365. We may gather from this that rich people arrive in heaven just as much as poor people do, one as easily as the other. The reason people believe that it is easy for the poor and hard for the rich is that the Word is misunderstood when it talks about the rich and the poor. In the spiritual meaning of the Word, "the rich" means people who are amply supplied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the church where the Word is. "The poor" means people who lack these understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church, where the Word is not found.

[2] The rich person dressed in purple and fine linen who was cast into hell means the Jewish nation. Because they had the Word and were therefore amply supplied with understandings of what is good and true, they are called "rich." The garments of purple actually mean understandings of what is good, and the fine linen means understandings of what is true. ¹ The poor person who was lying in the gateway and who longed to feast on the crumbs that were falling from the rich person's table, who was carried up into heaven by angels, means the non-Jews who did not have understandings of what is good and true but who still longed for them (Luke 16:19, 31).

The rich who were invited to the great feast but who excused themselves also mean the Jewish nation, and the poor who were brought in to replace them mean the non-Jews who were outside the church (Luke 12:16-24, 14:16-24).

[3] We need also to explain who are meant by the rich of whom the Lord said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). "The rich person" here means the rich in both senses, natural and spiritual. Rich people in the natural sense are people who have abundant wealth and set their hearts on it, while in a spiritual sense they are people who are amply supplied with insights and knowledge (for these are spiritual wealth) and who want to use them to get themselves into heavenly and ecclesiastical circles by their own intellect. Since this is contrary to the divine design, it says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. On this level of meaning, a camel means our cognitive and informational level in general, and the eye of a needle means spiritual truth. ²

Nowadays people do not know that this is the meaning of the camel and the eye of a needle because there has not yet been any access to the knowledge that teaches what is meant spiritually by the things that the Word says literally. There is spiritual meaning in the details of the Word, and natural meaning as well; because the Word was written in pure correspondences of natural realities with spiritual ones in order to effect a union of heaven and the world, or of angels with us, once the direct union had ceased. We can see from this exactly who are meant by the rich in the Word.

[4] We may gather from a number of passages that on the spiritual level "the rich" in the Word refers to people who enjoy insights into what is good and true and that wealth means those insights themselves, which are spiritual riches: see Isaiah 10:12-14; 30:6-7; 45:3, Jeremiah 17:3; 47:7 [Jeremiah 48:7?], Jeremiah 50:36-37; 51:13, Daniel 5:2-4, Ezekiel 26:7, 12; 27:1-36; Zechariah 9:3-4; Psalms 45:12; Hosea 12:9; Revelation 3:17-18, Luke 14:33, and elsewhere. On the poor in the spiritual sense as people who do not have insights into what is good and true but who long for them, see Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20-21; 14:21; Isaiah 14:30; 29:19; 41:17-18; Zephaniah 3:12, 18 [13]. An explanation of the spiritual meaning of all these passages may be found in 10227 of Secrets of Heaven.

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118. And poverty, but thou art rich, signifies the acknowledgment that they know nothing from themselves. This is evident from the signification of "poverty," as being the acknowledgment of heart that they know nothing from themselves (of which presently); and from the signification of "but thou art rich," as being the affection of spiritual truth (of which also presently). That by "poverty" spiritual poverty is here meant, and that by "thou art rich" is meant to be spiritually rich, is clear, since these things are said to the church. To be spiritually poor, and yet to be rich, is to acknowledge in heart that one has no knowledge nor understanding nor wisdom from himself, but that he knows, understands, and is wise wholly from the Lord. In such acknowledgment are all the angels of heaven, wherefore they are also intelligent and wise, and this in the same degree in which they are in the acknowledgment and perception that this is the case. For they know and perceive that nothing of the truth that is called the truth of faith, and nothing of the good that is called the good of love, is from themselves, but that these are from the Lord; they also know and perceive that all things that they understand and in which they are wise have reference to the truth of faith and to the good of love; and from this again they know that all their intelligence and wisdom is from the Lord; and because they know and acknowledge this, and also wish and love it to be so, Divine truth from which are all intelligence and wisdom continually flows in from the Lord, and this they receive in the measure in which they are affected by it, that is, love it. But, on the other hand, the spirits of hell believe that all things which they think and will, and thence speak and do, are from themselves, and nothing from God; for they do not believe in a Divine; consequently, instead of intelligence and wisdom they have insanity and folly, for they think contrary to truth, and will contrary to good, and this is to be insane and foolish. Every man who is in the love of self does the same; he cannot do otherwise than attribute all things to self, because he looks only to self; and because he does this he is not in any acknowledgment that all intelligence and wisdom are from the Lord; consequently, when such persons think with themselves, they think contrary to the truths and goods of the church and of heaven, although when speaking with men they talk otherwise, from a fear of losing their reputation.

