10458. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp. That this signifies hell, in which that nation then was, is evident from the signification of “the camp of the sons of Israel,” as being heaven and the church (see n. 4236, 10038); consequently when they were in idolatrous worship, adoring a calf instead of Jehovah, by their “camp” is signified hell; for what is representative of heaven and of the church is turned into what is representative of hell when the people turn themselves from Divine worship to diabolical worship, such as was the worship of the calf. The like is signified by “camp” in Amos:

I have sent among you the pestilence in the way of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, with the captivity of your horses; so that I have made the stink of your camp to come up even into your nose (Amos 4:10).

The vastation of truth is here treated of, and when this is vastated, the “camp” signifies hell. That the vastation of truth is treated of is evident from the details of the passage as viewed in the internal sense; for “pestilence” denotes vastation (n. 7102, 7505); “way” denotes truth, and in the opposite sense falsity (n. 10422); “Egypt” denotes what is external, and also hell (see the places cited in n. 10437); “a sword” denotes falsity fighting against truth (see n. 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294); “young men” denote the truths of the church (n. 7668); “to be slain” denotes to perish spiritually (see n. 6767, 8902); “captivity” denotes the privation of truth (see n. 7990); “horses” denote an understanding which is enlightened (n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534); and “a stink” denotes what is abominable exhaling from hell (n. 7161). From this it is evident that in this sense a “camp” denotes hell. Hell is also signified by the “camp” of the enemies who were against Jerusalem, and in general against the sons of Israel, in the historicals of the Word.

7505. A very grievous pestilence. That this signifies a consumption in general, is evident from the signification of “pestilence,” as being the vastation of truth; and because it is called “a very grievous pestilence,” there is signified the consumption of truth. That a “pestilence” signifies the vastation of truth is plain from the following passages in the Word:

When I send My four evil judgments upon Jerusalem; the sword, and the famine, and the evil beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast (Ezekiel 45:21);

“to cut off man and beast” denotes to vastate interior and exterior good.

The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within; he that is in the field shall die by the sword; but he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him (Ezekiel 7:15); where “pestilence” denotes the vastation of good.

Therefore because thou hast defiled My sanctuary with all thine abominations, a third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and they shall be consumed in the midst of thee (Ezekiel 5:11-12); where “pestilence” denotes the wasting away of good.

In Amos:

I have sent among you the pestilence in the way of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, with the captivity of your horses (Amos 4:10); where “the pestilence in the way of Egypt” denotes the vastation of good and truth by means of falsities, which are “the way of Egypt;” “your young men have I slain with the sword, with the captivity of horses” denotes the vastation of truth; “young men” denote truths, and “horses” intellectual things (as above, n. 7503).

In David:

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror of the night, for the arrow that flieth by day; for the pestilence that creepeth in thick darkness, for the death that wasteth at noonday (Psalms 91:5-6); where “the pestilence that creepeth in thick darkness” denotes the evil which vastates in secret; “the death that wasteth at noonday” denotes the evil that vastates openly; besides other passages.