10409.“是领你们从埃及地上来的”表引领他们的。这从“从埃及地领上来”的含义清楚可知。“从埃及地领上来”当论及那些兴趣在于外在事物，而不在于内在事物的人时，是指自我引领；因为当论述的主题是“埃及地”时，“埃及地”表示奴役；而“领上来”表示把他们从这地领出来。事实上，这句话在此所表示的，与它论及那些兴趣既在于内在事物，同时也在于外在事物的人时所表示的，正好相反。当论及后者时，它表示被主引领，从而从属世人被提升到属灵人，或从世界被提升到天堂，因而从奴役进入自由。但当论及那些兴趣在于外在事物，不在内在事物的人时，这句话表示自我引领，这不是被提升到天堂，而是将自己投入地狱，因而从自由进入奴役。自我引领是奴役，被主引领是自由（参看2892，9096，9586，9589-9591节）。
但由于后者以为神性在人里面不起任何作用，人是自我引领的，而且自我引领就是自由，所以在此必须简要说明这个主题。凡爱自己爱世界胜过一切的人都持守这种观点，并说服自己确信这是对的，因为他们将自己爱之胜过一切的东西当作他们的神来敬拜。在当今基督教界，像这样的人比比皆是。我蒙允许主要从来世的这种人那里了解到他们到底是什么样，或说是何品质；因为当一个人结束在世上的生活，成为一个灵人时，就构成其爱的情感，他的思维和坚定信念而言，他完全和活在肉身时一模一样。这些人告诉我说，他们通过以下事实为自己证实了这种信念，即：一个人获得显赫地位和财富不是因为任何神性帮助和天意，而是因为他自己的聪明和谨慎，有时是因为好运气，即便是这样，这也是由于在他们看来从人发出的原因。他们说，日常经验见证了这一点；因为经常是坏人、骗子和不敬虔的人，而不是好人被提拔到显赫地位，变得富有；如果神性掌控一切，这种情况是不会发生的。
但我蒙允许对他们说，他们利用这类观念对自己信念的证实不过是倚靠他们自己的聪明和自己的爱的推理，这种推理基于纯粹的幻觉，是在幽暗中推理原因。因为他们以为，被提升到显赫地位、获得比别人更大的财富是神性赐予一个人的真正良善，因而以为神性赐福，也就是他们所说的这些好处，唯独在于这些东西。然而，对那些爱自己爱世界胜过一切的人来说，这些好处更多的是一种诅咒；因为他们通过自己的努力和自己的本领上升到重要地位并获得财富到何等程度，就上升到自我之爱和尘世之爱到何等程度，直到最终他们全心放在这些东西上，把它们视为唯一的良善，因而视为人唯一的幸福和极乐。但这些东西会与人在世的生活一起结束；而神性赐予并提供给一个人的良善、幸福和极乐是永恒的，不会结束；所以这些才是真正的赐福。短暂之物无法与永恒之物相比，正如有限的时间无法与无限的时间相比一样。持续到永恒之物拥有存在；会结束的东西与之相比则没有存在。神性提供拥有存在之物，不提供没有存在之物，除非后者对前者有用。因为耶和华，也就是神性本身，拥有存在，凡源于祂的东西也拥有存在。由此明显可知，神性赐予并提供给一个人的东西是什么样，人自己为自己所获得的东西又是什么样。
此外，神性通过各人的理解力来引领各人；若非如此，根本没有人能得救。这就是为何神性使人的理解力处于自由之中，而不是限制它。这解释了为何恶人的阴谋诡计会得逞，这些阴谋诡计都是他们的理解力的产物。但他们从这一切中所获得的幸福会与他们在世的生活一起结束，并转化为不幸福；而神性提供给善人的东西不会结束，并且会变成永恒幸福和极乐的源头。
当我与那些在世上已然如此的人谈论这些事时，他们回答说，那时他们根本就没有想过什么叫永恒的良善、幸福和极乐；每当他们的爱掌控他们时，他们就完全否认人死后生命的真实性。他们说，鉴于他们已经获得重要地位和财富，他们以为其它良善不存在，事实上就连天堂和神性都不存在；所以他们不知道什么叫被神性引领。
那些在世时就已经在教义和生活上确认这些观念的人在来世依旧是这样。他们的内层关闭了，所以他们与天堂没有任何联系。只有他们的外层是敞开的，这时他们通过外层只与地狱有联系。他们当中那些通过阴谋诡计和花招获得重要地位或财富的人在来世成为巫师。他们出现在臀部下面，坐在一张桌子旁，戴着一顶压到眉毛的帽子。他们就这样坐着，似乎陷入沉思，搜集用于巫术的观念，以为他们通过这些观念就拥有引领自己的能力。他们的言语从齿间穿过，发出一种口哨声。后来，当他们经历荒凉时，就被扔进一个宽底坑中，那里一片漆黑。在这坑中，他们的理解力之光逐渐减弱，直到变得愚钝。在被扔到那里的人当中，我见了一些在世上曾被视为最聪明的人。
Potts(1905-1910) 10409
10409. Who made thee to come up out of the land of Egypt. That this signifies which had led them, is evident from the signification of "making to come up out of the land of Egypt," when said of those who are in external things without what is internal, as being to lead one's self; for by "the land of Egypt," when such are treated of, is signified servitude; and by "making to come up" is signified to lead one's self by it. For by these words is here signified the opposite to that which is signified by them when they are said of those who are in what is internal and at the same time in external things. When said of the latter, by these words is signified to be led by the Lord, thus to be raised out of the natural man to the spiritual, or out of the world into heaven, consequently out of servitude into freedom; but when they are said of those who are in external things without what is internal, the words signify to be led by self, which is not to be raised to heaven, but to cast one's self down to hell, consequently from freedom into servitude. (That it is servitude to be led by self, and freedom to be led by the Lord, see n. 2892, 9096, 9586, 9589-9591.) [2] But as the latter believe that the Divine works nothing with man, and that man leads himself, and also that this is freedom, a few words shall here be said about this. All those are of this opinion, and also in this persuasion, who love themselves and the world above all things, for that which men love above all things they worship as a god. At the present day there are very many such persons in the Christian world; but of what quality they are it has been given me to know chiefly from such in the other life. For after his life in the world, when a man becomes a spirit, he is then exactly like himself, such as he had been when he lived in the body, in respect to the affections of his love, and in respect to his thoughts and persuasions. They said that they had confirmed themselves in this belief from the fact that a man does not arrive at dignities and wealth by any Divine aid and providence, but by his own intelligence and prudence, and sometimes by fortune, and even then from such causes as