10483. 'And Moses stood in the gate of the camp' means where the opening to hell is situated. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the internal, dealt with above in 10468; from the meaning of 'in the gate' as where the opening is situated, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the camp' as hell, also dealt with above, in 10458. The reason why Moses stood in the gate of the camp and did not go inside the actual camp was in order that the impossibility for the internal to enter hell might be represented; for Moses represented the internal and the camp represented hell. The interest of all those in hell lies in external things separated from what is internal, because self-love and love of the world rule within them. Therefore what is internal cannot go in there since it is not received. Instead some who are there immediately reject it, some smother it and snuff it out, and some pervert it. Whether you say the internal or heaven, it amounts to the same thing; for heaven constitutes what is internal, not only the internal side of the Word but also the internal side of the Church and of worship, consequently the internal of the person who has celestial and spiritual love reigning within him, that is, love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour.

[2] What hell's opening is, meant by 'the gate' of this camp, must be stated briefly. Each hell is closed all the way around it, but it is opened above as necessity and need demand. It is an opening into the world of spirits, the world that lies midway between heaven and hell; for that world serves as the upper boundary of the hells and as the lower boundary of the heavens, 5852. The reason for saying that they are opened as necessity and need demand is that each person in the world has spirits present with him from hell, and angels from heaven. The spirits from hell are present in his bodily and worldly loves, and the angels from heaven in those which are celestial and spiritual; for without the spirits the person can have no life at all. If the spirits were taken away from him he would drop dead as a stone. Consequently to enable a person to lead a life in keeping with his loves the hells are opened of necessity and as need demands, and from there such spirits come out to him as are ruled by loves similar to his.

[3] That opening is what should be understood by the gate of hell. I have been allowed several times to see such openings. They are gates which the Lord guards by means of angels, to stop more spirits than are needed from coming out of there. From this it is evident what 'the gates of hell' and 'the gates of enemies' mean in the Word, as in Matthew,

Jesus said to Peter, On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18.

'The gates of hell will not prevail' means that the hells will not dare to come out and destroy the truths of faith, 'the rock' on which the Church stands being faith in the Lord received from the Lord. This faith is the faith of charity because it is rooted in charity and for that reason makes one with it.

'The rock' means that faith, see Preface to Genesis 22, and also 8581, 10438.

Real faith consists in charity, 654, 1162, 1176, 1608, 2228, 2343, 2349, 2419, 2839, 3324, 4368, 6348, 7039, 7623-7627, 7752-7762, 8530, 9154, 9783, 9924.

[4] The like is also meant by your seed will inherit the gate of their enemies, Genesis 22:17; 24:60. 'Inheriting the gate of their enemies' means destroying evils and falsities which come from hell. This was also represented by driving out and destroying the nations in the land of Canaan; for the nations there represented evils and falsities which come from hell, see 1573, 1574, 1868, 4818, 6306, 8054, 8317, 9320, 9327.

Also in David,

Those who dwell in the gate plot against me; those who drink strong wine sing songs. Psalms 69:12.

In the same author,

Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver. They will not be put to shame, for they will speak with enemies in the gate. Psalms 127:5.

'Gates' in the good sense however stands for the opening into heaven.

In David,

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O eternal doors, and the King of glory will come in. Psalms 24:7-10.

In addition admission into heaven and into the Church through truth and good is meant in the Word by 'gates', and also good and truth flowing in and present with a person.

3686. 'And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father' means the Lord's foresight and provision that the affections for that truth - the affections to which natural good had been joined until then - would not be suitable for such conjunction. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' here as foresight and provision, dealt with in 2837, 2839; from the representation of 'Esau' as the Lord as regards the Divine Good of the Natural, dealt with already; from the meaning of 'the daughters of Canaan', in this case the daughters of Heth, as affections for truth from a non-genuine source, dealt with in 3470, 3620-3622; and from the meaning of '[evil] in the eyes of Isaac his father' as not being suitable for such conjunction, that is to say, through the good of the natural, represented by 'Esau', with the good of the rational, represented by 'Isaac'. From this it is evident that all these words mean the Lord's foresight and provision that the affections for that truth, being from a non-genuine source, would not be suitable for conjunction. The truth of all this may be seen from the explanation given at 26:34-35, where the subject is the daughters of Heth whom Esau had taken as wives, and at 27:46, where the subject is the plea to Jacob not to marry one of the daughters of Canaan. The reason why 'the daughters of Canaan' here means affections for truth from a non-genuine source, whereas above 'the daughters of Canaan' meant affections for falsity and evil, 3662, 3683, is that the Hittites in the land of Canaan belonged to the Church as it existed among gentiles. They were not so much under the influence of falsity and evil as other nations there, such as the Canaanites, Amorites, and Perizzites. This also was why the Hittites represented the Lord's spiritual Church among the gentiles, 2913, 2986.

[2] The Most Ancient Church which was celestial and existed before the Flood was situated in the land of Canaan, see 567. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood was also situated there, as well as in many other countries, 1238, 2385. This was how it came about that all the gentile nations there, and also all the territories there, and all the rivers there, served as representatives. For the most ancient people, who were celestial, perceived through all the objects they beheld the kind of things that belong to the Lord's kingdom, 920, 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995, and so beheld the same through the territories and the rivers there.

[3] After their times those representatives survived in the Ancient Church, including the representatives related to the places there. Furthermore the Word that existed in the Ancient Church, dealt with in 2897-2899, contained place-names which were for the same reason representative; and the Word existing after their times, which is called Moses and the Prophets, also contains them. This was why Abraham was commanded to go there, and the promise was made to him that his descendants would possess that land. That promise was not made because they were any better than all the other nations, for they were the worst of them all, 1167, 3373. But it was made so that through them the representative Church might be established, in which no attention was paid to representative persons and places themselves but to the actual things which these represented, 3670, and thus also so that the names existing in the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches might be preserved.