9477. 'For the ephod and for the breastplate' means which should be for a covering for celestial realities, external and internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ephod' as that which covers celestial good. For Aaron as a high priest represented the Lord in respect of the good of love, and his garments, especially his ephod, represented the truth of faith that springs from the good of love. The good of love is a celestial reality, and the truth of faith is its covering, since truths cover forms of good. This is why truths are meant in the Word by garments or clothes, 4545, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9093, 9212. For in heaven the celestial realities that belong to the good of love are represented as being naked, for which reason those belonging to the Lord's celestial kingdom appear naked, whereas those belonging to the spiritual kingdom, namely those who have been brought by the Lord by means of the truths of faith to the good of charity, appear wearing clothes. This kingdom lies below the celestial kingdom, and what lies below is the covering for what is higher; for the lower is more external, the higher more internal, 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325. From this it is evident what 'the ephod' means when Aaron represents the Lord in respect of the Divine Celestial; for priests represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and kings in respect of Divine Truth, see 6148. But it should be recognized that 'the ephod' was the sign of the covering for external celestial realities, and 'the breastplate' the covering for internal celestial realities. But more will be stated later on about these, where the ephod and the breastplate, which had the Urim and Thummim in it, are the subject.

6361. 'And will scatter them in Israel' means that they are to be banished from the spiritual man. This is clear from the meaning of 'scattering' too as a banishment; but 'scattering' is distinguished from 'dividing' by the fact that the latter is used in reference to the external man and to truth, whereas the former is used in reference to the internal man and to good - 'Jacob' represents the natural or external man, and 'Israel' the spiritual or internal man, see 4286, 4291, 4570.

These things that Israel stated regarding Simeon and Levi, and also those regarding Reuben, do not mean such things as would happen, as verse 1 says, to their descendants at the end of days. This can be recognized from the fact that those descended from Simeon and from Levi were not cursed; nor were they divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel. The tribe of Simeon existed among the rest of the tribes as one of their number, while the tribe of Levi became the priesthood and so was blessed rather than cursed. Nor likewise was the tribe of Reuben inferior to any other tribe. From this it is quite evident that the things stated in this chapter about what would happen to the sons of Jacob at the end of days refer to what would happen not to those actual descendants but to people who are meant by them in the internal sense. At this point what would happen to those with faith separated from charity is meant, for they are the ones who are meant at this point in the internal sense by Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. From this it becomes perfectly clear that the internal sense of the Word is not that which shows itself in the letter; nor can that sense be seen by anyone unless he has a knowledge of the correspondences of natural things with spiritual ones. Indeed it is not seen at all by anyone who does not know what the spiritual is or what the celestial is.