365. We may gather from this that rich people arrive in heaven just as much as poor people do, one as easily as the other. The reason people believe that it is easy for the poor and hard for the rich is that the Word is misunderstood when it talks about the rich and the poor. In the spiritual meaning of the Word, "the rich" means people who are amply supplied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the church where the Word is. "The poor" means people who lack these understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church, where the Word is not found.

[2] The rich person dressed in purple and fine linen who was cast into hell means the Jewish nation. Because they had the Word and were therefore amply supplied with understandings of what is good and true, they are called "rich." The garments of purple actually mean understandings of what is good, and the fine linen means understandings of what is true. ¹ The poor person who was lying in the gateway and who longed to feast on the crumbs that were falling from the rich person's table, who was carried up into heaven by angels, means the non-Jews who did not have understandings of what is good and true but who still longed for them (Luke 16:19, 31).

The rich who were invited to the great feast but who excused themselves also mean the Jewish nation, and the poor who were brought in to replace them mean the non-Jews who were outside the church (Luke 12:16-24, 14:16-24).

[3] We need also to explain who are meant by the rich of whom the Lord said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). "The rich person" here means the rich in both senses, natural and spiritual. Rich people in the natural sense are people who have abundant wealth and set their hearts on it, while in a spiritual sense they are people who are amply supplied with insights and knowledge (for these are spiritual wealth) and who want to use them to get themselves into heavenly and ecclesiastical circles by their own intellect. Since this is contrary to the divine design, it says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. On this level of meaning, a camel means our cognitive and informational level in general, and the eye of a needle means spiritual truth. ²

Nowadays people do not know that this is the meaning of the camel and the eye of a needle because there has not yet been any access to the knowledge that teaches what is meant spiritually by the things that the Word says literally. There is spiritual meaning in the details of the Word, and natural meaning as well; because the Word was written in pure correspondences of natural realities with spiritual ones in order to effect a union of heaven and the world, or of angels with us, once the direct union had ceased. We can see from this exactly who are meant by the rich in the Word.

[4] We may gather from a number of passages that on the spiritual level "the rich" in the Word refers to people who enjoy insights into what is good and true and that wealth means those insights themselves, which are spiritual riches: see Isaiah 10:12-14; 30:6-7; 45:3, Jeremiah 17:3; 47:7 [Jeremiah 48:7?], Jeremiah 50:36-37; 51:13, Daniel 5:2-4, Ezekiel 26:7, 12; 27:1-36; Zechariah 9:3-4; Psalms 45:12; Hosea 12:9; Revelation 3:17-18, Luke 14:33, and elsewhere. On the poor in the spiritual sense as people who do not have insights into what is good and true but who long for them, see Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20-21; 14:21; Isaiah 14:30; 29:19; 41:17-18; Zephaniah 3:12, 18 [13]. An explanation of the spiritual meaning of all these passages may be found in 10227 of Secrets of Heaven.

Footnotes:

5258. Verses 17-24 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the river. And behold, out of the river seven cows were coming up, fat-fleshed and beautiful in form; and they fed in the sedge. And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them, weak and extremely bad in form and lean-fleshed; I have not seen any like them in all the land of Egypt for badness. And the lean and bad cows devoured the first seven fat cows. And they devoured them completely, ¹ and no one would have known that they had devoured them completely; ² and their appearance was malign, as it had been in the beginning. And I awoke. And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain were coming up on one stalk, full and good. And behold, seven heads, dried up, thin, and scorched by an east wind, were sprouting after them. And the thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads. And I told it to the magi, and there was no one to point out the meaning to me.

'And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' means thought expressed by the natural but belonging to the celestial of the spiritual. 'In my dream' means what has been foreseen in a state of obscurity. 'Behold, I was standing on the bank of the river' means from boundary to boundary. 'And behold, out of the river' means at the boundary. 'Seven cows were coming up' means the truths belonging to the natural. 'Fat-fleshed' means which were embodiments of charity. 'And beautiful in form' means which were expressions of faith resulting from these. 'And they fed in the sedge' means instruction. 'And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them' means falsities present in the natural close by them. 'Weak and extremely bad in form' means empty and lacking in faith. 'And lean-fleshed' means lacking in charity too. I have not seen anything like them in all the land of Egypt for badness' means which were such that they could not by any means be joined to forms of truth and good. 'And the lean and bad cows devoured.....' means that falsities which were not expressions of faith and not embodiments of charity would banish.....'The first seven fat cows' means truths which were expressions of faith derived from charity. 'And they devoured them completely' means an interior banishing. 'And no one would have known that they had devoured them completely' means that the truths of good were no longer discernible. 'And their appearance was malign, as it had been at the beginning' means that no communication or joining together existed. 'And I awoke' means a state of enlightenment. 'And I saw in my dream' means still more foreseen in obscurity. 'And behold, seven heads of grain were coming up on one stalk' means facts known to the natural, which facts existed linked together. 'Full and good' means into which facts matters of faith and charity could be instilled. 'And behold, seven heads, dried up, thin, and scorched by an east wind' means facts that are useless and full of evil desires. 'Were sprouting after them' means appearing close by them. 'And the thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads' means that the facts which were useless banished the facts which were useful. 'And I told it to the magi' means a consultation with facts of an interior kind. 'And there was no one to point out the meaning to me' means that nothing at all was discerned from these.

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