46. That 'beasts' means affections residing with man - evil affections in evil men and good affections in good men - becomes clear from many examples in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, so that you will be tilled and sown; and I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they will be multiplied and be fruitful, and I will resettle you ¹ to be as in your ancient times. Ezekiel 36:9-11.

This refers to regeneration. In Joel,

Fear not, you beasts of My field, for the dwelling-places of the wilderness have been made green. Joel 2:22.

In David,

I was stupid, a beast ² was I with God. Psalms 73:12.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast, and I will watch over them to build and to plant. Jeremiah 31:27-28.

This refers to regeneration.

[2] 'Wild animals' (fera) has a similar meaning, as in Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, ³ and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

In Job,

You will not fear the wild animals of the earth, for your covenant will be with the stones of the field, and the wild beasts of the field will be at peace with you. Job 5:22-23.

In Ezekiel,

I will make with them ⁴ a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. Ezekiel 34:25.

In Isaiah,

The wild animals of the field will honour me, for I have given water in the desert. Isaiah 43:20.

In Ezekiel,

In its branches all the birds of the air ³ made their nests and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

This refers to Assyria, which means the spiritual man and is compared to the Garden of Eden. In David,

Praise Jehovah, all his angels, praise Him from the earth, sea monsters, fruit trees, wild animals, and all beasts, creeping things, and flying birds! Psalms 148:2-4, 7, 9-10.

Here the list is precisely the same - sea monsters, fruit trees, wild animals, beasts, creeping things, and birds. Unless they all mean things that are alive in human beings, they cannot possibly be referred to as praising Jehovah.

[3] A careful distinction is made in the Prophets between beasts and wild animals of the earth, and between beasts and wild animals of the field. The practice of calling goods 'beasts' extends to calling people in heaven who are nearest to the Lord 'living creatures', both in Ezekiel and in John,

All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God. ⁵ Revelation 7:11; 19:4.

The expression 'creatures' is also used of people who are to have the gospel preached to them because they are to be created anew, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15.

Footnotes:

4865. 'And supposed that she was a prostitute' means that it supposed them to be nothing else than something false. This is clear from the meaning of 'a prostitute' as that which is false, dealt with in 2466, 2729, 3399, and so as the fact that with its semblance of religion the Jewish nation looked on the internal aspect of the Church as nothing else than something false. The reason 'a prostitute' means that which is false is that a marriage represents the heavenly marriage, which is that of good and truth. The husband represents good and the wife truth, and therefore sons represent truths and daughters forms of good, while a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law, a father-in-law and a mother-in-law, and many others as determined by their degrees of affinity, represent aspects of the heavenly marriage. Therefore, being opposites of these, acts of adultery and prostitution mean evil and falsity, and are in all reality the opposite of them, for people who spend their lives committing adultery or behaving as prostitutes have no concern at all for what is good and true. The reason for this is that genuine conjugial love comes down from the heavenly marriage, that is, from the marriage of good and truth, whereas adultery and prostitution spring from evil and falsity joined together - from hell; see 2727-2759.

[2] The fact that the Jewish nation looked, as also at the present day it looks, on the internal features of the Church as nothing else than falsities is meant by Judah's supposition that Tamar his daughter-in-law was no one else than a prostitute and by his connection with her as with a prostitute. This origin of that nation represents the origin and also the essential nature of their semblance of religion. It is plain to see that this nation looks on the internal aspect of the Church as a harlot, that is, as something false. For example, if anyone tells them it is an internal truth of the Church that the Messiah, who is foretold in the prophetical parts of the Word and whom they await, is the Lord, they completely reject this as something false. If anyone tells them it is an internal truth of the Church that the Messiah's kingdom is not a worldly and temporal but a heavenly and eternal one, they declare this too to be something false. If anyone tells them that the ritual observances of their Church represented the Messiah and His heavenly kingdom they have no idea what this is.

[3] If anyone tells them that the internal aspect of the Church is the good of charity and the truth of faith, both in doctrine and at the same time in life, they regard this as nothing else than a falsity. And so it is with every other truth told them. Indeed at the mere suggestion of an internal aspect of the Church they laugh nonsensically. The reason for this is that they are immersed solely in things of an external nature, and indeed in the lowest of these, which consist in the love of earthly things; for more than all others they are steeped in avarice, which is utterly worldly. Such people cannot possibly look on the interior features of the Church in any other way, since they are further removed than all others from the light of heaven, and so more than all others dwell in thickest darkness.