9335. 'And the wild animal of the field multiplies against you' means an inrush of falsities arising from the delights of self-love and love of the world. This is clear from the meaning of 'multiplying', when it has reference to a hurried removal of evils and falsities, as an inrush; and from the meaning of 'the wild animal of the field' as falsities arising from the delights of self-love and love of the world. For affections, good and bad, are meant in the Word by different kinds of beasts, 9280, and therefore affections for falsity that arise from the delights of self-love and love of the world are meant by 'wild animals'. These affections are also represented in the next life by wild animals, such as panthers, tigers, boars, wolves, or bears. Such affections furthermore resemble wild animals, for people ruled by those loves are steeped in evils of every kind and in the falsities arising from them. They are like wild animals in the way they see and treat companions. The fact that those loves are the source of all evils and falsities, see 2041, 2045, 2057, 2363, 2364, 2444, 4750, 4776, 6667, 7178, 7255, 7364, 7366-7377, 7488, 7490-7494, 7643, 8318, 8487, 8678.

[2] The reason why a hurried removal of evils and falsities leads to an inrush of falsities arising from those loves is that forms of good and truths, implanted in successive stages, must remove them; for falsities are not removed except by truths, nor evils except by forms of good. If this removal is not done in successive stages and in keeping with proper order, falsities that lend support to those selfish loves enter in, since those loves reign with every person before he has been regenerated; and when the falsities enter in truths cease to be acknowledged any longer. Also a person who is being regenerated is maintained in an affection for truth; and when maintained in this he searches for truths in all directions among factual knowledge in the natural. But at this time illusions of the outward senses, which exist in great abundance in the natural, present themselves there. From those illusions, when the delights of self-love and love of the world hold sway, the person deduces nothing except falsities, which come in and fill his mind if falsities arising from evil are removed suddenly. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal sense by I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest perhaps the land becomes desolate and the wild animal of the field multiplies against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.

[3] The fact that 'wild animal' means falsity and evil arising from self-love and love of the world is evident from places in the Word which mention it, as in Isaiah,

There will be a path there and a way, which will be called the way of holiness. The unclean will not pass through it; the savage of the wild animals will not go up it. Isaiah 35:8-9.

In Ezekiel,

I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, that they may make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.

In the same prophet,

When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that ¹ it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals ... Ezekiel 14:15.

In the same prophet,

You will fall on the open field; ² to the wild animals of the earth, and to the birds of the air I will give you for food. Ezekiel 29:5.

In the same prophet,

At that time I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish ³ the evil wild animal from the land, in order that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. They will no longer be a prey for the nations, and the wild animals of the field will no longer devour them. Ezekiel 34:25, 28.

[4] In Hosea,

I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree; and I will make them into a forest, and the wild animals of the field will eat them. Hosea 2:12.

In the same prophet,

The land will mourn and every inhabitant will waste away because of the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air. Hosea 4:3.

In David,

The boar of the forest tramples on it, and the wild animal of the fields feeds on it. Return, O God Zebaoth, and visit Your vine. Psalms 80:13-14.

In the same author,

You dispose the darkness to become night, in which every wild animal of the forest comes forth. Psalms 104:20.

In Moses,

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, I will banish ³ the evil wild animals from the land. But if you despise My statutes, I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will lay you waste. Leviticus 26:3, 6, 15, 22.

In the same author,

Jehovah your God will cast out the nations before you little by little, lest perhaps the wild animals of the field multiply against you. Deuteronomy 7:22.

In these places 'the wild animals of the field', 'the wild animals of the earth', and 'the wild animals of the forest' stand for the falsities and evils that belong to self-love and love of the world.

[5] Since 'wild animal' means falsity, and falsity can spring from two different origins, that is to say, it may stem from evil or it may stem from good, 9258, 'wild animal' in the Word also means upright nations or gentiles who, though they are subject to falsity, nevertheless lead upright lives. The term 'wild animal' is used in this sense in David,

Every wild animal of the forest is Mine, and beasts on mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild animal of My fields is with Me. Psalms 50:10-11.

