9551. 'Its shaft and its branch, its cups' means the spiritual entities within the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'shaft', 'branch', and 'cup' - which are extensions from the lampstand itself, just as the arms, hands, palms are extensions from the body - as spiritual entities within the natural. For the natural is an extension of and derives from the spiritual, even as the spiritual derives from the celestial, 9549. From all this it is evident that since 'the lampstand' means the Divine Spiritual, the parts which extend and derive from it, called 'shaft', 'branch', and 'cups', mean spiritual entities in the natural.

9549. 'From pure gold' means that it must spring from celestial good. This is clear from the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love or celestial good, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917. Something brief must be stated here to explain why the lampstand was to be made from pure gold. 'The lampstand' means the Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, as it exists in heaven and in the Church, 9548. Because this Truth has its origin in Divine Good the lampstand was made from gold; for as has been stated, 'gold' means good. This is more plainly evident from the manner in which the Lord flows into the heavens. The inmost or third heaven being the celestial, and the middle or second heaven being the spiritual, the Lord flows by way of the celestial heaven, in which the good of love to Him predominates, into the spiritual heaven, in which the truth of faith in Him does so. From this it is clear why the whole of the lampstand was to be made from pure gold, as also were the ten lampstands in the temple built by Solomon, 1 Kings 7:49. See also 9550, 9568 below.