9855. 'And you shall put the small chains of slender rope in the sockets' means being joined to the good from which truths spring, and so the preservation of the spiritual kingdom by all exertion and power. This is clear from the meaning of 'small chains' made from the work 'of slender rope' as coherence with good and being joined to it, dealt with above in 9852, 9854; and from the meaning of 'the sockets of gold' as the good that brings truths into being and keeps them in being, also dealt with above, in 9847. The preservation of good and truth in the spiritual kingdom, or what amounts to the same thing, the preservation of the spiritual kingdom by all exertion and power, is meant by the two shoham stones placed on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, on which the names of the sons of Israel were engraved, 9836, 9848, 9849.

9852. 'And two small chains of pure gold' means coherence with the good of the whole kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'small chains' as coherence (the reason why 'small chains' has this meaning is that such chains serve to join things together, and when joined together those things cohere, coherence with the spiritual kingdom being meant here because the small chains were fabricated to make [the shoulder-pieces] cohere with the ephod, which represented the spiritual kingdom in general, 9824); and from the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9490. The words 'pure gold' are used because good from the Divine is meant; for this good is pure, and it holds all things in heaven in connection and in an outward form. The meaning of 'chains' as coherence is also evident in Isaiah,

The craftsman casts a graven image, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it. Isaiah 40:19.

'A graven image' means teachings presenting falsity, which are a product of self-intelligence, and so are devoid of life from the Divine, 8869, 8941. Producing such teachings is meant by 'the craftsman casts a graven image'. The effort to make them look like a product of good is meant by 'a goldsmith overlays it with gold'. To make falsities cohere is meant by 'he casts silver chains for it', 'silver' meaning truth and in the contrary sense falsity, see 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112, 6911, 6917, 8932.