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.

7324. 'And over their pools' means against the factual knowledge subservient to them. This is clear from the meaning of 'pools' as factual knowledge subservient to truths constituting religious teachings, and in the contrary sense factual knowledge subservient to falsities constituting religious teachings. When 'pools' are mentioned in the Word intelligence based on cognitions of goodness and truth is meant in the spiritual sense, for one takes 'pools' in the Word to refer to gatherings of water, or lakes, and gatherings of water and lakes are cognitions which, when concentrated together, contribute to intelligence, as in Isaiah,

Waters will break forth in ¹ the wilderness, and streams in the plain of the wilderness; and the dry place will become a pool and the thirsty ground wellsprings of water. Isaiah 35:6-7.

[2] In the same prophet,

I will open streams on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into well springs of water. Isaiah 41:18.

Here 'making the wilderness into a pool of water' stands for providing cognitions of goodness and truth, and therefore imparting intelligence, where they had not existed before. In the same prophet,

I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up every plant; and I will make streams into islands, and dry up pools. Isaiah 42:15.

'Pools' stands for much the same. Likewise in David,

Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and streams of waters into a dryness. He turns a wilderness into a pool of water, and parched land into streams of water. Psalms 107:33-35.

In the same author,

At the presence of the Lord, you are in labour, O earth; at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of water. Psalms 114:7-8.

[3] In Isaiah,

The rivers of Egypt will diminish and dry up. Therefore the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river. Therefore its foundations will be broken to pieces - all those making their wages out of pools of the soul. Isaiah 19:6, 8, 10.

'Pools of the soul' stands for the things that constitute intelligence when it is based on cognitions; but since these verses refer to Egypt 'pools of the soul' are the things constituting intelligence when it is based on the facts known to the Church. For 'Egypt' is those facts, and known facts are cognitions, but a lower level of them.

[4] The meaning of 'pools of water' in the contrary sense as evils arising out of falsities, and consequent insanity, is evident in Isaiah,

I will cut off from Babel the name and residue, and son and grandson, and I will turn it into the inheritance of the duck, and into pools of water. Isaiah 14:21, 23.

Since 'pools' are in the contrary sense evils arising out of falsities, and consequent forms of insanity, the hell where such things reign is also meant by them. But in this case a pool is called 'a pool of fire' and 'a pool burning with fire and brimstone', as in Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8. 'Fire and brimstone' stands for self-love and the desires that spring from it, for self-love and its desires are nothing other than fire, not elemental fire but the kind of fire that derives from spiritual fire; and this fire - spiritual fire - makes a person a living being. The fact that different types of love are life-giving fires is evident to anyone who thinks about it. These fires are what are meant by the holy fires that burn in heaven and by the fires of hell. Elemental fire does not exist in those places.

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