A "field" in the Bible usually represents the Lord's church, and more specifically the desire for good within the church. It's where good things start, take root, and grow. When you have a desire to be a good person and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?", "What should I do?", "What can I do?". You look for ideas, concepts, direction. Once you figure out something you want to do or a change you want to make in yourself, you seek specific knowledge. If you want to volunteer at a food pantry, say, you'd need to know whom to call, when they need help, where to go, what to bring. Armed with that knowhow, you're ready to get to work. That process could be compared to food production. You start with a field -- which is that desire to be good. Then you plant seeds -- those ideas and concepts. Those seeds sprout into plants -- the specific facts and knowledge needed for the task (easily seen in the food pantry example, but also true with deeper tasks like "being more tolerant of my co-workers" or "taking more time for prayer," or "consciously being a more loving spouse"). Finally, those plants produce food -- the actual good thing that you go and do. The Writings also say that in a number of cases a "field" represents the doctrine, or teachings, of the church. This sounds markedly different. The desire for good is emotional, a drive, a wanting; doctrine is a set of ideas. But for a church to be true, its doctrine must be centered on a desire for good, and must lead people toward doing what is good. So sound doctrine is actually closely bound up with the desire for good.

531. Woe, woe, woe, to those that dwell on the earth, from the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound, signifies grievous lamentation over the changes of state of the church at its end, on account of the aversion from good and truth, and consequent damnation. This is evident from the signification of "woe," as being lamentation over the aversion from good and truth, and consequent damnation; and as "woe" is said three times, grievous lamentation is meant (of which presently); also from the signification of "those that dwell on the earth," as being those who are of the church (the "earth" means the church, as may be seen above, n. 29, 304, 417); also from the signification of "the voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound," as being the changes of state of the church; for "the angels sounding the trumpets" signify changes from influx out of heaven (See above, n. 502). That "three" signifies what is complete even to the end will be seen in the following article. From this it can be seen that "Woe, woe, woe, to those that dwell on the earth, from the voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound," signifies grievous lamentation over the changes of state of the church at its end, on account of the aversion from good and truth, and consequent damnation.

[2] That "woe" signifies lamentation over calamity, danger, hardship, destruction can be seen from passages in the Word where it occurs; but here it means lamentation over the aversion from good and truth, and consequent damnation, because this is what is treated of in what follows; and as the aversion from good and truth becomes successively more grievous in the church even to its end, it is said three times, each one standing for the successively increasing grievousness of the evil. This can be seen from the following, where it is said:

The first woe is past; behold there come yet two woes hereafter (Revelation 9:12).

And afterwards:

The second woe is past, behold the third woe cometh quickly (Revelation 11:14).

[3] That "woe" signifies in the Word lamentation over various occurrences, especially over the evils that devastate the church, can be seen from many passages therein. As in Matthew:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (Matthew 23:13, 14, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29).

In Luke:

Woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! (Luke 22:22).

In the same:

Woe unto him through whom occasions for stumbling come! (Luke 17:1).

In Isaiah:

Woe unto them that join house to house! (Isaiah 5:8).

Woe unto them that rise early in the morning that they may follow strong drink! (Isaiah 5:11).

Woe unto them that draw iniquity! (Isaiah 5:18).

Woe unto them that call evil good! (Isaiah 5:20).

Woe unto the wise in their own eyes! (Isaiah 5:21).

Woe unto the mighty in drinking wine! (Isaiah 5:22).

(See in many other passages, as in Isaiah 3:11; 10:1; 17:12; 18:1; 29:1, 29:15; 30:1; 31:1; 33:1; 45:9, 10, etc.; Jeremiah 22:13; Ezekiel 13:3; Revelation 18:16, 19).