584. Verse 20. And the rest of the men who were not killed in these plagues, signifies who did not perish by the cupidities above mentioned. This is evident from the signification of "the rest of the men who were not killed," as being all those who did not perish. "To be killed" signifies in the Word to be killed spiritually, which is to perish in eternal death (See above, n. 547, 572). Also from the signification of "these plagues," as being the cupidities above mentioned, namely, those signified by "fire, smoke, and brimstone going out of the mouth of the horses," which signify the cupidities that arise from the love of evil and the love of falsity, also the lusts of destroying the truths and goods of the church by the falsities of evil (as may be seen above, n. 578. These are called "plagues," because "plagues" signify in the Word such things as destroy the spiritual life, consequently the church in men, and which therefore induce death understood in the spiritual sense. These in brief have reference to the cupidities springing from the loves of self and of the world; for these loves are the roots from which evils and falsities of every genus and species spring up and grow.

[2] Such also is the signification of "plagues" in the following passages in Revelation:

The two witnesses have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will (Revelation 11:6).

Again:

Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great (Revelation 16:21).

Again:

In one day shall the plagues of Babylon come, death and mourning and famine (Revelation 18:8).

And again:

I saw seven angels having the seven last plagues, through which is to be finished the wrath of God (Revelation 15:1, 6, 8). That "plagues" mean such things as induce upon man spiritual death, consequently that wholly destroy and devastate the church with men in particular and thus in general, will be seen in the explanation of the passages that follow, where "plagues" are mentioned, and especially where "the seven last plagues" are treated of.

[3] "Plagues" have a like meaning in the following passages in the prophets. In Isaiah:

The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day that Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people, and shall heal the wound of their plague (Isaiah 30:26).

In Jeremiah:

It is desperate for thy bruise, thy plague is sore. I have smitten thee with the plague of an enemy. I will make health to ascend upon thee; I will heal thee of thy plague (Jeremiah 30:12, 14, 17).

In the same:

Everyone that passeth by Edom shall hiss at all the plagues thereof (4 Jeremiah 49:17).

In the same:

Everyone that passeth by Babylon shall hiss at all her plagues (Jeremiah 50:13).

In Moses:

If they will ¹ not take heed to do all the words of the law, Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, great plagues and lasting, and evil and lasting diseases. Also every disease and every plague which is not written in the book of this law will Jehovah secretly send upon thee until thou be destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:58, 59, 61).

"Plagues" here signify spiritual plagues, which destroy the soul, not the body, and which are enumerated in this chapter of Deuteronomy (verses 20-68).

[4] What "plagues" signify in the spiritual sense is described by correspondences in Zechariah:

This shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will plague all the peoples that shall wage war against Jerusalem; his flesh shall waste away as he standeth upon his feet, and his eyes shall waste away in their sockets, and his tongue shall waste away in his mouth. So shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, of the ass, and of every beast that shall be in those camps, as this plague (Zechariah 14:12, 15).

This is said of those who endeavor to destroy the truths of the church by falsities; "Jerusalem" signifies the church in respect to the truths of doctrine, and "to wage war against it" means to endeavor to destroy these truths by falsities. That "one's flesh shall waste away as he standeth upon his feet" signifies that with those who attempt this, all the will of good will perish, and that they will thus become merely corporeal-natural, for "flesh" signifies the will and its good or evil; "feet" signify the things of the natural man, therefore "to stand upon the feet" signifies to live from such things only; "his eyes shall waste away in their sockets" signifies that all understanding of truth will perish, "eyes" signifying that understanding; "his tongue shall waste away in his mouth" signifies that all perception of truth and affection of good will perish. (This prophecy is explained above, n. 455.) Almost the same things are signified by "the plagues of the horse, the mule, the camel, the ass, and every beast," for the "plague" of these signifies the loss of all understanding of truth, as well spiritual as natural; and "the plague of the beast" signifies the loss of all affection for good.

[5] In Luke:

In the same hour in which John sent unto Him, Jesus cured many of diseases and plagues of evil spirits; and on many that were blind He bestowed sight (Luke 7:21).

"The plagues of evil spirits" mean the obsessions and calamitous conditions then inflicted upon men by evil spirits, all of which however signify correspondent spiritual states; for all the healings of diseases performed by the Lord signified spiritual healings, and from this the miracles of the Lord were Divine; as this, that "on many that were blind He bestowed sight," which signified that to those who were in ignorance of truth He gave the understanding of the truths of doctrine:

The wounds [plagas] that the robbers inflicted on the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30);

also signifies spiritual wounds, which were the falsities and evils infused into sojourners and Gentiles by the scribes and Pharisees. (See above, n. 444, where this parable is explained in its spiritual sense.)

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547. Verse 5. And it was given ¹ to them that they should not kill them, signifies that they should not be deprived of the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good. This is evident from the signification of "men," as being the understanding of truth and the perception of good (See above, n. 546); and from the signification of "killing them," as being to destroy as regards the spiritual life (of which above, n. 315; but here to deprive of the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good. This is the signification of "killing men," because every man is born into the faculty to understand truth and perceive good; for this faculty is the spiritual itself by which every man is distinguished from the beasts. This faculty man never destroys, for if he should destroy it he would be no longer a man but a beast. It appears as if the sensual man who is in the falsities of evil had destroyed it, because he neither understands truth nor perceives good when reading the Word or hearing it from others, but yet he has not destroyed the faculty itself to understand and perceive, but only the understanding of truth and the perception of good, so long as he is in the falsities in which he has confirmed himself from evil; for then he is averse to listen to truth, and this appears like an inability to understand it; but if the persuasion of falsity which obstructs is removed, he then understands and perceives that truth is truth and that good is good, just as a spiritual-rational man does.

[2] That this is so it has been given me to know by much experience; for there were many of the infernal crew who had confirmed themselves in falsities against truths and in evils against goods, who thence had become such that they were not willing to hear anything of truth, still less to understand it; and respecting these, therefore, others entertained the opinion that they were unable to understand truth; but the same spirits, when the persuasion of falsity was removed from them, came into the same power and faculty to understand truth as those had who were in the understanding of truth and the perception of good; but immediately upon their falling back into their former state they again appeared to be unable to understand truth, and indeed, were exceedingly indignant at having understood, declaring then that still it was not truth. For it is affection which belongs to the will that makes all the understanding there is with man; from affection is the life itself of the understanding. Consider whether anyone thinks without affection, and whether affection is not the life itself of thought, consequently the life of the understanding. We say an affection and mean the affection that is of love, or love in its continuity. This makes clear that man can indeed destroy the understanding of truth and the perception of good, which is done by means of the falsities of evil; and yet he does not on that account destroy the faculty to understand truth and perceive good; if he did he would no longer be a man, for the human itself consists in that faculty; from this it is that man lives after death, and appears then as a man; for with that faculty the Divine is conjoined. For this reason although a man in respect to his two lives, which are the life of his understanding and the life of his will, may have turned away from the Divine, yet by his ability to understand truth and to perceive good he has conjunction with the Divine, and consequently lives to eternity. From this it can now be seen that "it was given to the locusts that they should not kill men" signifies that still they should not be deprived of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good.

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