9896. 'And they shall tie the breastplate from its rings to the rings of the ephod' means the joining to and preservation of everything in heaven by means of the sphere of Divine Good in the outermost parts of the spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'tying' as joining to and preserving, dealt with in the places above where the tying of the breastplate to the ephod has been the subject; from the meaning of 'the breastplate' as a representative sign of all things of heaven, dealt with in 9879, 9887; from the meaning of 'the rings' as a sphere of Divine Good by which the joining together is accomplished, dealt with in 9498, 9501, 9882; and from the meaning of 'the ephod' as Divine Truth in the spiritual kingdom in an outward form, in which inner things terminate, dealt with in 9824, thus the whole outermost part of that kingdom.

9498. 'And you shall put the poles into the rings' means the power of the Divine sphere. This is clear from the meaning of 'the poles' as power, dealt with just above in 9496; and from the meaning of 'the rings' as Divine Truth joined to Divine Good, which lie in every direction round about, also dealt with above, in 9493, thus the Divine sphere which surrounds and embraces heaven as a whole, and every heavenly community and actual angel specifically, in accord with what has been shown already in 9490, 9492. For Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good should not be envisaged as speech and its passage into an ear but rather as a sphere emanating from the sun, which gradually diminishes in heat and brightness as it gets further away from the sun, and eventually becomes so moderated that it is accommodated to angels' ability to receive it. Within this sphere, but far away from the sun on account of its heat and brightness, lies the angelic heaven. That sphere also extends outside heaven, right on into hell; those there however do not receive it in the right way but turn it into the opposite. From this it becomes clear what should be understood by the Divine sphere which embraces and contains heaven, namely Divine Truth emanating in that manner from the Lord's Divine Good, consequently Divine Truth joined to Divine Good, which lies in every direction round about heaven and round about those who are in heaven. The heat emanating from the Lord as the Sun there is the Divine Good of His Divine Love, accommodated to the ability of the angels in heaven to receive it; and the light emanating from the Lord as the Sun is the Divine Truth of His Divine Good. Both that heat and light however are called the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord.