643、至于这些话的含义本身，即：“歌斐木”表示强烈的欲望，“房间”表示人的两个部分，这从圣言清楚可知。歌斐木是一种富含硫磺的木材，如杉木和其它这类木材。正是由于它里面的硫磺，我们才说它表示强烈的欲望，因为它很容易着火。上古之人将人里面的事物比作金、银、铜、铁、石、木：他至内在的属天之物好比金，次等的属天之物好比铜，最次或由此降下的肉体之物好比木；而他至内在的属灵之物好比银，次等的属灵之物好比铁，最次的属灵之物好比石。当圣言提到这些事物时，就内义而言，这些就是它们所表示的事物，如以赛亚书：
我要拿金子代替铜，拿银子代替铁，拿铜代替木头，拿铁代替石头；并要以和平为你的官长，以公义为你的税吏。（以赛亚书60:17）
此处论述的是主的国，主的国没有这类金属，只有属灵和属天事物；所表示的是这些事物，这一点从提及“和平”与“公义”很清楚地看出来。此处“金”、“铜”、“木”彼此对应，并表示属天事物或属于意愿的事物，如前所述；而“银”、“铁”、“石”彼此对应，并表示属灵事物或属于理解力的事物。
以西结书：
他们必掳去你的财富，掠夺你的货物，你的石头、木头。（以西结书26:12）
显而易见，“财富”和“货物”不是指世俗的财富和货物，而是指属天和属灵的财富和货物；“石头”和“木头”也一样，“石头”是指理解力的事物，“木头”是指意愿的事物。哈巴谷书：
墙里的石头必呼叫，房内的梁木必应声。（哈巴谷书2:11）
“石头”表示最低级的理解力，“梁木”表示最低级的意愿，当有东西从感官知识中被提取出来时，最低级的意愿就“应声”。又：
对木头说，醒起！对哑石说，起来！那人有祸了！这个能教训人吗？看哪，这是包裹金银的，在它中间毫无气息。惟耶和华在祂的圣殿中。（哈巴谷书2:19-20）
此处“木头”也表示恶欲，“石”表示最低级的理解力，所以“哑”和“教训”论及这石头；“在它中间毫无气息”表示它代表非属天或属灵之物，就像内有石、木的圣殿；包裹金银的石、木便与那些不思想它们所代表之物的人共存。
耶利米哀歌：
我们喝水要付银子，我们的木柴也付代价而来。（耶利米哀歌5:4）
此处“水”和“银子”表示理解的事物，“木柴”表示意愿的事物。耶利米书：
他们向木头说，你是我的父；向石头说，你生了我。（耶利米书2:27）
此处“木头”表示属于意愿的欲望，由此而有孕育；“石头”表示感官知识，由此而有生出。因此，在先知书的各处，“服事木、石”都表示敬拜木、石的雕像，这表示人们服侍恶欲和幻觉，或说是它们的奴隶；先知书还提到“和木头石头行淫”（如耶利米书3:9）。何西阿书：
我的民求问他们的木头，以为木杖能指示他们，因为他们行淫的灵使他们走入歧途。（何西阿书4:12）
这表示他们求问木头雕像或恶欲。以赛亚书：
陀斐特自昨日就预备好了，其中堆的是火与许多木柴；耶和华的气如一条燃烧的硫磺河。（以赛亚书30:33）
此处“火”、“硫磺”和“木柴”表示污秽的欲望。
一般来说，“木头”表示最低级的意愿的事物；像香柏木之类的珍贵木头表示良善的事物，如圣殿中的香柏木，用来洁净大麻风的香柏木（利未记14:4，6-7），以及在玛拉，被丢进苦水使水变甜的木头（出埃及记15:25）。蒙主的神性怜悯，这些将在适当地方予以论述。非珍贵的木头和被制成雕像的木头，以及用来作柴的木头等等，均表示恶欲，如此处含有硫磺的歌斐木。以赛亚书：
耶和华的报仇之日，她的溪河要变为柏油，她的尘土要变为硫磺，她的陆地要变为燃烧的柏油。（以赛亚书34:8-9）
“柏油”表示可怕的幻觉，“硫磺”表示污秽的欲望。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]643. To take up the actual symbolism of the terms: it is clear from the Word that gopher wood means intense cravings and the compartments mean our two sides.
Gopher wood is a kind of wood loaded with sulfur, similar to fir and many others of the same kind. Sulfur is what makes this wood symbolic of cravings because sulfur catches fire quite easily.
