4580. 'Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked to him, a stone pillar' means the holiness of truth within that Divine state. This is clear from the meaning of 'a pillar' as the holiness of truth, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'in the place where He talked to him' as within that state, dealt with just above in 4578.

First, let something be said about the origin of erecting pillars in those times, of pouring out drink-offerings onto them, and of pouring wine onto them.

[2] The pillars which were erected in ancient times were set up to serve either as a sign, or as a witness, or for worship. Those set up for worship used to be anointed with oil and were thereby made holy; and in these places, people also held their worship - in temples, in groves, under trees in forests, and in other places. This practice of erecting pillars owed its representative nature to the fact that in most ancient times stones were set up on the boundaries between families of nations, to stop them crossing those boundaries to do one another any harm, as with the pillar set up by Laban and Jacob, Genesis 31:51. Not crossing them to do harm was the law of nations among those people. And because those stones were on the boundaries, whenever the most ancient people saw them as boundary stones they thought of the truths which exist in the ultimate degree of order; for those people saw in every object on earth the spiritual or celestial reality to which it corresponded. Their descendants however, who saw less of what was spiritual and celestial within the same objects and more of what was worldly, began to regard these in a holy way merely because they were objects venerated from of old. At length those descendants of the most ancient people who lived immediately before the Flood, and who no longer saw anything spiritual or celestial in earthly and worldly things as objects, began to make the actual stones holy, pouring out drink-offerings onto them and anointing them with oil. These were now called pillars and were used for worship. The position remained the same after the Flood - in the Ancient Church which was a representative Church - though with this difference, that pillars served these people as a means enabling them to offer internal worship. For infants and children were taught by parents what those pillars represented, and in this way they were led to know holy objects and to have an affection for the things which these represented. This explains why the ancients had pillars for worship in their temples, groves, and forests, also on hills and mountains.

[3] But once the internal existence of worship had perished completely in the Ancient Church and people began to regard external objects as being holy and Divine and in so doing began to worship those objects in an idolatrous manner, they erected pillars to particular deities. And because the descendants of Jacob were very inclined towards idolatrous practices, they were forbidden to erect pillars or have groves. They were not even allowed to offer any worship on mountains or hillsides, but were required to meet in one particular place - where the Ark was, and later on where the Temple stood, thus in Jerusalem. Otherwise each family would have had its own external objects and idols which it would have worshipped, and so no representative of the Church could have been established among that nation. See what has been shown already about pillars in 3727.

From all this one may see how the erecting of pillars originated, and what they were signs of, and that when they were used for worship, holy truth was represented by them, for which reason the expression 'a stone pillar' is also used, 'stone' meaning truth in the ultimate degree of order, 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798. It should be recognized in addition that holiness is a particular attribute of Divine Truth, for Divine Good exists within the Lord, while Divine Truth proceeds from that Good, 3704, 4577, and is called holiness.

3768. 'For out of that well they watered the droves' means knowledge obtained from there, that is to say, from the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'a well' as the Word, dealt with just above in 3765, from the meaning of 'watering', or giving a drink, as receiving instruction, dealt with in 3069, and from the meaning of 'droves' as knowledge of matters of doctrine, also dealt with just above, in 3767. From these meanings it is evident that 'out of the well they watered the droves' means that from the Word knowledge of matters of doctrine concerning what is good and true was obtained. In all that appears below regarding Jacob the subject in the highest sense is the Lord - how He made Divine His Natural, this chapter dealing with the inception of this process. And in the internal representative sense the subject is those who are being regenerated - how the Lord renews their natural man, this chapter dealing with the inception of that process. Here therefore the subject is the Word and doctrine obtained from it, for it is by means of doctrine drawn from the Word that the process is begun and regeneration takes place. And it is because these are meant by 'a well' and by 'three droves of a flock' that these historical details are mentioned at all. Unless they had that meaning they would be too trivial to be mentioned in the Divine Word. What they embody is clear, namely that all knowledge and doctrine concerning what is good and true is derived from the Word.

[2] The natural man, it is true, can know and also perceive what good and truth are, but only the natural and social variety of good and truth. Spiritual good and truth he cannot know or perceive. Knowledge of these has to come from revelation, and so from the Word. For example, from the rational present in everyone a person may know that he ought to love his neighbour and to worship God; but how he ought to love his neighbour and worship God, and so what constitutes spiritual good and truth, he cannot know except from the Word. Except from the Word he cannot know that good itself is the neighbour, and that consequently those governed by good are the neighbour and in the measure that it governs them. Nor can he know that good is therefore the neighbour because the Lord is present in good, and that accordingly when good is loved the Lord is loved.

[3] In the same way those who do not possess the Word cannot know that all good comes from the Lord, and that it flows in with man and forms his affection for good, and that that affection is called charity. Those who do not possess the Word cannot know who is the God of the universe. The truth that He is the Lord is hidden from them, yet the inmost part of affection or charity, and therefore the inmost part of good must have Him in view. From this one may see what spiritual good is and that there can be no knowledge of it except from the Word. As regards gentiles, as long as they are in this world they do not indeed know that good. Yet when they lead charitable lives one with another they thereby have an ability to learn such things in the next life, and also do receive them and adopt them without difficulty, see 2589-2604.