9909. Upon his heart before Jehovah continually. That this signifies perpetually shining forth from good, is evident from the signification of “the heart,” as being the good of love (see n. 3313, 3635, 3883-3896, 7542, 9050); and from the signification of “continually,” as being perpetually. The reason why it means shining forth, is that the breastplate was upon the heart, and by “the breastplate” is signified Divine truth shining forth from the Lord’s Divine good (n. 9823).

7542. Into thy heart. That this signifies into the inmost, is evident from the signification of the “heart,” as being what is of the will, thus of the love (see n. 2930, 3313, 3888, 3889), consequently what is of the very life, for the love, being of the will, makes the very life; hence it is that by the “heart” is signified the inmost. The inmost with the good is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, but the inmost with the evil is the love of self and the love of the world; it is this inmost that is here meant. The things that are around this inmost and make as it were its circumferences, are evils with the falsities which favor them; and these are disposed in the order in which they favor. In the other life these are unrolled according to the order in which they have been disposed; first come forth those which occupy the outermost circumferences; afterward those which occupy the more interior ones; and at last the inmost is made manifest. Hence it is that a man in the other life passes through many states, and that by degrees, successively, the evil run into plagues, before they are cast into hell, according to what has just been said. The inmost, to which they finally come, is hell itself with them, for it is the evil itself which had been of their love, thus the end for the sake of which they had done all things, and which in the world they had most deeply hidden.