46. 'And girt about the breasts with a golden girdle' signifies the Divine proceeding and at the same time conjoining, which is Divine Good. This is what 'a golden girdle' signifies, because by the Lord's chest, and specifically by the breasts there, His Divine love is signified. From this, by the golden girdle 'that girded them [is signified] the Divine proceeding and at the same time conjoining, which is the Divine good of the Divine Love. Moreover 'gold' signifies good, see below (n. 913). A 'girdle' or 'belt' in the Word also signifies the general bond by which all things are held together in order and connection, as in Isaiah:-
There shall go forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, justice shall be the girdle of His loins, and the truth (veritas) the girdle of His thighs Isa. xi [1,] 5.
The rod going forth out of the stem of Jesse is the Lord. That the girdle of the ephod, and the belt of Aaron's tunic, signified conjunction, may be seen in ARCANA CAELESTIA published at London (n. 9837, 9944). Since 'a girdle' signifies the bond conjoining the goods and truths of the Church, therefore when the Church with the sons of Israel had been destroyed, Jeremiah the prophet was commanded:-
To buy himself a girdle, and put it on his loins, and then to hide it in a hole of the rock near the Euphrates, and at the end of days, when he took it again, behold it was rotten, and not profitable for anything Jer. xiii 1-12.
By this was represented that the good of the Church was then nullified, and as a result the truths had been dissipated. The like is signified by 'girdle' in Isaiah:-
Instead of a girdle there shall be a rent Isa. iii 24,
and elsewhere also. That by the 'breasts' or 'teats' the Divine Love is signified, is plain from the passages in the Word where they are named, as also from their correspondence with love.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church