The earliest people used gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood as metaphors and similes for human attributes. Gold stood for the most profound heavenly quality in us, bronze for a heavenly quality less profound, and wood for the lowliest, physical kind, rising out of the first two. Silver, on the other hand, was a metaphor or simile for the deepest possible spiritual quality, iron for a spiritual quality less deep, and stone for the lowest kind. When these substances are mentioned in the Word, the same qualities are symbolized by them on an inner plane. In Isaiah, for instance:
For bronze I will bring in gold; and for iron I will bring in silver; and for wood, bronze; and for stones, iron; and I will make peace your property, and justice your taskmaster. (Isaiah 60:17)
This passage deals with the Lord's kingdom, which contains not metals like these but heavenly and spiritual elements. The presence of symbolism here is also evident from the fact that the verse speaks of peace and justice. The gold, bronze, and wood mentioned in it are interconnected and symbolize heavenly or will-related qualities, as I said. The silver, iron, and stone too are interconnected and symbolize spiritual or intellectual qualities.
[2] In Ezekiel:
They will prey on your resources, they will plunder your wares — your stones and your wood. (Ezekiel 26:12)
Obviously the resources and wares mean not those of a worldly type but those of a heavenly and spiritual type. Likewise the stones and wood; the stones are the contents of the intellect, and the wood, those of the will. In Habakkuk:
A stone in the wall cries out, and a beam of wood answers. (Habakkuk 2:11)
The stone stands for the lowest plane of the intellect, and the wood, for the lowest plane of the will, which responds whenever a fact is produced from a person's store of sense-based information. In the same author:
Doom to one who says to wood, "Wake up!" and says "Rouse yourself!" to silent stone. Will it teach [anyone anything]? Look, it is immobilized in gold and silver, and there is no breath in the middle of it. But Jehovah is in his holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:19-20)
Here too wood stands for desire, and stone stands for the lowest level of the intellect, which is why the text connects it with silence and teaching. The absence of breath in the middle of it means that it does not represent anything heavenly or spiritual, as the Temple with its stone and wood does. The stone and wood are locked up in gold and silver with those who spend no time thinking about the things they represent.
[3] In Jeremiah:
Our water we drink at the cost of silver; our wood comes at a price. (Lamentations 5:4)
The water and silver symbolize the assets of the intellect, the wood, those of the will. In the same author:
... saying to wood, "You are my father," and to stone, "You gave us birth." (Jeremiah 2:27)
The wood stands for desire in the will, from which such people trace their conception, and the stone, for facts learned through the senses, from which they have their birth. Many passages in the prophets talk of serving wood and stone, where these refer to sculptures of wood and stone. The meaning is that people were slaves to their desires and fantasies. Another expression refers to engaging in adultery with wood and stone, as in Jeremiah 3:9. In Hosea:
The people ask questions of their wood, and their wand shows them the answer, because a spirit of whoredom has led them astray. (Hosea 4:12)
This stands for looking to a wooden idol — or in other words, to their appetites — for answers. In Isaiah:
From yesterday a topheth{*1} has been prepared; its pyre is fire and much wood; Jehovah's breath is like a river of burning sulfur. (Isaiah 30:33)
The fire, sulfur, and wood stand for filthy desires.
[4] Wood in general symbolizes what exists on the lowest plane of the will. Costly woods, such as cedar and so on, symbolize the good things there. The cedar wood in the Temple has such a meaning, as does the cedar wood used to cure leprosy{*2} (Leviticus 14:4, 6-7) and the wood thrown into the bitter water at Marah, making it sweet (Exodus 15:25). These passages will be explained in their places, by the Lord's divine mercy.{*3} Wood that was not valuable, however, and that was made into idols or used for a funeral pyre or some similar purpose symbolizes cravings. The gopher wood in the current verse was of this type, because of the sulfur. In Isaiah, for instance:
A day of vengeance for Jehovah! [Zion's] rivers will turn into pitch, and its dirt into sulfur, and its land will become burning pitch. (Isaiah 34:8-9)
Pitch stands for horrendous delusions, sulfur for filthy desires.
