21
καί-C ἀποδιδράσκω-VBI-AAI3S αὐτός-
D--NSM καί-C πᾶς-A3--APN ὁ-
A--APN αὐτός-
D--GSM καί-C διαβαίνω-VZI-AAI3S ὁ-
A--ASM ποταμός-N2--ASM καί-C ὁρμάω-VAI-AAI3S εἰς-P ὁ-
A--ASN ὄρος-N3E-ASN *γαλαάδ-N---AS
Genesis 31:21
Arcana Coelestia #1298
1298. And they had brick for stone. That this signifies that they had falsity for truth, is evident from the signification of “brick,” just now shown to be falsity; and from the signification of “stone,” which in a wide sense is truth, concerning which above n. 643). Stones have signified truth for the reason that the boundaries of the most ancient people were marked off by stones, and that they set up stones as witnesses that the case was so and so, or that it was true; as is evident from the stone that Jacob set up for a pillar (Genesis 28:22; 35:14), and from the pillar of stones between Laban and Jacob (Genesis 31:46-47, 52), and from the altar built by the sons of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, near the Jordan, as a witness (Joshua 22:10, 28, 34). Therefore in the Word truths are signified by “stones;” insomuch that not only by the stones of the altar, but also by the precious stones upon the shoulders of Aaron’s ephod and upon the breastplate of judgment, there were signified holy truths which are of love.
[2] As regards the altar, when the worship of sacrifices upon altars began, the altar signified the representative worship of the Lord in general; but the stones themselves represented the holy truths of that worship; and therefore it was commanded that the altar should be built of whole stones, not hewn, and it was forbidden that any iron should be moved upon them (Deuteronomy 27:5-7; Joshua 8:31); for the reason that hewn stones, and stones on which iron has been used, signified what is artificial, and thus what is fictitious in worship; that is, what is of man’s own or of the figment of his thought and heart. This was to profane worship, as is plainly said in Exodus 20:25. For the same reason iron was not used upon the stones of the temple (1 Kings 6:7).
[3] That the precious stones upon the shoulders of Aaron’s ephod, and in the breastplate of judgment, signified holy truths, has been shown before n. 114). The same is evident in Isaiah:
Behold I will make thy stones to lie in carbuncle, and I will lay thy foundation in sapphires, and will put rubies for thy suns (windows), and thy gates in gem stones, and all thy border in stones of desire; and all thy sons shall be taught of Jehovah, and great shall be the peace of thy sons (Isaiah 54:11-13).
The stones here named denote holy truths, and therefore it is said, “all thy sons shall be taught of Jehovah.” Hence it is said in John that the foundations of the wall of the city, the holy Jerusalem, were adorned with every precious stone, and the stones are named (Revelation 21:19-20). The “holy Jerusalem” denotes the kingdom of the Lord in heaven and on earth, the foundations of which are holy truths. In like manner the tables of stone, on which the commands of the Law, or the Ten Words, were written, signified holy truths; and therefore they were of stone, or their foundation [fundus] was stone, concerning which see Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deuteronomy 5:22; 10:1, for the commands themselves are nothing else than truths of faith.
[4] As then in ancient times truths were signified by stones, and afterwards, when worship began upon pillars and altars, and in a temple, holy truths were signified by the pillars, altars, and temple, therefore the Lord also was called “a Stone;” as in Moses:
The Mighty One of Jacob, from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel (Genesis 49:24).
In Isaiah:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tried Stone of the corner, of price, of a sure foundation (Isaiah 28:16).
In David:
The Stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner (Psalms 118:22).
The like is signified in Daniel by “the stone cut out of the rock,” which brake in pieces the statue of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:34-35, 45).
[5] That “stones” signify truths, is evident also in Isaiah:
By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be expiated, and this shall be all the fruit, to take away his sin; when he shall put all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are scattered (Isaiah 27:9);
“the stones of the altar” denote truths in worship, which are dispersed. Again:
Make ye level the way of the people; flatten out, flatten ye out the path; gather out the stones (Isaiah 62:10);
“Way” and “stone” denote truths.
In Jeremiah:
I am against thee, O destroying mountain; I will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee into a mountain of burning; and they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone of foundation (Jeremiah 51:25-26).
This is said of Babel; “a mountain of burning,” is the love of self. That “a stone should not be taken from it,” means that there is no truth.
Joshua 8
1
Yahweh said to Joshua, "Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.
2
You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except its spoil and its livestock, you shall take for a plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."
3
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.
4
He commanded them, saying, "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don't go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5
I, and all the people who are with me, will approach to the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.
6
They will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, 'They flee before us, like the first time.' So we will flee before them,
7
and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.
8
It shall be, when you have seized on the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the word of Yahweh. Behold, I have commanded you."
9
Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.
10
Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11
All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.
12
He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13
So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14
It happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn't know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
15
Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16
All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17
There was not a man left in Ai or Beth El who didn't go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.
18
Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
19
The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.
20
When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.
21
When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and killed the men of Ai.
22
The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23
They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24
It happened, when Israel had made an end of killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword.
25
All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
26
For Joshua didn't draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27
Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey to themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which he commanded Joshua.
28
So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.
29
He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening, and at the sundown Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.
30
Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,
31
as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32
He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33
All Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, who carried the ark of Yahweh's covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34
Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
35
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua didn't read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.
