10644. 'And tear down their groves' means that their teachings are to be totally rejected. This is clear from the meaning of 'groves' as the teachings of the Church, at this point the teachings of the type of religion that is practised by idolaters, which are teachings that consist of falsity arising from evil. The reason why teachings are meant by 'groves' is that instances of perception or awareness of what is good and true are meant by 'trees', of perception among those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, and of awareness among those who are in His spiritual kingdom; and each species of a tree means a specific kind of perception or awareness. This accounts for the meaning of 'paradise gardens' and other 'gardens' as heavenly intelligence and wisdom, and for that of 'forests' as the knowledge which the natural man possesses. From all this it may be recognized why it is that teachings are meant by 'groves', and why it was that the ancients performed holy acts of worship in groves. For the Church among the ancients was a representative one, all of whose outward forms represented inner realities, such as they are in heaven, which have regard to the Lord, to love for Him and faith in Him, and to such things as are aspects of love and faith. The reason why groves, and also forests, gardens, and paradise gardens, as well as trees according to their species, mean such things lies in representative objects in the next life. The angels' intelligence and wisdom determine what kinds of objects appear there; for whatever makes its appearance has a celestial or spiritual origin.

Teachings are meant by 'groves', and the ancients performed holy worship in groves, see 2722, 4552.

Heavenly intelligence and wisdom is meant by 'paradise gardens', 3220, 4528, 4529.

The like is meant by other 'gardens', 100, 108, 1588, 2722.

The knowledge which the natural man possesses is meant by 'forests', 9011(end).

Instances of perception, and those of awareness (or cognitions), of goodness and truth are meant by 'trees', 103, 2163, 2682, 2972, 7692, 8326.

The Ancient Church performed worship in groves and in gardens under trees, in accord with the meanings these carried, 2722, 4552.

1588. 'Like the garden of Jehovah' means the rational concepts in the external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the garden of Jehovah' as intelligence, dealt with in 100, consequently the rational which comes in between the internal man and the external man. The rational is intelligence as it exists in the external man. It is called 'the garden of Jehovah' when the rational is celestial, that is, when it has a celestial origin, as was the case with the Most Ancient Church. This is described in Isaiah as follows,

Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of ]Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isaiah 51:3.

When however the rational is spiritual, that is, when it has a spiritual origin, as was the case with the Ancient Church, the expression 'the garden of God' is used, as in Ezekiel,

Full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Ezekiel 28:12-13.

A person's rational is compared to a garden because this is how it is represented in heaven. It is man's rational that manifests itself in just this way when that which is celestial-spiritual flows into it from the Lord. Indeed it is this which presents to view the paradise gardens whose magnificence and beauty surpass everything the human mind can imagine. This is the effect which the influx of celestial-spiritual light from the Lord produces, as dealt with already in 1042, 1043. It is not the loveliness and beauty of these gardens that stir the emotions but the celestial-spiritual elements that live within them.