8941. Thou shalt not build it of hewn stones. That this signifies that it must not be from self-intelligence, is evident from the signification of “hewn stones,” as being such things as are from self-intelligence; for “stones” denote truths (see n. 8940); and to “hew,” or fit, them denotes to hatch or devise truths, or such things as resemble truths, from one’s own, or from self-intelligence. For things which are hatched or devised from one’s own, or from self-intelligence, have their life from man, which life is no life, because man’s own is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 874-876, 987, 1047, 5660, 5786, 8480); whereas that which is not from man’s own, but from the Divine, has life in itself, because all life is from the Divine. The worship of the Lord from truth is here treated of, for this worship is signified by “an altar of stones” (n. 8940).

[2] The truths from which the Lord is to be worshiped are to be taken solely from the Word, for in every detail of the Word there is life from the Divine. When truths are taken from one’s own, they regard and have as their end dignity and eminence over all in the world, and likewise earthly possessions and wealth above all men, and therefore they have in them the love of self and of the world, thus all evils in the complex (n. 7488, 8318). But truths which are from the Word regard and have as their end eternal life, and have in them love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, thus all goods in the complex. When truths are hatched from one’s own, or from self-intelligence, they rule over the truths which are from the Divine, because these are applied to confirm them; when yet the contrary should be the case, namely, that truths from the Divine should rule, and those which are from self-intelligence should serve. Those which are from one’s own, or from self-intelligence, are called truths, but they are not truths; they only appear as truths in the external form, for they are rendered like truths by means of applications from the literal sense of the Word, and by reasonings, while in the internal form they are falsities (what and of what quality they are, see above, n. 8932).

[3] There are in the world two religiosities which are from self-intelligence-one in which the love of self and of the world is everything, which religion is that which is called in the Word “Babel;” it is inwardly profane from the love of self and of the world, and outwardly holy from the Word which has been applied to confirm. The other religiosity is that in which the light of nature is everything; they who are in this acknowledge nothing as truth which they do not apprehend. Some from this religiosity acknowledge the Word, but they apply it for confirmation, thus to serve. Some however do not acknowledge the Word; but these make the Divine to consist in nature, for their light, being of nature, falls into nature, and cannot be enlightened by the light of heaven, because they reject the Word from which is all enlightenment. Those who are from these two religiosities are in hell, because they are void of heavenly life, which they cannot receive because they have rejected the Word. And those of them who have applied the Word for confirmation, have made the Word of none effect in their hearts; but because of its great authority with the common people, they have used it for this service, in order to give weight to the devices of their own intelligence. From all this it can be seen what is signified in the spiritual sense by the altar not being to be built of hewn stones.

[4] By “hewn stone” is signified that which is from self-intelligence in the following passages also:

That the people may know, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in haughtiness and pride of heart, The bricks are fallen, and we will build with hewn stone (Isaiah 9:9-10).

Although I cry and shout, He hath shut out my prayers, He hath fenced about my ways with hewn stone, He hath overturned my paths (Lam. 3:8-9).

Forasmuch as ye trample upon the worn one, and seize from him the burden of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them (Amos 5:11).

In these passages “hewn stone” denotes such things in matters of faith as are from self-intelligence.

[5] Such being the signification of “hewn stone,” therefore the altar first built in the land of Canaan by the sons of Israel after they had passed over the Jordan, was built of unhewn stones; for by the passage over the Jordan was represented introduction into the kingdom of the Lord, which is effected by means of the truths of faith. Of this altar it is thus written in Joshua:

Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah the God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the sons of Israel, an altar of whole stones, upon which no man had moved iron (Josh. 8:30-31; also Deuteronomy 27:1-8).

[6] In like manner the temple of Jerusalem was built of whole stones unhewn, of which it is thus written in the first book of the Kings:

As to the house itself, when it was in building, it was built of whole stone, as it was brought; for there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tools of iron heard in the house, while it was in building (1 Kings 6:7).

For by the temple of the Lord was represented the Lord as to Divine truth. That the Lord was represented by the temple, He Himself teaches in John 2:19, 21-22; and that He was represented as to the Divine truth, was because this truth was there taught; for which reason also it was built of stones, because by “stones” was signified Divine truth (n. 8940); and hence also the Lord Himself was called the “Stone of Israel” (n. 6426).

[7] From all this it is now evident what was signified by the stone of the altar, and what also by the stone of the temple, likewise what by the stones being whole and unhewn, namely, that religion was to be formed by truths from the Lord, thus from the Word, and not from self-intelligence. Truths which are from self-intelligence are thus described also in Isaiah:

The workman casteth a graven image, and the founder overlayeth it with gold, and casteth silver chains. He seeketh an intelligent workman to prepare a graven image (Isaiah 40:19-20).

“A graven image” denotes a religiosity that is from one’s own, which is set up to be worshiped as Divine (see n. 8869); “the workman” denotes those who hatch and devise from one’s own; that they may appear like truths is described by his “overlaying it with gold,” “casting silver chains,” and “seeking an intelligent workman.”

[8] Again:

They that form a graven image are all of them vanity. All his fellows shall be ashamed, and the workmen themselves. He fashioneth the iron with the tongs, and worketh with coal, and formeth it with sharp hammers; thus he worketh it with the arm of his strength; he fashioneth pieces of wood, he stretcheth out a thread, and marketh it off with a rule; he maketh it into its angles, and defineth it with a compass, that he may make it in the form of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in the house (Isaiah 44:9, 11-13).

in this passage also is described a religiosity which is from self-intelligence. In like manner in Jeremiah:

The statutes of the nations are vanity; surely he cutteth out wood from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with an axe. He decketh it with silver and with gold; he fasteneth it with nails and with hammers (Jeremiah 10:3-4).