they see to proceed from men, saying that common experience testifies this, because the evil, the cunning, and the impious are often raised to dignities and become rich in preference to the good, which would not be the case if the Divine ruled. [3] But it was given me to say to them that confirmation from such things is reasoning from man's own intelligence and from his own love, and this reasoning is from mere fallacies, and is reasoning about causes in thick darkness. For they believe that to be exalted to dignities and to gain wealth above others is the very good which the Divine gives to man, and thus that the Divine blessing (as they call these things) consists in these alone; when yet such things are rather a curse to those who love themselves and the world above all things, for insofar as they are exalted to honors and gain wealth by their own effort and their own skill, so far are they uplifted in the love of self and of the world, so that at last they place their whole hearts in these things, and regard them as the only goods, thus as the only satisfactions and happinesses of man; although these things come to an end together with the life of man in the world; whereas the goods, the satisfactions, and the happiness that are given and provided for man by the Divine are eternal and have no end; and consequently these are true blessings. What is temporary bears no ratio to what is eternal; as what is finite in time bears no ratio to the infinite of time. What endures to eternity, this is; but what has an end, this relatively is not. That which is, the Divine provides; but not that which is not, except insofar as it conduces to that which is; for Jehovah, which is the Divine Itself, is, and that which is from Him also is. From this it is evident what is the quality of that which is given and provided for man by the Divine, and what is the quality of that which a man himself procures for himself. [4] Moreover, every man is led by the Divine by means of his understanding; if he were not led thereby, no man could be saved; and from this it is that the Divine leaves this with man in its freedom, and does not check it. From this cause it comes to pass that the machinations and cunning devices of the evil (which are from their understanding) succeed; but the favorable results thus obtained come to an end together with their life in the world, and become unfavorable; whereas those things which are provided by the Divine for the good have no end, and become favorable and happy to eternity. [5] I have spoken in this way with those who had been such in the world, who replied that they had then thought nothing about what is good, favorable, and happy to eternity, and that when they were in their loves they had utterly denied the life of man after death; and that insofar as they had attained to honors and to riches, so far they had believed that there are no other goods; nor indeed any heaven, or Divine; consequently that they had not known what it is to be led by the Divine. [6] They who in the world have confirmed themselves in these ideas in doctrine and in life, remain such in the other life also. Their interiors are closed, so that they have no communication with heaven, and their exteriors alone are open, by which they then have communication solely with the hells. Such of them as by machinations, arts, and cunning devices have attained to honors or to riches, there become magicians. They appear beneath the buttocks, sitting at a table with a cap pressed down to the eyebrows, and thus as it were earnestly meditating they gather together such things as are serviceable for magic art, supposing that they can lead themselves by means of them. Their speech falls between the teeth with a kind of hissing, and afterward when they are being vastated they are cast into a pit with a broad bottom where there is thick darkness. The light of their understanding is there obscured even to foolishness. I have seen some cast in there who in the world had been accounted very superior in intellect.
