305. Verses 4, 5. And I wept much, that no one was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

4. "And I wept much, that no one was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon," signifies grief of heart on account of the disorder and destruction of all things, if no one could know [scire], cognize [cognoscere], and explore all men, and all things pertaining to men (n. 306).

5. "And one of the elders," signifies a society of heaven superior in wisdom to the rest (n.307); "saith unto me, Weep not," signifies that there need be no grief on that account (n. 308); "behold, the Lion hath overcome," signifies that the Lord from His own power subjugated the hells, and reduced all things in the heavens to order (n. 309); "from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David," signifies by means of Divine good united to Divine truth in His Human (n. 310); "to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof," signifies that He knows and recognizes all and each, and the most secret things of everyone (n. 311).

7424. 'And there were lice on man and on beast' means that evils rose up from those things - interior and exterior evils attached to wicked desires. This is clear from the meaning of 'lice' as evils, dealt with in 7419; from the meaning of 'man' as good, dealt with in 4287, 5302, and so in the contrary sense as evil; and from the meaning of 'beast' as the affection for good, and in the contrary sense as the affection for evil, which is evil or wicked desire, dealt with in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 2179, 2180, 3218, 3519, 5198. But when the expression 'man and beast' is used, man' means interior good, and in the contrary sense interior evil, while 'beast' means exterior good, and in the contrary sense exterior evil. The reason why 'man' means interior good or interior evil is that a person is truly human by virtue of his internal man and the nature of this, not by virtue of his external man; for without the internal the external man is not truly human. If the external man too is to be truly human it must be completely subject to the internal, so completely that it does not act by itself, only from the internal. The reason why 'beast' means exterior good and in the contrary sense exterior evil is that beasts do not have an internal side to them like that present in a human being. With them the internal side is merged into the external, so completely that it makes one with it, and at the same looks downwards or towards the ground without any uplifting towards more internal things. The expression 'evils attached to wicked desires' is used because all evils are objects of wicked desires; for wicked desires are the longings of a person's loves. What makes interior evils different from exterior evils is this: Interior evils belong to thought and will, whereas exterior evils belong to actions. The fact that evils may be interior without being exterior is evident from the consideration that a person can be evil and yet to outward appearance look like an upright man, indeed like a man possessing faith and conscience. Some even know how to pretend to be angels when in fact inwardly they are devils. This is how great the difference can be between the inward appearance, which is that presented by the spirit, and the outward appearance, which is that presented by the body.