697. And to destroy those that destroy the earth.- That this signifies hell with those who destroy the church, is evident from the signification of destroying, when said of those who destroy the church, as denoting damnation and hell; for since to give reward to His servants the prophets and saints signifies salvation and heaven with those who are in truths from good, that is, those who form the church, therefore to destroy the earth signifies damnation and hell; and from the signification of earth, as denoting the church concerning which, see above (n, 29, 304, 413:4, 417). To destroy the earth therefore signifies to destroy the church. That by land (terra) in the Word, is meant the church, has been shown above in many places, as well as in the Arcana Coelestia. There are many reasons why land, in the Word, signifies the church; that is, when no particular land is mentioned, such as the land of Egypt, of Edom, of Moab, of Assyria, of Chaldea, of Babylon and others, the land of Canaan is meant, and those who are in spiritual thought cannot think of that land as a land, since that would be to have an earthly and not a heavenly idea, but they think of the character of the nation there in regard to the church. Similarly when any one is thinking of a church, or religion or worship, and from that thought lands are spoken of, the land is not thought of but only the character of the people of the land in regard to the church, religion or worship. For this reason, when a man reads in the Word the term land (terra) the angels, who are spiritual, think of the church, and what the angels think, this is the spiritual sense of the Word, since the spiritual sense of the Word is for angels, and also for those men who are spiritual; for the Word in the letter is natural, but still interiorly or in its bosom it is spiritual, and when the natural is withdrawn, the spiritual which is within or in its bosom is disclosed.

[2] Moreover, there are lands in the spiritual world, or in the world where spirits and angels are, equally as in the natural world where men are, and these lands are quite alike in external appearance. In that world there are plains, valleys, mountains, hills, rivers, and seas, and also fields, meadows, forests, gardens, and paradises. And the lands, there, are beautiful in appearance, exactly according to the state of the church with those who dwell upon them, and they also undergo changes according to the changes of the church in the inhabitants. In a word, the lands there correspond completely with the reception of the good of love and the truth of faith in those who dwell there. It is also for this reason that land in the Word signifies the church, for the quality of the land is according to the quality of the church there, and correspondence is the cause of this. In that world, the land itself makes one with the church, just as a correspondent does with the subject to which it corresponds, as an effect with its efficient cause, as the eye with its sight, speech with the understanding, action with the will, the expression of the face with the affection of the thought, in a word, as the instrumental with its principal, of which it is said that they constitute one thing; so is it in the spiritual world, as to the quality of the land with the quality of the church. From these things it is evident why land in the Word signifies the church, and why to destroy the earth (or land) here signifies to destroy the church.

[3] So also in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"Is this the man that shaketh the earth, that causeth kingdoms to tremble, that hath made the world a desert, and destroyed the cities thereof? Thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people" (14:16, 17, 20).

This is said of Lucifer, by whom Babel is here meant, as is evident from what here precedes and follows; the earth which he shook and destroyed signifies the church. The kingdoms which he causeth to tremble signify the churches into which the general church is divided. The world which he made a desert signifies the church in general; the cities which he destroyed signify the truths of the doctrine thereof, and the people that he slew signify the men of the church, whose spiritual life he destroyed.

[4] In Jeremiah:

"Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth" (51:25).

This also is said of Babel, which is called a destroying mountain, because a mountain signifies the love of ruling, here, over heaven and earth, to which the goods and truths of the church are caused to serve as means; to destroy all the earth signifies therefore to utterly destroy the whole church.

[5] In Daniel:

The fourth beast ascending out of the sea "shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces" (7:23).

This beast also signifies the love of ruling over the whole heaven and the whole earth, and those who are of Babel have this love, as may be seen above (n. 316:15, 556:5); therefore to devour, to tread down, and break the earth in pieces, signifies to utterly destroy the church. Who is there that does not see that no beast will ascend out of the sea, and devour, tread down, and break all the earth in pieces, but that some evil and diabolical love, will thus act towards the church.

