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.

737. 17:10 "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings." This symbolizes the Divine goods and truths in the Word on which the Roman Catholic religion was founded, in time destroyed and finally profaned.

Since the scarlet beast symbolizes the Word, and therefore its heads symbolize the goods of love and truths of wisdom in it, it follows that Word is here described such as it is in these two respects in people meant by Babylon - mountains symbolizing the Divine goodness of love in it, and kings the Divine truth in it. That mountains symbolize goods of love may be seen in nos. 336, 339, 713[1]; that kings symbolize truths of wisdom, in nos. 20, 664, 704. A head in reference to the Lord symbolizes the Divine love of the Lord's Divine wisdom and the Divine wisdom of His Divine love (nos. 47, 538, 568). The number seven symbolizes all and completeness, and is predicated of holy things (nos. 10, 391, 657). And the woman symbolizes the Roman Catholic religion (no. 723).

So, then, the seven heads being seven mountains, on which the woman sits, symbolizes the Divine goods and truths in the Word on which the Roman Catholic religion was founded. That is because the whole Word has been profaned and adulterated by that religion, as said in nos. 717, 719-721, 723, 728-730 above.

[2] We say in time profaned, since to begin with they regarded the Word as holy; but as they saw they could use the sanctities of the church to gain dominion, they turned away from the Word and regarded their own edicts, commandments and rules as having equal, but really greater, holiness. And at last they transferred all of the Lord's authority to themselves, leaving nothing behind.

It is because of their first state, when they regarded the Word as holy, that Lucifer, meaning Babel (no. 717), is called the son of the morning, and because of their later state that he was brought down to hell (Isaiah 14). But on this subject more may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence 257.

It may seem as though the seven mountains on which the woman sits means Rome, because Rome was built on seven mountains, for which it is also famous. But although Rome is meant, since the papal Throne and Curia of the Roman Catholic religion is located there, still the seven mountains here nevertheless symbolize the Divine goods in the Word and so in the church profaned, for the number seven adds only that something is holy, here that something has been profaned, as is the case with the same number elsewhere. So we find reported seven spirits before the throne of God (Revelation 1:4); seven lampstands with the Son of Man in their midst (Revelation 1:13; 2:1); seven stars (Revelation 2:1; 3:1). So, too, the scarlet beast here had seven heads, and the seven heads were seven mountains and also seven kings.