9900. 'And Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel' means the preservation of good and truth, of their entire essential nature imparted to them by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'carrying' - when it refers to 'the breastplate', by which all the forms of good and the truths belonging to heaven are meant, 9879, 9887 - as preserving, for what is carried on the breast is preserved ('carrying' also means, when it refers to the Divine, holding in a state of goodness and truth, see 9500, 9737); from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good, dealt with in 9806; and from the meaning of 'the names of the sons of Israel' as the forms of good and the truths that belong to heaven and the Church, the entire essential nature of them, dealt with in 9842.

9842. 'And engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel' means on which the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual kingdom - the entire essential nature of them - have been imprinted. This is clear from the meaning of 'engraving on stones' as imprinting on the memory, dealt with immediately above in 9841; from the meaning of 'the names' as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 6674; and from the representation of 'the sons of Israel' as all the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual kingdom. 'The sons of Israel' here is used to denote the twelve tribes, for it was these - the names of the tribes - that were engraved on those stones, and the twelve tribes mean all the truths and forms of good in their entirety, 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337. And since these are what constitute the Church or heaven, the Church and the Lord's spiritual kingdom are meant by 'the sons of Israel', 4286, 6426, 6637, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997, 9340. From all this it is evident that 'you shall engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel' means an imprinting on the memory of the entire essential nature of the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual kingdom, or an imprinting of the truths and forms of good of that kingdom as to their entire essential nature.