clear from what has been stated in various places already about the angels that reside with man - how they protect man and ward off the evils with which spirits from hell assault him, dealt with already in 50, 227, 228, 697, 968. Yet all the power they have derives from the Lord. Good spirits are indeed angels as well but lower ones, for they are in the first heaven, while angelic spirits are in the second, and angels properly so called are in the third, dealt with in 459, 684. Such is the form of government in the next life that good spirits are subordinate to angelic spirits, and angelic spirits to angels themselves, so that they all constitute one angelic community. Good spirits and angelic spirits are those called 'young men' here, while angels themselves are called 'men'.