In Moses:

"There shall not be any more a flood to destroy the earth" (Genesis 9:11).

Here the earth also signifies the church, which was destroyed by the antediluvians, but which should be destroyed no more.

[6] In Isaiah:

"Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and he overturneth the faces thereof. In emptying the earth shall be emptied, and in spoiling it shall be spoiled; the habitable earth shall mourn, shall be confounded; the world shall languish, shall be confounded; the earth itself shall be profaned; because they have transgressed the laws, passed by the statute, made void the covenant of eternity, therefore a curse shall devour the earth; the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken, the earth is utterly broken; the earth is moved exceedingly, the earth staggereth as a drunkard, and it is moved to and fro as a hut" (24:1, 3-6, 18-20).

That the earth here does not mean the earth, but the church, must be evident to every one. The church is thus spoken of, because the lands (terroe) in the spiritual world, upon which angels and spirits dwell, undergo such changes as are here described, according to the changes of the state of the church with those who dwell there; in fact even movements take place in them. It is said that Jehovah maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, that in emptying it shall be emptied, and in spoiling it shall be spoiled, because the lands (terroe) there, when the church in those who dwell upon them is laid waste, completely change their appearance. The gardens, flower-gardens, lawns, and similar places in which those lands previously abounded, disappear, and instead of them there arise unpleasant things such as, sandy and rocky places, plains full of thorns and briars, and things of a like nature, which correspond to the falsities and evils that have laid waste the church. The devastation of the church as to the good of love and of charity is signified by making the earth empty; and its desolation as to the truths of doctrine and of faith is signified by making it waste and spoiling it, and the change itself by overturning the faces thereof. The habitable earth shall mourn, shall be confounded; the world shall languish, shall be confounded; a curse shall devour the earth, signifies that nothing shall grow and flourish there, but that it shall be barren, and filled with useless things, on account of which the earth is said to mourn, to languish, and to be devoured with a curse. Since these things take place when they that dwell there have no longer any regard for the holy things of the church, therefore it is said, because they have transgressed the laws, passed by the statute, made void the covenant of eternity. As the lands there are sometimes inundated, sometimes violently shaken, and also here and there gape and open towards the hell, which is beneath and lifts itself up - which takes place according to the nature, and extent of the falsities and evils that are loved, and the consequent falsification and denial of the goods and truths of the church - it is therefore said, that the flood-gates from on high are open, the foundations of the earth are shaken, the earth is broken, and staggereth as a drunkard. These things also actually take place in the spiritual world, when the state of the church is there changed into a contrary one. From this it is evident, why the earth, here and elsewhere in the Word, means the church.

5135. 'For I have indeed been taken away by theft' means that evil caused celestial things to become alienated. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph', who says this about himself, as the celestial within the natural, dealt with in 5086, 5087, 5106, and consequently the celestial things there; and from the meaning of 'being taken away by theft' as undergoing alienation caused by evil. For 'to commit theft' means to alienate, while 'theft' itself means the evil which causes alienation, as well as meaning evil which lays claim to the things existing there in the natural. 'Theft' means an alienation caused by evil that happens in the place which such evil takes possession of; for it expels everything good and true and fills up that place with evils and falsities. 'Theft' also means its laying claim to what belongs to others; for it takes to itself everything good and true in that place and makes such its own as well as attaching it to evils and falsities. But to enable anyone to know what is meant by 'theft' in the spiritual sense, a statement must be made about what happens to evils and falsities when they enter in and take possession of a place, and also when they lay claim to everything good and true there.

[2] From infancy to childhood, and sometimes on into early youth, a person is absorbing forms of goodness and truth received from parents and teachers, for during those years he learns about those forms of goodness and truth and believes them with simplicity - his state of innocence enabling this to happen. It inserts those forms of goodness and truth into his memory; yet it lodges them only on the edge of it since the innocence of infancy and childhood is not an internal innocence which has an influence on the rational, only an external one which has an influence solely on the exterior natural, 2306, 3183, 3494, 4563, 4797. When however the person grows older, when he starts to think for himself and not, as previously, simply in the way his parents or teachers do, he brings back to mind and so to speak chews over what he has learned and believed before, and then he either endorses it, has doubts about it, or refuses to accept it. If he endorses it, this is an indication that he is governed by good, but if he refuses to accept it, that is an indication that he is governed by evil. If however he has doubts about what he has learned and believed before, it is an indication that he will move subsequently either into an affirmative attitude of mind or else into a negative one.

