9335. 'And the wild animal of the field multiplies against you' means an inrush of falsities arising from the delights of self-love and love of the world. This is clear from the meaning of 'multiplying', when it has reference to a hurried removal of evils and falsities, as an inrush; and from the meaning of 'the wild animal of the field' as falsities arising from the delights of self-love and love of the world. For affections, good and bad, are meant in the Word by different kinds of beasts, 9280, and therefore affections for falsity that arise from the delights of self-love and love of the world are meant by 'wild animals'. These affections are also represented in the next life by wild animals, such as panthers, tigers, boars, wolves, or bears. Such affections furthermore resemble wild animals, for people ruled by those loves are steeped in evils of every kind and in the falsities arising from them. They are like wild animals in the way they see and treat companions. The fact that those loves are the source of all evils and falsities, see 2041, 2045, 2057, 2363, 2364, 2444, 4750, 4776, 6667, 7178, 7255, 7364, 7366-7377, 7488, 7490-7494, 7643, 8318, 8487, 8678.

[2] The reason why a hurried removal of evils and falsities leads to an inrush of falsities arising from those loves is that forms of good and truths, implanted in successive stages, must remove them; for falsities are not removed except by truths, nor evils except by forms of good. If this removal is not done in successive stages and in keeping with proper order, falsities that lend support to those selfish loves enter in, since those loves reign with every person before he has been regenerated; and when the falsities enter in truths cease to be acknowledged any longer. Also a person who is being regenerated is maintained in an affection for truth; and when maintained in this he searches for truths in all directions among factual knowledge in the natural. But at this time illusions of the outward senses, which exist in great abundance in the natural, present themselves there. From those illusions, when the delights of self-love and love of the world hold sway, the person deduces nothing except falsities, which come in and fill his mind if falsities arising from evil are removed suddenly. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal sense by I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest perhaps the land becomes desolate and the wild animal of the field multiplies against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.

[3] The fact that 'wild animal' means falsity and evil arising from self-love and love of the world is evident from places in the Word which mention it, as in Isaiah,

There will be a path there and a way, which will be called the way of holiness. The unclean will not pass through it; the savage of the wild animals will not go up it. Isaiah 35:8-9.

In Ezekiel,

I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, that they may make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.

In the same prophet,

When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that ¹ it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals ... Ezekiel 14:15.

In the same prophet,

You will fall on the open field; ² to the wild animals of the earth, and to the birds of the air I will give you for food. Ezekiel 29:5.

In the same prophet,

At that time I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish ³ the evil wild animal from the land, in order that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. They will no longer be a prey for the nations, and the wild animals of the field will no longer devour them. Ezekiel 34:25, 28.

[4] In Hosea,

I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree; and I will make them into a forest, and the wild animals of the field will eat them. Hosea 2:12.

In the same prophet,

The land will mourn and every inhabitant will waste away because of the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air. Hosea 4:3.

In David,

The boar of the forest tramples on it, and the wild animal of the fields feeds on it. Return, O God Zebaoth, and visit Your vine. Psalms 80:13-14.

In the same author,

You dispose the darkness to become night, in which every wild animal of the forest comes forth. Psalms 104:20.

In Moses,

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, I will banish ³ the evil wild animals from the land. But if you despise My statutes, I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will lay you waste. Leviticus 26:3, 6, 15, 22.

In the same author,

Jehovah your God will cast out the nations before you little by little, lest perhaps the wild animals of the field multiply against you. Deuteronomy 7:22.

In these places 'the wild animals of the field', 'the wild animals of the earth', and 'the wild animals of the forest' stand for the falsities and evils that belong to self-love and love of the world.

[5] Since 'wild animal' means falsity, and falsity can spring from two different origins, that is to say, it may stem from evil or it may stem from good, 9258, 'wild animal' in the Word also means upright nations or gentiles who, though they are subject to falsity, nevertheless lead upright lives. The term 'wild animal' is used in this sense in David,

Every wild animal of the forest is Mine, and beasts on mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild animal of My fields is with Me. Psalms 50:10-11.

In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, wild animals and all beasts! Psalms 148:7, 10.

In Isaiah,

All wild animals of My fields - come to eat, all wild animals in the forest. Isaiah 56:9.