Footnotes:
{*1} The word topheth is Hebrew (תָּפְתֶּה [toṕteh]). It is usually considered a proper noun, the name of a location in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (that is, Gehenna) used for human sacrifice. On Gehenna, see note 3 in 374. [LHC, RS]
{*2} Although the skin disease mentioned in the Leviticus verses is no longer thought to be leprosy, that is the traditional interpretation of the Hebrew term (צָרַעַת [ṣāra‘aṯ]). Leviticus (14:34, 44, 55) applies the term to a house or garment, suggesting that it may refer to a type of fungus (Brown, Driver, and Briggs 1996, under צָרַעַת). Swedenborg translates it with the Latin term for leprosy (lepra). [LHC, RS]
{*3} See 8354-8356 for Swedenborg's explanation of the passage in Exodus. Secrets of Heaven does not extend as far as Leviticus (see note 3 in 66 and the reader's guide, pages 24-25 note 14 [NCBSP: Available from Swedenborg Foundation]). [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 643
643. But as regards the signification itself of the words: that "gopher wood" signifies concupiscences, and the "mansions" the two parts of man, is evident from the Word. Gopher wood is a wood abounding in sulphur,* like the fir, and others of its kind. On account of its sulphur it is said that it signifies concupiscences, because it easily takes fire. The most ancient people compared things in man (and regarded them as having a likeness) to gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, and wood-his inmost celestial to gold, his lower celestial to brass, and what was lowest, or the corporeal therefrom, to wood. But his inmost spiritual they compared (and regarded as having a likeness) to silver, his lower spiritual to iron, and his lowest to stone. And such in the internal sense is the signification of these things when they are mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah:
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron; I will also make thine officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness (Isa. 60:17).
Here the Lord's kingdom is treated of, in which there are not such metals, but spiritual and celestial things; and that these are signified is very evident from the mention of "peace" and "righteousness." "Gold" "brass" and "wood" here correspond to each other, and signify things celestial or of the will, as before said; and "silver" "iron" and "stone" correspond to each other, and signify things spiritual or of the understanding.
[2] In Ezekiel:
They shall make a spoil of thy riches and make a prey of thy merchandise; thy stones, and thy wood (Ezek. 26:12).
It is very manifest that by "riches" and "merchandise" are not meant worldly riches and merchandise, but celestial and spiritual; and the same by the "stones" and "wood"-the "stones" being those things which are of the understanding, and the "wood" those which are of the will. In Habakkuk:
The stone crieth out of the wall, and the beam out of the wood answereth (Hab. 2:11).
The "stone" denotes the lowest degree of the understanding; and the "wood" the lowest of the will, which "answers" when anything is drawn from sensuous knowledge [scientifico sensuali]. Again:
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; and to the dumb stone, Arise, this shall teach. Behold it is fastened with gold and silver, and there is no breath in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in the temple of His holiness (Hab. 2:19-20).
Here also "wood" denotes cupidity; "stone" denotes the lowest of the understanding, and therefore to be "dumb" and to "teach" are predicated of it; "there is no breath in the midst of it" signifies that it represents nothing celestial and spiritual, just as a temple wherein are stone and wood, and these bound together with gold and silver, is to those who think nothing of what they represent.
[3] In Jeremiah:
We drink our waters for silver; our wood cometh for price (Lam. 5:4).
Here "waters" and "silver" signify the things of the understanding; and "wood" those of the will. Again:
Saying to wood, Thou art my father; and to the stone, Thou hast brought us forth (Jer. 2:27).
Here "wood" denotes cupidity, which is of the will, whence is the conception; and "stone" the sensuous knowledge [scientifico sensuali], from which is the "bringing forth." Hence, in different places in the Prophets, "serving wood and stone" is put for worshiping graven images of wood and stone, by which is signified that they served cupidities and phantasies; and also "committing adultery with wood and stone" as in Jeremiah (3:9). In Hosea: My people inquire of their wood, and the staff thereof declareth unto them; because the spirit of whoredoms hath led them away (Hos. 4:12), meaning that they make inquiry of graven images of wood, or of cupidities.
[4] In Isaiah:
Topheth is prepared from yesterday, the pile thereof is fire and mulch wood, the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning sulphur* (Isa. 30:33).
Here "fire" "sulphur" and "wood" stand for foul cupidities. In general, "wood" signifies the things of the will which are lowest; the precious woods, such as cedar and the like, those which are good, as for example the cedar wood in the temple, and the cedar wood employed in the cleansing of leprosy (Lev. 14:4, 6-7); also the wood cast into the bitter waters at Marah, whereby the waters became sweet (Exod. 15:25), concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy in those places. But woods that were not precious, and those which were made into graven images, as well as those used for funeral piles and the like, signify cupidities; as in this place does the gopher wood, on account of its sulphur. So in Isaiah:
The day of vengeance of Jehovah; the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into sulphur,* and the land thereof shall become burning pitch (Isa. 34:9).
