9335. And the wild beast of the field be multiplied upon thee. That this signifies a flowing in of falsities from the delights of the loves of self and of the world, is evident from the signification of “being multiplied,” when said of the hasty removal of evils and falsities, as being a flowing in; and from the signification of “the wild beast of the field,” as being falsities from the delights of the loves of self and of the world. By “beasts” of various kinds mentioned in the Word are signified good and evil affections (see n. 9280); consequently by “wild beasts” are signified the affections of falsity that arise from the delights of the loves of self and of the world. Moreover, these affections are represented in the other life by wild beasts, as by panthers, tigers, wild boars, wolves, and bears. They are also like wild beasts, for those who are in these loves are in evils of every kind and in the derivative falsities, and like wild beasts do they look at and act toward their associates. (That all evils and falsities spring from these loves, see n. 2041, 2045, 2057, 2363, 2364, 2444, 4750, 4776, 6667, 7178, 7255, 7364, 7366-7377, 7488, 7490-7494, 7643, 8318, 8487, 8678)

[2] That through the hasty removal of evils and falsities, the falsities from these loves would flow in, is because goods and truths must remove the evils and falsities by being successively implanted; for falsities can only be removed by truths; and evils can only be removed by goods. If this is not done successively and according to order, the falsities which favor these loves will flow in; for before he has been regenerated these loves reign in every man, and when falsities flow in, truths are no longer acknowledged. Moreover, the man who is being regenerated is kept in the affection of truth, and while he is in this affection he seeks on all sides for truths among the memory-knowledges in the natural; and the fallacies of the external senses then present themselves there—for they are very abundant there—and when the delights of the loves of self and of the world breathe on the man, he infers from these fallacies nothing but falsities, which follow on, and fill the mind, if the falsities of evil are suddenly removed. These are the things which are meant in the internal sense by “I will not drive him out from before thee in one year, lest the land be desolate, and the wild beast of the field multiply upon thee; by little and little I will drive him out from before thee, until thou be fruitful and inherit the land.”

[3] That “a wild beast” denotes falsity and evil springing from the loves of self and of the world, is plain from the passages in the Word where it is mentioned; as in Isaiah:

A path shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass through it, nor shall any ravenous wild beast go up thereon (Isaiah 35:8-9).

I will send upon thee famine, and an evil wild beast, and they shall bereave thee (Ezekiel 5:17).

When I cause the evil wild beast to pass through the land, and it bereave it, and it become a desolation, so that no one passeth through because of the beast (Ezekiel 14:15).

Thou shalt fall upon the faces of the field; I will give thee for food to the wild beast of the earth, and to the bird of the heaven (Ezekiel 29:5).

Then I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will make the evil wild beast to cease out of the land; that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, and the wild beast of the field shall no longer devour them (Ezekiel 34:25, 28).

[4] I will lay waste her vine and her fig-tree, and I will make them into a forest, and the wild beast of the field shall devour them (Hos. 2:12).

The land shall mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall waste away, because of the wild beast of the field, and because of the bird of the heavens (Hos. 4:3).

The boar out of the wood doth trample it, and the wild beast of the fields doth consume it. Turn again, O God Zebaoth, and visit Thy vine (Psalms 80:13-14).

Thou makest darkness that it may be night; wherein every wild beast of the forest doth come forth (Psalms 104:20).

If ye shall walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will cause the evil wild beast to cease out of the land. But if ye shall reject My statutes, I will send against you the wild beast of the field, which shall lay you waste (Leviticus 26:3, 6, 15, 22).

Jehovah thy God will drive out those nations before thee by little and little, lest perchance the wild beast of the field multiply against thee (Deuteronomy 7:22).

In these passages “the wild beast of the field,” “the wild beast of the earth,” and “the wild beast of the forest” denote the falsities and evils which are of the loves of self and of the world.

[5] As by “a wild beast” is signified falsity, and falsity is from a double origin, namely, from what is evil, and from what is upright (n. 9258), therefore by “wild beasts” in the Word are also signified the upright Gentiles, who although in falsity, are yet in uprightness of life. In this sense the term “wild animal” ¹ is used in David:

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

Praise ye Jehovah, ye wild animal, and every beast (Psalms 148:7, 10).

Every wild animal of My fields, come ye to devour, every wild animal in the forest (Isaiah 56:9).

All the birds of the heavens made their nests in the branches of the cedar, which is Asshur, and under his branches every wild animal of the field brought forth, and in his shadow dwelt all great nations (Ezekiel 31:6).

फुटनोट:

2363. Let me I pray bring them out unto you. That this signifies blessedness therefrom, that is, from the affections of good and of truth, is evident from the sense of these words when they are predicated of the affections which are here meant by the “daughters.” As regards the thing itself, namely, that there is blessedness and happiness solely in the affection of good and of truth, it is a matter profoundly unknown to all who are in evil and its delight. To them the blessedness in the affection of good and of truth appears either as something that is nonexistent, or as something that is sad; while to some it appears as what is painful, and even deadly. This is the case with the genii and the spirits of hell, who think and believe that if the delight of the love of self and of the world, consequently of the evils therein originating, were taken away from them, nothing of life could remain to them; and when they are shown that true life with its blessedness and happiness then begins, they feel a kind of sadness from the loss of their own delight; and when they are brought among those who are in such a life, pain and torture seize upon them; and besides this, they then begin to feel in themselves something that is cadaverous and direfully infernal; so that they call heaven (which is the abode of this blessedness and happiness) their hell, and flee away, in order so far as possible to remove and hide themselves from the Lord’s face.

[2] That nevertheless all blessedness and happiness consist in the affection of the good which is of love and charity, and also of the truth which is of faith insofar as the latter leads to the former, can be seen from the fact that heaven (that is, angelic life) consists in this blessedness, and that it affects from the inmosts those who receive it, because it flows in through the inmosts from the Lord (see n. 540, 541, 545). Then also do wisdom and intelligence enter into and fill the inmost recesses of the mind, and kindle the good with heavenly flame, and the truth with heavenly light; and this with a perception of blessedness and happiness of which no description can be given except that they are unutterable. They who are in this state perceive how dead, how sad, and how lamentable is the life of those who are in the evils of the love of self and of the world.

[3] In order to obtain a clear idea of the nature of this life of the love of self and of the world (or what is the same, of a life of pride, avarice, envy, hatred, revenge, unmercifulness, adultery), let any person of talent make for himself an impersonation of some one of these evils; or if he can, let him paint it before his eyes in accordance with the ideas he is able to conceive of it from experience, knowledge, and reason; and he will then see, in proportion to the energy of his description or picture, how horrible these evils are, and that they are diabolical forms, in which there is nothing human. Forms such as these do all those become after death who perceive the delight of their life in such evils, and the greater is their delight in them, the more horrible are their own forms.

[4] On the other hand, let the same person delineate for himself an impersonation of love and charity, or let him express it before his eyes under some form; and then in proportion to his power of description or portrayal he will see that the form is angelic, full of bliss and beauty, and pervaded within with what is heavenly and Divine. Can anyone believe that these two forms can abide together? or that the diabolical form can be put off and be transmuted into the form of charity? and this by a faith to which the life is contrary? For after death everyone’s life remains; or what is the same, his affection; and in accordance with this is then all his thought, and consequently his faith, which thus manifests itself as it had been at heart.