9915. 'The work of a weaver' means from the celestial. This is clear from the meaning of 'the work of a weaver' as from the celestial. 'The work' means that which is created or comes into being, thus that which arises from another, while 'a weaver' is the one who causes it to exist or come into being. He accordingly means the celestial, for from this and through this the spiritual derives its being. It has been shown above in 9913, 9914, that the good of the celestial kingdom flows into the good of the spiritual kingdom, giving it its being. But whether you say the good of the celestial kingdom or the celestial, it amounts to the same thing; for the celestial is the good of that kingdom. And the same applies to the good of the spiritual kingdom and the spiritual. What the good of the celestial kingdom or the celestial is, and what the good of the spiritual kingdom or the spiritual is, see the places referred to in 9277.

[2] In the heavens there are three realities that follow one another in order - the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. The celestial composes the inmost heaven, the spiritual the middle heaven, and the natural emanating from the spiritual the lowest heaven. The same three are present in the human being, and in him they follow one another in the same order as they do in the heavens; for a person who has been regenerated is heaven in the smallest form this can take, corresponding to the largest, 9279. But the mental powers that receive those three are called will, understanding, and factual knowledge from which springs the power of thought or imagination that the external or natural man possesses. The will is the recipient of the celestial, or good, and the understanding is the recipient of the spiritual, or truth from that good; and factual knowledge, which composes the level of understanding in the natural man, embodies the first two within itself. These three are meant in the Word by 'an embroiderer', 'a designer', and 'a weaver'. 'An embroiderer' or embroidery means factual knowledge, see, 9688, and 'a designer' or designing means the power of understanding, 9598, 9688, so that 'a weaver' means the power of will. The reason why 'a weaver' has this meaning is that the will flows into the understanding and weaves it, to such an extent that the contents of the understanding are weavings produced by the will. For what the will desires it fashions in such a way that it may appear to the sight in the understanding. This sight is thought (cogitatio), which is why 'a designer' (excogitator) means the power of understanding.

[3] Since Aaron's garments represented the spiritual heaven lying adjacent to the celestial kingdom, 9814, and the celestial kingdom corresponds to the human power of will and the spiritual kingdom to the human power of understanding, 9835, the terms 'work of an embroiderer', 'work of a designer', and 'work of a weaver' are used in special reference to those garments. These terms serve to mean the things that spring from factual knowledge, from the understanding, and from the will, or what amounts to the same thing, from the natural, from the spiritual, and from the celestial.

[4] That such things are meant becomes clear to all those who believe that the Word is Divine and that for this reason it contains inwardly descriptions of things which belong to the Lord, to heaven, and to the Church, since these subjects are Divine. Why else would Jehovah Himself declare who should make Aaron's garments and what kind of workmanship should be used? Why would He declare which ones should be the work of an embroiderer, which the work of a designer, and which the work of a weaver? These three are also mentioned specifically in the following words later on in the Book of Exodus,

These He has filled with wisdom of heart to do every work of a workman, and of a designer, and of an embroiderer in violet and in purple and in twice-dyed scarlet, and of a weaver - of those doing every work, of those who compose designs. ¹ Exodus 35:35.

'A workman' here means Divine Good that is celestial, which composes the power of will in one who has been regenerated, 9846. His work is mentioned first because [that kind of Good] springs directly from the Divine, and then indirectly from celestial good all things are born and emanate.

Примітки:

9846. 'With the work of one who works on stones, [like] the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel' means the heavenly pattern which all the truths arranged into their proper order in the memory by the good of love take on, that is, the truths there which have been grasped by a regenerated person's understanding and then set in order by his will. This is clear from the meaning of 'one who works on stones' as the good of love, thus the will part in the mind of one who has been regenerated, for this consists of the good of love (the will part of one who has been regenerated is a recipient of the good of love, and the understanding part is a recipient of the truths of faith); from the meaning of 'the engravings of a signet' as the heavenly pattern that all the truths possess, such as exists in the understanding of one who has been regenerated because the truths of faith there have been arranged into the heavenly pattern (for this reason a person who has been regenerated conforms to a small image of heaven, see the places referred to at the end of 9279, and the understanding part in the mind of a person who has been regenerated corresponds to the spiritual kingdom in heaven, while the will part corresponds to the celestial kingdom there, 9835; and from all this it is evident what the heavenly pattern of the truths present with a person may be); from the meaning of 'engraving stones' as imprinting on the memory, dealt with above in 9842, at this point imprinting such a pattern on the truths there; and from the meaning of 'the names of the sons of Israel' as the entire essential nature of truths and forms of good in their proper order, also dealt with above, in 9842-9845.

[2] The reason why 'one who works on stones' means the good of love or the will of someone who has been regenerated is that the good of love is at work arranging truths into order with a person while he is being regenerated, and afterwards, when he has been regenerated, is at work maintaining them in their proper order. For the truths are created to have complete similarity with the good and to respond to its every demand, and so to every demand of love since the good is an attribute of love. (The truth of this is clear from the consideration that a person acknowledges as truths things that he loves, and this being so, his love is what determines his understanding and acknowledgement of truths.) So it is that the truths constitute the form taken by the good. From all this one may recognize how the Lord leads a person by means of the truths of faith or by means of faith, namely by means of the good of love present with him, and in addition how the Lord also governs a person in an indirect way by means of heaven. For a person who has been regenerated conforms to a small image of heaven, as stated above, and since He governs heaven He also at the same time governs a person such as that.