6779. 'And the shepherds came and drove them away' means that teachers steeped in evils set themselves against them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the shepherds' as those who teach and lead to the good of charity, dealt with in 343, 3795, 6044, here those who teach but, being steeped in evils, do not lead to the good of charity, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'driving away' as setting themselves against; and from the meaning of the daughters, the ones whom they drove away, as things belonging to the Church, dealt with above in 6775. Here 'shepherds' does indeed mean those who teach, but they are those who do not lead to the good of charity because they are steeped in evils. For those steeped in evils never acknowledge that charity and its works contribute to salvation, because they are incapable of acknowledging things contrary to the life they lead. To do so would be to go against themselves. Being steeped in evils they are not even aware of what charity is, or thus of what the works of charity are. Faith is what they teach, saying that faith is what makes people righteous and what holds the promise of heaven. These are the ones who set themselves against the teachings about charity drawn from the Word, and therefore against people guided by the truth that goes with simple good - the people meant by the daughters of the priest of Midian who, after they had drawn water and filled the troughs to water the flock, were driven away by the shepherds from the well.