Arcana Coelestia 7264. The subject treated of in the internal sense in what follows is the vastation, and at last the damnation, of those who are in falsities and evils. The process of their devastation is described by the eleven plagues brought on the Egyptians and their land.

Arcana Coelestia 7265. In this chapter the subject treated of in the internal sense is the first three degrees of vastation. The first, which is that mere fallacies began to reign with them, whence came falsities, is described by the serpent into which the rod of Aaron was turned. The second, which is that truths themselves became falsities with them, and that falsities became truths, is described by the blood into which the waters were turned. The third degree, which is that from falsities they reasoned against the truths and goods of the church, is described by the frogs out of the river.

7263. The reason why these same names occur in the Word is that those whose worship was external would exercise charity towards the kind of people meant literally by such names, while those whose worship was internal would exercise it towards people meant spiritually by them. Thus it was that the simple would understand and carry out the Word in a simple manner, and the wise in a wise manner; and also that the simple would be introduced by means of external forms of charity to internal forms of it.