9492. And shalt make upon it a border of gold round about. That this signifies a fixing of the bounds by good, lest they be approached and injured by evils, is evident from the signification of "a border," as being a fixing of the bounds (of which in what follows); and from the signification of "gold," as being good (of which just above, n. 9490). It is said "lest they be approached and injured by evils," because the good that proceeds from the Lord protects those who are in heaven, lest they be approached and injured by evils from hell. For the hells continually breathe evil, and endeavor to destroy heaven (n. 8295); whence there appears there as it were an effervescence, and as it were a boiling up (n. 8209). For in the minds of those who are in the hells is seated hatred against the neighbor and hatred against God; and therefore they are infuriated when they perceive the bliss of the upright (n. 1974). But the good that proceeds from the Lord, which encompasses heaven in general, and the heavenly societies and individual angels there in particular, protects, and represses the assaults, and this continually. (That a sphere of endeavors to do evil and to destroy is perpetual from the hells; and a sphere of endeavors to do good and to protect is perpetual from the Lord, see n. 8209.) This bounding good, by which the Lord protects heaven, is signified by "the border of gold round about the ark."