10458. 'And it happened, as he came near the camp' means near to hell, in which that nation was then. This is clear from the meaning of 'the camp of the children of Israel' as heaven and the Church, dealt with in 4236, 10038, so that when they engaged in idolatrous worship, venerating the calf instead of Jehovah, their camp means hell. For what is representative of heaven and the Church is turned into that which is representative of hell when the people turned from the worship of God to worship of the devil, which worship of the calf was. 'The camp' has a similar meaning in Amos,

I have sent the pestilence upon you in the way of Egypt, I have killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses ¹ , to such an extent that I have caused the stench of your camp to come up also into your nose. Amos 4:10.

This refers to the vastation of truth; and when truth has been laid waste 'the camp' means hell. The fact that it refers to the vastation of truth is evident from the specific details of the verse when looked at in the internal sense. 'The pestilence' means vastation, 7102, 7505; 'the way' means truth, and in the contrary sense falsity, 10422; 'Egypt' that which is external, and also hell, see in the places referred to in 10437; 'the sword' falsity engaged in conflict against truths, 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294; 'young men' the Church's truths, 7668; 'being killed' being destroyed spiritually, 6767, 8902; 'captivity' deprivation of truth, 7990; 'horses' an enlightened power of understanding, 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534; and 'stench' that which is abominable, emanating from hell, 7161. From all this it is evident that in the internal sense 'the camp' means hell. Hell is also meant in the historical narratives of the Word by the camp of enemies opposed to Jerusalem, and in general of those opposed to the children of Israel.

Poznámky pod čarou:

6679. 'And did not do as the king of Egypt spoke to them' means that the intention of those under the influence of falsities was not carried out. This is clear from the meaning of 'did not do as he spoke' as the fact that their intention was not carried out, that is, they were unable to destroy the truths meant by 'the boys', even though their intention was to destroy them by whatever method they could, 6676; and from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as separated factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truth, dealt with in 6651, thus falsity since that factual knowledge is false.