[AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE]

The HEAVENLY ARCANA - the matters in Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord that have been disclosed - stand in explanatory sections entitled THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD. As for the nature of that sense, see what has been presented on the subject from experience in 1767-1777, 1869-1879, and in addition in the main body of the work, in 1-5, 64-66, 167, 605, 920, 937, 1143, 1224, 1404, 1405, 1408, 1409, 1502 end, 1540, 1659, 1756, 1783, 1807.

The MARVELS -- things seen in the world of spirits and in the angelic heaven - have been placed in sections before and after each chapter. In this first volume the sections are:

1. Man's awakening from the dead and his entry into eternal life, 168-181.

2. The entry into eternal life of one who has been so awakened, 182-189.

3. Man's entry into eternal life - continued, 314-319.

4. The nature of the life of a soul or spirit at that time, 320-327.

5. Some examples of what certain spirits had thought during their lifetime about the soul or spirit, 443-448.

6. Heaven and heavenly joy, 449-459.

7. Heaven and heavenly joy - continued, 537-546.

8. Heaven and heavenly joy - continued, 547-553.

9. The communities that constitute heaven, 684-691.

10. Hell, 692-700.

11. The hells of people who have gone through life hating, desiring revenge, and being cruel, 814-823.

12. The hells of people who have gone through life committing adultery and acts of unrestrained lust; also the hells of deceivers and witches, 824-871.

13. The hells of the avaricious; then the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert. Also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures, 938-946.

14. Other hells that are different from those mentioned already, 947-970.

15. Vastations, 1106-1113.

[NCBSP editor's note: The table of contents for Volume 2 of this translation may be found in section 1114.]

938. THE HELLS - continued

Here, the hells of the avaricious; then the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert. Also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures.

Avaricious people are the most disgusting of all, giving less thought than anybody else does to the life after death, to the soul, and to the internal man. They do not even know what heaven is, for the level of their thought is lower than everybody else's. Their thoughts they plunge and immerse completely in bodily and earthly interests. Consequently when they enter the next life they are for a long time unaware of the fact that they are spirits, but imagine that they are still entirely in the physical body. The ideas comprising their thought, which from their avarice have become so to speak bodily and earthly, are converted into direful delusions. And what is unbelievable but nevertheless true, the disgustingly avaricious in the next life seem to themselves to be working away in cells where their money is, and where they are infested by mice. But no matter how they may be infested they do not leave until they are tired out, and so at last roll out of those tombs.

1502. From these considerations it is now evident that Abram's sojourning in Egypt represents and means nothing else than the Lord, in particular His instruction during childhood. This is also confirmed by what is stated in Hosea,

Out of Egypt I called My son. Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15.

And further still from what is said in Moses,

The dwelling of the sons of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it happened at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that very day it happened that all the hosts of Jehovah went out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:40-41.

Those four hundred and thirty years were measured not from the time that Jacob entered Egypt but from Abram's sojourning in Egypt. Thus 'My son out of Egypt' in Hosea 11:1 means, in the internal sense, the Lord. The matter gains further confirmation from the fact that 'Egypt' in the Word means nothing other than knowledge, as shown in 1164, 1165, 1462.

[2] And that these arcana are contained in this section may become additionally clear from the fact that similar things are said of Abram when he sojourned in Philistia, namely that he called his wife his sister, Genesis 20:1-end, and also of Isaac, who, when he too sojourned in Philistia, called his wife his sister, Genesis 26:6-13. These actions would never have been recorded in the Word, and set in almost identical circumstances, unless these arcana had been lying hidden within. Furthermore this is the Word of the Lord which cannot possibly have any life unless there is an internal sense which has regard to Him.

[3] The arcana which lie hidden in this section, and in those regarding Abram and Isaac in Philistia, have to do with the way in which the Lord's Human Essence was joined to His Divine Essence, or what amounts to the same, how the Lord became Jehovah as regards His Human Essence also. They also have to do with the fact that His initiation, which is the subject in this chapter, began in childhood. Besides all this these descriptions also embody more arcana than anyone can possibly believe, and those that can be mentioned are so few as to be scarcely anything at all. In addition to the very deep arcana concerning the Lord, they also embody arcana concerning the instruction and regeneration of a person so that he may become celestial, as well as his instruction and regeneration so that he may become spiritual; and not only concerning the individual in particular but also concerning the Church in general. The descriptions here also embody arcana regarding the instruction of young children in heaven. In short they have to do with all who become images and likenesses of the Lord. These arcana are not at all clearly visible in the sense of the letter, the reason being that historical details engulf and obscure them; but they are clearly visible in the internal sense.