8156. 'All Pharaoh's chariot-horses, and his horsemen, and his army' means everything composing the falsity belonging to a perverted understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'horses' as the power of understanding, dealt with in 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 7024, 8029, at this point a perverted understanding, such as that which exists in people who are steeped in evil, and in falsity arising from it; from the meaning of 'chariots' as doctrinal teachings, dealt with in 2760, 5321, 5945, 8146; from the meaning of 'horsemen' as things connected with the understanding, dealt with in 6534, at this point false reasonings belonging to a perverted understanding; and from the meaning of 'army' as falsities, dealt with above in 8138. From all these meanings it is evident that 'Pharaoh's chariot-horses, and his horsemen, and his army' means the factual knowledge, reasonings, and falsities belonging to a perverted understanding, thus everything composing the falsity there.

8138. 'In Pharaoh and in all his army' means the submersion into hell of those steeped in falsities arising from evil, and their encompassment there by falsities as if by waters. This is clear from what has been mentioned immediately above in 8137, that 'Pharaoh' means those who were cast into hell, as also does 'his army', 'Pharaoh' being those steeped in falsities arising from evil, and 'his army' the falsities themselves. 'Armies' are truths springing from good, see 3448, 7236, 7988, and therefore in the contrary sense they are falsities arising from evil, 3448. The expression 'encompassment by falsities as if by waters' is used because falsities that arise from evil - the kind of falsities that exist with those belonging to the Church who have championed separated faith and have led a life of evil - are seen there as waters, 8137. This also is why deluges of water mean situations in which truth is laid waste while the water present in them means falsities, 705, 739, 756, 6346, 6853.