103. The reason trees here mean perceptions is that the celestial man is the subject of the spiritual man were the subject the meaning would be different, for the character of the subject determines that of the predicate.

7584. 'And broke every tree of the field' means that they also destroyed all the Church's cognitions of goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'tree' as perceptions of goodness and truth, dealt with in 107, 2163, 2682, and also as cognitions of goodness and truth, 2722 (end), 2972.