6657. 'That they also will join themselves to our enemies and fight against us' means that in that way allied forces who inflict harm will be made stronger. This is clear from the meaning of 'joining themselves to' as being made stronger, for when enemies are joined by a very large number they are made stronger; from the meaning of 'enemies' as allied forces who fight alongside one another; and from the meaning of 'fighting against us' as inflicting harm, for when a battle is fought against someone, harm is done to him to the extent that he cannot counteract it. The implications of all this are that surrounding every person in the world and also surrounding every good spirit there is a general sphere of endeavours from hell and a general sphere of endeavours from heaven. The sphere from hell is a sphere of endeavours to do harm and destroy, that from heaven is a sphere of endeavours to do good and to save, see 6477. These spheres are general ones, and there are likewise particular spheres surrounding every person, for there are spirits from hell present with him and there are angels from heaven, who are dealt with in 5846-5866, 5976-5993. By these spheres a person is kept in a state of equilibrium and has the freedom to think and will what is evil or to think and will what is good.

[2] When therefore a member of the Church enters into temptation, which happens when he is let into his own evil, conflict takes place around him between the spirits from hell and the angels from heaven, 3927, 4249, 5036; and the conflict lasts for as long as the person is kept in his own evil. Sometimes in that conflict it seems to the spirits from hell that they are going to win, in which case they surge up. At other times it seems to them that they are going to be beaten, in which case they fall back, fearing that more angels from heaven will join up against them and so they themselves will be cast down into hell, never to emerge again, which is exactly what happens when they have been beaten. These are the things that are meant by superior strength if they increase and by the statement that allied forces who inflict harm will be made stronger.

[3] Spirits from hell, when they fight against angels, are in the world of spirits, where they are in a state of freedom, 5852. From all this one may now see what is meant in the internal sense when it says that the children of Israel were molested and oppressed in such ways by the Egyptians, but that the more they were molested, the more they multiplied, and that Jehovah, who is the Lord, fought for them, kept the Egyptians in check by means of plagues, and at length drowned all the Egyptians in the Sea Suph.

1663. 'That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar' means just so many kinds of evil desires and false persuasions against which the Lord fought. This too becomes clear from the meaning of these kings and these nations that are mentioned, and from what follows as well. Which particular evil desires and which particular false persuasions are meant by each individual one would also take too long to explain. The meaning of Sodom and Gomorrah, also of Admah and Zeboiim, as well as Zoar, has been dealt with briefly already. They are the most general or most universal kinds of evils and falsities; and these, which are meant in the internal sense, here follow in their own sequence.

[2] The fact that the Lord underwent and suffered the severest of temptations, more severe than anybody else has ever done, is not so well known from the Word, where all that is mentioned is His being in the wilderness forty days and being tempted by the devil. But although the temptations He experienced at that time have been described only briefly, those brief statements nevertheless embody all, as in Mark 1:12-13, which records that He was there with wild animals, which mean the worst of the hellish crew. And the events afterwards recorded about the devil taking Him up on to the pinnacles of the temple and on to a high mountain are nothing else than representatives of very severe temptations He experienced in the wilderness, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described later on.