[3] The truths that a person learns and believes in his earliest years when he is a young child but which later on he either endorses, has doubts about, or refuses to accept, are in particular these: There is God, and He is one; He created everything; He rewards those who do what is good and punishes those who do things that are bad; there is life after death, when the bad go to hell and the good go to heaven, and so there is a hell and a heaven; the life after death lasts for ever; also, people ought to pray every day and to do so in a humble way; they ought to keep the sabbath day holy, honour their parents, and not commit adultery, kill, or steal; and many other truths like these. Such truths are learned and absorbed by a person from earliest childhood; but if, when he starts to think for himself and to lead his own life, he endorses them, adding to them further truths of a more interior kind, and leads a life in conformity with them, all is well with him. But if he starts to disobey them, refusing at length to accept them, then even though outwardly he leads a life in conformity with them, because the law and society expect him to do so, he is governed by evil.

[4] This evil is what is meant by 'theft', to the extent that thief-like it usurps the position held previously by good. With many people it is thief-like to the extent that it takes away the forms of goodness and truth previously there and uses them to lend support to evils and falsities. So far as is possible with these people the Lord removes the forms of goodness and truth absorbed in early childhood from where these are to a more internal position, where - within the interior natural - He stores them away for future use. These forms of goodness and truth that are stored away within the interior natural are meant in the Word by 'the remnant', dealt with in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284. But if evil steals the forms of goodness and truth there and uses them to lend support to evils and falsities, especially if it does so by the use of deceit, it destroys those remnants; for in this case it mingles evil with good, and falsity with truth, to such an extent that one cannot be separated from the other; and then a person is done for.

[5] The fact that 'theft' means the kinds of things mentioned above may be seen from the mere use of that word to refer to what constitutes a person's spiritual life. For the only riches in that life are cognitions of good and truth, and the only possessions and inheritances are the different forms of happiness in life which are gained from forms of good and from truths deriving from these. The stealing of such things, as stated above, is what 'theft' relates to in the spiritual sense, and therefore by the thefts mentioned in the Word nothing else is meant in the internal sense, as in Zechariah,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. Then he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land, for everyone committing theft from now on, according to it, will be innocent, and everyone swearing falsely, according to it, will be innocent. I have cast it forth, that it may enter the house of the thief, and the house of him swearing falsely by My name, and may pass the night in his house and consume it, both its timbers and its stones. Zechariah 5:1-4.

Evil which takes away remnants of good is meant by 'one committing theft' and by 'the house of the thief', and falsity which takes away remnants of truth by 'one swearing falsely' and by 'the house of him swearing falsely'. 'The face of the whole land' stands for the whole Church, which is why the statement is made that the curse will consume the house, both its timbers and its stones - 'house' meaning the natural mind or a person so far as that mind is concerned, 3128, 3538, 4973, 5023, 'timbers' the forms of good present there, 2784, 2812, 3720, 4943, and 'stones' the truths, 643, 1298, 3720.

[6] Profanation and a consequent removal of goodness and truth are meant in the spiritual sense by the action of Achan, who took some of 'the devoted things' - a mantle of Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold - and hid them in the earth in the middle of his tent, on account of which he was stoned and everything was burned, as described in Joshua,

Jehovah said to Joshua, Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them, and have taken some of that which was devoted; they have committed theft, have lied, and have put it among their own vessels. Joshua 7:11, 12, 25.