Elliott(1983-1999) 10409
10409. 'Who caused you to come up out of the land of Egypt' means which led them. This is clear from the meaning of 'causing to come up out of the land of Egypt', when those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal are the subject, as being self-led; for 'the land of Egypt', when they are the subject, means slavery, while 'causing to come up' means leading themselves out of it. For here the same words serve to mean the opposite of what they do when they are used in reference to those whose interest in external things is accompanied at the same time by an interest in what is internal. In reference to the latter those words mean being led by the Lord, thus being raised from the natural man to the spiritual man, or from the world to heaven, consequently passing from slavery into freedom. But when those words refer to people whose interest lies in external things and not in internal ones they mean being self-led, which does not constitute being raised to heaven but casting themselves down to hell, consequently passing from freedom into slavery. For the fact that being self-led is slavery, while being led by the Lord is freedom, see 2892, 9096, 9586, 9589-9591.
[2] But since these people suppose that nothing Divine is at work in a person and that a person is self-led, and also that this constitutes freedom, a brief statement on this subject must be made here. All who love themselves and the world above everything make this supposition and persuade themselves that it is right; for what they love above all things they worship as their god. Those like this in the Christian world at the present day are very many. But what they are really like I have been allowed to know primarily from such people in the next life; for when a person becomes a spirit after a life in the world he is - so far as the affections composing his love, and his thoughts and firm beliefs are concerned - exactly the same as what he was when he lived in the body. Those people have told me that they had substantiated that belief for themselves by the evidence that a person attains eminent positions and acquires wealth not as a result of any Divine help and Providence but as a result of his own intelligence and carefulness, and sometimes as a result of good fortune, though even then this is due to causes which are seen by them to have a human origin. They say that ordinary experience bears witness to this; for bad, deceitful, and wicked people rather than the good are frequently raised to eminent positions and become rich, which would not happen if the Divine were in control of things.
[3] But I have been allowed to tell them that the substantiation of their belief by the use of such ideas is no more than reasoning which relies on their own intelligence and their own love, and such reasoning is based on mere illusions and takes place in complete darkness so far as awareness of causes is concerned. For they suppose that being raised to eminent positions and obtaining greater wealth than others is the real good that the Divine confers on a person, and so they suppose that a Divine blessing, as they also call those gains, lies in such things alone. But those gains are more of a curse to those who love self and the world above all things; for to the extent that people rise to important positions and obtain wealth by their own application and skill, they rise into self-love and love of the world, till at length they set their whole heart on those things and regard them as the only possible forms of good, thus the only possible forms of happiness and bliss for a human being. But those things come to an end with a person's life in the world, whereas the forms of good, happiness, and bliss which the Divine gives a person and provides him with are eternal and do not come to an end, so that these are the true blessings. What is temporary bears no comparison with what is eternal, just as a limited amount of time bears none with an unlimited amount of it. What lasts to eternity has being, in comparison with which what comes to an end does not have being. The Divine provides that which has being, but not that which does not have being, except insofar as it is of use to the former. For Jehovah, who is the Deity Himself, has Being; and what is derived from Him also has being. From this it is evident what anything that the Divine gives a person and provides him with is like and what anything that a person does for himself is like.
[4] Furthermore the Divine leads each individual person by means of his power of understanding; if this were not so, no person at all could be saved. That is why the Divine leaves a person's understanding in freedom and does not restrict it. And this explains why the evil are successful with their ploys and tricks, which are a product of their understanding. But the happiness they get out of all this comes to an end with their life in the world and turns to unhappiness, whereas the things which the Divine provides the good with do not come to an end; and they become sources of eternal happiness and bliss. When
[5] I have talked about these matters to those who were such in the world they have said in response that they had not thought anything at all then about what was eternally good, happy, and blissful, and that whenever the loves that were truly theirs took charge of them they had totally denied the reality of a person's life after death. They said that inasmuch as they had attained important positions and acquired wealth they had thought that no other forms of good existed, indeed that neither heaven nor the Divine existed; consequently they had not known what being led by the Divine might be.
