353. And I heard one of the four animals saying as with the voice of thunder, signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "the four animals" or cherubim, as being in the highest sense, the Lord's Divine Providence and guard that there be no approach except through the good of love (of which see above, n. 152, 277); and as being in a relative sense the inmost and third heaven (of which see above, n. 313, 322); also from the signification of "the voice of thunder," as being the manifestation therefrom. That "lightnings," "thunders," and "voices," in the Word, signify illustration, understanding and perception, see above (n. 273), thence also manifestation. That "thunders" signify the manifestation from the inmost heaven is from correspondence; for the voices that come down out of that heaven even into the hearing of man are heard no otherwise, for they fill the whole cerebrum and extend themselves therefrom towards the hearing, and are there perceived as a sound of thunder. It is otherwise with the voices that come down from the middle heaven; for as these flow in with illustration, they are heard only sonorously like words of speech.

[2] The reason for this is that the things that come down out of the inmost or third heaven enter the will of man, and the will expresses itself in sounds; but the things that come down out of the middle of second heaven enter into the intellect of man, and the intellect expresses itself in articulations of sound; for sounds take form in the understanding, and sounds so formed, which are called articulations of sound, present themselves in the thought through ideas, and in the hearing through words. Those things, therefore, that come down out of the inmost or third heaven correspond to thunder, and those out of the middle or second heaven to lightning; and consequently in the Word "lightnings" and "thunders" signify illustration, understanding, and perception. There is something like this in the case of sounds in the world, which grow with an increase as they come down from heights, as from high mountains into valleys, and also from the clouds towards the earth, from which are thunders; so also the voices out of the third or highest heaven, when they roll on towards the lower parts and at length reach the lowest, in which is human hearing, are heard as thunders, but only by those whose interiors are opened, as John's were at this time.

6692. 'And Pharaoh commanded all his people' means a general influx into factual knowledge opposed to the Church's truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'commanding' as an influx, dealt with in 5486, 5732, here a general influx since the command came from Pharaoh, who represents factual knowledge in general, 6015; and from the meaning of 'his people' as factual knowledge opposed to the Church's truths. The meaning of the Egyptians, to whom 'people' refers here, as factual knowledge has been demonstrated often, see 6638. The reason why factual knowledge opposed to the Church's truths is meant by 'the Egyptians' is that the representative forms and meaningful signs of the Ancient Church, a Church which had existed also among them, had been turned there into magic. For through the Church's representative forms and meaningful signs there was contact at that time with heaven. This contact existed among those who led lives filled with the good of charity, and among many it was open contact. Among those however who did not lead a good charitable life but acted in ways contrary to it, open contact sometimes existed with evil spirits who perverted all the Church's truths, and along with them destroyed all that was good, from which magic arose. This may also be recognized from the hieroglyphics among the Egyptians, who also used them in their sacred rituals. They used them as signs of spiritual things, and they used them to pervert Divine order.

[2] Magic is nothing else than the perversion of order; in particular it is the misuse of correspondences. If true order is to exist, goodness and truth as they emanate from the Lord must find acceptance in a person. When they do, true order is present in every particular aspect of the person's intentions and thoughts. But when they do not find acceptance in him as true order originating in the Lord requires and he instead believes that everything is a purposeless stream of events, or if anything does have purpose, that it is attributable to his own prudence, he perverts true order. For he makes use of what belongs to order solely for his own interests and not those of his neighbour, except insofar as his neighbour is favourably disposed towards him. This accounts for the astonishing fact that all who have become firmly convinced that everything is attributable to their own prudence and nothing at all to Divine providence are very much inclined towards magic in the next life, and also involve themselves in it as much as they can. This is especially so with those who, trusting in themselves and ascribing everything to their own prudence, have worked out many sly and cunning ways of gaining superiority over others. Once people like this have undergone judgement in the next life they are sent off to the hells of those who work magic. These hells are on the right on a level with the soles of the feet, a little way out in front and extending to a considerable distance; and the Egyptians are in the deepest ones. Here then is why 'Pharaoh', 'the Egyptians', and 'Egypt' mean factual knowledge opposed to the Church's truths.

[3] To prevent therefore any further perversion of the Church's representative forms and meaningful signs into forms of magic, the Israelite people were selected, and among them the Church's representative forms and meaningful signs were to be re-established. The nature of this people was such that it could not create magic out of them, for they were interested solely in external things and had no belief in anything internal, let alone anything spiritual. Among people like this no magic can arise such as existed among the Egyptians.