9532. 'And you shall overlay it with [pure] gold' means a representative sign of that good out of mercy. This is clear from the meaning of 'overlaying with gold' as a representative sign of good; for 'gold' means the good of love, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, and therefore that good was represented by the gold where it was applied as a gilding. The reason why it is out of mercy is that all the good of love arises out of mercy, which too is meant by the shittim wood that was overlaid with gold, 9528.

Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones -- and ultimately from the Lord, who is in a sense the most internal spiritual level of all. This is generally called "influx" and "perception" in the Writings, meaning they are thoughts and feelings that flow in in a complete way from the Lord, rather than being things we have to think about and figure out. On a number of occasions "speak" and "say" are used together; in these cases "speak" refers more to intellectual instruction in matters of thought and "say" refers more to feelings and affections that flow in directly.