542. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. This symbolically means that those people meant by the dragon endeavor to snuff out the doctrine of the New Church at its first appearance.

For the people who are meant by the dragon, see no. 537 above. That the woman symbolizes the New Church, no. 533. That to give birth means, symbolically, to accept doctrinal goods and truths from the Word, no. 535. That the Child that she bore symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church - this will be seen in the exposition following next. To devour means, symbolically, to snuff out because the Child symbolizes doctrine, and when a child is said to be devoured, the doctrine is said to be extinguished.

We say that this occurs at the doctrine's first appearance because we are told that the dragon stood before the woman to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

In most cases, "mouth" in the Bible represents thought and logic, especially the kind of active, concrete thought that is connected with speech. The reason for this is pretty obvious, but it also holds when people, for instance, remove a stone from the mouth of a well, which represents gaining access to spiritual ideas. The mouth is used for eating as well as speaking, of course. In those circumstances, it represents our first, most external perception of a new spiritual idea or desire. This also makes sense, mirroring the way tasting food in the mouth gives us an instant impression of the quality of the food.