542. Verses 3-12. And out of the smoke came forth locusts [upon the earth]; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but those men only which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and on their heads as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, the angel of the abyss, his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon. One woe is past; behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

"And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth," signifies, that from infernal falsities they became corporeal sensual in the church; "and unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power," signifies their persuasiveness, and its effect and power. "And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree," signifies, that they should not hurt any true and living scientific from the sense of the letter of the Word, nor any cognitions of truth and good therein; "but those men only which have not the seal of God in their foreheads," signifies, but only the understanding of truth and perception of good with those who are not in truths from good from the Lord. "And to them it was given that they should not kill them," signifies, that they should not be deprived of the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good; "but that they should torment them five months," signifies, that by the falsities of evil the understanding should be darkened and drawn away from seeing the truth so long as they are in that state; "and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man," signifies that the darkening and hindering from seeing the truth is from the persuasion with which the mind is infatuated. "And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it," signifies, that in such case they desire to destroy the power to understand truth, but that still they cannot; "and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them," signifies that they desire to destroy the power to perceive good, which belongs to spiritual life, but in vain. "And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war," signifies that man having become sensual reasons as though from understanding of truth; "and on their heads as it were crowns like gold," signifies that they seem to themselves, when they reason, to be wise and victorious; "and their faces were as the faces of men," signifies that they seem to themselves to be spiritual affections for truth. "And they had hair as the hair of women," signifies that they also seem to themselves to be natural affections for truth; "and their teeth were, as the teeth of lions," signifies that sensual things, which are the ultimates of the intellectual life, are to them apparently powerful over all things. "And they had breast-plates as it were breast-plates of iron," signifies the persuasions with which they gird themselves for combats, against which the truths of the spiritual rational man do not prevail; "and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to battle," signifies reasonings as though from truths of doctrine understood from the Word, for which they must zealously fight. "And they had tails like unto scorpions," signifies sensual scientifics which are persuasive; "and there were stings in their tails," signifies the craftiness of deceiving by means of them; "and their power was to hurt men five months," signifies that they would induce stupor as to the understanding of truth, and the perception of good, so long as they are in that state. "And they had a king over them, the angel of the abyss," signifies that they received influx from the hell where are those who are in the falsities of evil and are purely sensual; "whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon," signifies its quality, which is destructive of all truth and good. "One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter," signifies one lamentation over the devastation of the church, and that lamentation over its further devastation follows.

10236. 'And its pedestal from bronze' means good on the last level of the natural, which is that of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'the pedestal' of the laver, containing the water for washing, as the last level of the natural degree, which is called the level of the senses; and from the meaning of 'bronze' as good, dealt with above in 10235. The reason why 'the pedestal' means the last level of the natural, which is called the external level of the senses, is that 'the laver' which is above means the natural degree, in which purification takes place, and therefore that which is below means that which occupies the lowest, that is, the last place, which is the external level of the senses within a person. The natural degree within a person has an external level, a middle level, and an internal level. The external level of the natural degree is that which comes in contact with the world and is called the external level of the senses; the internal level of the natural degree is that which comes in contact with the internal man residing in heaven; and the middle level of the natural degree links the two together, for where an external and an internal exist there must be a middle linking them together. The human mind has a natural degree containing external, middle, and internal levels, see 4009, 4570, 5118, 5126, 5649, 9215.

[2] Strictly speaking, the level of the senses forming the last and lowest of the natural degree should be taken to mean that which is called the flesh and perishes when a person dies, thus that which has enabled the person to function in the world, namely the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. It may be recognized that the senses exist on the ground-level so to speak of a person's life, forming the terminus and base on which it rests; for they open out directly onto the world, and through them the world comes in and heaven goes out. These senses the human being shares with animals. But an external aspect of the senses which the human being does not share so much with them, though still an external aspect of the senses, is the deposit in the human memory of impressions received from the world, consisting solely of worldly, bodily, earthly images. The person whose thought and reasoning are based on these alone and not on more internal ideas is called a sensory-minded person. This level of the senses remains with a person after death, though it becomes dormant. It is the external level of the senses that is meant, strictly speaking, by 'the pedestal'.