In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, wild animals and all beasts! Psalms 148:7, 10.

In Isaiah,

All wild animals of My fields - come to eat, all wild animals in the forest. Isaiah 56:9.

In Ezekiel,

In the branches of the cedar, which was Asshur, all the birds of the air made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field brought forth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

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3355. In the internal sense 'an earthquake' is an alteration of the state of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the earth' as the Church, dealt with in 566, 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, and from the meaning of 'a quake' as an alteration of state, here an alteration as regards the things that constitute the Church, namely good and truth. This is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

It will happen, that he who is fleeing from the sound of the terror will fall into the pit, and he who is climbing out of the middle of the pit will be caught in the snare, for the floodgates from on high have been opened and the foundations of the earth have been made to tremble, the earth has been utterly shattered. The earth has been made to quake thoroughly, the earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways to and fro like a hut, and heavy upon it is its transgression, and it will fall and not rise again. And it will be on that day, that Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high and the kings of the ground on the ground. Isaiah 24:18-21.

Here it is quite evident that 'the earth' is the Church, for the subject is a Church whose 'foundations' are said to 'have been made to tremble', while the Church itself, having been 'shattered' and 'made to quake', 'staggers' and 'sways to and fro' when good and truth are not known any longer. 'The kings of the ground' are truths, in this case falsities, upon which visitation will take place. As regards 'kings' meaning truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1672, 2015, and as regards 'the ground' being similar in meaning to 'the earth', namely the Church, though there is a difference, see 566, 1068.

[2] In the same prophet,

I will make a man (homo) more rare than pure gold, and a man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make heaven quake and the earth will quake out of its place, at the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth and in the day of His fierce anger. Isaiah 13:12-13.

Here also, the subject being Judgement Day, 'the earth' plainly stands for the Church which is said to 'quake out of its place' when it undergoes a change of state - 'place' meaning state, see 1273-1275, 1377, 2625, 2837. In the same prophet,

Is this the man who, making the earth quake, making the kingdoms quake, makes the world into a wilderness and destroys its cities? Isaiah 14:16-17.

This refers to Lucifer. 'The earth' stands for the Church, which is said 'to quake' when it lays claim to all things as its own. For 'kingdoms' means the truths accepted by the Church, see 1672, 2547.

[3] In Ezekiel,

It will be on that day, that Gog will come over the land of Israel. My wrath will come up in My anger and in My zeal. In the fire of My wrath I will say, Surely on that day there will be a great earthquake on Israel's ground. Ezekiel 38:18-20.

'Gog' stands for external worship that has been separated from internal and so made idolatrous, 1151. 'Israel's land' or 'ground' stands for the spiritual Church, 'an earthquake' for an alteration of its state. In Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Joel 2:10.

This also refers to Judgement Day. 'The earth quaked' stands for an altered state of the Church, 'the sun and moon' for the good of love and the truth of faith, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, which are said to be 'darkened' when goods and truths are not acknowledged any longer. 'The stars' stands for cognitions of good and truth, 2495, 2849. In David,

The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook and trembled because He was angered. Psalms 18:6-7.

'The earth trembled and quaked' stands for the Church when its state has become perverted.

[4] In John,

When he opened the sixth seal I looked again, and behold, a great earthquake took place, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became like blood, and the stars in the sky fell to the earth. Revelation 6:12-13.

Here 'an earthquake', 'the sun', 'the moon', and 'the stars' have a similar meaning to that which they have above in Joel. In the same book,

At that hour a great earthquake took place, and a tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand people. ¹ Revelation 11:13.

From all these places it is evident that 'an earthquake' means nothing other than an alteration of the state of the Church, and that 'the earth' has no other meaning in the internal sense than the Church. And since 'the earth' is the Church it is clear that 'the new heaven and the new earth' which are to take the place of the previous heaven and earth, Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1, means nothing other than a new Church, internal and external, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end).

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