And also in Hosea:

Nevertheless now they sin more and more, and make them a molten image of silver, idols in their intelligence, all the work of the craftsmen (Hos. 13:2).

A religiosity that is hatched from self-intelligence, and not derived from the Word, is meant in the internal sense by “idols” and “strange gods,” by “molten images” and “graven images,” for the things which are from one’s own are nothing else, because in themselves they are dead, and yet are adored as living.

8869. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image. That this signifies not from self-intelligence, is evident from the signification of “a graven image,” as being that which is not from the Lord, but from what is man’s own. That which is man’s own of his intellect is signified by “a graven image,” and that which is man’s own of his will is signified by “a molten image.” To have either the one or the other for a god, or to adore it, is to love above all things all that which proceeds from self. They who do this entirely disbelieve that anything of intelligence and wisdom flows in from the Divine, for they attribute all things to themselves; everything else that happens to them they ascribe either to fortune or to chance. They totally deny the Divine Providence in such things. They suppose that if there is anything of Deity present, it is in the order of nature, to which they ascribe all things. They do indeed say with their lips that some Creator God has impressed such things upon nature; but still in their heart they deny any God above nature. Much are they who from the heart attribute everything to themselves and to their own sagacity and intelligence, and nothing to the Divine; and those of them who love themselves, adore what belongs to themselves and also desire to be worshiped by others, even as gods, and would do so openly if the church did not forbid. These are the formers of graven images, and the graven images themselves are what they hatch from their own, and wish to be adored as things divine.

[2] That these things are signified in the Word by “graven images,” is evident from the passages where they are mentioned, as in Jeremiah:

Every man is become a fool from knowledge; every founder is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and there is no breath in them (Jeremiah 10:14; 51:17);

as by “a graven image” is signified that which does not proceed from the Lord, but from self-intelligence, therefore it is said, “Every man is become a fool from knowledge, and every founder is put to shame by his graven image;” and as in those things which are hatched from self-intelligence there is nothing of spiritual life, which is solely from the Lord, therefore it is also said, “and there is no breath in them.”

[3] In Habakkuk:

What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it, the molten image, and the teacher of a lie, because the maker of his invention trusteth upon this, when he maketh dumb gods? there is no breath in the midst of it (Hab. 2:18-19); here the “graven image” denotes those things which are hatched from self-intelligence, wherein there is nothing of life from the Lord.

[4] In Jeremiah:

A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they glory in horrors; therefore the ziim dwell with the iim, and the daughters of the owl dwell therein (Jeremiah 50:38-39);

speaking of Chaldea and Babel; “a drought upon the waters, and they shall be dried up,” denotes truths wherein there is nothing of life; “the ziim, and the iim, and the daughters of the owl, dwell therein,” denotes evils and falsities, thus those things which are of death within; from this it is that they are called “a land of graven images.”

[5] In Isaiah:

They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and their most desirable things shall not profit; and they are witnesses to themselves, they see not nor know (Isaiah 44:9-11);

“they that fashion a graven image,” denotes those who hatch out doctrines which are not grounded in truths from the Word, but in self-intelligence, of which doctrines it is said that “their most desirable things do not profit,” and that “they see not nor know.” In what follows (verses 12-16 of that chapter) there is treated of the art of inventing and of hatching by reasonings from self-intelligence, things which they desire should be acknowledged as Divine, of which things it is thus finally said:

The residue thereof he maketh into a god, his graven image, he adoreth it, he boweth himself down, and yet they know not, neither do they understand; and their eyes do not see, that their hearts may not understand (Isaiah 44:17-18).

That “they know not, and understand not, and see not” denotes that truths and goods are not within, for all things which go forth from self-intelligence are not inwardly truths and goods, but falsities and evils, because they proceed from one’s own, and that this at its root is evil, see n. 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1044, 1047, 1581, 3812, 4328, 5660, 5786, 8480.

[6] In the same:

To whom will ye liken God? and what image will ye compare with Him. The craftsman casteth the graven image, and the founder overlayeth it with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is destitute of an oblation chooseth wood that will not rot; he seeketh him a wise craftsman to prepare a graven image that shall not be shaken (Isaiah 40:18-20);

“the graven cage which the craftsman casteth” denotes false doctrine which is from man’s own; “the founder overlayeth it with gold, and casteth silver chains,” denotes that through reasonings he makes the falsities of doctrine appear as truths.

[7] In the same:

I Jehovah have called thee in righteousness, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the bound one from the prison, them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. I am Jehovah, this is My name, and My glory will I not give to another, nor My praise to graven images (Isaiah 42:6-8);

speaking of the Lord, that He is Jehovah, and that from Him is all wisdom, and nothing of it from man. That the Lord is here treated of is evident. That He is “Jehovah” here is also evident, for it is said that “Jehovah hath called Him in righteousness,” and then, “I am Jehovah, this is My name, and My glory will I not give to another.” That from Him is the wisdom that belongs to life, is signified by His “opening the blind eyes,” and “bringing out the bound one from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house;” that nothing of wisdom is from man, is signified by “I will not give My praise to graven images.”

[8] By “graven images” are also signified the things of self-intelligence in the following passages:

And there cometh a chariot of a man, a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babel is fallen; and all the graven images he hath broken into the earth (Isaiah 21:9).

Then will ye judge unclean the covering of the graven images of their silver, and the clothing of the molten image of their gold; thou shalt scatter them as a menstruous cloth; it shall be called dung (Isaiah 30:22).

Why have they provoked Me to anger by their graven images, by vanities of strangers? (Jeremiah 8:19).

They have called themselves, so they went for the sake of themselves; they sacrifice to the Baals, and burn incense to graven images (Hos. 11:2).

Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination to Jehovah, the work of the hands of the craftsman (Deuteronomy 27:15).