802. An indication that the present verse is talking about delusions and verse 23 about appetites is that the present verse mentions birds first and then beasts. Birds symbolize different aspects of the things we understand or find logical, while beasts symbolize different aspects of the things we intend. When matters of desire are described, however, as they are below in verse 23, beasts are named first and then birds. This device is used because, as noted, each side influences the other, so that to describe them this way is to give a full description.

142. Genesis 2:19-20. And out of the soil Jehovah God formed every animal of the field and every bird in the heavens and brought it to the human to see what he would call it. And whatever the human called the living soul, that was its name. And the human gave names to every beast and to the bird in the heavens and to every wild animal of the field; but for the human no aid was found that seemed to be his.

Animals symbolize emotions of a heavenly type; birds in the heavens symbolize emotions of a spiritual type. To put it another way, animals symbolize the contents of the will, birds the contents of the intellect. Bringing them to the human to see, so that he could call them by name, means granting humankind the ability to recognize the nature of those feelings; the fact that he gave them names means that people recognized the nature of the feelings. At the same time, even though they recognized the nature of the virtuous emotions and true concepts given them as gifts by the Lord, they still strove for autonomy, as expressed in the same words used before: he did not find an aid that seemed to be his.