10040. As the flesh of the bullock with its skin and dung was to be burnt with fire without the camp, it can be seen that by its “flesh” was not signified the good of love, but the evil of love, according to what was said of its flesh above (n. 10035), and of the camp just above (n. 10038). But that the eating of the flesh of the sacrifice was allowed, as can be seen from the passages which follow, was because that nation, while in worship, was in the external without the internal (see the places cited in n. 9320, 9380); and the external without the internal is not at all holy, because then there is only gesture of the body and speech of the mouth, and the heart and soul are absent. Nevertheless the external without the internal was called holy, because it represented holy internal things. Holy internal things are all things that belong to love and faith from the Lord to the Lord. As that nation was of this character, they were not allowed to eat blood and fat, because by “blood” was signified the Divine truth which is of faith, and by “fat” the Divine good which is of love, both from the Lord (see above, n. 10033); but they were allowed to eat the flesh of the sacrifice, because it signified what is man’s own (n. 10035), and the own of that nation was to worship external things as holy, and to make no account whatever of internal things; which worship, except as a representative that was holy, was idolatrous (n. 4281, 4311). Moreover, representatively “flesh” is nothing else, seeing that its blood represented Divine truth and its fat Divine good (n. 10033), for in this case the flesh represented something without life and soul, which is called dead, as is the external without the internal, according to these words in Moses:

Thou shalt not eat the blood, for the blood is the soul; thou shalt not eat the soul with the flesh (Deuteronomy 12:23).

[2] Worship is nearly similar with the Gentile people of the Catholic religion, as it is called, namely, external without internal; for it is not granted to the common people to know the internal things of the Word, seeing that they are not allowed to read the Word. For this reason also it has of the Lord’s Divine Providence come to pass that in the Holy Supper the bread is given, which is “the flesh;” and not the wine, which is “the blood;” and yet the blood is what gives life to the flesh, as the wine does to the bread. For as bread without wine does not give nourishment to the body, so neither does the good of love, which is signified by “bread” and by “flesh,” without the truth of faith, which is signified by “wine” and by “blood,” give nourishment to the soul. By the Divine Providence of the Lord it has also come to pass that the priest should drink up the wine, because by this is signified the nourishment of the soul by Divine truth without the good of love, which is a holy external without a holy internal. That this has come to pass by the Divine Providence of the Lord they do not know, because they idolatrously adore external things, and thus do not apprehend internal ones; and therefore if they had acted differently they would have profaned holy things just like the Jews. By drinking wine alone, is also signified alone to know Divine truth, and not the common people, except insofar and in such a way as the priests wish, as also is the case there. (That in the Holy Supper the flesh and the bread denote the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love toward the human race, and the reciprocal love of man to the Lord; and that the blood and the wine denote the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good, thus the truth of faith from the Lord to the Lord, see n. 3464, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 6135, 6377, 6789, 7850, 9127) As regards the flesh of the sacrifices, when it was to be brought forth out of the camp, and burned with fire, see Leviticus 4:11-12, 21; and when and by whom it was to be eaten, Leviticus 6:19 end; 7:6, 15-19 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:7, 17-18, 27; 26:6-7.

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).

Fußnoten:

[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.