There is an interesting relationship between facts and truth. It’s necessary to have facts if we want to know the truth, but facts on their own can be terribly misleading. We need to gather as many of them as we can, see the patterns and relationships, interpret the relative importance and look at things over the course of time if we want to start truly understanding the truth. Consider, for instance, trying to understand a war by reading the daily newspaper accounts written as the war was going on. You’d end up with a huge collection of facts but little perspective, little sense of the turning points and the significant battles. That’s where historians come in, to try to find the real truth contained in all those facts.
“Pots” and other large vessels in the Bible represent, according to Swedenborg, those facts and factual ideas, which serve as containers for truth the same way pots serve as containers for water or wine. Pots fill their function because they are hard, strong and impervious; facts are also absolute and unchanging, filling their function the same way. And pots must be filled to serve any use, just as facts must be filled with truth to serve any purpose.
To some extent this meaning also applies to cups, bowls and other smaller vessels, though it is a little more immediate. Generally you don’t fill a cup so you can store a liquid; you fill it to drink it. Smaller vessels thus often, according to Swedenborg, take more of their meaning from the substance they contain, and in many cases (“cup” and “wine” especially) actually mean the same thing.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9394
9394. ‘And put it in bowls’ means present with a person, in the things forming his memory. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bowls’ as the things which form the memory. The reason why ‘bowls’ are things forming the memory is that vessels in general mean known facts, 1469, 1496, 3068, 3079, and known facts are nothing other than things forming the memory. Consequently ‘bowls’ here are the kinds of things forming the memory which hold within themselves God’s truths, meant in general by ‘blood’.
What known facts are in relation to the truths and forms of the good of life with a person must be stated briefly. All the things which are learned and stored in the memory, from where they can be called forth before the sight of the understanding, are called known facts. In themselves they are things which constitute the understanding part of the natural or external man. Since known facts include items of knowledge concerning inner realities, or cognitions, they serve the sight of the internal or rational man as a sort of mirror. For they then become things that can be seen by the internal man, just as fields full of plants, flowers, and various kinds of crops and trees, or as gardens adorned with various things growing there for use and to delight the senses, are accustomed to be seen in the material world by the external man. But internal sight, which is the understanding, sees in the fields or gardens of things forming the memory only those which are in keeping with the loves that govern a person, and which are also in agreement with the chief ideas he loves. …
[5] The reason why known facts are vessels, and in the Word are meant by every type of vessel, such as bowls, cups, waterpots, and the like, is that each known fact is a kind of general container holding particular and specific truths that accord with their general container. Such general containers in the Word have been arranged into series and so to speak into bundles; and these bundles and series have in turn been so set in order that they resemble the form that heaven takes, thus are set in order from most specific truths to most general ones.
An idea of such series can be gained from the series and bundles of muscular tissue in the human body. Each bundle there consists of a number of motor fibres, and each motor fibre consists of blood vessels and nerve fibres. Each bundle of muscular tissue too, which taken as a whole is called a muscle, is enveloped in its own outer covering which sets it apart from others; and the same is so for the smaller bundles within, called motor fibres. Yet all the muscles and motor fibres within them, which are present in the whole body, have been so set in order that they may co-ordinate with one another to act in whatever way the will pleases; and they do so in a manner that surpasses all understanding.
The situation is similar with known facts in the memory. These in a similar way are aroused and made to act by that which is the delight of a person’s love, that is, of his will, but through the instrumentality of the understanding part. What has become part of a person’s life, that is, what has become part of his will or love, is that which arouses them. For the inner man always has these things in his field of vision and takes delight in them to the extent that they are in agreement with his loves. And whatever enters fully into those loves, becoming spontaneous and so to speak instinctive, fades from the external memory but remains ingrained in the internal memory from which it can never be blotted out. This is how known facts become part of life.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10105
[3] The meaning of ‘boiling in water’ as turning truths into doctrine and thereby making them ready for use in life seems at first sight to be implausible and far-fetched. Nevertheless that is indeed the meaning, as becomes clear from places in the Word where the words ‘boiling in water’ occur, and also where ‘a pot’ in which the boiling is done is mentioned, as in the second Book of Kings,
Elisha came again to Gilgal, when there was a famine in the land. When the sons of the prophets were sitting before him he said to his servant, Put on a great pot, and boil a soup for the sons of the prophets. One of them went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine, and gathered from it wild gourds, and cut them up into the pot of soup. While they were eating of the soup they cried out, There is death in the pot, O man of God! Therefore he said that they should bring flour, which he threw into the pot, and said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. Then there was not anything bad in the pot. 2 Kings 4:38-41.
