AC 10178 - The Lord's Merit and Righteousness

AC  10178

Of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
(Exodus 30:1)

That this signifies from love Divine,
is evident from the signification of "shittim wood,"
as being the good of merit and of righteousness
that belongs to the Lord alone;
that it also signifies love,
is because when the Lord was in the world,
He from Divine love
fought against all the hells and subjugated them,
and thereby saved the human race,
and as a consequence
alone had merit and was made righteousness.
Therefore the good of the Lord's merit
is His Divine love.
That "shittim wood" has such
and so great a signification
is because all things which are in
the threefold kingdom of the earth,
animal, vegetable, and mineral,
signify spiritual and celestial things,
and also their opposites;
for all nature is a theater representative
of the Lord's kingdom;
also that "wood" in general signifies the good of love,
and specifically the good of merit.
From this it is that in the supreme sense
"wood" signifies Divine good,
because all things which in the internal sense
signify such things
as belong to the church and heaven,
in the supreme sense signify Divine things.