"Pitch" stands for dreadful phantasies; "sulphur" for abominable cupidities. * The word "sulphur" was formerly used not exclusively as the name of brimstone, but also as a general term for inflammable substance. The classification of gopher here with the fir (abies), which is a turpentine tree, would seem to imply that the inflammable constituent of the gopher also was turpentine, and that this is what is meant here by "sulphur." See Lord Bacon's "History of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt." [Note in the Rotch edition.]
Elliott(1983-1999) 643
643. As for the meaning itself of these expressions - that 'planks of gopher' means lusts and 'rooms' the two parts of this man - this becomes clear from the Word. Gopher is a wood full of sulphur, as is the fir and others of that group. It is on account of the sulphur in it that it is said to mean lusts, for it catches fire easily. The most ancient people compared and likened those elements that exist with man to gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, his inmost celestial to gold, the lower celestial to bronze, and the lowest or bodily descending from this to wood, while the inmost spiritual they compared and likened to silver, the lower spiritual to iron, and the lowest degree of it to stone. When those objects are mentioned in the Word these are the things meant by them in the internal sense, as in Isaiah,
Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isa 60:17.This refers to the Lord's kingdom in which no such metals exist, but instead celestial and spiritual elements. It is quite clear that the latter are meant because of the reference to peace' and 'righteousness'. Here, gold, bronze, and wood correspond to one another and mean celestial elements or those belonging to the will, as has been stated. Silver, iron, and stone also correspond to one another, and mean spiritual elements or those belonging to the understanding.
[2] In Ezekiel,
They will spoil your riches, they will despoil your merchandise, your stones and your timbers. Ezek 26:12.
It is quite clear that 'riches' and 'merchandise' do not mean material riches and merchandise, but celestial and spiritual ones. So also 'stones' and 'timbers' - 'stones' being things of the understanding and 'timbers' those of the will. In Habakkuk,
The stone cries out from the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork answers back. Hab 2:11.
'Stone' stands for the lowest degree of the understanding, and 'wood' for the lowest degree of the will, which answers back when anything is drawn from sensory knowledge. In the same prophet,
Woe to him who says to a piece of mood, Awake! or to a dumb stone, Arise, this will teach! Behold, this is bound in gold and silver, and there is no spirita at all in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in His holy temple. Hab 2:19, 20.
Here also 'wood' stands for evil desire, 'stone' for the lowest degree of the understanding, and therefore 'being dumb' and 'teaching' are used in reference to that stone. 'No spirit in the midst of it' means that it represents nothing celestial or spiritual, like a temple in which there is stone and wood, overlaid with gold and silver, existing with people who give no thought to what those things represent.
[3] In Jeremiah,
Our waters we drink for silver, our timbers come for a price. Lam 5:4.
Here 'waters' and 'silver' mean things of the understanding, 'timbers' those of the will. In the same prophet,
Who say to wood, You are my father; and to a stone, You gave birth to us. Jer 2:27.
Here 'wood' stands for desire which belongs to the will, from which there is conception, and 'stone' for sensory knowledge, from which there is birth. All through the Prophets therefore 'serving wood and stone' stands for images carved out of wood or stone, which means that people were slaves to evil desires and to delusions. The Prophets also speak of 'committing adultery with wood and stone', as in Jer 3:9. In Hosea,
The people inquire of their piece of wood, and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray. Hosea 4:12.
This stands for their inquiring of a wooden image, or evil desires. In Isaiah,
The tophet has been prepared since yesterday. Its pyre is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone. Isa 30:33.
Here 'fire', brimstone', and 'wood' stand for filthy desires.
[4] In general 'wood' means those elements which constitute the lowest parts of the will. Precious kinds of wood, such as cedar and so on, mean elements that are good - for example, the cedar timbers in the Temple, or the cedarwood used in cleansing leprosy, Lev 14:4, 6, 7, or the wood cast into the bitter waters at Marah, by which the waters were made sweet, Exod 15:25. These in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with in their proper places. Non-precious kinds of wood however, also those which were made into images, and those that were used for a pyre as well, and the like, mean evil desires, as do planks of gopher here on account of the brimstone or sulphur in them. As in Isaiah,
The day of Jehovah's vengeance - her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and her land will become burning pitch. Isa 34:8, 9.
'Pitch' stands for dreadful delusions, 'brimstone' for filthy desires.
