8678. 'For this reason, that they behaved proudly over them' means because of the endeavour and the force used to exercise control over those belonging to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'behaving proudly' as the endeavour and the force used to exercise control, dealt with below; and from the representation of the children of Israel, who are the ones over whom they behaved proudly, as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 8645. The reason why 'behaving proudly' means the endeavour and the force used to exercise control is that kind of endeavour and the force used as a result are present in all pride; for pride consists in loving self more than others, putting self before others, and wishing to rule others. Those who wish to do this also despise others in comparison with themselves, and in addition out of hatred and vengeance persecute others who put themselves before them or do not pay respect to them. The nature of self-love, which is pride, is such that so far as it is given rein it gallops away, gaining speed with every possible step it can take, till eventually it reaches the very throne of God - wishing to usurp God. This is what all in hell are like. What they are like is revealed by their endeavours emanating from there, and also by their intense feelings of hatred for one another and their awful acts of revenge because of their wish to exercise control. That endeavour is one that is curbed by the Lord; and it is what is meant by the head of the serpent which the seed of the woman will tread down, 257. Such spirits also are meant by Lucifer in Isaiah,

How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the Dawn? You have been cut down to the earth, you have been weakened below the nations. And you said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the furthest parts of the north; I will go up above the heights of the clouds, and I will make myself like the Most High. But you have in truth been sent down to hell, to the sides of the pit. You have been cast out of the sepulchre like an abominable branch, [like] a garment of the killed, [like] those pierced with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit like a dead body trodden underfoot. Isaiah 14:12-19.

[2] The fact that pride of heart, which is self-love, drives the Divine away from itself and puts heaven away from itself becomes perfectly clear from that state in which the Divine and heaven find acceptance, which is a state of love towards the neighbour and a state of humility towards God. To the extent that a person can humble himself before the Lord, to the extent that he can love his neighbour as himself, and - as they do in heaven - above himself, he accepts the Divine and for that reason lives in heaven. From this one can see what the state is of those who love themselves more than their neighbour, and who behave proudly towards him, that is, who are ruled by self-love. One can see that it is a state in which they are opposed to heaven and to the Divine; it is therefore the state in which those in hell live. See what has been stated and shown about self-love in 2041, 2045, 2051, 2057, 2219, 2363, 2364, 2444, 3413, 3610, 4225, 4750, 4776, 4947, 5721, 6667, 7178, 7255, 7364, 7366-7377, 7488-7492, 7494, 7643, 7819, 7820, 8318, 8487.

8318. 'Alarm and dread fell on them' means that they were without any hope of dominion. This is clear from the meaning of 'alarm and dread' - when the phrase applies to those ruled by self-love and therefore by falsities and evils, who are meant by 'the chiefs of Edom' and 'the powerful ones of Moab' - as being without any hope of dominion. Those ruled by the evil of self-love have a constant desire to dominate, but when terror caused by a triumphant enemy strikes them the hope of being able to dominate forsakes them.

[2] It should be recognized that evils arise from a dual origin - self-love and love of the world. People ruled by evils arising from self-love love only themselves and despise everyone else except those who make common cause with them. And if they love these they do not really love them, only themselves, because they see themselves in them. Evils arising from this origin are the worst of all; for those people not only despise all others in contrast to themselves but also heap insults on them, hate them for the slightest reason, and long for their destruction. Vengeance and cruelty accordingly become the delight of their life. People ruled by the evil of self-love are in hell at a great depth determined by the nature and amount of that love.

[3] As for those ruled by evil arising from love of the world, they too regard the neighbour as being worthless. They value him only for his wealth, and so value his wealth but not the person himself. They have the desire to own everything belonging to their neighbour; and when this desire rules them they are devoid of any charity or pity. Robbing their neighbour of his goods is the delight of their life, especially of those who are disgustingly avaricious, that is to say, of those who love gold and silver for their own sakes, not for the sake of any useful purpose served by them. Those with whom the evil of this love reigns are also in hells, but in ones not so deep as the hells which those ruled by the evil of self-love are in. In addition to these two origins of evil there is also a third, which consists in doing evil as a result of false religious principles. But this kind of evil is calculated as evil when it exists with those ruled by self-love and love of the world, but not when it exists with those governed by love towards the neighbour and to their God, since good is their end in view and the end determines the nature of all else, see 8311.