1165. 在圣言中, “麦西” 或埃及表知识, 即各种记忆, 人们渴望藉此探究信之奥秘, 从而确认以此获得的谬念. “麦西” 还表简单的知识, 因而表有用的知识. 这一点不仅从刚才所引用的经文清楚看出来, 也可从很多其它经文看出来, 若全部引用, 必占用大量篇幅 (参看以赛亚书 19:1 到末尾; 30:1-3; 31:1-3; 耶利米书 2:18, 36; 42:14 到末尾; 46:1 到末尾; 以西结书 16:26; 23:3, 8; 29:1到末尾; 30:1到末尾; 何西阿书 7:11; 9:3, 6; 11:1, 5, 11; 弥迦书 7:5; 撒迦利亚书 10:10-11; 诗篇 80:8 和后面几节).

7441. 'behold, I send onto you, and onto your servants, and onto your people, and into your houses, noxious flying insects' means that malevolent falsity will be present in every single aspect. This is clear from the meaning of 'Pharaoh, his servants, and his people' as every single part of the natural mind, dealt with in 7396, and when 'into the houses' is added, an entry into the interior parts of that mind as well is meant, as above in 7407; and from the meaning of 'noxious flying insects' as falsities arising out of the evil that was meant by the previous wonder, thus malevolent falsities. Exactly which falsities therefore are meant here by 'noxious flying insects', and what type they belong to, is evident from the evils they spring from. And those evils were evils that exist on the outermost levels of the natural mind, thus on those of the senses, see above in 7419. The falsities which spring from them belong to the same sort.

[2] The same falsities are what are also meant by 'the flies of Egypt' in Isaiah,

It will happen on that day, that Jehovah will whistle for the fly that is in the furthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Asshur. They will come and all of them will rest in rivers of desolations, and in the clefts of rocks. Isaiah 7:18-19.

'The fly in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt' is falsities which reside in the outermost parts of the natural mind, thus on the level of the senses nearest to the body. These falsities are compared to an insect like that sort of insect because on that level they are exactly like insects that fly in the air, obscure the things on more internal levels, and inflict harm on them. For the things which are there are for the most part figments of the imagination; they are illusions giving rise to reasonings that are like buildings founded on nothing but air. Mention of this kind of noxious flying insect occurs again only in David, in Psalms 78:45 and Psalms 105:31, where also the reference is to Egypt. It should be recognized that flying creatures in the Word all mean things that are connected with the understanding, consequently truths or in the contrary sense falsities, 40, 745, 776, 778, 866, 988, 3219, 5149. But the lowest sort of flying creatures, which are insects, mean truths, or in the contrary sense falsities, which are quite low-grade and obscure, as those are which belong properly to the level of the senses. For unless they receive light from the more internal levels, gloom and darkness completely envelop them; for they are nearest to the body and therefore close to earthly things that form the base on which heavenly things rest, and are immersed in thick darkness.