'The devoted things' meant falsities and evils, which were not on any account to be mixed with anything holy. 'A mantle of Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold' in the spiritual sense are specific types of falsity. 'Hiding them in the earth in the middle of the tent' meant a mingling with things that are holy - for 'a tent' means that which is holy, see 414, 1102, 1566, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391, 4599. Such was the meaning of the declaration that they had committed theft, lied, and put [what was devoted] among their own vessels; for 'vessels' means holy truths, 3068, 3079, 3316, 3318.

[7] In Jeremiah,

I will bring the disaster ¹ of Esau upon him, the time I will visit him. If grape-gatherers come to you, will they not leave grape-gleanings? if thieves in the night, will they not destroy a sufficiency? I will strip Esau bare, I will uncover his secret places, and he will not be able to be concealed. His seed has been laid waste, and his brothers, and his neighbours; and he is no more. Jeremiah 49:8-10.

'Esau' stands for the evil of self-love to which falsities have been allied, 3322. The destruction by this evil of the remnants of good and truth is meant by the statements that 'thieves in the night will destroy a sufficiency' and that 'his seed has been laid waste, also his brothers and his neighbours, and he is no more'. 'Seed' stands for truths which are those of faith grounded in charity, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373; 'brothers' for forms of good which are those of charity, 367, 2360, 2508, 2524, 3160, 3303, 3459, 3815, 4121, 4191; 'neighbours' for the adjoining and related forms of truth and good which belong to it.

[8] A similar reference to Esau occurs in Obadiah,

If thieves come to you, if those who overturn in the night - how you will have been cut off! - will they not steal that which is enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers come to you, will they not leave some clusters? Obad. verse 5.

'Grape-gatherers' stands for falsities which are not a product of evil. These falsities do not destroy the forms of goodness and truth - that is, the remnants - stored away by the Lord in a person's interior natural. But falsities that are the product of evils do destroy them, for they steal forms of truth and good and also use them, through misapplication of them, to lend support to evils and falsities.

[9] In Joel,

A great and mighty people, like heroes they will run, like men of war they will scale the wall; and they will pass on, every one on his way. They will run about the city, they will run on the wall, they will climb into the houses, they will go in through the windows like a thief. Joel 2:7, 9.

'A great and mighty people' stands for falsities fighting against truths, 1259, 1260; and because they fight in a mighty way, by destroying truths, they are spoken of as 'heroes' and 'like men of war'. 'The city' through which they are said to run about stands for matters of doctrine regarding truth, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216; 'the houses which they will climb into' stands for the forms of good which they destroy, 710, 1708, 2048, 2233, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4982; 'the windows which they will go through' stands for intellectual concepts and for reasonings derived from these, 655, 658, 3391. This being so, those falsities are compared to a thief because they usurp the position held previously by truths and forms of good.

[10] In David,

Since you hate discipline and cast away My words behind you, if you see a thief you run with him, and your part is with adulterers. You open your mouth towards evil, and with your tongue you frame deceit. Psalms 50:17-19.

This refers to someone wicked, 'running with a thief' standing for his use of falsity to alienate truth from himself.

[11] In Revelation,

They did not repent of their murders, or of their enchantments, or of their whoredoms, or of their thefts. Revelation 9:21.

'Murders' stands for evils which destroy forms of good, 'enchantments' for falsities from these which destroy truths, 'whoredoms' for falsified truths, 'thefts' for forms of good that have consequently been alienated.

[12] In John,

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in, and will go out, and will find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. John 10:1-2, 8-10.

'A thief' in this instance also stands for the evil of merit-seeking, for anyone who takes away from the Lord that which is His and claims it as his own is called 'a thief'. This evil closes the path so as to prevent the flow of good and truth from the Lord, for which reason it is referred to as 'killing and destroying'. Much the same is meant in the Ten Commandments, at Deuteronomy 5:19, by You shall not steal, 4174. From all this one may see what is meant in the spiritual sense by the laws laid down in the Jewish Church regarding thefts, such as those at Exodus 21:16; 22:1-4; Deuteronomy 24:7; for all laws in that Church had their origin in the spiritual world, and they therefore correspond to the laws of order which exist in heaven.

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