8857. It is similar with love to the Lord. When that love is dominant it is present in every aspect of his life, as when he loves his monarch or loves his parent. While he is in their presence love towards them shines from every part of his face, is heard in every syllable of his speech, and is apparent in every one of his gestures. This is how to understand the command ¹ to have the Lord unceasingly before one's eyes and to love Him above all, with all one's soul and all one's heart.

Footnotes:

9831. Verses 5-8 And they shall take the gold, and the violet, and the purple, and the twice-dyed scarlet, and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod from gold, violet, and purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen, with the work of a designer. Two shoulders ¹ joined together shall it have at its two ends, and it shall be joined together. And the girdle of his ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, ² of [one piece with] it, [made] from gold, violet, and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen.

'And they shall take the gold' means the good reigning universally. 'And the violet, and the purple, and the twice-dyed scarlet, and the fine linen' means the good of charity and faith. 'And they shall make the ephod from gold, violet, and purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen' means the outermost part of the spiritual kingdom springing from that good. 'With the work of a designer' means a product of the understanding. 'Two shoulders joined together shall it have at its two ends, and it shall be joined together' means an everlasting preservation of good and truth on every side by all exertion and power through a total uniting together. 'And the girdle of his ephod, which is on it' means the outward bond that gathers things together. 'Shall be of the same workmanship, of [one piece with] it' means that which is like the outermost part of the spiritual kingdom and is a continuation from it. 'From gold, violet, and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen' means thus from the good that belongs to faith and to charity on outermost levels.

Footnotes:

9490. 'And you shall overlay it with pure gold' means that all those aspects must be founded on good. This is clear from the meaning of 'overlaying' - when the subject is heaven, meant by 'the ark' - as founding on, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'gold' as good, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917. The reason why 'overlaying' means founding on is that good emanating from the Lord as the Sun (for the heat from that Sun is the good of love) surrounds heaven not merely as a general whole but also every heavenly community within heaven specifically, and each angel individually too, and thereby protects them from the intrusion of evil from hell. That which surrounds in heaven serves to stabilize it; for heaven rests against it like a house on its foundation and like the surfaces of the body against the lower and upper layers of air bearing down around them. For that which surrounds also bounds, confines, and contains, and in so doing supports and sustains. From all this it is evident that 'overlaying' means founding on, and 'overlaying with gold' founding on good.