10458. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp. That this signifies hell, in which that nation then was, is evident from the signification of “the camp of the sons of Israel,” as being heaven and the church (see n. 4236, 10038); consequently when they were in idolatrous worship, adoring a calf instead of Jehovah, by their “camp” is signified hell; for what is representative of heaven and of the church is turned into what is representative of hell when the people turn themselves from Divine worship to diabolical worship, such as was the worship of the calf. The like is signified by “camp” in Amos:

I have sent among you the pestilence in the way of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, with the captivity of your horses; so that I have made the stink of your camp to come up even into your nose (Amos 4:10).

The vastation of truth is here treated of, and when this is vastated, the “camp” signifies hell. That the vastation of truth is treated of is evident from the details of the passage as viewed in the internal sense; for “pestilence” denotes vastation (n. 7102, 7505); “way” denotes truth, and in the opposite sense falsity (n. 10422); “Egypt” denotes what is external, and also hell (see the places cited in n. 10437); “a sword” denotes falsity fighting against truth (see n. 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294); “young men” denote the truths of the church (n. 7668); “to be slain” denotes to perish spiritually (see n. 6767, 8902); “captivity” denotes the privation of truth (see n. 7990); “horses” denote an understanding which is enlightened (n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534); and “a stink” denotes what is abominable exhaling from hell (n. 7161). From this it is evident that in this sense a “camp” denotes hell. Hell is also signified by the “camp” of the enemies who were against Jerusalem, and in general against the sons of Israel, in the historicals of the Word.

4523. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EYE AND OF LIGHT WITH THE GRAND MAN.

Everyone who has any knowledge of air and sound may know that the ear is formed in precise adaptation to the nature of their modifications, thus that in respect to its bodily and material form, the ear corresponds to them; and he who has acquired any knowledge of the ether and light, knows that in respect to its bodily and material form, the eye has been formed so as to correspond to the modifications of these; and that this is so much the case that whatever secret thing has been stored up in the nature of air and of sound is inscribed on the organism of the ear, and whatever secret thing has been stored up in the nature of the ether and of light is inscribed on the organism of the eye.

[2] Consequently he who is skilled in anatomy and also in physics may know by investigation that as regards their bodily and material forms, the organs both of sense and of motion, together with all the viscera, correspond to various things that exist in the nature of the world; and thus that the whole body is an organ composed of the most secret things in the nature of the world, and in accordance with their secret forces of acting and their wonderful modes of flowing. For this reason man was called by the ancients a little world or microcosm.

[3] He who knows this may also know that whatever exists in the world and its nature does not come forth from itself, but from what is prior to itself; and that this prior cannot come forth from itself, but from something prior to itself; and so on even to the First, from whom the things that follow come forth in order. And as they come forth from this, they also subsist from it; for subsistence is a perpetual coming forth. Hence it follows that all things in nature both in general and in particular, down to its last things, have not only come forth from the First, but also subsist from the First; for unless they were perpetually coming forth, and unless there were a continuous nexus, from the First, and thus with the First, they would fall to pieces and perish in an instant.