The scriptural symbols of the plummet and the line are closely related to the symbolism of the cross. The plummet is a weight attached to a line used by builders to measure vertical lines. The line is a tool to measure whether a surface is horizontal. Each tool projects the ideal, against which the actual progress can be measured.
In the scriptures, the line is justice,1644 or the measure of how closely you match your understanding of the ideal, and the plummet is righteousness, or how much you know about God while continuing to live like him.
For the Lord to stretch the line and the plummet1645 over a person, group, or nation is for him to hold them accountable to what they ought to think about him given their opportunities to learn about and obey him.
Footnotes
- 1. And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers. (D&C 93:39) ↩
- 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away... (John 15:2) ↩
- 3. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1) ↩
- 4. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.(John 15:6) ↩