722. That when she had brought forth, he might devour her child.- That this signifies that they might destroy the doctrine of that church at its first beginning, is evident from the signification of the child which the woman was about to bring forth, as denoting the doctrine of the church, for that this is meant by the male child whom she brought forth will be seen in the following article; and from the signification of devouring as denoting to destroy. For predicates follow their subjects, and when the dragon is the subject, then to devour is the predicate; but when the doctrine of the church is the subject, then to destroy is the predicate, therefore to devour here signifies to destroy. To destroy it at its first beginning is signified, because it is said that when the woman had brought forth, he might devour her child. That to devour and to eat also in other passages of the Word signify to destroy, when used in reference to wild beasts, which signify falsities and evils, is plain in Ezekiel:

"One of the whelps" of the lion "rose up, it became a young lion, it learned to seize the prey; it devoured man" (19:3, 6).

To devour man signifies to destroy the understanding of truth and intelligence.

In Hosea:

"I will meet them as a bear bereaved, and I will devour them as a fierce lion, a wild beast of the field shall tear them" (13:8).

In Daniel:

"Lo, a beast like a bear," which "had three ribs in the mouth between the teeth," it was said to it, "Rise, devour much flesh" (7:5).

Moreover, in the Hebrew, to devour is put in many passages for consuming, ruining, and destroying, as in Jeremiah:

"They have devoured Jacob, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitations" (10:25; and elsewhere).

3424. 'Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living water' means the Word as regards the literal sense, which holds the internal sense within it. This is clear from the meaning of 'digging in the valley' as investigating lower down to discover where truths are, for 'digging' is investigating, and 'a valley' is that which is lower down, 1723, 3417; and from the meaning of 'a well of living water' as the Word in which Divine truths are present, thus the Word as regards the literal sense which holds the internal sense within it. It is well known that the Word is called 'a spring', in particular 'a spring of living waters'. The reason why the Word is also called 'a well' is that in relation to its other senses the sense of the letter is like a well, and that where spiritual people are concerned the Word is not a spring but a well, see 2702, 3096. Since a valley is that which is lower down, or what amounts to the same, that which is more external, and it was in the valley that the spring was found; and since the literal sense is the lower or more external sense of the Word, it is the literal sense that is therefore meant. But because that sense holds the internal sense, that is, the heavenly and Divine sense, its waters are for that reason called 'living', as also were the waters which went out under the threshold of the new house in Ezekiel,

And it will happen, that every wild creature that creeps, wherever the river comes to, is living; and there will be very many fish, for those waters go there, and become fresh; and everything is living where the river goes. Ezekiel 47:8-9.

Here 'the river' is the Word, 'the waters which cause everything to live' are the Divine Truths within it, 'fish' are facts, 40, 991.

[2] The Lord teaches that the Word of the Lord is such that it gives life to him who is thirsty, that is, to one who desires life, and that it is a spring whose waters are living, in John,

Jesus said to the woman from Samaria at Jacob's well, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give Me a drink, you would ask from Him, and He would give you living water. He who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. John 4:10, 14.

The reason why the Word is living and therefore confers life is that in its highest sense the subject is the Lord, while in the inmost sense it is His kingdom in which the Lord is everything. And this being so it is life itself which the Word contains and which flows into the minds of those who read the Word devoutly. This is why the Lord, in regard to the Word which comes from Himself, calls Himself 'a spring of water welling up into eternal life'; see also 2702.

[3] The fact that the Word of the Lord is called 'a well' in addition to 'a spring' is clear in Moses,

Israel sang the song: Spring up, O well! Answer to it! The well which the princes dug, which the chiefs of the people dug out, as directed by the Lawgiver, ¹ with their staves. Numbers 21:17-18.

These words were sung at the place Beer, that is, the place of the well. In this case 'a well' means the Word which existed with the Ancient Church, as is evident from what has been said previously about the Word in 2897. 'The princes' means the first and foremost truths of which [the Word] consists - 'princes' being first and foremost truths, see 1482, 2089 - 'nobles of the people' lower truths such as those present in the literal sense, 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295. 'The Lawgiver' is clearly the Lord, 'staves' the powers which those truths possessed.

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