Arcana Coelestia #2380
2380. And shut the door. That this signifies that He also closes all access to them, is evident from the signification of a “door,” as being that which introduces (n. 2356, 2357, 2376), thus access. Hence it is that to “shut the door” denotes to preclude access. In the other life access is precluded by the good being separated from the evil, so that they cannot be infested by the spheres of the persuasions of falsity and of the cupidities of evil; for the exhalation from hell cannot penetrate to heaven. In the life of the body access is precluded by the principles and persuasions of falsity being rendered powerless against those who are in good; for whenever any falsity of evil or evil of falsity is infused into them, whether in speech by an evil man, or in thought by an evil spirit or devil, the angels who are with them at once turn it aside, and bend it to something true and good in which the persons in question have been confirmed; and this however severely they may be suffering bodily trouble, for the angels esteem the body as nothing in comparison with the soul.
[2] While a man remains in corporeal things, he is in such a general and obscure idea and perception (see n. 2367) that he scarcely knows whether he is in the good of charity or not; and this for the additional reason that he does not know what charity is, and what the neighbor is. But be it known who the persons in question are. All those are in the good of charity who have conscience (that is, who are unwilling to depart in any degree from what is just and fair, and good and true, and this for the very sake of what is just and fair, and good and true, for this principle is from conscience), and who from having conscience think well of the neighbor and desire his welfare, even should he be an enemy; and this without any recompense. These are they who are in the good of charity, whether they be without the church or within the church. If within the church, they adore the Lord, and willingly hear and do the things that He has taught.
[3] On the other hand, they who are in evil have no conscience; for that which is just and fair they care not, except insofar as thereby they can gain the reputation of seeming to care for it. What the good and truth are that affect the spiritual life they know not, and even reject this as being no life at all. Further than this: they think evilly about the neighbor and desire his injury, and also inflict injury upon him if he does not favor them, even if a friend; and in doing this they feel delight. Should they do anything good, it is with a view to recompense. Such within the church deny the Lord in secret; and insofar as honor, gain, reputation, or life are not endangered they do so openly.
[4] Be it known however that some persons think they are not in good when they are, and some that they are in good when they are not. The reason why some think they are not in good when they are, is that when they reflect upon the good in themselves, it is at once insinuated by the angels in whose society they are, that they are not in good, lest they should attribute the good to themselves, and lest their thought should be turned to their own merit, and thereby to the setting up of themselves above others. Without this guardianship they would fall into temptations.
[5] As regards some supposing themselves to be in good when they are not, the cause of this is that when they reflect upon it, it is immediately insinuated by the evil genii and spirits in whose companionship they are, that they are in good (for the evil believe delight to be good), and it is suggested that whatever good they have done to others for the sake of the love of self and of the world is good that is to be recompensed even in the other life; thus that they have merit above others, whom they despise in comparison with themselves, and indeed esteem them as of no account. And, wonderful to say, if they were to think differently they would fall into temptations, in which they would yield.
Genesis 19
1
The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,
2
and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."
3
He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
5
They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."
6
Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him.
7
He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.
8
See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."
9
They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.
10
But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
11
They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12
The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:
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for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."
14
Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
15
When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city."
16
But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.
17
It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!"
18
Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.
19
See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.
20
See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."
21
He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22
Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24
Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.
25
He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.
26
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27
Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.
28
He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29
It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
30
Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31
The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.
32
Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."
33
They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34
It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."
35
They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she got up.
36
Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.
37
The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38
The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
