7553. 'Behold, about this time tomorrow I am causing it to rain an extremely heavy hail' means falsities destroying all things of the Church among them. This is clear from the meaning of 'rain in the form of hail' as falsities arising from evil that destroy forms of the truth and good of faith, thus things of the Church. Those falsities are meant by 'rain in the form of hail' because then the raindrops are like stones and can destroy both men and beasts, as well as crops in the field, and also because they are pieces of ice. In general 'rain' means a blessing, or in the contrary sense a curse, 1445. When it means a blessing a flowing in and receiving of the truth of faith and the good of charity is meant; for that is a blessing. But when 'rain' means a curse falsity opposed to the truth of faith and evil opposed to the good of charity is meant, for these are a curse. 'Rain in the form of hail' however in general means a curse which is brought on by falsity arising from evil, in particular of falsity arising from evil that is opposed to the Church's truths and forms of good.

[2] These kinds of falsity are meant by 'rain in the form of hail' in the following places: In Ezekiel,

I will dispute with Gog with pestilence and blood; and deluging rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone will I cause to rain on him and on his hordes, and on the many peoples that are with him. Ezekiel 38:22.

'Gog' stands for external worship separated from internal, thus for those who, when charity has been annihilated, make Divine worship consist entirely in external observances. 'Hailstones' stands for falsities that arise from evil.

[3] In the same prophet,

Let My hand be against the prophets who see vanity and divine a lie. Say to those who daub [the wall] with what is not suitable that it will fall. There will come deluging rain from which you, O hailstones, will fall; and stormy wind will tear it apart. Ezekiel 13:9, 11.

'Prophets who are seers of vanity and diviners of a lie' stands for those who are teachers of evils and falsities. 'Those who daub [the wall] with what is unsuitable' stands for the fact that they fabricate falsities and make them look like the truth. These people are called 'hailstones' because of their falsities. But in the original language a different word, meaning intense hail, is used here and in the preceding quotation.

[4] In Isaiah,

Then Jehovah will cause His glorious voice ¹ to be heard, and His arm will see repose, in the indignation of [His] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, [in] scattering and deluging, and hailstones. Isaiah 30:30-31.

'Hailstones' stands for the laying waste of truth by means of falsities. In the same prophet,

Behold, powerful and strong is the Lord, like a deluge of hail, a killing tempest, like a deluge of mighty overflowing waters, He will cast them down to the earth with His hand. The hail will overturn the refuge of a lie, and the waters will deluge the hiding-place. ² Isaiah 28:2, 17.

'A deluge' stands for being plunged into falsities, and so for undergoing vastation of truth, 705, 739, 790, 5725, 6853, 'a deluge of hail' for the destruction of truth by means of falsities. In David,

He struck their vine with hail, and their sycamore-fig trees with heavy hail. And He gave up ³ their beasts to the hail, and their flocks to coals of fire. He let loose on them His fierce anger. Psalms 78:47-49.

[5] In the same author,

He made their rain into hail, a flaming fire in their land; and He struck their vines and their fig trees, and broke to pieces the trees of their borders. Psalms 105:32-33.

'Hail' and 'rain' stand for the laying waste of truth and good by means of falsities arising from evil. 'Vine' stands for the truth and goodness of the internal Church, 'sycamore-fig' and 'fig' for the truths and forms of good of the external Church. In the same author,

He who gives snow like wool, He sprinkles the hear-frost like dust; He who discharges His hail like balls - who can stand before His cold? Psalms 147:16-17.

'Hail' stands for falsities arising from evils. In the same author,

He made darkness His hiding-place, and His surroundings His tent - darkness of waters, clouds of the heavens. From the brightness before Him, clouds passed with hail and coals of fire. Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, hail, and coals of fire, so that He sent His arrows and scattered them. Psalms 18:11-14.

'Hail' stands for falsities arising from evils which lay waste truths and forms of good.

[6] In John,

The first angel sounded and there came hail, and fire mixed with blood; and it fell onto the earth so that a third part of the trees were burned, and all green grass was burned up. Revelation 8:7.

'Hail' stands for falsities arising from evil; 'fire mixed with blood' stands for evil desires together with falsified truths; 'the trees which were burned' stands for cognitions of truth that were destroyed by evil desires; and 'the green grass that was burned up' stands for known facts about truth that were destroyed in a similar way. For the meaning of 'fire' as evil desires, see 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7314; of 'blood' as falsified truth, 4775, 6878, 7317, 7326; and of 'trees' as cognitions, 2722 (end), 2972.

[7] In Joshua,

It happened, when they fled before Israel on the descent of Beth Horon, that Jehovah cast down on them large [hail]stones from heaven, as far as Azekah, so that they died. Those who died from the hailstones were more than those whom the children of Israel killed with the sword. Joshua 10:11.

This refers to the five kings who camped against Gibeon. These kings and their peoples represented those who, being steeped in falsities arising from evils, therefore died from the hailstones. Balls of hail are called stones because 'stones' too mean falsities.

From all this one may see what is meant by 'hail' and by 'rain in the form of hail', namely falsities arising from evils. And since these falsities are meant, the laying waste of truth and good is also meant, for falsities arising from evils are what lay them waste.

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705. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Here the subject in particular is the Flood, which means not only the temptations that the member of the Church called Noah had to undergo before he could be regenerated, but also the desolation of those who were incapable of being regenerated. In the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such.

TEMPTATIONS

In Isaiah,

For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great compassion I will regather you. In a deluge of wrath I hid My face ¹ from you for a moment, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, for this is the waters of Noah to Me, to whom I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Thus have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and rebuke you. O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Isaiah 54:7, 9, 11.

This refers to the Church that is to be regenerated, and to temptations which are called 'the waters of Noah'.

[2] Besides this the Lord Himself calls temptations 'a deluge', in Luke,

Jesus said, Every one who comes to Me, and hears My words and does them, is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep, and laid the foundations upon rock; and when a deluge came, a stream broke against that house but was not strong enough to move it because it had been founded upon the rock. Luke 6:47-48.

The fact that 'a deluge' here is used to mean temptations may be clear to anyone.

DESOLATIONS

In Isaiah,

The Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Asshur and all his glory; and it is rising over all its channels, and will go over all its banks, and it will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck. Isaiah 8:7-8.

Here 'the king of Asshur' stands for the delusions, false assumptions, and reasonings based on these, which desolate a person and which desolated the people before the Flood.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 47:2-3.

This refers to the Philistines who represent people who adopt false assumptions and from them engage in reasonings about spiritual matters, which reasonings overwhelm a person as they did the people before the Flood.

The reason why in the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such, is that there is a similarity between the two, it being evil spirits who flow in with their persuasions and false assumptions which dwell with them and who activate the things of a like nature in man. With someone who is being regenerated they are temptations, but with someone who is not they are desolations.

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