In a sense, the whole point of trying to accept the Lord and align ourselves with his love and leading is so that we can express what is good in life – so we can actually do things in the world that benefit other people. These external acts are the lowest form of goodness, but are the culmination of the higher forms — everything flows down from our highest and most internal loves and comes out as external actions. Swedenborg says this creates a bonding effect for those external actions – they bring together and contain the whole chain of desires for good and true ideas that caused them to happen.
This, Swedenborg tells us, is the internal meaning of girdles and belts in the Bible: They are good external goals that link the things in our hearts and minds into a state of cooperation and one-ness of purpose.
In most cases, girdles are used to cover the genitals. Since the genitals represent the love of marriage, these girdles represent the external good things that support marriage on all its levels: the marriage of husbands and wives, the marriage of what is good and what is true in each of us as individuals, and the ultimate marriage between each of us and the Lord.
Girdles can also serve to hold inner clothing together, with outergarments over it. Swedenborg says in this case, the girdle represents the separation between two external goals, and the internal things they include.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9828
- ‘And a belt’ means a common bond to ensure that everything has the same end in view. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a belt’ or girdle as a common bond; for it gathers together, encloses, holds in connection within itself, and strengthens everything within, which without it would fall apart and drift away. The reason why it is a common bond whose purpose is to ensure that everything has the same end in view is that in the spiritual world the end in view holds sway, so much so that everything there should be called an end. For the Lord’s kingdom, which is a spiritual world, is a kingdom of useful services, and such services there are ends in view, so that it is a kingdom of ends. But the ends there follow one another in various order, and they also stand in association with one another. The ends which follow one another are called middle ends, but those which stand in association with one another are called associate ends. All these ends have been so linked together and made subordinate to one another that without exception they have one end in view. This end is the Lord; and in heaven, among those who accept it, it is a love of and faith in Him. Love there is the end in view of all the powers of the will there, and faith is the end in view of all the powers of thought, which are those of the understanding.
[2] When every single thing has the same end in view all things are then held in uninterrupted connection and make one; for everything is then under the eye, government, and providence of the One who, acting in accord with the laws of subordination and association, turns everyone towards Himself, and thereby joins them to Himself. At the same time He turns all to face their companions, and thereby joins them to one another. This explains why the faces of all who are in heaven are kept turned towards the Lord, who is the Sun there, and so is the centre point in front of everyone’s eyes; and the marvel is that He is there in whatever direction angels turn round to face, 3638. And since the Lord is present within the good of mutual love and within the good of charity towards the neighbour – for all are loved by Him, and are joined to one another by Him through love – their regard for their companions, which that love gives them, also serves to turn them towards the Lord.
[3] Those things therefore on last and lowest levels, gathering others together and enclosing them so they may be held, every single one, in such connection, were represented by belts or girdles, which in the spiritual world are nothing other than the forms of good and the truths present on lowest or outermost levels which enclose more internal ones. Celestial forms of good on lowest or outermost levels were represented by girdles that went around the loins, and spiritual forms of good and truths on those levels by girdles that went around the thighs and also around the breast.
[4] Such things are meant by ‘girdles around the loins’ in the following places: In Jeremiah,
Jehovah said to the prophet, Buy yourself a linen girdle, and place it over your loins; but you are not to pass it through water. I therefore bought a girdle, and placed it over my loins. Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Take the girdle, and go away to the Euphrates, and hide it in the cleft of a rock. At the end of many days I went away to the Euphrates, and took the girdle, and behold, it was ruined; it was profitable for nothing. Then Jehovah said, This people is evil, refusing to hear My words; and they have gone after other gods. Therefore they will be just like this girdle that is profitable for nothing. Jer. 13:1-12.
