1593. And Lot journeyed from the east. That this signifies those things in the external man that recede from celestial love, is evident from the signification of “the east,” as being the Lord, and thus all that is celestial (concerning which above, n. 101); and as the Lord is signified by the east, it follows that “the east” here is the Lord’s internal man, which was Divine. Thus that the external man receded from the internal, is here signified by “Lot journeyed from the east.”

101. That the Lord is the “east” also appears from the Word, as in Ezekiel:

He brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh the way of the east, and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was as the voice of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory (Ezekiel 43:1-2, 4).

It was in consequence of the Lord’s being the “east” that a holy custom prevailed in the representative Jewish Church, before the building of the temple, of turning their faces toward the east when they prayed.