Arcana Coelestia #7644
7644. 'And they will cover the surface of the land' means the lowest levels of the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'the surface' as the external and so lowest levels; and from the meaning of 'the land', here 'the land of Egypt', as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5188, 5301.
Joel 1:4-7
4
What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
5
Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6
For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.
7
He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
