1298. The fact that they had brick in place of stone means that they had falsity instead of truth is established by the symbolism of brick (given just above) as falsity. It is also established by the symbolism of stone in a broad sense as truth (given earlier, in §643).
The reason stones symbolized truth was that the earliest people used stones to mark borders and that they raised stones up as testimony that a thing was so, or true. This can be seen from the stone that Jacob set as a pillar in Genesis 28:22 and 35:14; from the pillar of stones between Laban and Jacob in Genesis 31:46-47, 52; and from the altar that the children of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh built beside the Jordan as testimony in Joshua 22:10, 28, 34. So in the Word stones symbolize truth. This symbolism is so consistent that not only the altar stones but also the precious stones on the shoulders of Aaron's ephod and on the breastplate of judgment 1 symbolize the holy truth that comes of love.
[2] In regard to the altar: When sacrificial worship on altars began, an altar symbolized worship that represented the Lord in a general way. The actual stones, though, symbolized the sacred truths of that worship. This was the reason for requiring an altar to be built of whole stones rather than carved ones and for forbidding any iron implement to be wielded on them (Deuteronomy 27:5-6, 7; Joshua 8:31). Carved stones, and stones on which an iron tool had been wielded, symbolized elements of worship that were human-made and therefore nongenuine — that is, the products of human selfhood, the fabrications of people's thoughts and of their hearts. 2 To invent such elements was to profane worship, as Exodus 20:25 explicitly says. It was for the same reason that no piece of iron was wielded on the stones of the Temple (1 Kings 6:7).
[3] The fact that the precious stones on the shoulders of Aaron's ephod and on the breastplate of judgment likewise symbolized sacred truth was shown earlier, in §114. It can also be seen in Isaiah:
Here, now, I will lay your stones on garnet and found [you] on sapphires, and I will use carnelian for your suns [windows], 3 and make your gates of gem stones, and your whole border of desirable stones. And all your children will be taught by Jehovah, and great will be the peace of your children. (Isaiah 54:11-12, 13)
The stones named here stand for sacred truth, which is why it says, "all your children will be taught by Jehovah." So in John it also says that the foundations of the city wall in Jerusalem the Holy were "adorned with every precious stone," which it then lists (Revelation 21:19-20). Jerusalem the Holy stands for the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and on earth, and its foundations are sacred truths. The tablets of stone on which the commandments of the Law (the ten "words") were written likewise symbolize holy truths, which is why they were made of stone, or had a stone base, as described in Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deuteronomy 5:22; 10:1. The commandments themselves are absolutely core religious truths, after all.
[4] In ancient times, then, stones symbolized truth, and later, when worship on pillars and altars and in the temple began, the pillars, altars, and temple symbolized sacred truth. That is why the Lord too is called a stone. In Moses:
Mighty Jacob, from whom comes the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. (Genesis 49:24)
In Isaiah:
The Lord Jehovih has said, "I am laying as a foundation in Zion a stone, a well-tested stone, a corner [stone], a precious one, for a firm foundation." (Isaiah 28:16)
In David:
A stone that the builders spurned has become the head of the corner. (Psalms 118:22)
Something similar is meant by the stone cut out of rock that crushed Nebuchadnezzar's statue, in Daniel 2:34-35, 45.
[5] The symbolism of stones as truth can also be seen in Isaiah:
By this Jacob's wickedness will be atoned for, and this will be the whole fruit [of atonement]: that they will remove their sin when they have made all the altar stones like scattered stones of chalk. (Isaiah 27:9)
The altar stones stand for truths expressed in worship that have been done away with. In the same author:
Level a way for the people! Pave a path; pave it! De-stone it of its stones! (Isaiah 62:10)
The pathway and stone stand for truth. In Jeremiah:
I am against you, destroying mountain. I will roll you down from the rocks and make you a mountain aflame, and they will not take a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you. (Jeremiah 51:25-26)
This is about Babylon. The mountain aflame is self-love. The statement that no stone would be taken from there is the fact that no truth would come from there.
Footnotes:
1. The ephod was a sacred vestment originally designed for the high priest and made "of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen" (Exodus 28:5-6; New Revised Standard Version) held together by two shoulderpieces and a woven band that fastened around the torso. The garment was embellished with two shoham stones on which the names of the tribes of Israel were engraved. (Of these shoham stones nothing further is known; they have traditionally been identified as onyx.) The breastplate, hanging from gold rings on the shoulders of the ephod and covering the priest's chest, contained twelve embedded stones representing the twelve tribes. See Exodus 28:4-30; 39:1-21, and compare §§114, 9822-9909. [RS, KK]
2. "Fabrications of people's thoughts and of their hearts" echoes Genesis 6:5 and 8:21. For Swedenborg's discussion of the phrase, see §586a. [LHC]
3. This bracketed interpolation is Swedenborg's. The Hebrew word (שִׁמְשֹׁת [šimšōṯ]) literally means "suns" but refers to windows in this context. [LHC]