[2] From this it can be known what "poverty" in the spiritual sense means. He who is spiritually poor is nevertheless rich, because he is in the spiritual affection of truth; for into this affection intelligence and wisdom from the Lord flow; for everyone's affection receives and imbibes things congenial to it, as a sponge does water; therefore the spiritual affection of truth receives and imbibes spiritual truths, which are the truths of the church, from the Word. The spiritual affection of truth has no other source than the Lord, because the Lord is Divine truth in heaven and in the church, for Divine truth proceeds from Him. And as the Lord loves to lead everyone to Himself, and to save him, and this He can do only by the knowledges of good and truth from the Word, so the Lord loves to impart these to man, and make them of his life, for in this way and no other can He lead man to Himself and save him. From this it is manifest that all spiritual affection of truth is from the Lord, and that no one can be in that affection unless he acknowledges the Divine of the Lord in His Human, for by such acknowledgment there is conjunction, and according to conjunction there is reception. (On this more may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, where it treats of The Wisdom of the Angels of Heaven, n. 265-275 ; and of The Wise and the Simple in Heaven, n. 346-356, and elsewhere in the same work, n. 13, 19, 25-26, 133, 139-140, 205, 297, 422, 523, 603; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 11-27; and above, in the explanation of Revelation, n. 6, 59, 112, 115, 117.

[3] In the Word, "the poor and needy" are mentioned here and there, also the "hungry and thirsty." By "the poor and needy" are signified those who believe that of themselves they know nothing; and also those who are destitute of knowledge because they have not the Word; and by the "hungry and thirsty" are signified those who continually long for truths, and long to be perfected by means of truths. These two classes are meant by the "poor," the "needy," the "hungry," and the "thirsty," in the following passages:

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:3, 6).

Blessed are the poor; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are ye that hunger; for ye shall be filled (Luke 6:20, 21).

To the poor the Gospel shall be preached, and the poor hear the Gospel (Luke 7:22; Matthew 11:5).

The master of the house said to the servant that he should go out into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor (Luke 14:21).

Then the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down with confidence (Isaiah 14:30).

I was an hungered and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me to drink (Matthew 25:35).

The poor and the needy seek water, and there is none, their tongue faileth for thirst, I, Jehovah, will answer them. I will open rivers on the heights, and fountains will I place in the midst of the valleys (Isaiah 41:17-18).

From this last passage it is clear that the "poor and needy" are those who long for the knowledges of good and truth, for the "water" that such seek is truth. (That "water" is the truth of faith, see above, n. 71.) Their longing is here described by "their tongue fainting for thirst," and the abundance they are to have by "rivers being opened on the heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys."

[4] Those who do not know that by the "rich" are signified those who have the Word and who thence can be in the knowledges of truth and good, and that by the "poor" are signified those who have not the Word, and yet long for truths, know no other than that by the "rich man" in Luke (Luke 16:19 seq.) "who was clothed in purple and fine linen," are meant the rich in the world, and that by the "poor man" who "was laid at his gate, and desired to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table," are meant the poor in this world. But by the "rich man" there the Jewish nation is meant, which had the Word, and might from it have been in the knowledges of truth and good; and by the "poor man" are there meant the Gentiles that had not the Word and yet longed for the knowledges of truth and good. The rich man is described as "clothed with purple and fine linen," because "purple" signifies genuine good (Arcana Coelestia 9467), and the "fine linen" genuine truth (Arcana Coelestia 5319, 9469, 9596, 9744), both from the Word. The poor man is described as "laid at the rich man's gate, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table," because by "to be laid at the gate" is meant to be rejected, and to be deprived of the opportunity to read and understand the Word; and "wishing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table" means to long for some truths from the Word, for "food" signifies the things of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom and in general, good and truth (Arcana Coelestia 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 8562, 9003); and "table" signifies a receptacle for these (Arcana Coelestia 9527). As the poor man was in that longing, which is the same as the spiritual affection of truth, it is said of him that "he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom," by which is signified to be raised into an angelic state in respect to intelligence and wisdom; "Abraham's bosom" is the Divine truth that is in heaven, for those who are in that are with the Lord. (That "Abraham" in the Word signifies the Lord, see Arcana Coelestia n. 2010, 2833, 2836, 3245, 3251, 3305, 3439, 3703, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6804, 6847)

[5] The like that is signified here by the "rich man" and the "poor man who hungered" is signified by the "rich" and the "hungry" in Luke:

The hungry He hath filled with good, and the rich He hath sent empty away (Luke 1:53).

(That by "riches" in the Word are meant spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, see Arcana Coelestia 1694, 4508, 10227; and in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 365; and in a contrary sense, the knowledges of what is false and evil, which are confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, Arcana Coelestia 1694.) That "riches" in the Word signify the knowledges of truth and good, and intelligence and wisdom therefrom, is from correspondence; for with the angels in heaven all things appear as if refulgent with gold, and silver, and precious stones; and this so far as they are in the intelligence of truth and in the wisdom of good. Also with the spirits who are below the heavens there are riches in appearance according to the reception of truth and good from the Lord with them.