7136. 'And the officers of the children of Israel were beaten' means that those in the nearest position to receive molestations and pass them on suffered harm from the falsities that had been introduced. This is clear from the meaning of 'being beaten' - since the beating was done by 'the taskmasters', by whom those who molest are meant - as suffering harm from falsities (for 'being beaten' does not in the spiritual sense mean being beaten, but suffering harm in respect of truth and good, that is, in respect of the things that compose spiritual life, just as 'dying' does not in the spiritual sense mean dying but being deprived of truth and good, being governed by falsity and evil, and therefore being subject to damnation); from the meaning of 'the officers as those in the nearest position to receive molestations and pass them on, dealt with in 7111; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637, to whom those meant by 'the officers' were to pass things on.