9823. 'A breastplate' means Divine Truth shining forth from Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a breastplate' as Divine Truth shining forth from Divine Good, in this instance within the last and lowest things in progression from inmost ones in the heavens. For the ephod which that breastplate rested on represented the lowest things of the spiritual kingdom, and therefore the lowest things of heaven. The reason why 'the breastplate' has this meaning is that it was tied on over the breast, where the heart lies, and was filled with precious stones, and the heart corresponds to celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord received from the Lord, while the twelve precious stones correspond to Divine Truths springing from that good. This is the reason why in the highest sense 'the breastplate' means Divine Truth shining forth from the Lord's Divine Good. For the correspondence of the heart to celestial good, or the good of love to the Lord received from the Lord, see 170, 172, 176, 3635, 3883-3896, 7542, 9050, 9300, 9494; and for the correspondence of the twelve precious stones to Divine Truths which spring from Divine Good, see further on in the present chapter where the full description of this breastplate occurs. There it is called 'the breastplate of judgement', also the Urim and Thummim, because of the twelve precious stones with which it was filled. The fact that it was tied on over the breast, where the heart lies, is evident from the description of it below, where that fact is stated explicitly in these words,

Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgement over his heart. Verse 29.

And after this,

They shall be over Aaron's heart, when he goes in before Jehovah. And Aaron shall carry the judgement of the children of Israel over his heart before Jehovah continually. Verse 30.

'Judgement' too means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, as will be seen in what follows.

4156. 'And put them in the camel's straw' means in facts. This is clear from the meaning of 'the camel's straw' as facts, 3114. These are called straw not only because straw is the food for camels but also because facts, compared with rational ideas, are coarse and lacking in order. For the same reason too facts are meant by 'the entangled boughs of trees and of the wood', 2831. Also 'camels' means general facts that belong to the natural man, see 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145.

[2] As to the assertion that facts, compared with rational ideas, are coarse and lacking in order and for that reason are meant by 'straw' and also by 'entangled boughs', as has been stated, this idea is not open to those who rely solely on facts and are on that account reputed to be learned. They believe that the amount a person knows, that is, how much knowledge he possesses, determines how wise he is. But the situation is quite different, as has been made clear to me from those in the next life who, when they lived in the world, relied solely on facts and as a result acquired a name and reputation for being learned. Such people are sometimes far more stupid than those who have not possessed any skill in the use of factual knowledge. The reason for that stupidity has also been disclosed to me, which is this: Facts are indeed a means towards becoming wise, but they can also be a means towards becoming insane. For people who are leading a good life facts are a means to becoming wise, but for those leading an evil life they are a means to becoming insane since they use facts to support not only a life of evil but also false assumptions, which they do arrogantly and convincingly because they believe that they are wiser than others.

[3] This leads to the destruction of their rational. It is not the person who is able to reason from facts, doing so sometimes in a seemingly more masterly way than others, who is endowed with rationality. This skill which he possesses is the product of a wholly illusory light. But that person has the proper gift of rationality who is able to see clearly that good is good and truth is truth, and as a consequence that evil is evil and falsity is falsity. But anyone who looks on good as evil and on evil as good, and who also looks on truth as falsity and falsity as truth, cannot in any sense be called rational, but rather irrational, no matter how capable he is at reasoning. With the person who sees clearly that good is good and that truth is truth, and conversely that evil is evil and falsity is falsity, there is light flowing in from heaven and enlightening the area of his understanding and causing reasons which he sees with the understanding to be just so many rays of that light. The same light also gives light to facts so that they serve to support those reasons, besides imposing order and the heavenly form on such facts. People however who stand opposed to good and truth, as all do who are leading an evil life, do not allow that heavenly light in. Instead they take delight solely in their own illusory light, whose nature is such that one sees things rather like a person in the dark who sees streaks on a wall, and is deluded into making all kinds of shapes out of them, when yet they are not shapes, for as daylight falls on them they are seen to be merely streaks.

[4] From all this it may be seen that facts are a means to becoming wise and also a means to becoming insane; that is, that they are a means to perfecting the rational or else a means to destroying it. Those therefore who have destroyed the rational by means of facts are in the next life far more stupid than those who have not possessed any skill in the use of factual knowledge. The coarseness of facts compared with rational ideas is evident from the consideration that they belong to the natural or external man, and that the rational which is cultivated by means of them belongs to the spiritual or internal man. How far facts are different from and distant from the rational as regards purity can be known from what has been stated and shown about the two memories in 2469-2494.