8096. 'Perhaps the people will change their minds when they see war' means that they will fall away from the truth as a result of attacks. This is clear from the meaning of 'changing one's mind' as falling away from the truth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'war' as spiritual conflicts, dealt with in 1664, 1788, 2686, and so as attacks. The reason why 'changing one's mind' means falling away from the truth is that the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, their stay in the wilderness, and their introduction into the land of Canaan mean that they were being led constantly to good, and so to heaven. So it is that changing one's mind and returning to Egypt means moving away from good and so falling away from the truth; for 'Egypt' or 'the Egyptians' means those who are governed by faith separated from charity and are opposed to the Church's truths, 6692, 7039, 7097, 7317, 7766, 7926.

[2] With regard to attacks from those governed by the truth of faith which does not spring from good, that is, those meant by 'the Philistines', it should be recognized that in the next life they molest the upright and constantly make attacks on the good of faith, which is charity. For they take with them into the next life the basic ideas they adopted in the world, and they retain them until they have undergone vastation, that is, been deprived of all their knowledge of the cognitions of faith, and have been sent down to hell. At the present day there is a great number of spirits such as these; and they live out in front on the right, on a level below the soles of the feet. The place where they live is a sort of city. I have been allowed many times to speak to spirits from there, and to listen to their reasonings in favour of faith alone, which are sharp, and their attacks on charity, which are persistent. These then are the things which are meant in the internal sense when it says that the people were not led by the way of the land of the Philistines, and that if they were they would perhaps change their minds when they saw war.

7039. 'Behold, I kill your son, your firstborn' means the annihilation of faith devoid of charity, and the consequent devastation of truth among them. This is clear from the meaning of 'killing' as annihilation; and from the meaning of 'firstborn son', that is to say, of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as faith devoid of charity, dealt with in 3325. For 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' have represented the facts known to the Church, 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004, thus known facts which form part of faith since these facts are ones that the Church possesses. But because they turned that factual knowledge into magic, 6692, and their deeds were as a consequence evil and devoid of any charity, the mere knowledge of matters of faith, thus faith without charity, is meant by 'their firstborn sons'. That the mere knowledge of them is meant by 'the firstborn of Egypt' is evident from the meaning of 'the firstborn of Israel' as the faith that is wedded to charity, dealt with above in 7075.

[2] The expression 'faith devoid of charity' is used, but faith in this case is used to mean the mere knowledge of matters of faith, because faith cannot exist where there is no charity. With those who are not governed by charity matters of faith are merely items stored in the memory; and in the memory they take the same form as any other factual knowledge. Nor does any real knowledge of the truth that composes faith reside there, because it has been debased by false ideas and also serves as the means to bolster up falsities. Since this is what faith devoid of charity is like, it is annihilated among the wicked in the next life, with whom truth suffers complete devastation. This is allowed to happen to prevent them from using truths as the means to attain evil objectives, and so to prevent hell from dominating in any way among them over such things as belong to heaven, and to guard against their being left hanging as a consequence between heaven and hell. Such annihilation and such devastation of truth is what is meant by the firstborn in Egypt being killed. The destruction after that of the Egyptians in the Sea Suph represented a subsequent state of damnation or spiritual death of such people; for once they have been deprived of matters of faith or truth, which were like wings lifting them up, they immediately drop like weights into hell.