9335. 'And the wild animal of the field multiplies against you' means an inrush of falsities arising from the delights of self-love and love of the world. This is clear from the meaning of 'multiplying', when it has reference to a hurried removal of evils and falsities, as an inrush; and from the meaning of 'the wild animal of the field' as falsities arising from the delights of self-love and love of the world. For affections, good and bad, are meant in the Word by different kinds of beasts, 9280, and therefore affections for falsity that arise from the delights of self-love and love of the world are meant by 'wild animals'. These affections are also represented in the next life by wild animals, such as panthers, tigers, boars, wolves, or bears. Such affections furthermore resemble wild animals, for people ruled by those loves are steeped in evils of every kind and in the falsities arising from them. They are like wild animals in the way they see and treat companions. The fact that those loves are the source of all evils and falsities, see 2041, 2045, 2057, 2363, 2364, 2444, 4750, 4776, 6667, 7178, 7255, 7364, 7366-7377, 7488, 7490-7494, 7643, 8318, 8487, 8678.

[2] The reason why a hurried removal of evils and falsities leads to an inrush of falsities arising from those loves is that forms of good and truths, implanted in successive stages, must remove them; for falsities are not removed except by truths, nor evils except by forms of good. If this removal is not done in successive stages and in keeping with proper order, falsities that lend support to those selfish loves enter in, since those loves reign with every person before he has been regenerated; and when the falsities enter in truths cease to be acknowledged any longer. Also a person who is being regenerated is maintained in an affection for truth; and when maintained in this he searches for truths in all directions among factual knowledge in the natural. But at this time illusions of the outward senses, which exist in great abundance in the natural, present themselves there. From those illusions, when the delights of self-love and love of the world hold sway, the person deduces nothing except falsities, which come in and fill his mind if falsities arising from evil are removed suddenly. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal sense by I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest perhaps the land becomes desolate and the wild animal of the field multiplies against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.

[3] The fact that 'wild animal' means falsity and evil arising from self-love and love of the world is evident from places in the Word which mention it, as in Isaiah,

There will be a path there and a way, which will be called the way of holiness. The unclean will not pass through it; the savage of the wild animals will not go up it. Isaiah 35:8-9.

In Ezekiel,

I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, that they may make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.

In the same prophet,

When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that ¹ it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals ... Ezekiel 14:15.

In the same prophet,

You will fall on the open field; ² to the wild animals of the earth, and to the birds of the air I will give you for food. Ezekiel 29:5.

In the same prophet,

At that time I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish ³ the evil wild animal from the land, in order that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. They will no longer be a prey for the nations, and the wild animals of the field will no longer devour them. Ezekiel 34:25, 28.

[4] In Hosea,

I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree; and I will make them into a forest, and the wild animals of the field will eat them. Hosea 2:12.

In the same prophet,

The land will mourn and every inhabitant will waste away because of the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air. Hosea 4:3.

In David,

The boar of the forest tramples on it, and the wild animal of the fields feeds on it. Return, O God Zebaoth, and visit Your vine. Psalms 80:13-14.

In the same author,

You dispose the darkness to become night, in which every wild animal of the forest comes forth. Psalms 104:20.

In Moses,

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, I will banish ³ the evil wild animals from the land. But if you despise My statutes, I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will lay you waste. Leviticus 26:3, 6, 15, 22.

In the same author,

Jehovah your God will cast out the nations before you little by little, lest perhaps the wild animals of the field multiply against you. Deuteronomy 7:22.

In these places 'the wild animals of the field', 'the wild animals of the earth', and 'the wild animals of the forest' stand for the falsities and evils that belong to self-love and love of the world.

[5] Since 'wild animal' means falsity, and falsity can spring from two different origins, that is to say, it may stem from evil or it may stem from good, 9258, 'wild animal' in the Word also means upright nations or gentiles who, though they are subject to falsity, nevertheless lead upright lives. The term 'wild animal' is used in this sense in David,

Every wild animal of the forest is Mine, and beasts on mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild animal of My fields is with Me. Psalms 50:10-11.

In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, wild animals and all beasts! Psalms 148:7, 10.

In Isaiah,

All wild animals of My fields - come to eat, all wild animals in the forest. Isaiah 56:9.

In Ezekiel,

In the branches of the cedar, which was Asshur, all the birds of the air made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field brought forth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

Voetnoten:

10367. 'And on the seventh day there is the sabbath of rest' means the state of good that has been the end in view, thus the state when a person becomes an embodiment of the Church and enters heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the seventh day' as the state of good that has been the end in view; for since the six days which come before mean the person's state which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage, the seventh day means when that marriage actually exists within the person. That marriage is the joining together of the truth and good residing with the person, thus when the person becomes an embodiment of the Church and enters heaven. The reason why a person enters heaven and becomes an embodiment of the Church when governed by good is that the Lord flows into the good residing with a person, and through the good into his truth. He flows into the internal man, where heaven within that person exists, and through the internal into the external, where the world within that person exists. Therefore unless the person is governed by good his internal man is not opened but remains closed, no matter how many truths he knows on a doctrinal level. And since heaven exists within his internal man the person is in heaven when that internal man is opened; for heaven does not exist in some place but within a person's interiors. The human being has been created to conform to an image of heaven and of the world, his internal man to conform to the image of heaven and the external man to conform to the image of the world, see in the places referred to in 9279, [and what has been stated in] 9706.

