10228. 'To make expiation for your souls' means in order that evils may be removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'expiation being made for their souls' as being purified or delivered from evils by means of the truth of faith, dealt with above in 10218; and since purification or deliverance from evils is nothing other than the removal of them, this too is meant by the same words.

A person is not delivered from evils and consequently purified, but is withheld from them when he is maintained in good by the Lord; and in this way evils are removed, see the places referred to in 10057(end).

1694. That 'they took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah' means that they were stripped of the power to do evil is clear from the meaning of 'taking someone's wealth'. 'The wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah' is used to mean in the internal sense nothing else than evil and falsity, evil being meant here by 'the wealth' and falsity by 'the food'. In relation to the good, spiritual wealth and riches are nothing else than the goods and truths with which they are provided and enriched by the Lord; and therefore in relation to the evil, wealth and riches are nothing else than the evils and falsities which they have acquired to themselves. Such things are also meant in the Word by wealth. From these considerations it is clear that 'taking the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah' is depriving them of the power to do evil.