241. Verse 18. I counsel thee, signifies the means of reformation of those who are in the doctrine of faith alone. This is evident from what now follows, for the reformation of those who are in that doctrine is now treated of; therefore "I counsel thee" implies precepts as to how such must live that they may be reformed and thus saved.

5059. When those who have lived in ways that are the opposite of conjugial love - that is, in adulterous ways - have drawn near me, they have introduced pain into my loins, the severity of which has depended on the nature of the adulterous life led by them. That influx also demonstrated that the loins corresponded to conjugial love. Furthermore their hell is situated beneath the area behind the loins, under the buttocks, where they live in filth and excrement. These are also the things that give them delight, for such filth and excrement correspond to the pleasure they gain in the spiritual world from such things. But in the Lord's Divine mercy more will be said about these spirits when the hells are described as a whole and individually.

6779. 'And the shepherds came and drove them away' means that teachers steeped in evils set themselves against them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the shepherds' as those who teach and lead to the good of charity, dealt with in 343, 3795, 6044, here those who teach but, being steeped in evils, do not lead to the good of charity, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'driving away' as setting themselves against; and from the meaning of the daughters, the ones whom they drove away, as things belonging to the Church, dealt with above in 6775. Here 'shepherds' does indeed mean those who teach, but they are those who do not lead to the good of charity because they are steeped in evils. For those steeped in evils never acknowledge that charity and its works contribute to salvation, because they are incapable of acknowledging things contrary to the life they lead. To do so would be to go against themselves. Being steeped in evils they are not even aware of what charity is, or thus of what the works of charity are. Faith is what they teach, saying that faith is what makes people righteous and what holds the promise of heaven. These are the ones who set themselves against the teachings about charity drawn from the Word, and therefore against people guided by the truth that goes with simple good - the people meant by the daughters of the priest of Midian who, after they had drawn water and filled the troughs to water the flock, were driven away by the shepherds from the well.