1666. That 'all [these] were gathered together at the valley of Siddim' means that they were immersed in the unclean things that go with evil desires becomes clear from the meaning of 'the valley of Siddim', dealt with below at verse 10, which says that 'the valley of Siddim was pits after pits of bitumen', that is, it was full of bitumen-pits, which mean the filthy and unclean things that go with evil desires, 1299. The same may be seen from the fact that Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim meant evil desires and false persuasions, which are by their very nature unclean. That they are unclean anyone inside the Church may see; and in the next life it is clearly seen in what happens there. Spirits such as are immersed in these unclean things desire nothing better than to spend their time in places full of stagnant water, mire, and excrement, so that their very disposition carries such things with it. The emanation of such unclean things from them is detected as soon as they come near the sphere of good spirits, especially when they desire to infest the good, that is, to band together and attack them. All this shows what is meant by the valley of Siddim.

[2] 'Which is the Salt Sea' means the foul things which accompany derivative falsities. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'the Salt Sea', which would seem to be the same place as 'the valley of Siddim', for the words used are 'the valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea'. But the latter phrase has been added for the reason that 'the Salt Sea' means the falsities that burst forth from evil desires; indeed not one such desire exists which does not produce falsities. The life belonging to evil desires may be compared to a coal fire, and the falsities to the dim light that comes from it. Just as fire cannot exist without light, neither can evil desire do so without falsity. Every evil desire stems from some filthy love, for that which is loved is desired and is therefore called desire, the desire itself containing within itself an extension of that particular love. And what favors or supports that love or desire is called falsity. This shows why the phrase 'the Salt Sea' has here been added to 'the valley of Siddim'.

[3] Since evil desires and falsities are what vastate a person, that is, deprive him of all the life belonging to the love of good and to the affection for truth, such vastation is described in various places as a salt region, as in Jeremiah,

He who makes flesh his arm will be like a bare shrub in the solitary place, and will not see when good comes; and he will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited. Jeremiah 17:5-6.

In Ezekiel,

Its swamps and its marshes are not healed, they will be given up to salt. Ezekiel 47:11.

In David,

Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and the outgoings of waters into a dryness, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the wickedness of those inhabiting it. Psalms 107:33-34.

In Zephaniah,

Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a desolation for ever. Zephaniah 2:9.

[4] In Moses,

The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, and it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim. Deuteronomy 29:23.

'The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning' stands for goods and truths that have been vastated - 'brimstone' for the vastation of good, 'salt' for the vastation of truth. Indeed heat and saltiness are destructive of the land and its crops in the way that evil desire is destructive of goods, and falsity of truths. Since 'salt' meant vastation, it was also customary to sow the cities they had destroyed with salt, to prevent their being rebuilt, as in Judges 9:45. Salt is also used in the contrary sense to mean that which renders fertile, and that which so to speak adds flavor.

[1666a] Verse 4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

'Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer' means that evils and falsities did not reveal themselves in childhood but were subservient to apparent goods and truths. 'And in the thirteenth year they rebelled' means the onset of temptations in childhood.

1458. 'Towards the south' means into goods and truths, thus into a state that is bright as regards interior things. This is clear from the meaning of 'the south'. That 'the south' means a state that is bright arises from the fact that the four quarters, as with periods of time, do not actually exist in the next life, only the states meant by the four quarters and periods of time. The successive states of ideas in the understanding are like the states that belong to the times of the day and to the seasons of the year, and also to those of the four quarters. The successive states of a day are evening, night, morning, and midday; the states of the year are autumn, winter, spring, and summer; and the states of the four quarters are those of the sun in relation to west, north, east, and south. Similar to these are the successive states of ideas in the understanding. And what is remarkable, in heaven those whose state is one of wisdom and intelligence are in light. The intensity of that light is in exact proportion to their state, with those in the greatest light whose state is one of highest wisdom and intelligence; but the wisdom there is that which goes with love and charity, and the intelligence that which goes with faith in the Lord. That there is light in the next life to which the light of the world scarcely stands comparison is to me evident from much experience, and this will in the Lord's Divine mercy be presented later on. And because there exists in heaven such a correspondence between light and things of the understanding, nothing else is meant in the internal sense here and elsewhere in the Word by 'the south'. Here 'the south' means intelligence acquired through cognitions. Cognitions are celestial and spiritual truths, which are just so many radiations of light in heaven and which present themselves visibly by means of the light, as has been stated. Because the Lord was now to be endowed with cognitions so that He might become the Light itself of heaven as regards His Human Essence as well, it is here said that 'he travelled, going on and travelling, towards the south'.

[2] That 'the south' means those things becomes clear from similar examples in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not withhold. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth. Isaiah 43:6.

'The north' stands for those without knowledge, 'the south' for those who possess cognitions, 'sons' stands for truths, and 'daughters' for goods. In the same prophet,

If you bring food out of store for the hungry ¹ and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as the noonday. ² Isaiah 58:10.

'Bringing food out of store for the hungry and satisfying the afflicted soul' stands for good deeds of charity in general. 'Your light will rise in the darkness' stands for the fact that truth has made them intelligent, and 'your thick darkness will be as the noonday' ² that good has made them wise. 'The south' means good by virtue of its warmth, and truth by virtue of its light.

[3] In Ezekiel,

In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, on which there was so to speak the structure of a city on the south. Ezekiel 40:2.

This refers to the new Jerusalem or the Lord's kingdom, which because it is bathed in the light of wisdom and intelligence is 'on the south'. In David,

Jehovah will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgement as the noonday. ² Psalms 37:6.

In the same author,

You will not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that flies by day, of the pestilence that walks in thick darkness, of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. ² Psalms 91:5-6

'Not being afraid of the destruction that lays waste at noonday' ² stands for not fearing the condemnation which comes upon those who possess cognitions but pervert them. In Ezekiel,

Son of man, set your face ³ towards the south and drop [your words] to the south and prophesy towards the forest of the field in the south; and you shall say to the forest of the south, All faces in it from south to north will be scorched in it. Ezekiel 20:46-47

'The forest of the south' stands for those who possess the light of truths but extinguish it, and so stands for those within the Church who are such as these.

[4] In Daniel,

Out of one of them there came forth a little horn, and it grew much towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]. And it grew even towards the host of heaven. Daniel 8:9-10.

This stands for people who assail goods and truths. In Jeremiah,

Give glory to Jehovah your God before He causes darkness and before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and you look for light and He turns it into the shadow of death and places it in thick darkness. The cities of the south will be shut up, with none opening them. Jeremiah 13:16, 19.

'Cities of the south' stands for cognitions of truth and good. In Obadiah,

Those carried away from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will inherit the cities of the south. Obad. verse 20.

Here similarly 'the cities of the south' stands for truths and goods, and so for the truths and goods themselves to which they are heirs. The subject here is the Lord's kingdom.

[5] As regards 'Abram travelled, going on and travelling, towards the south' meaning, as has been stated, the Lord's advance into goods and truths, thus into a state that is bright as regards interiors, cognitions are what open up the path to seeing celestial and spiritual things. By means of cognitions a path is opened up from the internal man to the external man in which recipient vessels reside, as many as there are cognitions of good and truth. It is into the latter as their own particular vessels that celestial things flow.

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