1698. They took Lot and his property — the son of Abram's brother — and went away means that apparent goodness and truth (not good or true in itself) seized control of the Lord's outer self and everything in it. This can be seen from the symbolism of Lot as the Lord's sensory or outward self, a symbolism already mentioned and discussed several times [§§1428, 1547, 1563]. Here specifically he symbolizes apparent goodness and truth in the Lord's outer self, which are being called the property of Lot. It has already been explained that this goodness and truth appeared good and true in the Lord's early youth, although they were not intrinsically so [§§1661, 1667]. They were gradually purified, and his spiritual trials were the means, as the remarks concerning such trials show [§§1652-1657, 1659, 1663-1664, 1692].

1547. The symbolism of and Lot with him as the senses was briefly pointed out above at §1428. Because the present passage discusses Lot in a specific way, the aspect of the Lord that he represents needs to be known. Pharaoh represented facts, which eventually sent the Lord away. Lot, though, symbolizes the sensory dimension, that is, the outer self and its pleasures, which are pleasures of the senses and are therefore our most superficial aspect. They tend to ensnare us when we are young and lead us away from goodness. After all, the more we indulge in the pleasures that rise out of our appetites, the more we are distracted from the heavenly qualities of love and charity. Self-love and materialism, which heavenly love can never harmonize with, permeate those pleasures. Pleasures perfectly consistent with heavenly values exist too, however, and they look the same on the outside (see a discussion of them above at §§945, 994, 995, 997). But pleasures that rise out of our cravings need to be controlled and purified, because they block the entry to heavenly regions. The current chapter deals with the latter kind of pleasures, not the former, under the image of Lot in his separation from Abram.

Here the message is that such pleasures were present, which is what "Lot was with him" means. Usually Lot symbolizes the outer self, though, as will become clear later [§1563].