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:

3755. But woe to those who are with child or giving suck in those days! means those who have been endowed with the good that flows from love to the Lord and with the good that goes with innocence. 'Woe!' is an expression meaning the danger of eternal condemnation. 'Being with child' means conceiving good that stems from heavenly love. 'Giving suck' is also a state of innocence, 'those days' the state which the Church is passing through at that time.

[2] Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath means removal from those things to prevent it happening rapidly during a state of excessive cold or a state of excessive heat. 'Flight' is removal from a state of good stemming from love and from innocence, dealt with just above. 'Flight in winter' is a removal from these during a state of excessive cold - cold being a time when there is an aversion to those things, which is caused by all kinds of self-love. 'Flight on a sabbath' is removal from them during a state of excessive heat - heat being external holiness when self-love and love of the world exist inwardly.

[3] For then there will be great affliction, unlike any from the beginning of the world until now, or any in the future means the furthest degree of the perversion and vastation of the good and truth of the Church, which is profanation. For the profanation of that which is holy leads to eternal death, a death far more serious than that to which any other states of evil lead, and which is all the more serious insofar as they are interior goods and truths which are made profane. And since they are interior goods and truths that have been disclosed and made known in the Christian Church and have then been made profane it is said that 'then there will be great affliction, unlike any from the beginning of the world until now, or any in the future'.

[4] And unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short means the removal of those who belong to the Church from interior goods and truths to exterior in order that those who lead lives that are good and true may nevertheless be saved. 'Cutting days short' means a state of such removal; 'no flesh being saved' means that otherwise nobody could be saved; 'the elect' means those who lead lives that are good and true.