8670. 'All the distress that had come upon them on the way' means the toil in temptations. This is clear from the meaning of 'the distress' as the toil (the reason why 'the distress' means the toil is that it is used to refer to temptations, for in them the tempted are involved in toil against falsities and evils, and also the angels are involved in toil together with them to maintain them in faith and so in the power to be victorious); and from the meaning of 'that had come upon them on the way' as in regard to temptations, that is to say, the toil in them. For 'on the way' is in the wilderness where they underwent the temptations that have been the subject before now.