10411. And he built an altar before it. That this signifies worship, is evident from the signification of "an altar," as being the chief representative of Divine worship (see n. 4541, 8935, 8940, 9714, 10242, 10245), but here of diabolical worship, because those who are in external things without what is internal communicate with the hells, and not with the heavens. For the internal of man is his heaven, and his external is his world. Moreover, his internal has been formed according to the image of heaven, thus for the reception of such things as are there; and his external according to the image of the world, thus for the reception of such things as are there. (See the places cited in n. 9279, 10156.) Therefore when the internal is closed, heaven also is closed, and then the external is no longer directed from heaven, but from hell; and therefore their worship is not Divine, but is diabolical. They do indeed make mention of the Divine, and they also worship it, but in the external form and not in the internal, which is to do so from the mouth and not from the heart; and those who act differently do not worship the Divine for the sake of the Divine, but for the sake of self and the world. Where the heart is, there is the worship. From this it is evident that by "building an altar before the golden calf," is signified the worship of the devil.