1679. 'And they smote all the territory of the Amalekites' means kinds of falsities. This is clear from the representation and meaning of the 'Amalekite' nation, for all the nations that were in the land of Canaan represented kinds of falsities and evils, as will be clear, in the Lord's Divine mercy, from what follows. 'The Amalekites' means falsities, 'the Amorites in Hazezon-tamar' evils deriving from falsities. That 'the Amalekites' means falsities which assail truths becomes clear from what is mentioned regarding the Amalekites in Exodus 17:13-end; Numbers 13:29; 24:20; Deuteronomy 25:17-19; Judges 5:14; 1 Samuel 15:1-end; 1 Samuel 27:8; Psalms 83:7-8.

[2] The Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites, referred to in verses 5-6, mean false persuasions that have their origins in desires for evil, that is, in evils, whereas here 'the Amalekites and the Amorites in Hazezon-tamar' means falsities from which evils derive. Falsity deriving from evil is one thing, falsity and evil deriving from that falsity another. Falsities spring either from evil desires which belong to the will or from accepted ideas which belong to the understanding. Falsities that spring from evil desires belonging to the will are foul and do not easily allow themselves to be rooted out, for they cling to a person's life itself. A person's life itself is that which desires, that is, which loves. As long as he is making that life firm within himself, that is, confirming that desire or love, all things of a confirmatory nature are false and are implanted in his life. Such were the people before the Flood.

[3] Falsities however which spring from accepted ideas belonging to the understanding cannot be rooted in the same way in the will part of man's mind. Like false or heretical doctrines, these have their origin outside of the will, coming instead from the absorption of such matters in early childhood, and after that from the confirmation of them in adult years. Yet because they are false they inevitably produce evils of life. For example, when anyone believes that he merits salvation through works and confirms himself in that belief, a sense of merit, of his own righteousness, and of assurance [of salvation] are the evils that result from it. On the other hand, when anyone believes that a truly devout life is not possible unless merit is attached to works, the evil which results from that belief is that he destroys all such devoutness in himself and gives himself up to evil desires and pleasures. It is the same with many other examples that could be taken. Such are the falsities and derivative evils dealt with in this verse.

9879. 'And you shall make on the breastplate small chains on the border' means all heaven joined together in the most external parts. This is clear from the meaning of 'the breastplate' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, dealt with in 9823, thus also heaven, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'small chains' as coherence, dealt with above in 9852, thus also a joining together; and from the meaning of 'the border' as the most external part, as also above in 9853. The reason why 'the breastplate' means heaven as well is that all the kinds of good and truth in their entirety were represented there by the twelve stones and by the names of the twelve tribes; and those kinds of good and truth in their entirety constitute heaven, so completely that whether you say heaven or those kinds of good and truth it amounts to the same thing. For the angels who constitute heaven are recipients of good and truth from the Lord, and being recipients of these they are also forms of them, or forms of love and charity. Truths of faith make for beauty, but a beauty in keeping with truths that spring from good, that is, in keeping with truths through which good shines forth. Outward forms of love and charity, which is what the forms of angels in the heavens are, are human forms; they are such because the kinds of good and the truths which emanate from the Lord, and the angels are recipients of, are effigies and images of the Lord.