7879. 'And the plague will not be on you for the destroyer' means that damnation from hell will not enter in. This is clear from the meaning here of 'the plague' as damnation, for this plague is the death of all the firstborn in Egypt, which is damnation, see 7778; and from the meaning of 'the destroyer' as hell which inflicts damnation. The implications of this, that hell inflicts damnation, are as follows: The vastation that the evil undergo in the next life, also their damnation, and their being cast into hell too, is not brought about directly by the individual spirit immersed in evil but by the hells. For the evils that arise there all come about as a result of influx from the hells; none does so without that influx from there. Their rise also depends on the state of evil in which the spirits undergoing vastation and damnation are caught up; and that state of evil depends in turn on the degree to which goodness and truth have been removed. This state determines the amount of contact they have with the hells; and the hells are very ready to inflict ill, for inflicting ill is the greatest delight of their life. Since the hells are like this the Lord keeps them shut. Indeed if they were to be opened the whole human race would be destroyed; for the hells constantly long for the destruction of all. The destruction by pestilence of seventy thousand men, because of David's numbering of the people, 2 Samuel 24, and the killing in the camp of the Assyrians of a hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night, 2 Kings 19:35, were done by the hells at times when they had been opened. Similar destruction would take place at the present day if they were opened; they are therefore kept strictly closed by the Lord. With regard to damnation from the hells being unable to enter in among those maintained by the Lord in goodness and truth, meant by 'the plague will not be on you for the destroyer', see immediately above in 7878.