10038. Shalt thou burn with fire without the camp. That this signifies that those things were to be committed to hell, and to be defiled with the evils of the love of self, is evident from the signification of “burning with fire,” as being to consume with the evils of the love of self; for by “burning” is signified consuming, and by “fire” the evil of the love of self (see n. 1297, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141, 9434); and from the signification of “the camp,” as being heaven and the church, and in the opposite sense where heaven and the church are not, thus hell (of which in what follows). That “to be burned with fire” denotes to be consumed by the evils of the love of self, is because this love consumes all the goods and truths of faith. That the love of self does this is known to scarcely anyone at this day, and consequently neither is it known that this love is hell with man, and that it is meant by “hell fire.”

[2] For there are two fires of life with man; one is the love of self, the other is love to God. They who are in the love of self cannot be in love to God, because these loves are opposite. They are opposite because the love of self produces all evils, which are contempt for others in comparison with self, enmity against those who do not favor, and finally hatreds, revenges, ferocities, cruelties; which evils wholly resist the Divine influx, and consequently extinguish the truths and goods of faith and of charity, for these are what flow in from the Lord. Anyone who reflects is able to know that everyone’s love is the fire of his life; for without love there is no life, and such as the love is such is the life; and from this it can be known that the love of self produces evils of every kind, and that it so far produces them as it is regarded as the end, that is, so far as it reigns. The worst kind of the love of self is the love of ruling for the sake of self, that is, solely for the sake of honor and self-advantage. They who are in this love are indeed able to make a profession of faith and charity; but they do this with the mouth, and not with the heart; nay, the worst of them regard the things of faith and charity, thus the holy things of the church, as means to attain their ends. But of the Lord’s Divine mercy I will speak specifically of the love of self, and its various kinds, and the evils that spring from it, and of the state of such in the other life. These things have been said that it may be known what is denoted by being “burnt with fire without the camp.”

[3] That the camp where the sons of Israel encamped represented heaven and the church, and hence that “without the camp” denotes where heaven and the church are not, thus hell, can be seen from what is related in the Word about the camp and the encamping of the sons of Israel in the wilderness, as from these words in Moses:

The sons of Israel shall encamp, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their armies; and the Levites shall encamp around the Habitation of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the sons of Israel (Numbers 1:52-53; 2:2).

The tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun encamped to the east; the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to the south; the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin to the west; and the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali to the north; but the Levites in the midst of the camp (Numbers 2:10). The like applied when they set out on their journeys, Numbers 2:17, 10:1 to the end. ¹

Their encampments were so ordered that they might represent heaven and the church (n. 9320); by the tribes also, according to which they encamped, were represented all the goods and truths of heaven and the church in the complex (n. 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7836, 7891, 7996-7997); hence it is said that “Jehovah dwelt in the midst of the camp” (Numbers 5:3), and that “He walketh in the midst of them, and therefore they shall be holy” (Deuteronomy 23:14); and in the prophetic utterance of Balaam it is said, “when he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, he said, How good are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy habitations, O Israel” (Numbers 24:2-3, 5).

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[4] As by the camp was represented heaven and the church, it follows that by “without the camp” was signified where heaven and the church are not, thus hell; and therefore everyone that was unclean and also that was guilty was sent forth thither, as can be seen from the following passages:

Ye shall send forth out of the camp every leper, and everyone that suffereth with an issue, everyone unclean on account of a soul, from a male even to a female, ye shall send them abroad out of the camp, that they pollute not the camp, in the midst of which Jehovah dwelleth (Numbers 5:2-3; Leviticus 13:45-46).

A man that is not clean by chance of the night shall go abroad out of the camp, and shall not come into the midst of the camp; when he shall wash himself in waters, and the sun hath set, he shall enter into the camp. Thou shalt have a space without the camp, whither thou mayest go forth abroad, and thou shall cover thine excrement with a paddle, because Jehovah walketh in the midst of the camp; therefore the camp shall be holy (Deuteronomy 23:10-15).

It was also commanded that persons should be stoned “without the camp” (Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:35-36). From all this it is now evident that by “burning with fire the flesh, skin, and dung of the bullock without the camp,” is signified that the evils which are signified by these things were to be committed to hell.

1860. And there was thick darkness. That this signifies when hatred was in the place of charity, is evident from the signification of “thick darkness.” In the Word “darkness” signifies falsities, and “thick darkness” evils (as shown just below). There is “darkness” when falsity is in the place of truth; and there is “thick darkness” when evil is in the place of good, or what is precisely the same, when hatred is in the place of charity. When hatred is in the place of charity, the thick darkness is so great that the man is quite unaware that it is evil, still less that it is so great an evil as in the other life to thrust him down to hell, for they who are in hatred perceive a kind of delight and as it were a kind of life in it, and this delight and life themselves cause him scarcely to know but that it is good, for whatever favors a man’s pleasure and cupidity, because it favors his love, he feels as good, and this to such a degree that when he is told that it is infernal he can scarcely believe it, still less when he is told that such delight and life are in the other life turned into an excrementitious and cadaverous stench. And still less does he believe that he is becoming a devil and a horrible image of hell; for hell consists of nothing but hatreds and such diabolical forms.

[2] Yet anyone might know this who possesses any faculty for thinking, for if he should describe or represent, or if he could in any manner picture, hatred, he would do it no otherwise than by diabolical forms, such as those who are in hatred also become after death, and, wonderful to say, such men are capable of declaring that in the other life they shall come into heaven; some merely for saying that they have faith, when yet there are in heaven none but forms of charity, and what these are may be seen from experience (n. 553). Let all such therefore consider how these two forms, of hatred and of charity, can agree together in one place.

[3] That “darkness” signifies falsity, and “thick darkness” evil, may be seen from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples (Isaiah 60:2).

In Joel:

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and thick darkness (Joel 2:1-2).

In Zephaniah:

That day is a day of wrath, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness (Zeph. 1:15).

In Amos:

Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light, and thick darkness and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:20).

In these passages “the day of Jehovah” denotes the last time of the church, which is here treated of; “darkness” denotes falsities, “thick darkness” evils; both therefore are mentioned; otherwise it would be a repetition of the same thing, or an unmeaning amplification. But the word in the original language that in this verse is rendered “thick darkness” involves falsity as well as evil, that is, dense falsity from which is evil, and also dense evil from which is falsity.