806. 'Everything that was on the dry land' means the people in whom nothing of that kind of life existed any more, and 'they died' means that they breathed their last. This follows now from what has been said above. And because all the life that belongs to love and faith had been annihilated, 'the dry land' is referred to here. The dry land is where there is no water, that is, where nothing spiritual, let alone celestial, exists any more. Persuasion of falsity annihilates and so to speak suffocates everything spiritual and celestial, as anyone may recognize from much experience if he pays the matter any attention. Once people have adopted opinions, though utterly false, they cling to them so tenaciously that they will not even listen to anything to the contrary. That being so, they never allow themselves to be taught, even if the truth is placed before their very eyes. Still more is this the case when they reverence a false opinion because of some idea that is sacred. Such people spurn all truth, and what they do accept they pervert, and in so doing submerge in delusions. It is they who are meant here by 'the dry land' which has no water or grass on it, as in Ezekiel,

I will make the rivers dry land, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men, and I will make the land desolate and the fullness of it. Ezekiel 30:12.

'Making the rivers dry land' stands for what is spiritual being no more. And in Jeremiah,

Your land has become dry land. Jeremiah 44:22.

'Dry land' stands for land made desolate and laid waste so that there is no longer any good or truth at all.

3895. When persuasive argument supporting what is evil and false, or even what is true, is employed by one who is leading a life of evil, that argument is such in the next life that so to speak it suffocates others, even upright spirits before they have been introduced into angelic breathing. Therefore those with that power of persuasive argument are removed by the Lord and detained in a hell where they cannot do one another any harm, for one spirit's power of persuasive argument is almost the same as that of another, and so their breathing is accordant. Some who had that power of persuasive argument came to me with the intention of suffocating me, and also did suffocate me partially. But the Lord rescued me. At that point the Lord sent a young child, whose presence tormented them so much that they could scarcely breathe. They were kept in this condition until they cried out and so were thrust down into hell.

[2] Persuasive argument supporting what is true with a person leading a life of evil is such that he convinces himself that the truth is the truth not because he has good as his end in view but evil. That is to say, he convinces himself of it so that by means of the truth he may gain in position, reputation, and wealth. Such power of persuasion can exist with the most evil people of all. They can be so zealous seemingly for the truth that they condemn to hell all who, though good exists with them, do not possess the truth. Regarding this persuasion, see 2689, 3865. When such people first enter the next life they believe that they are angels, but they are unable to come near any angelic community, being suffocated so to speak by their own power of persuasive argument. They are those of whom the Lord spoke in Matthew,

Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name and cast out demons through Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.