7039. 'Behold, I kill your son, your firstborn' means the annihilation of faith devoid of charity, and the consequent devastation of truth among them. This is clear from the meaning of 'killing' as annihilation; and from the meaning of 'firstborn son', that is to say, of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as faith devoid of charity, dealt with in 3325. For 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' have represented the facts known to the Church, 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004, thus known facts which form part of faith since these facts are ones that the Church possesses. But because they turned that factual knowledge into magic, 6692, and their deeds were as a consequence evil and devoid of any charity, the mere knowledge of matters of faith, thus faith without charity, is meant by 'their firstborn sons'. That the mere knowledge of them is meant by 'the firstborn of Egypt' is evident from the meaning of 'the firstborn of Israel' as the faith that is wedded to charity, dealt with above in 7075.

[2] The expression 'faith devoid of charity' is used, but faith in this case is used to mean the mere knowledge of matters of faith, because faith cannot exist where there is no charity. With those who are not governed by charity matters of faith are merely items stored in the memory; and in the memory they take the same form as any other factual knowledge. Nor does any real knowledge of the truth that composes faith reside there, because it has been debased by false ideas and also serves as the means to bolster up falsities. Since this is what faith devoid of charity is like, it is annihilated among the wicked in the next life, with whom truth suffers complete devastation. This is allowed to happen to prevent them from using truths as the means to attain evil objectives, and so to prevent hell from dominating in any way among them over such things as belong to heaven, and to guard against their being left hanging as a consequence between heaven and hell. Such annihilation and such devastation of truth is what is meant by the firstborn in Egypt being killed. The destruction after that of the Egyptians in the Sea Suph represented a subsequent state of damnation or spiritual death of such people; for once they have been deprived of matters of faith or truth, which were like wings lifting them up, they immediately drop like weights into hell.

7074. Some of the spirits belonging to the planet Mercury once came to me; they had been sent by others to listen to what was going on where I was. One of the spirits who belonged to our own planet told them to tell their own people that they should speak nothing but the truth and when answering questioners should refrain from putting contrary ideas in their way, as they are accustomed to do; for if any of the spirits from our planet were to act in that way he would be thrashed for it. But at this point the distant company from which those spirits had been sent out replied that if such had to be thrashed all of them would have to be thrashed since frequent practice left them unable to act in any other way. They said that they also acted in that way when they talked to people on their own planet. But when they did so they had no intention to mislead, only to instill a desire to know; for when they put contrary ideas in the way and in a certain manner make the subject obscure, a person's curiosity is aroused, and as a result of his eagerness to look into the subject his memory is enriched.