[2] Anyone who stops to reflect on the matter may see that the essential nature of a person's good, not his truth without that good, makes him altogether what he is. For it is by means of his good and in accord with it that he collaborates with another, is in sympathy with another, links himself to another, and lets himself be led by another, and not by means of and in accord with his truth unless this is in agreement with his good. When the word 'good' is used here the person's delight, pleasure, or love should be understood, for everything that forms part of these constitutes his good; and so far as he is left to think for himself ideas favourable to that good are thought by him to be truths. From all this it becomes clear that a person is joined to the Lord by means of good, and not at all by means of truth without good.

[3] Being joined to the Lord by means of good has, it is true, been dealt with often before, wherever a person's regeneration has been the subject. But since people in the Church at the present day concentrate much on the truths belonging to faith and little on the good belonging to love, and are consequently ignorant of what good is, let a further statement be made about the joining together of goodness and truth, which is called the heavenly marriage. A person is born into evils of every kind and consequently into falsities of every kind, so that left to himself he is condemned to hell. Therefore to be delivered from hell he must be entirely born again, born of the Lord; and that rebirth is what is called regeneration. In order that he may therefore be reborn he must first learn truths; those who belong to the Church must learn them from the Word, or from teachings drawn from the Word. The Word and teachings drawn from the Word show what truth and good are, and truth and good show what evil and falsity are. Unless a person knows these things he cannot possibly be regenerated; for he remains immersed in his evils and consequent falsities, calling those evils forms of good and these falsities truths.

[4] This explains why cognitions or knowledge of truth and good must come first and enlighten a person's understanding. A person's understanding has been given to him in order that it may be enlightened with cognitions of goodness and truth, the end in view being that they may be received by his will and converted into good. For truths are converted into good when the person wills them, and in willing them does them. From this it is evident how the good present with a person is formed, and that unless good is present in a person he is not born anew or regenerated. When therefore a person's will consists of good his understanding consists of truths wedded to that good. The person's understanding truly acts in unison with his will; for what the person wills, that he thinks when left to himself. So this is what is called the joining together of truth and good or the heavenly marriage. Whether you say willing good or loving good it amounts to the same thing; for what a person loves, that he wills. At the same time, whether you say understanding truth wedded to good or believing it, this likewise amounts to the same thing. From this it follows that in the case of a person who has been regenerated love and faith act in unison. This joining together or marriage of them is what is called the Church and heaven, also the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord as He exists with a person.

[5] But people who love their evils, whether those which they have acquired by heredity and since early childhood made stronger within themselves, or those which they have added for themselves and become the first to steep themselves in, can indeed grasp and have some understanding of truths obtained from the Word or from teachings drawn from the Word; nevertheless they cannot be regenerated. For every person's power of understanding is maintained by the Lord in a condition such as this, to the end that he may be regenerated. But when someone loves his evils the power of understanding in his internal man is not endowed with those truths, only the power of understanding in his external man; and this is no more than a knowledge of them. Such people do not know what good is; nor are they concerned to know what it is, only what truth is. As a result they think that the Church and heaven consist in truths, which are called matters of faith, and not in good deeds, which are matters of life. They also explain the Word in various ways in support of their own basic assumptions. Consequently with people such as these whose lives are not at the same time governed by the truths they know, no joining together of truth and good exists, nor therefore the Church and heaven. In the next life furthermore the truths which they have called matters of faith are separated from them; for evil in the will casts them out, and their place is taken by falsities in keeping with the evils they are steeped in.

[6] From all this it may now be recognized what the joining together of goodness and truth, meant by 'the sabbath', is. This joining together is called the sabbath on account of the rest it brings, for the sabbath consists in rest. During the first state, that is, while being led by truths towards good, a person is engaged in conflicts against the evils and falsities present with him. By means of these conflicts, which are temptations, evils and accompanying falsities are dispelled and separated, from which there is no rest until goodness and truth have been joined together. At this point the person has rest, and so does the Lord, for the person does not fight against the evils and falsities, but the Lord residing with Him.

[7] The reason why in the highest sense 'the sabbath' means the Lord's Divine Human is that when the Lord was in the world, from His Human He fought against and overcame all the hells, and at the same time restored the heavens to order, after which labours He united His Human to the Divine, making it Divine Good as well. Consequently at this point He had rest, for the hells cannot lift a finger against Divine Good. This now explains why in the highest sense 'the sabbath' serves to mean the Lord's Divine Human.

[8] But see what has been shown already on these matters,

When the Lord was in the world His Human was first made Divine Truth by Him, to the end that He might go into battle against the hells and overcome them; and afterwards His Human was glorified and made the Divine Good of Divine Love by Him, in the places referred to in 9199, 9315, and also what is stated in 9715, 9809. When in the world the Lord underwent the severest temptations, in the places referred to in 9528(end).

As a result He possesses the Divine Power to save a person, by removing the hells from him and in that way regenerating him, 10019, 10152.

Regarding the two states of a person who is being regenerated by the Lord, in the places referred to in 9274.

A person does not go into heaven until the joining together of truth and good has been accomplished with him, 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139, 9832.

A person's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688.