2444. 'Jehovah rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire' means the hell of those governed by the evils of self-love, and by falsities deriving from these. This is clear from the meaning of 'raining on' as to be condemned, of 'brimstone' as the hell of the evils of self-love, and of 'fire' as the hell of falsities deriving from these, dealt with in the paragraphs that follow this; and also from the meaning of 'Sodom' as evil that stems from self-love, and of 'Gomorrah' as falsity deriving from this evil, dealt with in 2220, 2246, 2322. Here 'Gomorrah' as well is mentioned; no previous mention of it has been made in this chapter for the reason that 'Gomorrah' means falsity, which is the product of the evil of self-love. For inside the Church, whose final period or judgement is the subject at this point, this is the evil which in the main acts against good, and falsity deriving from evil which acts against truth. These two are joined together in such a way that anybody who is subject to the one is subject to the other, and indeed in a like ratio and to a like degree. It does indeed seem to be other than this, but the reality reveals itself in the next life if not in this world. Regarding the nature of self-love, and how great the evils are which arise from it, and that the hells have their origin in it, see 693, 694, 760, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 2041, 2045, 2051, 2057, 2219.

2246. 'They went towards Sodom' means concerning the human race which was immersed in such great evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'Sodom' as evil that stems from self-love, dealt with above in 2220, and of 'looking towards the face of Sodom' as towards the state of the human race, 2219. The reason 'Sodom' means the state of the human race which was immersed in such great evil is that Sodom is not used to mean Sodom but all those throughout the world who are governed by self-love; and the description of Sodom represents the state of all who are immersed in that evil, as becomes clear from what follows. The fact that self-love is the source of all evils, and so of evil itself, is clear from what has been stated and shown about it already in 2045, 2057, 2219. This is why it is said here that they were immersed in such great evil.