9493. 'And you shall cast four rings of gold for it' means Divine Truth joined to Divine Good, which lie in every direction round about. This is clear from the meaning of 'rings' as the joining together of good and truth, at this point the joining of Divine Truth to Divine Good, since 'the ark' means heaven where the Lord is, see below in 9496. The reason why the rings were four was that this number means a joining together, 1686, 8877, and the reason why they were made of gold was that 'gold' means good, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, good being what truth is joined to, since the good is so to speak the soil and the truth so to speak the seed.

8877. 'On the third and on the fourth [generations]' means in a long sequence, and joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'three' as what is complete from start to finish, dealt with in 2788, 4495, 7715, thus a long sequence, so that 'the third [generation on sons' is falsities in a long sequence (for the meaning of 'sons' as falsities, see immediately above in 8876); and from the meaning of 'four', like two, as joined together, dealt with in 1686, 5194, 8423, so that 'the third and the fourth [generations of] sons' are falsities joined together in a long sequence. This explanation of 'the third and the fourth [generations of] sons' must inevitably seem to be nonsensical or foreign to the meaning of the Word; but it should be remembered that in the internal sense numbers do not mean numbers but real things, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175.