542. Verses 3-12. And out of the smoke there went forth locusts on the earth; and there was given unto them power as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads. And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it, and they shall long to die and death shall flee from them. And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle; and upon their heads as it were crowns like gold, and their faces as men's faces. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as those of lions. And they had breastplates as iron breastplates; and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running into battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had over them a king, the angel of the abyss, his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon. One woe is past; behold there come yet two woes after this.

3. "And out of the smoke there went forth locusts on the earth," signifies that from infernal falsities they became corporeal sensual in the church n. 543; "and there was given unto them power as the scorpions of the earth have power," signifies their ability to persuade, and its effect and power n. 544.

4. "And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree," signifies that they should do no harm to any true and living knowledge [scientificum] from the sense of the letter of the Word, nor to any knowledge of truth and good therein n. 545; "but the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads" signifies but only to the understanding of truth and the perception of good in those who are not in truths from good from the Lord. n. 546).

5. "And it was given ¹ to them that they should not kill them," signifies that they should not be deprived of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good n. 547; "but that they should torment them five months," signifies that the understanding would be darkened and drawn away by the falsities of evil from seeing truth so long as they are in that state n. 548; "and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man," signifies that the darkening and drawing away from seeing the truth is caused by the persuasion with which the mind is infatuated (n. 549).

6. "And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it," signifies that they then wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth, but are not able (n. 550); "and they shall long to die and death shall flee from them," signifies that they wish to destroy the faculty to perceive good, which is of spiritual life, but in vain (n. 551).

7. "And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle," signifies that when man has become sensual he reasons like one who reasons from the understanding of truth n. 552; "and upon their heads as it were crowns like gold," signifies that they seem to themselves when they reason as if they were wise and victorious n. 553; "and their faces as men's faces," signifies that they seem to themselves as it were spiritual affections for truth n. 554.

8. "And they had hair as the hair of women," signifies that they seem to themselves to be as it were affections of natural ² truth n. 555; "and their teeth were as those of lions," signifies that the sensual things which are the ultimates of the intellectual life seem to them to have power over all things n. 556.

9. "And they had breastplates as iron breastplates," signifies the persuasions with which they gird themselves for combats, against which the truths of the rational spiritual man prevail not n. 557; "and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running into battle," signifies reasonings as if from the truths of doctrine from the Word which are understood, for which they must fight ardently (n. 558).

10. "And they had tails like scorpions," signifies sensual knowledges [scientifica] that are persuasive n. 559; "and stings were in their tails," signifies craftiness in deceiving by means of them n. 560; "and their power was to hurt the men five months," signifies that while in that state they induce a stupor in the understanding of truth and in the perception of good (n. 561).

11. "And they had over them a king, the angel of the abyss," signifies that they received influx from the hell where those are who are in the falsities of evil and are merely sensual (n. 562); "his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon," signifies its quality, that it is destructive of all truth and good n. 563.

12. "One woe is past; behold, there come yet two woes after this," signifies one lamentation over the devastation of the church, and that a lamentation over its further devastation follows (n. 564).

Footnotes:

5094. 'The cupbearer and the baker' means regarding both kinds of sensory powers. This is clear from the meaning of 'the cupbearer' as the sensory powers subordinate to the understanding part of the mind, dealt with in 5077, and from the meaning of 'the baker' as the sensory powers subordinate to the will part, dealt with in 5078, which, as stated above in 5083, 5089, were cast aside by the interior natural. But it should be realized that the actual powers of the senses were not cast aside - that is to say, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, for the life of the body is dependent on these - but the insights or thoughts, as well as the affections and desires, that are dependent on them. Objects belonging to the world enter a person's external or natural memory by way of his senses on the one hand and by way of his rational thought on the other. These objects then divide themselves off from one another in that memory; those entering through rational thought place themselves in a more internal position, whereas those entering through the senses do so in a more external one, as a consequence of which the natural comes to have two parts - the interior part and the exterior - as has also been stated above.

[2] The interior natural is what 'Pharaoh king of Egypt' represents, while the exterior natural is what 'the cupbearer and the baker' represents. The nature of the difference between the two becomes clear from the different ways they look at things, that is, from their thoughts and their conclusions based on those thoughts. The person who uses the interior natural to think with and to form conclusions is rational, and is so insofar as he has absorbed what comes to him through rational thought; but the person who uses the exterior natural to think with and form conclusions is governed by his senses, and is so insofar as he has absorbed what comes to him from sensory evidence. Such a person is called one governed by his senses, whereas the other is called one who is rational-natural. When a person dies he has the entire natural with him; and its form remains the same as that which it took in the world. He is also rational-minded to the extent he has absorbed ideas from rational thought, but sensory-minded to the extent he has absorbed ideas from his senses. The difference between the two is that, to the extent it has absorbed ideas from rational thought and made them its own, the natural looks down on the senses belonging to the exterior natural and controls them by disparaging and casting aside illusions formed by the senses. But to the extent that it has absorbed ideas formed by the bodily senses and made them its own the natural looks down on rational thought by disparaging this and casting it aside.

[3] An example of the difference between the two may be seen in the ability of the rational-natural man to comprehend that no one's life is self-existent but that it comes to him through an influx of life from the Lord by way of heaven, and the inability of one governed by the senses to comprehend the same. For the latter says his senses tell him and he can plainly see that his life is self-existent and that it is pointless to contradict the evidence of the senses. Let another example be given. The rational-natural man comprehends the existence of a heaven and a hell; but one governed by his senses denies the existence of these because he has no conception of another world purer than the one he sees with his eyes. The rational-natural man comprehends the existence of spirits and angels who are not visible to him; but one governed by the senses cannot comprehend the same, for he imagines that what he cannot see or touch has no existence.

[4] Here is another example. The rational-natural man comprehends that it is the mark of an intelligent being to have ends in view, and with foresight to be directing means towards some final end. When he looks at the natural creation from the point of view of the order of everything, he sees the natural creation as a complex system of means and realizes that an intelligent Supreme Being has given them direction, though to what final end he cannot see unless he becomes spiritual. But a person governed by his senses does not comprehend how anything distinct and separate from the natural creation can exist or how some Being superior to the natural order can do so. He has no notion of what exercising intelligence, exercising wisdom, having ends in view, or giving direction to means may be unless all these activities are being spoken of as natural ones; and when they are spoken of as such, his idea of them is like that of one who is designing a machine. These few examples show what is meant by the interior natural and the exterior natural, and by the powers of the senses being cast aside - not sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch in the body, but the conclusions reached by these about interior matters.