9328. 'And throw into confusion all the people' means the dismay of all falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'throwing into confusion' as dismay, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the people' as those guided by truths, thus in the abstract sense as truths themselves, and in the contrary sense as falsities, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581, 6232. The reason why 'throwing into confusion' means dismay is that those who are dismayed are thrown in heart and mind into such confusion that they are mad and charge of their own accord into destruction. The fact that such dismay is meant by 'throwing into confusion' is evident in Zechariah,

On that day there will be great confusion from Jehovah among those who fight against Jerusalem. And everyone will seize his companion's hand, ¹ and his [other] hand will rise up against his companion's hand. Zechariah 14:12-13.

'Fighting against Jerusalem' means doing so against the Church, thus also against the truths and forms of the good of faith which constitute the Church. 'Confusion', it is evident, means dismay to the point of madness. In Moses,

Jehovah your God will deliver up ² the nations before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. Deuteronomy 7:23.

'Confusion' stands for such dismay.

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3295. 'And [one] people will prevail over [the other] people' means that at first truth must be superior to the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as truth, dealt with immediately above in 3294, and from the meaning of 'prevailing over' as being superior to. The 'people' mentioned first means truth, whereas the 'people' mentioned second means the good of truth. The good of truth is good which arises out of truth, and, as it exists first of all, is truth. It is called good however because it looks like good. Consequently 'people' also means this good, which is called the good of truth as it is when it first arises.

[2] To have any concept of this good it should be recognized that until he has been regenerated a person does good from truth, but after he has been regenerated he does it from good. Or to make the point clearer still, before he has been regenerated the good he does is a product of the understanding, but after he has been regenerated it is a product of the will. Good therefore which is a product of the understanding is not in itself good but truth, whereas good that is a product of the will is good. For example, when a person does not honour his parents but then learns from the Ten Commandments to do so, his honouring of them is at first a product of the commandment. Such honouring however, being a product of the commandment, is not in itself good because it does not flow from love. It flows either from obedience to the law or from fear of the law, but is nevertheless called the good of truth. When it first arises however it is truth, for at that time it is not good that he performs but truth. When however his honouring of them is the product of love it is in that case good. The same is so in every other example that could be taken.