AE 585 - Doctrine from Self-Intelligence, Hewn Stones; AE 586 - Cupidity Defined

 AE 585 [11, 12-13]

Moreover, the work of the workman,
the artificer, and the mechanic,"
means in the Word
whatever of doctrine, religion, and worship
is from self-intelligence.
This is why the altar, and also the temple,
were built, by command, of whole stones,
and not hewn by any workman or artificer.

Respecting the altar it is thus said in Moses:

If you make to Me an altar of stones
you shall not build it of hewn stones,
for if you move a tool upon it
you wilt profane it.
(Exodus 20:25)

And in Joshua:

Joshua built an altar unto the God of Israel in Mount Ebal,
an altar of whole stones,
on which no one had moved iron.
(Joshua 8:30, 31)

And respecting the temple, in the first book of Kings:

The temple at Jerusalem was built of stone,
whole as it was brought;
for there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron
heard in the house while it was building.
(I Kings 6:7)

. . . "the work of His hands"
means a person regenerated by Him,
thus the man of the church.

Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying,
Blessed be Egypt My people,
and Assyria the work of My hands,
and Israel Mine inheritance.
(Isaiah 19:25)

"Egypt" here signifies the natural,
"Assyria" the rational,
and "Israel" the spiritual;
and "Assyria" is called "the work of Jehovah's hands"
because the rational is what is reformed in a person,
for it is the rational that receives truths and goods,
and from this the natural;
the spiritual is what regenerates,
that is, the Lord by spiritual influx;
in a word, the rational is the medium between
the spiritual and the natural,
and the spiritual, which regenerates,
flows in through the rational into the natural,
and thus the natural is regenerated.

AE 586

The affection of evil and falsity is what is called cupidity,
and is what is meant by "demon."