AR 502 - Sodom; AR 503 - Egypt

AR 502 [1, 2, 3

Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.
(Revelaton 11:8)

This symbolizes the two hellish loves, namely,
a love of ruling springing from a love of self,
and a love of holding sway
from a conceit in one's own intelligence,
loves which are present
in the church where there is not one God
and where the Lord is not worshiped,
and where people do not live
in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

. . . A love of ruling springing from a love of self,
and a love of holding sway
from a conceit in one's own intelligence,
are the principal loves of all the loves in hell,
and so are the origin of all the evils
and thus of all the falsities in the church.

It should be known, however,
that a love of ruling springing from a love of self
and a love of ruling
springing from a love of performing useful services
are two different things.
The latter love is a heavenly love,
while the first is a hellish one.
Consequently, when one is in first place,
the other is in last place . . ..

AR 503 [1, 5]

We will now say what Egypt symbolizes in the Word:
Egypt symbolizes
the natural self joined to the spiritual self,
and its affection for truth then
and consequent knowledge and intelligence.
And in an opposite sense
it symbolizes the natural self
divorced from the spiritual self,
and its conceit in its own intelligence then
and consequent irrationality in spiritual matters.

The reason Egypt symbolizes both
intelligence and irrationality in spiritual matters
was that the Ancient Church,
which extended through many kingdoms in Asia,
existed also in Egypt,
and at that time the Egyptians,
more than any others,
cultivated a study of the correspondences
between spiritual and natural things,
as is apparent from the hieroglyphs there.
But when that study among them
was turned into magic and became idolatrous,
then their intelligence in spiritual matters
became irrational.
Egypt symbolizes this, therefore,
in an opposite sense.