and temptations; and when they have received this most general idea, may afterwards learn how He governs and disposes all things by turning the evil of punishment and of temptation into good. In teaching and learning the Word, the most general truths must come first; and therefore the literal sense is full of such things.
246. That the "beast and the wild animal of the field" signify affections, is evident from what was previously said concerning them (n. 45 and 46), to which it is permitted to add the following passage from David:—
Thou, God, dost send the rain of Thy kindnesses; Thou confirmest Thy laboring inheritance; Thy wild animal shall dwell therein (Ps. lxviii. 9, 10),
where also "wild animal" denotes the affection of good, because it is said that it shall "dwell in the inheritance of God." The reason why here, and also in chapter ii. 19, 20, the "beast and the wild animal of the field" are mentioned, while in chapter i. 24, 25, the "beast and the wild animal of the earth" are named, is that the present passage treats of the church or regenerated man, whereas the first chapter related to what was as yet not a church, or to man about to become regenerate; for the word "field" is applied to the church, or to the regenerate.
247. That the "serpent going on his belly" denotes that their sensuous part could no longer look upward to the things of heaven, but only downward to those of the body and the earth, is evident from the fact that in ancient times by the "belly" such things are signified as are nearest to the earth; by the "chest" such as are above the earth; and by the "head," what is highest. It is here said that the sensuous part which in itself is the lowest part of man's nature, "went upon its belly," because it turned to what is earthly. The depression of the belly even to the earth, and the sprinkling of dust on the head, had a similar signification in the Jewish Church. Thus we read in David:—
Wherefore hidest Thou Thy faces, and forgettest our misery and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust, and our belly cleaveth to the earth. Arise, a help for us, and redeem us for Thy mercy's sake (Ps. xliv. 24-26),
