10455. 'And he said to Moses, There is the noise of war in the camp' means an assault on the truth and good which are heaven and the Church's by falsities and evils which come from hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'the noise' as thought and affection, which are the inner components of the noise, and so the essential nature of the interiors, dealt with above in 10454; from the meaning of 'war' as truth which springs from good fighting with falsity that arises from evil, and in the contrary sense as falsity which arises from evil fighting against truth that springs from good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the camp' as the Church and heaven, for they are what the camp of the Israelites represented, see 10038. From these meanings it is evident that 'the noise of war in the camp' means an assault on truth and good which are the Church and heaven's by falsities and evils which come from hell. They are said to come from hell because all falsities and evils originate there, and because at this point in the narrative 'the camp', when the golden calf was worshipped in it, means hell, see below in 10458.

[2] The reason why these things are meant by 'the noise of war in the camp' is that the subject at present in the internal sense is the interiors of the Israelite nation. Their interiors were contrary to the truths and forms of good of the Church and of heaven, so completely contrary that they cast them away. For self-love and love of the world had taken possession of the interiors of that nation, and where those loves reign the Church's truths and forms of good are subject to constant attack, no matter how holy the outward acts of worship seem to be. The holiness in those people's worship is a means to an end, and eminence and wealth are their ends in view, so that the things of heaven and the Church are means, and those of the world and self are ends. The end which a person has in view is the master, while the means is the servant. From this it follows that with people like this heaven is the servant and the world is the master, and consequently that the world occupies the highest position, thus that of the head, while heaven occupies a lower position, thus that of the feet. If therefore heaven does not pander to those loves it is cast underfoot, trampled on, and trodden into the ground. Such an inversion exists with those with whom self-love and love of the world reign, which also explains why such people when looked at by angels appear inverted, head downwards and feet upwards.

[3] The reason why 'war' means truth fighting with falsity, and in the contrary sense falsity fighting against truth, is that 'war' in the spiritual sense is nothing other. Such conflicts are also meant in the internal sense by 'wars' in the historical narratives of the Word, as well as by 'wars' in the prophetical parts, as becomes clear from the places quoted from the Word in 1664, 8273. Anyone who does not know that in the Word wars in a spiritual sense are meant by 'wars' cannot know the implications contained in the details regarding the wars mentioned in Daniel, Chapters 7, 8, 11, also those mentioned in places throughout the Book of Revelation, and those in the Gospels where the final times of the Church are the subject, Matthew 24:5-7; Mark 13:7-8, and in other places. So it is also that all weapons of war - swords, spears, shields, bows, arrows, and more - mean the implements of spiritual conflict; these have been dealt with in the explanations in various places.

10526. 'Go! go up from here, you and the people whom you have caused to come up out of the land of Egypt, to the land' means that this nation will represent the Church, but the Church will not reside among them, because they cannot be raised from external things. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up to the land' as in order to establish the Church (for 'the land' in the Word means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325, and 'going up to it' means establishing it, since it was for that purpose that they were being led or going up towards it), though not establishing the Church, only representing it, is meant here because the interest of that nation lay in external things and not in what was internal, and the Church resides with a person in what is internal with him (the fact that not establishing the Church, only representing the things that constitute the Church is meant here explains why it says, 'Go! go up from here', and also, 'you and the people whom you have caused to come up out of the land of Egypt', thus whom Moses, not Jehovah, caused to come up; and in a subsequent verse, 'I will not go up in your midst, since you are a stiff-necked people', meaning that what is Divine is not among them, and where what is Divine is not received inwardly, no Church exists either, only an outward representation of the Church); and from the meaning of 'causing to come up out of the land of Egypt' as being raised from external things to what is internal, but here not being so raised since it says that Moses caused them to come up and not that Jehovah did so. For this meaning of 'causing to come up out of the land of Egypt', see 10421.

No Church resided among the Israelite nation, only that which was representative of the Church, see 4281, 4288, 4311, 4500, 4899, 4912, 6304, 6704, 9320, and wherever it is spoken of in the previous chapter.