Apocalypse Revealed # 862
862. We have said that the nations' surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city means, symbolically, that these people attempted to destroy everything connected with the New Church, both its truths and goods and its fundamental doctrine regarding the Lord and life, as stated in the preceding number. This is the symbolic meaning because the camp of the saints symbolizes all the truths and goods of the church which is the New Jerusalem.
That a camp in the spiritual sense symbolizes everything connected with the church with respect to its truths and goods can be seen from the following passages:
The sun and moon grew dark, and the stars diminished their brightness. Jehovah uttered His voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for numberless are those who obey His Word. (Joel 2:10-11)
I will encamp for My house some of the army... (Zechariah 9:8)
...God has scattered the bones of them who encamp against you..., because God has rejected them. (Psalms 53:5)
The angel of Jehovah encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. (Psalms 34:7)
(An angel of God met Jacob, and said to Jacob,) "This is God's camp." Therefore he called the name of that place Mahanaim (Two Camps). (Genesis 32:1-2)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 29:3, Ezekiel 1:24, Psalms 27:3.
That an army or host in the Word symbolizes the church's truths and goods, and also its falsities and evils, may be seen in nos. 447, 826, 833; and so, too, does a camp.
[2] Since the children of Israel and their twelve tribes symbolize the church in respect to all its truths and goods (nos. 349, 350), they were therefore called the armies or hosts of Jehovah (Exodus 7:4; 12:41, 51), and the places where they stopped and assembled were called camps, as in Leviticus 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Numbers 1; 2; 3; 4:5 ff., 5:2-4; 9:17-23; 10:1-10, 11-28; 11:31-32; 12:14-15; 21:10-15; 33:1-49; Deuteronomy 23:9-14; Amos 4:10.
It is apparent from this now that the nations' surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city means, symbolically, that these people tried to destroy all the truths and goods of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and also its doctrine regarding the Lord and life.
The same symbolism is found in these verses in Luke:
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near... (At length) Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20, 24)
This is said in reference to the end of the age, which is the final period of the church. Jerusalem here also symbolizes the church.
That Gog and Magog, that is, people who engage in external worship divorced from any internal worship, will then invade the church and try to destroy it, is something we are told also in Ezekiel 38:8-9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 39:2, and that the New Church will then be established by the Lord, Ezekiel 39:17-29.
Numbers 33:3-49
3
And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
4
For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
5
And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.
6
And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.
7
And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol.
8
And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.
9
And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there.
10
And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
11
And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.
12
And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.
13
And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.
14
And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink.
15
And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.
16
And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth-hattaavah.
17
And they departed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth.
18
And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah.
19
And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmon-parez.
20
And they departed from Rimmon-parez, and pitched in Libnah.
21
And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah.
22
And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah.
23
And they went from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shapher.
24
And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah.
25
And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth.
26
And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.
27
And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah.
28
And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah.
29
And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah.
30
And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth.
31
And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan.
32
And they removed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad.
33
And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah.
34
And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah.
35
And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Ezion-gaber.
36
And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.
37
And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.
38
And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.
39
And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.
40
And king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.
41
And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah.
42
And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.
43
And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth.
44
And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim, in the border of Moab.
45
And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon-gad.
46
And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim.
47
And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
48
And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
49
And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
