8942. For if thou move thy tool upon it. That this signifies if it is from one's own, is evident from the signification of a "tool," as being truth devised, thus from one's own; for the tool is of iron, by which stones are cut and fashioned into form. Here therefore it is man's own, for this fashions the things which are to be of religion, in order that they may appear in the form of truth. Instead of "tool," the term "iron" is sometimes used, and sometimes "axe" (see Deut. 27:5; Josh. 8:30, 31; 1 Kings 6:7; Isa. 44:11, 12; Jer. 10:3), and by these instruments are signified such things as are of self-intelligence, and which devise.
