9141. 'And causing devastation in another's field' means consuming interconnected forms of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'devastating' as a stripping away, thus a consuming, by evil desires, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'in another's field' as interconnected forms of good. 'Field' means the Church, and the crop in the field means forms of good, 9139, so that the crop 'in another's field' means forms of good which are adjacent and interconnected with one another. For the forms of good present with a person are like generations on earth, and therefore stand at different distances from one another and vary in their interconnections, 9079. Those that are not in the same household or together in the same family, but are nevertheless related, are what 'being in another's field' is used to mean.

[2] The reason why 'devastating' means a stripping away, and so a consuming, by evil desires is that the proper meaning of the actual word used in the original language to denote 'devastating' is setting alight and burning, and so also feeding on and consuming. And since this is what the word is derived from, 'causing devastation' here means consuming, which is done by evil desires; for evil desires in a person are consuming fires. There is present in everyone the fire of life and the light of life; the fire of life is his love, and the light of life is his belief. The love of good, that is, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, compose the fire of life in a good person and in an angel of heaven, and the love of truth and belief in truth compose the light of life in them. But the love of evil, that is, self-love and love of the world, compose the fire of life in a bad person and in a spirit in hell, and the love of falsity and belief in falsity compose the inferior light of life in them. In the Word however the love of evil is called a burning fire, because it burns up and consumes those things that are forms of the love of good and truth. For this meaning of a burning fire, see 1297, 1861, 5215, 9055.

[3] The fact that a consuming by evil desires is meant by the actual word used in the original language is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

Jehovah will enter into judgement with the elders of His people and with their princes. You have consumed (set alight) the vineyard. Isaiah 3:14.

In the same prophet,

The breath of Jehovah like a river of brimstone consumes it (sets it on fire). Isaiah 30:33.

'A river of brimstone' means falsities streaming from the evils of self-love and love of the world, 2446.

[4] In Ezekiel,

The inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out, and they will set alight and burn the weapons, both shield and buckler, together with bow and arrows, and hand-staff, and spear; they will set fire to them for seven years, that they may not bring wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests. Ezekiel 39:9-10.

This serves to describe the consumption and devastation of good and truth by evil desires. But is anyone going to recognize this unless he knows what is meant by the inhabitants of the cities of Israel, also what is meant by weapons, shield, buckler, bow and arrows, by hand-staff and spear, by seven years, and by wood from the field and from the forests? 'The inhabitants' are forms of good, see 2268, 2451, 2712; 'the cities' are truths, and therefore matters of doctrine drawn from the Word, 2268, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492; and 'Israel' is the Church, 4286, 6426, 6637. Therefore 'the inhabitants of the cities of Israel' are forms of good that belong to matters of doctrine taught by the Church, and in the contrary sense these things when they have been turned into evils and falsities. 'Shield', 'buckler', and 'the bow's arrows' are truths belonging to religious teachings drawn from the Word, which serve to protect against falsities arising from evil, 2686, 2709, 6422. 'Hand-staff' is the power of truth derived from good, 4876, 7026; ¹ and 'spear' in like manner means power, though that which is more internal. 'Seven years' is a complete state, thus to completeness, 6508, 8976, so that 'setting fire to for seven years' is a complete consumption by evil desires. 'Wood from the field' is the Church's more internal forms of good, 3720, 8354, 'the field' being the Church, 2971, 3766, 7502, 7571; and 'wood from the forests' is more external forms of good, 3220, 9011 (end). When aware of all this a person can then know that these words spoken by the prophet describe the consuming of all things of the Church by evil desires, until none at all of the internal or of the external Church's good or truth is left, meant by 'they will set fire to them for seven years, that they may not bring wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests'.

[5] A further use of the same word to describe the consumption of the Church's good and truth occurs in Malachi,

Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, in which all who are sinning insolently, and everyone who performs wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that is coming will consume (set fire to) them, said Jehovah Zebaoth, who will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1.

