8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

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.

1920. 'Behold, your servant-girl is in your hand' means that this rational was conceived from the controlling power of the affection for truth allied to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with already in 878, and from the meaning of 'Hagar the Egyptian' as the affection for knowledge, also dealt with already. Following the conception of the rational by means of the internal man flowing into the life belonging to the exterior affection for knowledge, 'servant-girl' is used to mean that tender embryonic rational which however is represented, when born and developed, by Ishmael, who is the subject below. That the Lord had control over the rational residing with Him and that He subdued it by His own power will be clear from what is to be stated next.