This miracle, like all others in the Word, holds holy things of the Church within it, which are made evident by the internal sense. This sense shows that Elisha represented the Lord in respect of the Word, as Elijah had done; that ‘the sons of the prophets’ are those who teach truths drawn from the Word; that ‘the pot’ which was put on at Elisha’s command is doctrine formed from them; that ‘a wild vine’ and ‘gourds’ from it are falsities; and from all this it is evident what ‘death in the pot’ is. ‘The flour which he threw into the pot’ is truth springing from good, as a result of which action – because doctrine had been cured – ‘there was not anything bad in the pot’. The internal sense also shows that ‘boiling in the pot’ means combining into doctrine and thereby making ready for use.
All miracles in the Word hold holy things of the Church within them, see 7337, 8364, 9086.
Elisha represented the Lord in respect of the Word, 2762.
‘Prophets’ are teachers of truths, thus in the abstract sense, without reference to persons, the truths of doctrine, 2534, 7269.
‘Vine’ is the Church’s truth, and ‘grapes’ its good, 5113, 5117, 9277, so that ‘a wild vine’ and ‘gourds’ are falsities and evils.
‘Flour’ is the authentic truth of faith derived from good, 9995.
‘The soup’ which they were to boil means matters of doctrine massed together, as those of the Jews were, 3316.
From all this people may deduce what ‘boiling’ means, and what ‘a pot’ means.
[4] In Ezekiel,
Tell a parable against the house of rebellion: Put on the pot, put it on, and also pour water into it; gather the pieces into it – every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice of the bones, and let the bones be boiled in the midst of it. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Woe to the city of blood*, to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum does not come out of it! Ezek. 24:3-6.
These verses describe what the Word is like so far as doctrine is concerned, that is to say, it contains Divine Truths emanating from Divine Good. Then they describe doctrine from the Word as it existed among the Jewish nation – full of unclean and false notions. ‘The pot’ is doctrine; ‘the thigh, the shoulder, and the choice of the bones’ are Divine Truths emanating from Divine Good in successive order; ‘the city of blood’ is the Jewish nation in respect of the truth of doctrine among them, and in the abstract sense, without reference to nation or person, doctrine destructive of good; ‘the scum in it’ is that which is external and favours foul kinds of love, which if not removed defile truth. From this also it is evident that ‘the pot’ is doctrine, and ‘boiling’ making ready for use.
[5] In the same prophet,
The Spirit said to me, Son of man, these men think iniquity and give wicked counsel in the city, saying, [The time] is not near to build houses; [the city] itself is the pot and we are the flesh. Ezek. 11:2, 3, 7.
Here also ‘the pot’ stands for doctrine consisting of falsity arising from evil; for ‘the pot’ is used to describe the city in which iniquity is thought and wicked counsel is given. ‘The city’ too means doctrine, see 402, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493, in this instance doctrine of the same type.
[6] In Jeremiah,
Jehovah said, What do you see? I said, A puffed-out pot do I see, its face towards the north. Jehovah said, From the north evil will be opened over all the inhabitants of the land. Jer. 1:13, 14.
‘A puffed-out pot’ likewise means doctrine consisting of falsity arising from evil. ‘The north’ means an obscure state so far as the truth of faith is concerned, also thick darkness caused by falsities, 3708. From this it is evident what this prophetic vision holds within it.
[7] In Zechariah,
On that day every pot in Jerusalem [and] in Judah will be holiness to Jehovah Zebaoth, and all offering sacrifice will come, and take from them, and boil in them. Zech. 14:21.