'The day that is coming' is the final period of the Church, when self-love and love of the world are going to reign and to consume all the Church's truths and forms of good, until none at all is left in a person inwardly or outwardly. These things are meant by the statement that 'He will leave them neither root nor branch'; 'the root' of good and truth exists in a person inwardly, and 'the branch' in him outwardly. From all this it is now evident that 'devastating' means a consuming by evil desires, in the same way as it does elsewhere in the Word.

脚注:

7502. 'behold, the hand of Jehovah will be on your livestock that are in the field' means the laying waste of the truth and good of faith which they had acquired from the Church to which they had belonged. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hand of Jehovah being on someone' as a plague or punishment, for 'hand' means power, 4931-4937, 6292, 6947, 7188, 7189, and 'the hand of Jehovah' almighty power, 878, 3387, and since those who are confined to the superficial things of the Church are led by appearances to believe that every plague or punishment comes from Jehovah (for they attribute all things to His power), 'the hand of Jehovah being on someone' means punishment, in this instance laying waste or vastation (for the stages In the vastation of those who molested were punishments); from the meaning of 'livestock' as forms of the truth and good of faith, dealt with in 6016, 6045, 6049; and from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, dealt with in 2971, 3310. 'The field' is the Church because 'seed' which is cast onto the field means the truths of faith, and also because 'the products of the field', such as wheat, barley, spelt, and forms of the good of charity, and truths of faith, thus the kinds of things that belong to the Church.

[2] To understand why it is that hellish spirits who molest the upright in the next life undergo vastation in respect of the truths of faith taught by the Church, it should be recognized that those who molest the upright belonged to the Church. Those who have not belonged to the Church cannot molest others who do belong to it. They cannot do so because falsities, which are opposed to the truths of faith taught by the Church, are what spirits use when they molest, and those who have been outside the Church cannot molest anyone by means of such falsities because they have never come to know them. It is those who have claimed to be believers but have lead an evil life that turn to falsities in the next life and molest the upright with them, see 7097, 7127, 7317. Therefore to prevent the truth of faith which they had acquired from the teachings of their Church while they were living in the world from affording them any light at all from heaven (for they take with them into the next life everything they have come to know in the life of the body; nothing whatever is missing), and to prevent them from using things seen in the light of heaven to lend support to the falsities and evils belonging to hell, everything like that is taken away from them, and they are left finally with the evils forming their life and with the resulting falsities. This vastation is the subject at present.

[3] The reason why those who have belonged to the Church but led an evil life are devastated in stages in this way before they are cast into hell is that they had come to know the truths of faith, which put them in contact with heaven. The heavenly communities with whom they were in contact in the world, and with whom they are still in contact in the next life, cannot be separated from them except in stages. For in heaven such is the nature of order originating in the Lord that nothing is carried out in a violent manner. Everything people do they do in freedom, of their own accord so to speak. Therefore those communities are not wrenched away from them, but separated gradually, so that those people may seem to depart of their own free will and accord. From this one may now see what vastation is like for those who have known the truths of faith taught by the Church and yet have led an evil life.

[4] Without revelation no one can be aware of what such vastation is like; for without revelation people have no knowledge of things that take place in the next life. And since people show little concern to find out from the Word about the truths and forms of the good of faith, because they have no affection for truth for its own sake, let alone for life's sake, neither are such things revealed to them. Yet these things are discernible in the Word; indeed the whole sequence in which they occur and the course they take is presented in its internal sense. Since therefore people in the Church have no affection for knowing truth from the Word, only an affection - for worldly reasons - for substantiating the teachings of their Church, whether true or false, they know nothing whatever about the state after death, nothing about heaven, and nothing about hell. They do not even know what makes heaven or what makes hell with a person. In fact their ignorance is such that they teach and believe that anyone can be admitted into heaven, some believing that a person can be admitted by the power which they have arrogated to themselves, others by the Lord's mercy, irrespective of the life the person has been leading. Scarcely any know that heaven is given to people while they live in the world, through a life of charity and faith, and that this life is enduring. These matters have been stated in order that people may know what members of the Church are like who advocate faith alone but are unconcerned about the life of faith; for these are the ones who are represented by the Egyptians here and in what follows below.