Arcana Coelestia # 8442
8442. 'That they looked back towards the wilderness' means recollecting the state of temptation in which they had been. This is clear from the meaning of 'looking back to something' as thinking and reflecting, dealt with in 7341, and therefore also recollecting since one who thinks and reflects is recollecting; and from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a state when temptations have to be undergone, dealt with in 6828, 8098.