Here ‘pot’ means doctrine teaching about charity and faith, thus doctrine consisting of truth springing from good; ‘Jerusalem’ is the Lord’s Church; and ‘[all] offering sacrifice’ are those engaging in Divine worship. From this it is evident that ‘boiling in the pots’ means making ready for use in spiritual life. [8] In Moses,
Every earthen vessel in which the flesh of the sacrifice of a guilt or a sin offering is boiled shall be broken. But if it has been boiled in a bronze vessel, it shall be scoured and rinsed** in water. Lev. 6:28.
‘An earthen vessel’ in which the boiling was done is falsity that does not go together with good; ‘a bronze vessel’ is doctrinal teaching that has good in it; ‘boiling the flesh of the sacrifice of a guilt or sin offering’ in them means making something ready for purification from evils and consequent falsities. From this it is evident what was represented by the decree that an earthen vessel should be broken and that a bronze vessel should be scoured and rinsed in water.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3068
3068. ‘Let down now your pitcher’ means submitting facts. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘letting down’ as submitting, and from the meaning of ‘a pitcher’ as facts. The reason why a water-pot or a pitcher means facts is that ‘water’ means truth, 680, 739, 2702, and a pitcher is a vessel with water in it, even as factual knowledge is a vessel with truth in it. All factual knowledge is a vessel for truth, and all truth is a vessel for good. Factual knowledge without truth is an empty vessel, and so is truth without good; but factual knowledge in which truth is held is a vessel that is filled, as is truth in which good is held. Affection which is an attribute of love is what joins them together so that they may exist in order. For love is spiritual conjunction.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3079
3079. ‘And her pitcher was on her shoulder’ means vessels that receive truth, and a total effort to uphold that truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a pitcher’ as factual knowledge, and so a receptacle of truth, dealt with in 3068, and from the meaning of ‘shoulder’ as all power, and so total effort, dealt with in 1085. ‘Pitchers’ or water-pots, and also vessels generally, mean in the internal sense things that serve in the place of a receptacle, as facts and cognitions do in relation to truths, and as truths themselves do in relation to good.
This becomes clear from many places in the Word. The temple and the altar vessels had no other meaning, and having that meaning they were also sacred. For no other reason were they sacred. That was why – when Belshazzar, along with his nobles and his wives, drank wine out of the vessels of gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the Temple in Jerusalem, and they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – writing appeared on the wall of his palace, Dan. 5:2 and following verses. ‘The vessels of gold and silver’ stands for cognitions of good and truth which were rendered profane; for ‘the Chaldeans’ means those who possess cognitions but have rendered them profane through the falsities within those cognitions, 1368, so that cognitions serve them for worshipping ‘the gods of gold and silver’ (Belshazzar being called ‘king of the Chaldeans’ in verse 30 of that same chapter).
[2] That ‘vessels’ means the external containers of spiritual things is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Even as the children of Israel bring their gift in a clean vessel to the house of Jehovah. Isa. 66:20.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom. ‘A gift in a clean vessel’ is a representative of the external man in relation to the internal. The one who brings the gift is the internal man, ‘the clean vessel’ a compatible external man, and so the things present in the external man, which are facts, cognitions, and matters of doctrine. In Jeremiah,
The cry of Jerusalem went up, and the nobles sent their inferiors to the waters; they came to the pits, they found no water, they returned with their vessels empty, they were ashamed. Jer. 14:2, 3.
‘Empty vessels’ stands for cognitions with no truth in them, and also truths with no good in them. In the same prophet,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel has devoured me, he has troubled me, he has made me an empty vessel. Jer. 51:34.
‘An empty vessel’ stands in like manner for empty cognitions – ‘Babel’ being one who lays waste, see 1327 (end). In Moses,
Like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river. Waters will flow from buckets, and his seed will be towards many waters. Num. 24:6, 7.
These verses belong to Balaam’s oracle concerning Jacob and Israel. ‘Waters will flow from buckets’ stands for truths flowing from cognitions. In the parable about the ten virgins it is said that five of them took oil in their vessels together with their lamps, but that the foolish did not, Matt. 25:4. ‘Virgins’ means affections; ‘the wise took oil in their vessels’ means that they took good within truths, and so charity within faith. ‘Oil’ is good, see 886; ‘lamps’ stands for love.