8265. 'The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea' means in that as a result simply of His presence falsities arising from evil have been damned and cast into hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'the horse' as falsities belonging to a perverted understanding, for 'horse' means the power of understanding, see 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, and in the contrary sense a perverted understanding, which is no understanding at all, and therefore falsity is meant in that contrary sense by 'horse' and false factual knowledge by 'Pharaoh's horse', 6125, 8146, 8148; from the meaning of 'rider' (or 'horseman') as reasonings based on that false knowledge, dealt with in 8146, 8148; and from the meaning of 'throwing into the sea' as damning and casting into hell. 'The sea', the Sea Suph at this point, is the hell where the falsities arising from evil are, the falsities of those belonging to the Church who have upheld separated faith and led a life of evil, see 8099, 8137, 8148, which is why they are called falsities arising from evil. The fact that those falsities were damned and cast into hell as a result simply of the Lord's presence was shown in the previous chapter. The evil cannot at all bear or put up with God's presence. His presence causes them pain, torments them, and so to speak snuffs the life out of them; they behave like those in the throes of death. The reason for this is that what is God's has the totality of power within it; it destroys and wipes out that which is opposed to it, namely falsity and evil. This is why at God's presence the life of those steeped in falsity and evil becomes burdensome and contains, in the measure that He is present, the feeling of hell within it. But in order that those steeped in falsities and evils may not be completely crushed and suffer torment they are shielded by their own falsities and evils, which act like mists. These are by nature such that they diminish, or divert, or smother the flow of what is Divine in the same way that earthly mists or clouds normally do to sunrays.

[2] These things are meant by the following words in John,

They will say to the mountains and rocks, Rush down on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb. For the great day of His anger has come; who therefore will be able to stand firm? Revelation 6:16-17.

Evils and falsities are meant by 'the mountains and rocks' which they will address, saying that they should rush down on them and hide them. 'The anger of the Lamb' means torment, the appearance being that the Divine would cause the torment because of His anger, but the reality being that the falsities and evils themselves are responsible for it. The words contained in Isaiah 2:10, Hosea 10:8, and Luke 23:30 have a similar meaning. The fact that damnation takes place as a result simply of the Lord's presence is also meant by these words that follow in the song,

You send out Your wrath, it eats them up like stubble. And with the wind of Your nostrils the waters were heaped up, the floods stood as a heap. You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them over; they sought a deep place. You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. Verses 7-8, 10, 12.

Words with a similar meaning occur in very many other places in the Word.

593. 'Whom I have created from upon the face ¹ of the ground' means mankind among the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. This is clear not only from the use of the word 'created' in the phrase 'man whom He created', that is, whom He regenerated, and subsequently from the use of the word 'made' in the phrase 'whom He made', that is, whom He perfected or regenerated to the point of his becoming celestial; but also from the use of the expression 'from upon the face ¹ of the ground'. The ground is where the Church is, as shown already. It is additionally clear from the fact that the subject is the people who immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their own evil desires. Those however who had no doctrine of faith were unable to act in this fashion. For people outside of the Church have no knowledge of truth and good, and those who do not have that knowledge can have a type of innocence even when they say or do something that is contrary to the truths and goods of faith. For they can be inspired with zeal for the system of worship which they have been brought up in since early childhood, and which they therefore suppose to be true and good. But in the case of people who do possess a doctrine of faith the matter is altogether different, for they are capable of mixing truths with falsities, and sacred things with profane. For this reason their lot in the next life is far worse than that of those called gentiles, who in the Lord's Divine mercy will be considered later on.

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