‘A linen girdle’ here is used to mean in the spiritual sense the Church’s good, which encloses the truths there and holds them in connection within itself. The non-existence of the Church’s good at that time, and the consequent dispersal of its truths, are the reason for its being said that the girdle was not to be passed through water; for ‘water’ means truth that purifies and thereby restores. ‘The cleft of a rock’ in which it was hidden is falsified truth; ‘the Euphrates’ is the full extent and boundary of the celestial realities that belong to good on its lowest level. Anyone unacquainted with the essential nature of the Word may think that the passage is no more than a comparison of the people and their ruination with a girdle and its ruination. But in the Word all comparisons and metaphorical ways of speaking are real correspondences, 3579, 8989. Unless each detail in this description were of a correspondential nature the prophet would never have been told not to pass the girdle through water, or to place it over his loins, or to go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of a rock. The reason why it says that the girdle should be placed over his loins is that by ‘the loins’, because of their correspondence, is meant the good of celestial love, 3021, 4280, 5050-5062. A girdle placed over the loins accordingly means being joined to the Lord through the good of love, the Word serving as the intermediary.
[5] The meaning of ‘a girdle’ as good that acts as a boundary and holds things together is also evident in Isaiah,
There will come forth a shoot from the trunk of Jesse. Righteousness will be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs. Isa. 11:1, 5.
This refers to the Lord. ‘Righteousness’ that will be ‘the girdle of His loins’ is the good of His love, which protects heaven and the Church. The requirement stated in Exod. 12:11 that when the children of Israel ate the Passover their loins were to be girded means that all things should be present in their proper order, made ready to receive good from the Lord and to take action, 7863. This explains why those who have been made ready are said to be ‘girded’, as is also said of the seven angels in the Book of Revelation,
Out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in linen, white and splendid, and girded around their breasts with golden girdles. Rev. 15:6.
[6] It is said of Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8 that he was a hairy man and wore a girdle of skin around his loins. Much the same is said of John,
John had a garment of camel hair and a skin girdle around his waist. Matt. 3:4.
The reason why Elijah and John were clothed and girded in this way was that both men represented the Word, and therefore their clothes mean the Word in its external sense, which is the natural sense. For ‘hair’ means the natural, 3301, 5247, 5569-5573, and ‘camels’ general facts within the natural, 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. And ‘skin’ means the external, 3540, so that ‘a girdle of skin’ means that which collects together, encloses, and holds in connection the things within itself. For the representation of Elijah as the Word, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 2762, 5247 (end), and John the Baptist similarly, 9372.
[7] Since truths and forms of good are dissolved and dispersed by wicked deeds it says of Joab that after he had tricked and killed Abner he put the blood of war on his girdle that was on his loins, 1 Kings 2:5. This means that he dispersed and destroyed such truths and forms of good. This accounts for its being said, when truths have been dispersed and destroyed, that instead of a girdle there will be a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair, baldness, Isa. 3:24. This refers to the daughters of Zion, by whom forms of good belonging to the celestial Church are meant. ‘Instead of a girdle, a falling apart’ stands for the dispersal of celestial good.
[8] It is also said in Ezekiel of Oholibah, who is Jerusalem, that when she looked at men portrayed on the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, girded with girdles on their loins, she fell in love with them, Ezek. 23:14-16. Here truths which have been rendered profane are meant, for ‘the Chaldeans’ are those who outwardly claim to believe in truths but inwardly repudiate them, and in so doing render them profane. ‘Men portrayed on the wall’ are the appearances of truth in outward things, as in like manner are ‘images portrayed in vermilion’. ‘Girdles’ with which their loins were girded are the forms of good which they fake to induce belief in their truths.
