4236. 'And Jacob said [when he saw them], This is God's camp' means heaven. 'God's camp' means heaven, for the reason that 'an army' means truths and goods, 3448, and goods and truths are arranged by the Lord in conformity with heavenly order. Hence the arrangement of them like armies when arrayed is meant by 'an encampment', and the heavenly order itself, which is heaven, by 'a camp'. This camp or order is such that it cannot in any way be broken apart by hell, despite the constant effort from hell to break it apart. This also is why this order, which is heaven, is referred to as 'a camp', and why truths and goods, that is, angels, who are arranged in conformity with that order are called 'armies'. From all this it is now evident how 'God's camp' comes to mean heaven. It is that actual order, and so heaven itself, which was represented by the encampments of the children of Israel in the wilderness; and their actual dwelling together there according to their tribes was referred to as 'the camp'. The Tabernacle pitched in the middle and around which they encamped represented the Lord Himself. Regarding the children of Israel's encampment in this manner, see Numbers 1:1-end, and 33:2-56; and regarding their encampment around the Tabernacle according to their tribes - Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun to the east; Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to the south; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin to the west; Dan, Asher, and Naphtali to the north; and the Levites in the middle next to the Tabernacle - Numbers 2:2 and following verses.

[2] The tribes' means all goods and truths in their entirety, see 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060. Consequently when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to tribes and the Spirit of God came upon him, he delivered the utterance,

How good your tabernacles are, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel! They are like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river. Numbers 24:2-3, 5-6.

It is quite plain that this prophecy did not mean the people named Jacob and Israel but that it was the Lord's heaven which was represented. This also is why in other places in the Word their ordered settlements in the wilderness, or encampments according to tribes, are called camps, and in those places 'a camp' in the internal sense means heavenly order and 'encampment' an arrangement in conformity with that order, that is to say, with the order in which goods and truths exist in heaven - as in Leviticus 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Numbers 3; 4:4 and following verses; 5:2-4; Numbers 9:17-end; 10:1-10, 28; 11:31-32; 12:14-15; 31:19-24; Deuteronomy 23:9-14.

[3] The meaning of 'God's camp' as heaven may also be seen in Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars gathered back their shining; and Jehovah gave voice before His army, for His camp is exceedingly many; for that which executes His word is uncountable. Joel 2:10-11.

In Zechariah,

I will encamp by My house with an army set against anyone passing through and against anyone leaving, so that the oppressor passes over them no more. Zechariah 9:8.

In John,

Gog and Magog went up over the breadth ¹ of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; but fire came down ² from God and consumed them. Revelation 20:9.

'Gog and Magog' stands for people whose worship is external separated from internal - worship that has become idolatrous, 1151. 'The breadth of the earth' stands for truth possessed by the Church - 'breadth', or a plain, meaning truth that constitutes doctrinal teaching, 2450, and 'earth' the Church, 556, 662, 1066, 1067, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355. 'The camp of the saints' stands for heaven or the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church.

[4] Since most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, so too does the word 'camp'. In this case it means evils and falsities, and consequently hell, as in David,

Though the evil pitch camp against me, my heart will not fear. Psalms 27:3.

In the same author,

God has scattered the bones of those encamping against you; ³ you have put them to shame, for God has rejected them. Psalms 53:5.

The camp of Asshur in which the angel of Jehovah smote a hundred and eighty-five thousand, Isaiah 37:36, does not have any other meaning, nor likewise does the camp of the Egyptians, Exodus 14:19-20.

각주:

3705. 'The land on which you are lying I will give to you' means that the good on which the Natural rested was His own in origin. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' here as the good of the natural, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'on which you are lying' as on which it rested; and from the meaning of 'giving it to you' as His own in origin, also dealt with below. The reason 'the land' means the good of the natural, which Jacob will represent from now on, is that 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 1866. And since it means the Lord's kingdom it also means in the highest sense the Lord, 3038 - for the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, and anything there which does not originate in Him and have regard to Him is not part of His kingdom. The Lord's kingdom is also meant in the Word by 'heaven and earth', ¹ 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), though in this case the interior of that kingdom is meant by 'heaven' and the exterior by 'earth', 82, 1411, 1733, 3355 (end). Consequently 'heaven' in the highest sense means the Lord as regards His Divine Rational and 'earth' as regards His Divine Natural. Here therefore 'the land on which you are lying' means the Good of the Natural on which the Natural, represented by 'Jacob', rested. For 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Divine Natural, as stated many times above.

[2] Furthermore the word 'land' has various meanings, see 620, 636, 1066, 2571, 3368, 3379, the reason being that Canaan, which is called the Holy Land, means the Lord's kingdom in general; and when 'heaven' is mentioned together with 'earth', 'heaven' in that case means, as has been stated, that which is interior, 'earth' that which is exterior. This being so it also means the Lord's kingdom on earth, that is, the Church; and having that meaning, it also means a person who is the Lord's kingdom or who is the Church. With that person 'heaven' accordingly means that which is interior, 'earth' that which is exterior; or what amounts to the same, 'heaven' is the rational and 'earth' the natural since the rational exists more interiorly with man and the natural more exteriorly. And since 'land' [or 'earth'] has all these meanings it also means that which a person puts into effect - namely the good of love which he receives from the Divine - so that he may become the Lord's kingdom. From this it is evident in what way the meaning of 'land' in the Word varies.

[3] 'I will give to you' means that in origin it was His own. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'giving' in the Word when used in reference to the Lord, for as shown just above, the Lord is Divine Good and also Divine Truth, the former being called 'the Father' and the latter 'the Son'. Now because Divine Good is His and consequently that which is His own, it follows that 'giving to you', when spoken by Jehovah and used in reference to the Lord, means that which was His own in origin. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by the Lord's frequent reference to the Father's having given to Him - that is to say, to Himself, the Lord - as in John,

Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him power over all flesh, in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. I have glorified You on earth; I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; Yours they were, and You gave them to Me. Now they know that everything which You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them. I am praying for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours; for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. John 17:1-2, 4, 6-10.

Each reference here to the Father's giving means originating in the Divine Good that was His, and so in that which was His own.

[4] From this one may see how great an arcanum lies within the particular words spoken by the Lord, and also how greatly different the sense of the letter is from the internal sense, and more so from the highest sense. The Lord spoke in this fashion in order that mankind which at that time had no knowledge at all of any Divine truth might nevertheless be enabled in its own way to grasp and so accept the Word, while angels did so in theirs, for the angels knew that Jehovah and He were one and that the Father was Divine Good. For this reason also they knew that when He spoke of the Father giving to Him He would be giving to Himself and so drawing on what was His own.

각주: