4580. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spoke with him, a pillar of stone. That this signifies the holy of truth in that Divine state, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “in the place in which He spoke with him,” as being in that state (see just above, n. 4578). Something shall first be said with regard to the origin of the setting up of pillars, and of the pouring a drink-offering upon them, and of pouring oil upon them.

[2] The pillars set up in ancient times were either for a sign, or for a witness, or for worship. Those for worship were anointed, and were then holy, and worship was also held there, thus in temples, in groves, in forests under the trees, and in other places. This ritual derived its representation from the fact that in the most ancient times stones were set up on the boundaries between families of nations, lest they should pass over the boundaries to do one another evil (as for instance in the case of Laban and Jacob, Genesis 31:52). That they should not pass the boundaries to do evil was to them a law of nations. And as the stones were on the boundaries, when the most ancient people (who in everything on the earth saw a corresponding celestial and spiritual thing) saw these stones as boundaries, they thought about the truths which are the ultimates of order. But their descendants, who beheld in objects less of what is spiritual and celestial, and more of what is worldly, began to think of them with sanctity merely from the veneration derived from old time. And at last the descendants of the most ancient people who lived immediately before the flood, and who no longer saw anything spiritual and celestial in earthly and worldly things regarded as objects, began to regard these stones as holy, pouring drink-offerings upon them, and anointing them with oil; and they were then called “pillars,” and were used for worship.

[3] This remained after the flood in the Ancient Church, which was representative, but with the difference that the pillars served these people as a means for attaining to internal worship; for the infants and children were instructed by their parents in regard to what they represented, and were thus brought to know holy things, and to be affected with the things which the pillars represented. It is for this reason that the ancients had pillars for worship in their temples, groves, and forests, and upon hills and mountains. But when the internal of worship altogether perished with the Ancient Church, and they began to hold the externals as holy and Divine, and thus to worship them idolatrously, they then erected pillars for their several gods. And as the posterity of Jacob were most prone to idolatrous things, they were forbidden to erect pillars, and also to have groves, and even to hold any worship upon mountains and hills; but they were to be gathered together to one place, where the ark was, and afterwards where the temple was, thus to Jerusalem; otherwise each family would have had its own externals and idols that they would have worshiped, and consequently a representative of a church could not have been instituted with that nation. (See what was above shown concerning pillars, n. 3727.) All this shows what was the origin of the pillars, and what they signified, and that when they were employed in worship they represented holy truth, and therefore it is here said “a pillar of stone,” for a “stone” signifies truth in the ultimate of order (n. 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798). Be it known moreover that what is holy is especially predicated of Divine truth; for the Divine is in the Lord, and Divine truth proceeds from Him (n. 3704, 4577), and is called the Holy.

3798. That Jacob came near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth. That this signifies that the Lord from natural good uncovered the Word as to things interior, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Lord’s Divine natural, as before shown, here, in respect to the good therein; and from the signification of “rolling the stone from the well’s mouth,” as being to uncover the Word in respect to its interiors (n. 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789). The reason why the supreme internal sense here is that the Lord from natural good uncovered the Word as to its interiors, is that Jacob here represents good in the natural; for Jacob puts on the representation of good, because now truth was to be adjoined thereto by means of the affection which Rachel represents (see just above, n. 3775, 3793); and because it is from good that the Word is uncovered in respect to its interiors (n. 3773).

[2] That it is from good that the Word is uncovered is very manifest, because it is from the love in which each man is that he sees the things which are of that love, and that which he sees he calls truths, because they are in agreement with that love. There is in each man’s love the light of his life, for love is like a flame from which light issues; such therefore as is the love or flame, such is the man’s light of truth. They who are in the love of good can see that which is of this love, consequently the truths that are in the Word, and this in accordance with the amount and the quality of their love of good; for in this case light or intelligence flows in from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord. For this reason it is that as before said no one can see and acknowledge the interiors of the Word unless he is in good as to life.