Those reconnoitering the land of Canaan said, We have seen the Nephilim the sons of the Anakim, and we were in their eyes as locusts Num. xiii 33.

Jehovah Who sits upon the circle of the land, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts Isa. xl 22.

[2] But because untruths in the outermost parts such as pertain to them are signified by 'locusts' in the Word, therefore they were called 'locusts', as also 'crowned' and 'commanders', in Nahum:-

Fire shall devour thee, it shall devour thee as the bruchus*, multiply thyself as the bruchus, multiply thyself as the locust, thy crowned ones are as the locust, and thy commanders as the locust of locusts Nahum iii 15-17.

Because untruths in the outermost parts consume the truths and goods of the Church while they are being born with a man, they are signified by the locusts that consume the grass in the plains and the herbs in the fields. This is established from these passages:-

Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, but the locust shall consume it Deut. xxviii 38.

What remains from the caterpillar shall the locust eat; and what remains from the locust shall the cankerworm eat, and what remains from the cankerworm shall the bruchus eat Joel i 4, 5.

I will make up to you the years that the locust has consumed, the cankerworm, the bruchus and the caterpillar Joel ii 24, 25.

[3] The like is signified by the locusts in Egypt of which it is thus written in Moses:-

Moses stretched forth the rod over the land of Egypt, and an east wind brought the locust, and the locust went up over all the land of Egypt; before it there was no such locust, and it ate up every herb of the field: and afterwards Moses stretched forth the rod, and the locust was cast into the sea Suph Exod. x 12 seq.

And in David:-

He gave their produce to the bruchus, and their labour to the locust Ps. [lxxviii 46; also] cv 34, 35.

The vastation of the Church is described by the miracles in Egypt, and by this miracle vastation by means of untruths in the outermost parts; and the outermost things of a man's life, when the interior things on which they depend are closed up, are infernal. For this reason the locusts were 'cast into the sea Suph' by which is signified hell.

[4] Since few at this day know what is understood by 'the sensual', and what the quality of the sensual man is, and since 'locusts' signify that, therefore the following extracts concerning it are adduced out of our ARCANA CAELESTIA:-

That the sensual is the ultimate of the life of a man's mind, adhering and cohering to the five senses of his body (n. 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730).

That he is termed a sensual man who judges all things out of the senses of the body, and who believes only what he can see with eyes and touch with hands, declaring that these exist and rejecting the rest (n. 5094, 7693).

That the interiors of his mind, which see by virtue of the light of heaven, are closed up, so that he sees there nothing of the truth that is of heaven and the Church (n. 6564, 6844, 6845). That such a man thinks in the outermost parts, and not interiorly by virtue of any spiritual light (n. 5089, 5094, 6564, 7693). In a word, that they are in a gross natural light (lumen) (n. 6201, 6310, 6564, 6844, 6845, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624).

That consequently interiorly they are against the things that are of heaven and the Church, but exteriorly they can speak in favour of them, ardently according to the domination they exercise by means of them (n. 6201, 6316, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949).

That the learned and well-informed who have confirmed themselves deeply in untruths, and even more those who are against the truths of the Word are sensual above all others (n. 6316).

That sensual men reason keenly and shrewdly, because their thought is so near to their speech as to be almost in it, and as it were in the lips, and because they place all intelligence in speech out of the memory only: also that some of them can skilfully confirm untruths, and that after confirmation they believe them to be true (n. 195, 196, 5700, 10,236). But that they reason and confirm things out of the fallacies of the senses, by which the great mass of the people is captivated and persuaded (n. 5084, 6948, 6949, 7693).

That sensual men are more cunning and full of wickedness than the rest (n. 7693, 10,236).

That the avaricious, adulterers, the voluptuous and the crafty are especially sensual, although before the world they do not appear so (n. 6310).

That the interiors of their minds are foul and filthy (n. 6201).

That by means thereof they are in communication with the hells (n. 6311).

That those who are in the hells are sensual, and more sensual the deeper they are (n. 4623, 6311).

That the spheres of infernal spirits conjoin themselves with the sensual of man from behind (n. 6312).

That those who have reasoned only out of sensual things, and consequently against the genuine things of the Church, were termed by the ancients 'serpents of the tree of knowledge' (n. 195, 196, 197, 6398, 6399, 10,313).

Furthermore, the sensual of man and the sensual man is described (n. 10,236); and the extent of the sensual things with a man (n. 9731).

That sensual things ought to be in the ultimate place and not in the first, and that in the case of a wise and intelligent man they are in the ultimate place, and subject to the interiors but that in the case of an unwise man they are in the first place, and ruling; these are they who are properly termed sensual (n. 5077, 5125, 5128, 7645).

That if sensual things are in the ultimate place a way is opened by means of them to the understanding, and truths are furbished by a mode of drawing forth (n. 5580).

That those sensual things are in close contact with the world, and admit the things that flow thereto out of the world, and sift them, as it were (n. 9726). That by means of those sensual things a man is in communication with the world, and by means of rational things is in communication with heaven (n. 4009). That sensual things supply things that are of service to the interiors of the mind (n. 5077, 5081).

That there are sensual things furnishing supplies for the intellectual part, and such as furnish them for the voluntary part (n. 5077).

That unless the thought is lifted up from sensual things, a man has little discernment (n. 5089).

That a wise man thinks above sensual things (n. 5089, 5094).

That a man, when his thought is raised above sensual things, comes into a clearer light, and at length into a heavenly light (n. 6183, 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922).

That a raising above sensual things, and a withdrawal from them, was known to the ancients (n. 6313).

That a man by his spirit can give heed to the things that are in the spiritual world, if he can be withdrawn from sensual things and raised up into the light of heaven by the Lord (n. 4622). This is because the body does not think, but the man's spirit in the body; and to the extent that it is in the body it thinks obscurely and in the dark, and to the extent that it is not in the body it thinks clearly and in the light; but in spiritual things (n. 4622, 6614, 6622).

That the ultimate of the understanding is sensual knowledge, while the ultimate of the will is sensual delight (n. 9996). What the difference is between the sensual things [that a man has] in common with beasts, and the sensual things not in common with them (n. 10,236).

That there are sensual men who are not evil, because their interiors are not so closed up, of whose state in the other life (n. 6311). * AC 7643 states: 'The reason why the bruchus also is named is that by 'bruchus' is signified evil, and by "locust" untruth, both in the outward parts of the natural.' Possibly the term bruchus is applied to the locust in the wingless and non-gregarious state, formerly thought to be a different species.