8103. 'And they travelled from Succoth and encamped in Etham' means the second state after they were delivered. This is clear from the consideration that the travels and encampments of the children of Israel after they had departed from Egypt mean the spiritual states of those delivered by the Lord, who have been the subject above. A change of state is meant by each journey from one place to another, and by each stopping-place. The second state is meant here by travelling from Succoth to Etham, since the first state was meant by travelling from Rameses to Succoth, 7972. Also by 'travels' in the internal sense of the Word states and established patterns of life are meant, 1293, 3335, 5605, and arrangements of truth and good which have to do with life by 'encampments', 4236.

7972. 'And the children of Israel travelled from Rameses to Succoth' means the first state of departure and the essential nature of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'travelling' as the order and established patterns of life, dealt with in 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, so that the travels of the children of Israel, described in Exodus, are states of life and their changes from first to last. At this point therefore 'the travelling from Rameses to Succoth' means the first state and the essential nature of it. For names of places, like those of persons too, all mean spiritual things and their essential nature, see 768, 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 3422, 4298, 4710, 4442, 5095, 6516.