[9] From all this it may now be clear what it was that girdles gathering garments into one served to mean in the representative Church. Yet the natural man can scarcely be brought to believe that such things were meant, because he finds it difficult to put aside the natural idea of a girdle, and in general of garments, and instead adopt a spiritual idea, which is that of good holding truths in connection within itself. For the natural level on which a person sees things holds the mind down on that level, and it is not removed from there unless the sight of the understanding is able to be raised right up into the light of heaven and the person is for this reason able to think on a level virtually divorced from natural things. When this happens to a person spiritual ideas of the truth of faith and of the good of love, which the merely natural man cannot understand, enter in.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9944
- ‘And the belt’ means a bond, and a separation from the outward things of that kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the belt’ as an outward bond that holds all things of love and faith in connection and form within itself, in order that they may all have the same end in view, dealt with in 9341(end), 9828, 9837. The reason why a separation from the outward things is also meant is that the bond gathers and holds together within itself the inward things; and this also separates them from the outward ones. The inward things of the spiritual kingdom are meant by ‘the tunic’ because it was the inmost garment, and the outward things of that kingdom by ‘the robe’ and ‘the ephod’ because they were the outer garments. For ‘Aaron’s garments’ represented the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, see 9814, ‘the ephod’ representing the outermost part of it, 9824; ‘the robe’ the inner part of it, 9825; and ‘the tunic’ the inmost, 9826.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 952
- And girt about the breasts with golden girdles. That this signifies spiritual Divine good, containing truths in order and connection, is evident from the signification of a golden girdle, as denoting what contains in order and in connection. For a zone orgirdle incloses the garments and contains them. The reason why it contains truths in order and connection is, that truths are signified by garments, especially by garments of linen. The reason why it is said to be spiritual good which contains is, that by the breast, which was girt about, is signified that good; and also by gold, of which the girdles were made. Similar things are signified where it is said that the
Son of man in the midst of the lampstands appeared girt about the paps with a golden girdle,
which may be seen explained above (n. 65).
That a zone or girdle signifies a common bond to contain all things in order and connection, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, (9341, 9828).
What the girdle of the ephod signifies may be seen (n. 9837) and what the belt of Aaron’s coat (n. 9944). Similar things are also signified by a girdle or zone in other parts in the Word, as in Isaiah (xi. 5; xxiii. 10; Jer. xiii. 1-7).
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 46
- And girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. This symbolizes the emanating and at the same time conjoining Divinity which is Divine good.
The golden girdle has this symbolism because the Lord’s breast, and specifically the nipples there, symbolize His Divine love. Therefore the golden girdle which encircled them symbolizes the emanating and at the same time conjoining Divinity, which is the Divine goodness of Divine love. Gold, too, symbolizes goodness (see no. 913 below).
A girdle or sash in the Word symbolizes a common bond which holds everything in order and connection. For example, in Isaiah:
There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse…, and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdleof His loins. (Isaiah 11:1, 5)
The rod coming forth from the stem of Jesse is the Lord.
It may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, nos. 9837 and 9944, that the girdle of Aaron’s ephod and the belt of his tunic symbolized conjunction.
Since a girdle symbolizes a bond conjoining the goods and truths of the church, therefore when the church with the children of Israel was destroyed, Jeremiah the prophet was commanded to buy himself a sash and put it on his loins, and then hide it in a hole in a rock by the Euphrates. And when, at the end of many days, he recovered it, behold, it was ruined and profitable for nothing. (Jeremiah 13:1-12) This represented that the goodness of the church had then come to nothing, with its truths therefore gone.
A sash has the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 3:24, in the phrase, “instead of a sash, a rent.” And so also elsewhere.
That nipples or paps symbolize Divine love is apparent from passages in the Word where they are mentioned, and from their correspondence with love.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 216
- And they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.
‘Sewing leaves’ is excusing themselves, ‘fig’ is natural good, ‘makinggirdles for themselves’ is being filled with shame. This was how the most ancient people spoke and described this generation of the Church, that is to say, that instead of the innocence existing with them previously they now had natural good which; served to conceal their evil, and that because they were in possession of natural good they were moved to shame.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10005
- ‘The robe of the ephod’ means the middle part of that kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the robe’ as the Divine Spiritual emanating indirectly from the Divine Celestial, thus the middle of the spiritual kingdom, dealt with in 9825. The reason why it is called ‘the robe of the ephod’ is that the robe went with the ephod; it was also kept distinct from the tunic by means of agirdle. For there were two girdles; the first was an overall one for the ephod and robe together, the second was for the tunic alone. This second girdle served to mean that the things of the spiritual kingdom which were represented by the tunic were distinct and separate from those represented by the robe and ephod together. ‘Agirdle (or belt)’ means a common bond which holds more internal things in connection, 9828, and also serves to separate one thing from another, 9944.