59. The reason only edible and green plants are mentioned here as food for the natural man is this: While a person is being regenerated and becoming spiritual he is involved constantly in conflict, which is why the Lord's Church is called militant. For before regeneration started, evil desires were in control, since the whole person consisted entirely of evil desires and resulting falsities. During the process of regeneration his desires and falsities cannot be done away with instantly, since that would amount to destroying the whole person; indeed he has not acquired any other life for himself. So for a long time evil spirits are left with him to activate his desires, and so release them in countless ways. Indeed the spirits are left there to do this in order that those desires may be turned by the Lord towards something good, and in this way the person may be reformed. In the hour of conflict evil spirits are present who absolutely hate everything that is good and true, that is, every element of love and faith in the Lord - elements that alone are good and true because they contain eternal life. These evil spirits leave a person with no other food than that which is compared to edible and green plants. But the Lord gives him a food as well that is compared to the plant yielding seed and to the tree in which there is fruit. These are periods of peace and calm attended by their forms of delight and happiness. This cycle occurs repeatedly.

[2] If the Lord did not protect man moment by moment, and in every shortest instant, he would immediately perish, for there is such murderous hatred reigning in the world of spirits against all forms of love and faith in the Lord as to defy description. I can positively declare that this is so, because for several years now, although still in the [physical] body, I have also been in the next life in the company of spirits. I have been surrounded by evil spirits, even the worst of them, sometimes by thousands, who have been allowed to pour out their venom and molest me in every possible way, but who nevertheless could do no harm to the tiniest hair on my head, so well did the Lord protect me. From all these years of experience I have become thoroughly informed about the character of the world of spirits and also about the conflict which people who are being regenerated must inevitably undergo if they are to attain the happiness of eternal life. But because nobody from just a general description can be so well informed as to have a faith free from doubt, these matters in the Lord's Divine mercy will therefore be noted in greater detail later on.

7973. 'Around six hundred thousand men on foot' means all aspects of the truth and good of faith in their entirety. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'six hundred thousand' as all aspects of faith in their entirety, for this number is a multiple of six and also of twelve, and 'twelve' means all aspects of faith and charity, 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913. This is why Jacob's sons were twelve in number, why their descendants were divided into the same number of tribes, and also why the Lord chose twelve disciples, that is to say, in order that they might represent all aspects of faith and charity. Regarding the tribes, see 3858, 3862, 3926, 3979, 4060, 6335, 6737, 6640, 7876, 7891; and regarding the disciples, 3354, 3488, 5858 (end), 6397.

[2] At this point 'six hundred thousand' has a similar meaning because a larger or smaller number that is a multiple or a factor carries a meaning similar to that of the simple numbers that are being multiplied or divided, 5291, 5335, 5708. This is plainly evident from the number twelve. Whether this is divided into six or multiplied into seventy-two, 144 (which is twelve twelves), 12000, or 144000, the meaning is similar, as with 144000 in John,

I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of Israel - out of each tribe twelve thousand. Revelation 7:4-5 and following verses.

Here 'the children of Israel' is not used to mean the children of Israel, 'tribes' the tribes, or 'the number' a number, but to mean the kinds of things contained in the internal sense, namely all aspects of faith and charity. Each tribe in particular accordingly means one kind or one group, in keeping with the explanations at Genesis 29, 30.

[3] Similarly with the following in the same author,

Behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144000, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. They were singing a new song before the throne, and no one could learn the song except 144000 bought from the earth. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were bought from men (homo), being the first fruits to God and the Lamb. Revelation 14:1, 3-4.

From this description it is evident that those governed by charity are meant by 144000. It is also evident that the sole purpose of this number is to indicate the state and its essential nature. That number is similar to twelve in what it indicates, for it is the product of 12000 and it multiplied.

[4] It is similar with the smaller number 144, Which is twelve times twelve, in the same author,

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, 144 cubits, which is the measure of a man (homo), that is, of an angel. Revelation 21:2, 17.

'The wall of the holy Jerusalem' is not in the spiritual sense a wall; instead it is the truth of faith defending things of the Church, see 6419; and this also is why it is said to have been '144 cubits'. It is plainly evident that such must be meant, since it says 'it is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel'. 'Man' and 'angel' mean every aspect of the truth and good of faith.

[5] The same is also evident from the twelve precious stones that the foundation of the wall consisted of, and from the twelve gates, each of which was a pearl, Revelation 21:19-21. For by 'precious stones' truths of faith that spring from the good of charity are meant, 643, 3720, 6426, and similarly by 'gate' and also by 'pearl'. From this it is now clear that a smaller or larger number carries a meaning similar to the simple number that is divided or multiplied. As regards the fact that all numbers in the Word mean spiritual things, see 481, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4164, 4495, 4670, 5265.

[6] From these considerations one may now see that the number 'six hundred thousand' men going out of Egypt also means such things. But scarcely anyone is able to believe that such are meant by this number because it refers to a historical event; and any historical event fixes the mind all the time on the external sense and draws it away from the internal sense. Nevertheless that number too means such spiritual things, for there is not a part of a word, not even indeed one jot or one tittle in the Word, that is not in itself holy, because it holds what is holy within it. Anyone at all can see that there is nothing holy about a merely historical event.