[3] The nature of this level of the senses was represented by the pedestals of the ten lavers which were placed next to the temple. These pedestals are described as follows,

Solomon made ten pedestals from bronze. Four cubits was the length of each pedestal, and four cubits the breadth; three cubits was the height. On the panels ¹ which were between the frames there were lions, oxen, and cherubs, and on the frames in like manner above. In addition each pedestal had four wheels, and boards of bronze ² ; but its four corners had shoulders ³ . Under a laver there were shoulders ³ of cast [bronze]. The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel; their axles ⁴ , and their rims ⁵ , and their tires, and their spokes were all of cast [bronze]. After this manner he made the ten pedestals. They were all of one casting, one measure, one symmetry. Therefore he made ten lavers from bronze; each laver contained forty baths, four cubits was each laver. 1 Kings 7:27-39.

[4] Here representative objects serve to describe the nature of the external level of the senses in a person, and in particular protection provided by the Lord to prevent a person from entering from the sensory level of his mind, thus from the world, into things of heaven or the Church. To do so is contrary to Divine order. For the world cannot enter into heaven, but heaven can into the world, which happens when the Lord coming by way of heaven flows into a person by means of the Word and resides in him, and so enlightens, teaches, and leads him. The fact that entering from the world into the things of heaven is contrary to Divine order may be recognized from the consideration that those who enter into them from the sensory level of their mind, thus who do so from factual knowledge derived from the world, have no belief at all.

[5] Protection against this is meant by 'lions, oxen, and cherubs'. By 'lions' protection to prevent truths from entering is meant, for lions are truths in their power, 6367, 6369, and by 'oxen' protection to prevent forms of good from entering, for oxen are forms of good in their power, 2781. By 'cherubs' the Lord's protection against such an occurrence is meant, see 308, 9509; and by 'the shoulders' of which also mention is made power and resistance are meant, see 1085, 4931-4937, 9836. By 'the chariot-like wheels' the ability to be made wise when everything enters from heaven is meant, for in this way everything moves on according to order, 'chariot wheels' being the ability to move on, thus to learn, 8215, 9872, and chariots being doctrinal teachings which heaven and the Church possess, 5321, 8215.

[6] What a sensory-minded person is must again be stated briefly. A person is called sensory-minded whose thought is based solely on such ideas in the memory as are derived from the world and whose mind cannot be raised to more internal levels. Such is the situation with those in particular who have no belief at all in heaven or in the Deity because they do not see them; for they trust solely in the senses, and what they do not perceive through these is not thought by them to have any existence. Such people come near to having a mind no different from that of animals, which too are led solely by their external senses. They are still wily and clever in action and reasoning, but they do not see truth in its own light. In former times such people were referred to as serpents of the tree of knowledge. Most of the hellish crew are of that sort. But what a sensory-minded person is and what the sensory level of the mind is, see the places referred to in 9331(end), and also 9726, 9730, 9731, 9922(end), 9996; and what it is to be raised above or drawn away from the level of the senses, the places referred to in 9922(end).

[7] Good on the level of the senses, meant by 'a pedestal made from bronze', is an expression which denotes the pleasure and delight that influence thought and imagination based solely on such things as are earthly, bodily, and worldly. It is distinguishable from other kinds of delight by the fact that it sees no other purposes to be served apart from those indulging the self or benefiting the self. For the sensory-minded person is steeped in self-love and love of the world, and the delights that are his go with those loves. And since the loves of a sensory-minded person are such as these, it is evident that he is cleverer than others in reasoning and in doing things for the sake of gain and position. For his body is burning with the fire of that love, and that fire produces a light that is called natural illumination. And when this light flares into brightness the light of heaven which belongs to the interior man is altogether blotted out. So it is that because the things belonging to the light of heaven are in thick darkness they are said not to exist. It is different in the case of those whose actions are burning with the fire of heaven and whose thoughts are lit by the light from it. All this shows what should be understood by good on the level of the senses, meant by the pedestal of the laver made from bronze.

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