7407. 'And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields' means that with those people reasonings arising from utter falsities, wherever they were present in the natural, came to an end. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as coming to an end; from the meaning of 'the frogs' as reasonings arising from utter falsities, dealt with above; from the meaning of 'the houses' as parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 7397, at this point interior parts within it; from the meaning of 'the courtyards' as exterior parts of the natural mind (the natural has an interior and an exterior, see 3293, 3294, 4570, 5118, 5497, 5649); and from the meaning of 'the fields' as the more general and so even more exterior parts, since the fields are outside the houses and courtyards. Thus 'the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields' means that reasonings arising from utter falsities, wherever they existed in the natural, came to an end.

5497. 'And it was in the mouth of his pouch' means that it was returned as a gift and was put back in the opening of the exterior natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'the mouth of the pouch' as the opening of the exterior natural. Its having been put back there is implied from its very presence there, while its return as a gift follows from what was stated immediately before this, that no power of their own had been expended. Because 'the pouch' was in the preliminary part where the sack opened, nothing else is meant by 'the pouch' than the preliminary part of the receptacle, which is the exterior natural since this too is a preliminary part - 'a sack' being a receptacle, see 5489, 5494. So that anyone may know what the exterior natural and the interior natural are, let a further brief statement be made about them.

[2] One who is still a child cannot begin to think from anything higher than the exterior natural, for he composes his ideas out of sensory impressions. But as he grows up, employing sensory impressions to work out the reasons for things, he begins to think from the interior natural. For he begins to employ his sensory impressions to formulate ideas about truths which essentially are higher than sensory impressions; yet such ideas are still on a level with things in the natural world. But as he grows into a young adult, if he develops his power of reason, he employs what is in his interior natural to work out the reasons for things, which are truths of a yet higher nature. These are extracted so to speak from what is present in the interior natural. (The learned world calls the ideas composing thought which originate in this way intellectual and immaterial ideas, whereas ideas formed from factual knowledge present in both parts of the natural, insofar as these originate in the world and come through the senses, they call material ideas.) This is the manner in which a person rises with his understanding from the world up to heaven. Yet he does not go on into heaven with that understanding unless he accepts good from the Lord which is constantly present and flowing into him. If he does accept that good he is also endowed with truths, for in good all truths are welcome guests. And as he is endowed with truths, so he is endowed with understanding enabling him to have his being in heaven.