1666. All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim. That this signifies that they were in the unclean things of cupidities, may be seen from the signification of “the valley of Siddim,” concerning which see below (at verse 10), where it is said that “the valley of Siddim was pits, pits, of bitumen,” that is, that it was full of pits of bitumen, by which are signified the foul and unclean things of cupidities (see n. 1999). The same may be seen from the fact that by Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim were signified the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity, which in themselves are unclean. That they are unclean may be seen by everyone within the church; and it also is actually seen in the other life. Such spirits desire nothing better than to pass their time in marshy, boggy, and excrementitious places, so that their nature carries such things with it. Such unclean things sensibly exhale from them when they approach the sphere of good spirits; especially when they desire to infest the good, that is, to gather together to attack them. From this it is evident what “the valley of Siddim” is.

[2] That “this is the Salt Sea,” signifies the filthy things of the derivative falsities, may be seen from the signification of “the Salt Sea,” which is as it were the same as that of the valley of

Siddim; for it is said, “the valley of Siddim, this is the Salt Sea;” but these words are added for the reason that “the Salt Sea” signifies the falsities which burst forth from the cupidities; for there cannot possibly be any cupidity that does not produce falsities. The life of cupidities may be likened to a coal fire, and the falsities to the obscure light from it. As there cannot be fire without light, so neither can there be cupidity without falsity. All cupidity is of some foul love; for that which is loved is desired [cupitur], and hence is called cupidity; and in cupidity itself there is the love in question in its continuity. Whatever favors or dissents to this love or cupidity is called falsity. Hence it is evident why the words “the Salt Sea” are here added to the words “the valley of Siddim.”

[3] As cupidities and falsities are what vastate or lay waste man, that is, deprive him of all the life of the love of good, and of the affection of truth, vastation is described in many passages by “saltiness.” As in Jeremiah:

He that maketh flesh his arm shall be like a bare shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, and shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited (Jeremiah 17:5-6).

In Ezekiel:

The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt (Ezekiel 47:11).

In David:

Jehovah turneth rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into drought, a fruitful land into one of saltiness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein (Psalms 107:33-34).

In Zephaniah:

Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a place left to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and a desolation forever (Zeph. 2:9).

[4] In Moses:

The whole land is brimstone and salt, a burning; it shall not be sown and shall not sprout, neither shall any herb spring up in it as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:23). “The whole land brimstone and salt, a burning,” denotes vastated goods and truths; “brimstone,” the vastation of good; “salt,” the vastation of truth; for parching and saltiness destroy the land and the products of the land just as cupidity destroys goods and as falsity destroys truths. As “salt” was significative of devastation, it was also customary to sow with salt the cities which were destroyed, that they might not be rebuilt (see Judges 9:45). “Salt” is used also in the opposite sense, signifying that which gives fertility, and as it were relish. verse 4. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. “Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,” signifies that the evils and falsities did not appear in childhood, but that they served the apparent goods and truths; “and in the thirteenth year they rebelled,” signifies the beginning of temptations in childhood.

1999. Abram fell upon his faces. ¹ That this signifies adoration, is evident without explication. To fall upon the face was a rite of adoration in the Most Ancient Church, and thence in that of the Ancients, for the reason that the face signified the interiors, and the state of their humiliation was represented by falling upon the face; hence in the Jewish representative church it became a customary ceremonial. True adoration, or humiliation of heart, carries with it prostration to the earth upon the face before the Lord, as a gesture naturally flowing from it. For in humiliation of heart there is the acknowledgment of self as being nothing but filthiness, and at the same time the acknowledgment of the Lord’s infinite mercy toward that which is such; and when the mind is kept in these two acknowledgments, the very mind droops in lowliness toward hell, and prostrates the body; nor does it uplift itself until it is uplifted by the Lord. This takes place in all true humiliation, with a perception of being uplifted by the Lord’s mercy. Such was the humiliation of the men of the Most Ancient Church; but very different is the case with that adoration which comes not from humiliation of the heart. (See n. 1153.)

[2] That the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah His Father, is known from the Word of the Gospels; and also that He did so as if to one different from Himself, although Jehovah was in Him. But the state in which the Lord was at these times was His state of humiliation, the nature of which has been stated in Part First, namely, that He was then in the infirm human that was from the mother; but insofar as He put this off, and put on the Divine, He was in another state, which is called His state of glorification. In the former state He adored Jehovah as one different from Himself, although in Himself; for, as has been said, His internal was Jehovah; but in the latter, that is, in His state of glorification, He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself, for He was Jehovah Himself.

[3] But how the case is with these matters cannot be apprehended unless it is known what the internal is, and how the internal acts into the external; and further, in what manner the internal and the external are distinct from each other, and yet are conjoined. This, however, may be illustrated by something that is similar, namely, by the internal in man, and by its influx and operation into the external. That man has an internal, an interior or rational, and an external, may be seen above (n. 1889, 1940). Man’s internal is that from which he is man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals. By means of this internal he lives after death, and to eternity a man, and by means of it he can be uplifted by the Lord among the angels. This internal is the very first form from which a man becomes and is man, and by means of it the Lord is united to man. The very heaven that is nearest the Lord is composed of these human internals; but this is above even the inmost angelic heaven, and therefore these internals belong to the Lord Himself. By this means the whole human race is most present under the Lord’s eyes, for there is no distance in heaven, such as appears in the sublunary world, and still less is there any distance above heaven. (See what is said from experience, n. 1275, 1277.)

[4] These internals of men have no life in themselves, but are forms recipient of the Lord’s life. Insofar therefore as a man is in evil, whether actual or hereditary, so far has he been as it were separated from this internal which is the Lord’s and with the Lord, and thereby so far has he been separated from the Lord; for although this internal has been adjoined to man, and is inseparable from him, nevertheless insofar as he recedes from the Lord, so far he as it were separates himself from it. (See n. 1594.) But the separation is not an absolute sundering from it, for then the man could no longer live after death; but it is a dissent and disagreement on the part of those faculties of his which are below, that is, of his rational and of his external man. Insofar as there is dissent and disagreement, there is disjunction from the Lord; but insofar as there is not dissent and disagreement, the man is conjoined with the Lord through the internal, which takes place insofar as the man is in love and charity, for love and charity conjoin. Such is the case with man.

[5] But the Lord’s internal was Jehovah Himself, because He was conceived from Jehovah, who cannot be divided and become another’s, as is the case with a son who is conceived from a human father; for the Divine is not divisible, like the human, but is and remains one and the same. To this internal the Lord united the Human Essence; and because the Lord’s internal was Jehovah, it was not a form recipient of life, like the internal of man, but was life itself. His Human Essence also in like manner was made life by the unition, on which account the Lord so often said that He is Life, as in John:

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26); besides other passages in the same gospel (John 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25).

Insofar therefore as the Lord was in the human which He received by inheritance from the mother, so far did He appear distinct from Jehovah and adore Jehovah as one different from Himself. But insofar as the Lord put off this human, He was not distinct from Jehovah, but was one with Him. The former state, as before said, was the Lord’s state of humiliation; but the latter was His state of glorification.

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