9716. 'Five cubits the length and five cubits the breadth' means that which consists equally of good and of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'five' as an equality, for when two dimensions are the same as each other, as the length and the breadth are here, an equality is meant (the reason why the length and the breadth of the altar were five cubits each was that five is also similar in meaning to ten, a hundred, and a thousand. These numbers mean what is much, all, or complete, and in the highest sense, in which the Lord is the subject, what is infinite. Five too has much the same meaning, since composite numbers are similar in meaning to the simple ones of which they are the products, and simple numbers are accordingly similar to their composites, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973. For the meaning of ten, a hundred, and a thousand as what is much, all, or complete, see 2636, 3107, 4400, 4638, 8715, and five likewise, 5708, 5956, 9102; and for the meaning of a thousand, used in reference to the Divine, as what is infinite, 2575); from the meaning of 'the length' as good, dealt with in 1613, 9487; and from the meaning of 'the breadth' as truth, dealt with in 1613, 3433, 3434, 4482, 9487. From all this it is evident that 'five cubits the length and five cubits the breadth' means that which consists equally of good and of truth. The expression 'equally of good and of truth' is used when the truth complements the good and the good complements the truth, thus when they act as one and form a marriage, such as the Lord causes them to do in heaven. Human will and understanding may serve to illustrate this. When the understanding acts as one with the will, that is, when the person perceives truth to be the complement of good, and good to be the complement of truth, that which consists equally of good and of truth exists with him. Furthermore the understanding has been dedicated to perceiving the truth that emanates from good, and the will to perceiving the good present within truth.

1613. 'The length of it and the breadth of it' means the celestial dimension and the spiritual dimension, or what amounts to the same, good and truth. 'length' means good and 'breadth' truth; see what has been stated already in 650. The reason is that 'land' means the heavenly kingdom, or Church, to which length and breadth are not attributable, only those things that match them and correspond to them, that is to say, goods and truths. The celestial dimension, or good, being primary, is compared to length, while the spiritual dimension, or truth, being secondary, is compared to breadth.

[2] That 'breadth' is truth is quite clear from the Prophetical part of the Word, as in Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching' into the breadths of the earth. Habakkuk 1:6.

'Chaldeans' stands for people under the influence of falsity, 'marching ¹ into the breadths of the earth' for the destruction of truths, for these words are used in reference to the Chaldeans. In David,

O Jehovah, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have made my feet stand in a broad place. Psalms 31:8.

'Standing in a broad place' stands for abiding in the truth. In the same author,

Out of my distress I called on Jah; He answered me in a broad place. Psalms 118:5.

'Answering in a broad place' stands for answering with the truth. In Hosea,

Jehovah will pasture them like a lamb in a broad place. Hosea 4:16.

'Pasturing in a broad place' stands for teaching the truth.

[3] In Isaiah,

Asshur will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck; and the outstretching of its wings will fill the breadth of the land. Isaiah 8:8.

'Asshur' stands for reasoning which would 'deluge the land', or the Church; 'wings' stands for reasonings from which falsities result; 'filling the breadth of the land' stands for its being full of falsities, or things contrary to the truth. Because the length of the land meant good and its breadth truth it is said that the New Jerusalem when measured lies four-square, its length being the same as its breadth, Revelation 21:16. From this anyone may see that length and breadth have no other meaning, since the New Jerusalem is nothing else than the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth. Because of the meaning things have in the internal sense it became commonplace in former times to refer to celestial and spiritual things by means of things on earth, such as length and breadth, just as height and depth are used nowadays in everyday speech when people are referring to wisdom.

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