8866. 'Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves' means deliverance by Him from hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing out' as deliverance; from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as molestations by those from hell, dealt with in 7240, 7278; and from the meaning of 'the house of slaves' as spiritual captivity, dealt with in 8049. The reason why 'the house of slaves' means spiritual captivity and also hell is that being held captive by those in hell and being led by them is slavery, whereas being led by the Lord is freedom, 892, 905, 2870-2875, 2882, 2884, 2892, 2893, 6205, 8209. The fact that those belonging to the spiritual Church, who are represented by the children of Israel, were delivered from hell by the Lord, through His coming into the world and making Divine the Human within Himself, see 6854, 6914, 7035, 7828, 7932, 8018, 8321.

2870. HUMAN FREEDOM

Few know what freedom is and what non-freedom is. Freedom seems to entail everything that is in keeping with any love and associated delight, and non-freedom to entail everything that is at variance with these. That which is in keeping with self-love and love of the world, and with the desires belonging to those loves, seems to man to be freedom; but that is the freedom of hell. That however which is in keeping with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, consequently with the love of what is good and true, is true freedom, being the freedom that exists in heaven.