In Ezekiel,

In the branches of the cedar, which was Asshur, all the birds of the air made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field brought forth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

फुटनोट:

4545. 'And be purified, and change your garments' means the holiness that was to be put on. This is clear from the meaning of 'being purified' or being cleansed as being made holy, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'changing one's garments' as putting on, in this case putting on holy truths, for in the internal sense of the Word truths are meant by 'garments'. It is quite evident that 'changing one's garments' was an accepted representative within the Church, but what that custom represented no one can know unless he knows what 'garments' means in the internal sense - namely truths, see 2576. Because in the internal sense the casting aside of falsities and the arrangement by good of truths within the natural is the subject here, it is therefore recorded that Jacob commanded them to change their garments.

[2] 'Changing their garments' was representative of the need to put on holy truths, as may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Isaiah 52:1.

Since 'Zion' means the celestial Church and 'Jerusalem' the spiritual Church, and the celestial Church is that which dwells in good by virtue of its love to the Lord, and the spiritual Church in truth by virtue of its faith and charity, 'strength' is therefore used in reference to Zion, and 'garments' in reference to Jerusalem. And when clothed with these the two are 'clean'.

[3] In Zechariah,

Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and so stood before the angel. And [the angel] answered and said to those standing before him - he said - Remove the filthy garments from upon him. And he said to him, See, I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you, by putting on you a change of garments Zechariah 3:3-4.

From this place too it is evident that 'removing garments' and 'putting on a change of garments' represented purification from falsities, for the words 'I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you' are used. This also explains why people had changes of garments - which they called simply 'changes', an expression occurring in various places in the Word - because different representations were set forth by means of those changes.

[4] Because the kinds of things mentioned here were represented by changes of garments it is therefore said in Ezekiel, in the description of the new Temple, which in the internal sense means a new Church,

When the priests enter they shall not go out of the holy place to the outer court, but there shall lay aside their garments in which they have ministered, for these are holy, ¹ and they shall put on other garments and go near the things which are for the people. Ezekiel 42:14.

And in the same prophet,

When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments. ² Ezekiel 44:19.

[5] Anyone may see that a new temple and the holy city and land which are referred to by the prophet in this chapter, and in the chapters before and after it, are not used to mean any new temple, new city, or new land. For reference is made to sacrifices and religious ceremonies being introduced anew, when in fact these had to be brought to an end; and mention is also made of how the tribes of Israel, referred to by name, were to divide the land among themselves into inheritances, when in fact they were dispersed and never returned to the land. From this it is evident that the religious ceremonies referred to in those chapters mean the spiritual and celestial things constituting the Church. Much the same is meant by Aaron's change of garments when he was going to minister, to offer a burnt offering; in Moses,

He shall put on his linen robe, and linen breeches. He shall place the ashes at the side of the altar. After he takes off his own garments and puts on other garments he shall carry away the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. Leviticus 6:9-12.

This was what he had to do when offering the burnt offering.

[6] As regards 'being cleansed' meaning being made holy, this may be seen from the cleansings that were commanded, such as the command to wash their flesh and their garments, and the command to be sprinkled with the waters of separation. Everyone who knows anything about the spiritual man may also recognize that nobody is made holy by carrying out commands such as these. For what does iniquity or sin have to do with the garments a person is wearing? Yet it is stated several times that after people had cleansed themselves they would be holy. From this it is also evident that such rituals which the Israelites were commanded to carry out were in no way holy except by virtue of their representation of holy things, and that as a consequence people who served as representers did not on that account become holy persons. It was the holiness they represented, quite apart from them as actual persons, that stirred the affections of the spirits present with them, and through these the affections of the angels in heaven, 4307.

[7] For in order that the human race may be kept in being, human beings must of necessity live in communication with heaven; and that communication is effected through the Church. Otherwise human beings would become like animals, lacking any restraints internally or externally, so that all would plunge unchecked into the destruction of others and would annihilate one another. And because in the time of the Israelites no communication through any Church was possible, the Lord therefore provided in an amazing way for a communication to be effected by means of representatives. It is evident from many places in the Word that being made holy was represented by the ritual observance of washing and cleansing, as when Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai and then said to Moses,

Make them holy today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready on the third day. Exodus 19:10-11.

In Ezekiel,

I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I give in the midst of you. Ezekiel 36:25-26.

Here it is plain that 'sprinkling clean water' represented purification of the heart, so that 'being cleansed' means being made holy.

फुटनोट: