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.

Сноски:

9258. 'And you would cease from removing [it] for him' means not receiving truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'ceasing from removing' as not giving instruction and correcting, at this point not being able to receive instruction, and so not receiving truth since what is said refers to falsity which does not accord with the Church's good, and that falsity is such. The fact that 'removing' has this meaning in the spiritual sense is evident from this consideration, that words are used with reference to the matter under discussion. Thus 'removing' is used in the sense of the letter with reference to the burden under which the ass lies, and in the internal sense with reference to the falsity that is not in accord with the Church's good. In the internal sense therefore not removing from falsity by means of correction is meant, thus also not receiving truth brought about through such correcting or removing. There are falsities which are in accord with the Church's good, and there are falsities which are not in accord with it. The falsities that are in accord are ones which have good lying hidden within them, and which for that reason can be brought by the good nearer to truths. But the falsities that are not in accord with the Church's good are ones which have evil lying hidden within them, and which for that reason cannot be brought nearer to truths.

[2] As regards the good which lies within authentic truths, or else within unauthentic truths, which have been called falsities immediately above, and as regards the evil within falsities and even within truths, that good or evil is like the reproductive germ of life in the seed of a fruit. When the fruit starts to grow all its fibres fix their attention on the germ in the seed; they nourish it with juice passing through them and form it. But once it has been formed the fibres forsake it and convey the juice away from the seed. As a consequence the flesh of the fruit deteriorates and goes rotten, and then it serves the germ as its soil. The same applies to the seed itself when the germ in it begins a new phase of development in the ground. The germ of life in new shoots corresponds to the good within a person; the seed itself corresponds to the inward parts of his being; and the flesh around the seed corresponds to the outward parts. When the inward part of a person is formed anew or regenerated, the factual knowledge and truths belonging to the external man are like the fibres of a fruit through which juice is transported to the inward part. And afterwards, when the person has been regenerated, they are separated and serve as the soil [for the inward part]. Something similar happens in the person's inward part to which the seed corresponds. The good which has been formed in that manner gives rise to a new person, just as the germ within the seed develops into a new tree or new shoot. In this way all things are made new, after which they multiply and remain fruitful for evermore. So it is that the new person becomes like a garden, a paradise garden, to which also he is compared in the Word.

[3] This is the meaning of the Lord's words in Matthew,

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a person took and sowed in his field, which is the smallest of all seeds. But when it has grown it is the greatest of all plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Matthew 13:31-32.

These words make clear what the situation is with authentic truths and unauthentic truths which have good within them, namely this: When the good has been formed it gives rise to truths such as are in accord with good. Even if they are unauthentic truths they are accepted as though they were authentic ones because they savour of good; for they derive their very being and life from it. Good germinates and develops by means of truths, and while it is developing it is constantly endeavouring to give birth to new good which holds a like ability to germinate. It acts in much the same way as the seed's reproductive germ does in a new shoot or tree when this comes up out of the ground and exists to produce new fruit and new seeds. But there are endless varieties, the different natures of which are determined by the kinds of good that have been formed through a charitable life led in keeping with the commandments of faith.

[4] By contrast one can see also what the situation is with falsities which have evil within them, namely that they are like trees which bear bad fruit, which must be uprooted and thrown into the fire, in accordance with the Lord's words in Matthew,

Every good tree bears good fruit, but a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:17-20; 12:33.

And in John,

Jesus said, As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. If a person does not abide in Me he will be cast forth as a branch and be withered; and they gather it and throw it into the fire, and it is burned. John 15:4-6.

From this it is evident that all good which is going to bear any fruit begins in the Lord, and unless it comes from Him it is not good.