7426. 'And the magicians did the same with their enchantments to bring forth lice' means the endeavour to pervert Divine order and produce something that looked the same in these things also. This is clear from the meaning of 'did' as the endeavour to achieve the same thing, for it goes on to say that they could not in fact achieve it; from the meaning of 'the magicians' and 'enchantments' as perverting Divine order and producing something similar to outward appearance, dealt with in 7296, 7297, 7337; and from the meaning of 'bringing forth lice' as producing the evils that are meant by 'lice', dealt with in 7419.

1262. From this it now becomes clear that 'the earth' here also means the Church; for when the earth is mentioned, one's only perception is of the nation or people there, and when a nation or people is envisaged one's only perception is of their character. Consequently 'the earth' means nothing other than the Church, as shown already in 662, 1066.