Latin(1748-1756) 643
643. Quod itaque ipsam significationem vocum attinet, ut quod 'ligna gopher' significent concupiscentias, et quod 'mansiones' utramque partem hominis, constare potest a Verbo: lignum gopher est lignum abundans sulphure, sicut abies et ejus generis plura; ex sulphure praedicatur quod significet concupiscentias, quia facile arripit ignem. Antiquissimi compararunt et assimilarunt illa quae sunt apud hominem, auro, argento, aeri, ferro, lapidi, ligno: caeleste ejus intimum 'auro,' caeleste inferius 'aeri,' et quod infimum seu corporeum inde 'ligno': at spirituale intimum compararunt et assimilarunt 'argento,' spirituale inferius 'ferro,' et infimum ejus 'lapidi'; quae cum nominantur in Verbo, per illa in sensu interno talia significantur, ut apud Esaiam, Pro aere adducam aurum, et pro ferro adducam argentum, et pro lignis aes, et pro lapidibus ferrum; ponamque censum tuum pacem et exactores tuos justitiam, lx 17;ibi agitur de regno Domini, ubi non talia metalla; sed sunt caelestia et spiritualia, quae quod significentur, etiam ex eo clare constat, quia de 'pace et justitia' dicitur; ibi 'aurum, aes et lignum' sibi correspondent, et significant caelestia, seu voluntaria, ut dictum; et 'argentum, ferrum et lapis' sibi correspondent, et significant spiritualia seu intellectualia: [2] apud Ezechielem, Praedabuntur opes tuas, depraedabuntur merces tuas;... lapides tuos et ligna tua, xxvi 12;
quod per 'opes et merces' non significentur opes et merces mundanae, constat manifeste, sed caelestes et spirituales; ita quoque per lapides et ligna, ubi 'lapides' sunt illa quae sunt intellectus, et 'ligna' illa quae voluntatis: apud Habakkuk, Lapis e pariete clamat, et trabs e ligno respondet, ii 11;
'lapis' pro infimo intellectus, et 'lignum' pro infimo voluntatis, quod respondet cum aliquod depromitur ex scientifico sensuali: apud eundem, Vae dicenti ligno, Expergiscere; et Suscitare, lapidi silenti, hic docebit; hic ecce fixus auro et argento, et nullus spiritus in medio ejus; at Jehovah in templo sanctitatis Suae, ii 19, [20];
hic quoque 'lignum' pro cupiditate, 'lapis' pro intellectuale infimo, quare de eo praedicatur 'silere et docere'; 'quod spiritus non in medio ejus' significat' quod nihil caeleste et spirituale repraesentet; sicut templum ubi lapis et lignum, et ea alligata auro et argento, apud eos qui nihil cogitant de illis quae repraesentant: [3] apud Jeremiam, Aquas nostras pro argento bibimus, ligna nostra pro pretio veniunt, Thren. v {x}4;
ubi 'aquae et argentum' significant ea quae sunt intellectus, 'ligna' quae sunt voluntatis: apud eundem, Dicentes ligno, Pater meus tu; et lapidi, Tu genuisti nos, {1} [Jer.] ii 27;
ibi 'lignum' pro cupiditate quae voluntatis, ex qua conceptus, et 'lapis' pro scientifico sensuali, ex quo genitus. Inde apud Prophetas passim, 'servire ligno et lapidi' pro sculptilibus ex ligno et lapide, per quae significatur quod serviverint cupiditatibus et phantasiis; etiam 'moechari cum ligno et lapide,' ut Jer. iii 9: apud Hosheam, Populus lignum suum interrogat, et baculus ejus indicat ei, quia spiritus scortationum seduxit, iv 12;
pro quod interroget sculptile ligneum, seu cupiditates: apud Esaiam, Paratum ab heri tophet,... rogus ejus ignis et ligna multum, flatus Jehovae sicut flumen sulphuris ardentis, xxx 33;
hic 'ignis, sulphur et ligna' pro foedis cupiditatibus. [4] 'Lignum' in genere significat illa quae sunt infima voluntatis; 'ligna pretiosa,' ut cedrinum et similia, quae bona, sicut cedrina ligna in templo; et lignum cedrinum adhibitum in mundatione leprae, Lev. xiv 4, 6, 7, et lignum projectum in aquas amaras ad Marah, ex quo aquae dulces factae, Exod. xv 25; de quibus, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, in illis locis. 'Ligna vero non pretiosa' et quae facta in sculptilia, ut et ad rogum adhibita, et talia, significant cupiditates; sicut hic ligna gopher ex sulphure; ut apud Esaiam, Dies ultionis Jehovae;... convertentur flumina ejus in picem, et pulvis ejus in sulphur, et erit terra ejus in picem ardentem, xxxiv [8,] 9;
'pix' pro diris phantasiis, 'sulphur' pro foedis cupiditatibus. @1 Heb. has two readings. S. here has the plural, but in n. 3703 and in A.E. 1145 he has me for nos.$