8131. 'Over against it you are to encamp, close to the sea' means that the influx of temptation comes from there. This is clear from the meaning of 'over against it' as close enough for it to be within view, in the internal sense close enough for the influx to come from there; from the meaning of 'encamping' as the arrangement of truth and good for undergoing temptations, as immediately above in 8130; and from the meaning of 'the Sea Suph' as the hell where falsities arising from evils prevail, dealt with in 8099. How one should understand the explanation that the influx of temptation comes from there must be stated briefly. The temptations a person undergoes are spiritual conflicts between evil spirits and good ones. The conflicts arise from and have to do with the things the person has done or thought, recorded in his memory. The evil spirits incriminate and attack, but the good ones pardon and defend. It appears as though those conflicts are within the person, for what flows into a person from the spiritual world presents itself not as something from there but as something inside him, see 741, 751, 761, 1820, 3927, 4249, 4307, 4572, 5036, 6657, 6666. A similar situation exists with spirits when they undergo temptations. When therefore they are about to undergo temptations interior things residing with them, that is, the truths and forms of good, are rearranged by the Lord into a condition which is such that by means of direct influx from Himself, and indirect influx through heaven, resistance can be offered to the falsities and evils coming from the hells, and in that way the one undergoing temptation can be protected. When a person is tempted he is also close to hell, in particular to this hell that is meant by 'the Sea Suph'; for its inhabitants are people who had a knowledge of truth but led a life of evil, and are consequently ruled by falsities arising from evil. From the hells through evil spirits come those influences which lead to the anxiety experienced by a person in temptations. From all this one may see what one should understand by the influx of temptation from hell, meant by the command the people received to encamp over against it, close to the Sea Suph.

6666. 'And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve' means the aim to bring them under their control. This is clear from the meaning of 'making them serve' as bringing under their control, here the aim to do so because although they endeavour constantly to bring others under their control they never get the upper hand over those who are good; from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as separated factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651; and from the meaning of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in 6637. From these meanings it is evident that 'the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve' means the aim held by those who favour separated factual knowledge opposed to the Church's truths, to bring them [the Church] under their control.

[2] As regards the aim to bring others under one's own control, I have also been allowed to know what that aim is like among the evil belonging to hell. The nature of their endeavour and aim to bring under their control those who accept what is good and true defies description. For they employ every kind of malice, every kind of guile and deceit, every kind of trickery, and every kind of cruelty, the extent and nature of which are such that if merely a part were mentioned scarcely anyone in the world could believe it, so full of guile and artfulness are the methods they use, and so unspeakable too. In short those methods are such that no one at all, not even any angel, only the Lord, can stand up to them. The reason why such an endeavour and aim is present in them is that the whole delight of their life, thus their very life, consists in the doing of evil, on account of which nothing else occupies their minds, and consequently nothing else is intended by them. They cannot do anything good at all because it repels them; or if they do do anything good, it is for selfish reasons, thus only for themselves.

[3] Hells made up of people like this are growing immensely larger at the present day; and what is astounding, such people come mainly from among those within the Church on account of all the guile, trickery, hatred, revenge, and adultery that flourish there more than anywhere else. For in the Church of today guile is reckoned to be cleverness, and adultery to be honourable behaviour; and those who think anything different are laughed at. Since this is the situation at the present day within the Church, it is a sign that its last days are at hand, for according to the Lord's words recorded in Matthew 24:22, unless it came to an end 'no flesh would be saved'. Indeed all evil is infectious and like rottenness contaminates the whole, thus everyone in the end.