2401. And said, Up, get you out of this place. That this signifies that they should not remain in a state of evil, is evident from the signification of “rising up,” and of “getting out,” and also of the “place.” To “rise up” often occurs in the Word, but excites little thought as to what it further signifies, because it is a familiar expression. But in the internal sense this expression involves elevation, as here, from evil to good; for the mind is elevated when it recedes from evil (n. 2388). To “get out” is to recede, or not to remain. And the “place” is a state of evil (n. 2393). Thus the signification is evident.

[2] The quality of those who are in the knowledges of truth, but at the same time in a life of evil, has been repeatedly stated before, namely, that so long as they are in a life of evil they believe nothing; for to will evil and from will to do evil, and at the same time to acknowledge truth in faith, is not possible. This shows also that a man cannot be saved by thinking and speaking what is true, nor even what is good, while he wills nothing else, and from this his will does nothing else, than evil. It is the very will of man that lives after death; not so his thought, except that which flows from his will.

[3] As therefore a man is such as his will is, it is evident what must be his opinion of the truths of faith he has learned, and even taught, seeing that they condemn him. So far is he then from making them the basis of his thoughts, that he feels a positive aversion for them; nay, insofar as he is permitted to do so, he, like the devil’s crew, blasphemes them. They who have not been instructed concerning the life after death may suppose that it will be easy for them to receive faith when they see that the Lord governs the universe, and when they hear that heaven consists in loving the Lord and the neighbor; whereas the truth is that the evil are as far from being able to receive faith, that is, to believe from the will, as hell is from heaven, for they are wholly in evil, and in the falsity thence derived. That such persons are against the Lord and against the neighbor, and therefore against good, and consequently against truth, is known and perceived from their mere approach, or presence. There is a horrible sphere that exhales from the life of their will and of their derivative thought (n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504).

[4] If by mere instruction in the other life it were possible that men could be brought to believe and to become good, there would not be a single person in hell; for the Lord desires to raise all without exception to Himself into heaven. For His mercy is infinite, because it is the Divine mercy itself, that is extended toward the whole human race, and therefore toward the evil as well as toward the good.

1502. From all this it is now evident that Abram’s sojourn in Egypt represents and signifies nothing else than the Lord, and in fact His instruction in childhood. This is also confirmed by what is said in Hosea:

Out of Egypt have I called My son (Hos. 11:1; Matthew 2:15);

and again from what is said in Moses:

The dwelling of the sons of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was thirty years and four hundred years; and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass on the selfsame day, that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:40-41);

which years were not reckoned from Jacob’s going down into Egypt, but from the sojourning of Abram in Egypt, counting from which the years were four hundred and thirty. Thus by the “son out of Egypt” (in Hosea 11:1) in the internal sense is signified the Lord. This is further confirmed by the fact that in the Word “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge (as shown, n. 1164, 1165, 1462).

[2] And that these arcana are contained is also evident from the fact that the same is said of Abram during his sojourn in Philistia, namely, that he called his wife his sister (Genesis 20:1-18); and similar things are said of Isaac when he also was sojourning in Philistia, in that he too called his wife his sister (Genesis 26:6-13). These things would not have been related in the Word, and with almost the same circumstances, unless these arcana had been concealed within them. Moreover this is the Word of the Lord, which can in no wise have any life, unless there is an internal sense that has regard to Him.

[3] The arcana which lie stored up in these things, as also in those said concerning Abram and Isaac in Philistia, are-how the Lord’s Human Essence was conjoined with His Divine Essence, or what is the same, how the Lord became Jehovah as to His Human Essence also; and that His inauguration went on from childhood, which inauguration is here treated of. Moreover these things also involve more arcana than man can ever believe; but those which can be told are so few as to be almost nothing. Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord, they also involve arcana concerning the instruction and regeneration of man, that he may become celestial; as also concerning his instruction and regeneration, that he may become spiritual; and not only concerning the instruction of the individual man, but also concerning that of the church in general. And, further, they involve arcana concerning the instruction of little children in heaven; in a word, concerning the instruction of all who become images and likenesses of the Lord. These things do not at all appear in the sense of the letter, for the reason that the historical narrative veils them over and obscures them; but they appear in the internal sense.