7344. 'For they could not drink from the waters of the river' means non-application through the use of utter falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'being unable to drink' as non-application, for 'drinking' is applying, see immediately above in 7343; and from the meaning of 'the waters of the river' as falsities, also dealt with above, in 7307. What is meant by 'being unable to drink from the waters of the river' - which is that truths cannot be applied to falsities, that is, be falsified through the use of utter falsities - follows on also from the internal sense of what comes immediately before. That is to say, this meaning follows on from that of 'digging for water to drink round about the river', which is a searching for truths that they could apply to falsities. The reason why utter falsities cannot be used to apply truths to falsities is that they are intermediaries are present to bind them together. The intermediaries which bind them together are the illusions of the outward senses, and also statements made in the Word in accordance with outward appearances. Take for example the truth that nothing but good comes from the Lord, and never anything evil. This truth is falsified through illusions, such as that by His almighty power the Lord is able, if He wills, to take away evil, and that because He does not take it away He is the cause of it, which implies that evil too comes from the Lord. It is falsified by the use of statements made in the Word in accordance with outward appearances, such as that Jehovah or the Lord is angry, punishes, condemns, and casts into hell, when in actual fact the people themselves who are engrossed in evil are the ones who cause these things to happen to them. Consequently they bring upon themselves the evil inflicted as punishment, for in the next life the evil inflicted as punishment and the evil of which a person is guilty go together. Countless other truths can be falsified in ways like these.