[6] Those in the world who have become entrenched in these ways of thinking in doctrine and in life remain like that in the next life. Their interiors are closed, and so they do not have any contact with heaven. Only their exteriors lie open, by means of which they are then in contact solely with the hells. Those of them who have attained important positions or acquired riches by means of ploys, skillful devices, and tricks become sorcerers there. They are seen below the buttocks, seated at a table and wearing a hat pulled down to the eyebrows. Seated thus, seemingly deep in thought, they assemble ideas of use to a sorcerer's skill, while assuming that they have the ability to lead themselves by means of them. Their speech as it passes between their teeth makes a sort of whistling noise. Afterwards, when they undergo vastation, they are cast into a wide-bottomed pit, where there is total darkness. There the light of their understanding decreases till it becomes dull-wittedness. I have seen among those cast down there people who in the world had been considered the cleverest.
Latin(1748-1756) 10409
10409. `Qui ascendere fecerunt te e (x)terra Aegypti': quod significet quae duxerunt, constat ex significatione `ascendere facere e terra Aegypti' cum de illis qui in externis sunt absque interno, quod sit semet ducere, per `terram' enim `Aegypti' cum de illis, significatur servitus, et per `ascendere facere' significatur inde semet ducere; hic enim contrarium significatur per eadem verba quam cum illa dicuntur de (c)iis qui in interno sunt et simul in externis; cum de his, per illa significatur duci a Domino, ita elevari a naturali homine ad spiritualem, seu e mundo in caelum, proinde a servitute in libertatem, at cum de illis qui in externis sunt absque {1}internis, per illa significatur duci a semet, {2}quod non est elevari ad caelum sed se dejicere ad infernum, proinde a libertate in servitutem; quod servitus sit duci a semet, et libertas duci a Domino, videatur n. 2892, 9096, 9586, 9589-9591; sed quia hi credunt [2] quod Divinum nihil operetur apud hominem, et quod homo semet ducat, et quoque quod hoc sit liberum, de illa re paucis hic dicetur: omnes illi in ea opinione et quoque persuasione sunt qui se et mundum amant super omnia, nam quae super omnia amant, haec colunt sicut pro deo; tales in Christiano orbe hodie permulti sunt; at quales illi sunt, {3}imprimis scire datum est {4}a talibus in altera vita, nam homo post vitam in mundo, cum fit spiritus, tunc prorsus similis sibi est quoad affectiones quae sunt amoris, et quoad cogitationes {5}et persuasiones, qualis fuerat cum vixit in corpore; dixerunt quod confirmaverint se in ea fide ex eo quod homo ad dignitates et ad opulentiam veniat non ex Divina aliqua ope et Providentia, sed ex propria intelligentia et prudentia, et quandoque a fortuna, et usque tunc ex causis quas vident procedere ex hominibus; dicentes quod {6}communis experientia id testetur, quoniam mali, astuti, et impii prae bonis saepe evehuntur ad dignitates et divites fiunt; quod [3] non fieret si Divinum regeret; sed illis dicere datum est quod confirmatio ex talibus sit ratiocinatio ex propria intelligentia et ex proprio amore, quae ratiocinatio est ex meris fallaciis et in caligine de causis; credunt enim quod evehi ad dignitates, et lucrari opes prae aliis, sit ipsum bonum, quod Divinum dat homini, et sic quod benedictio Divina, sicut etiam illa {7}vocant, in solis iis consistat, sed usque talia sunt potius maledictio illis qui supra omnia amant semet et mundum, nam quantum evehuntur ad honores et lucrantur opes suo studio et sua arte, tantum etiam in amorem sui et mundi evehuntur, tandem ut ponant totum cor in illis ac spectent illa ut unica bona, ita unica fausta et felicia hominis, cum tamen illa finem habent cum vita hominis in mundo; at bona, fausta, et felicia, quae dantur (c)et providentur homini a Divino, sunt aeterna, ac nullum finem habent, ita sunt illa verae benedictiones; temporarium ad aeternum, sicut finitum temporis ad infinitum ejus, nullam habet rationem; quod durat in aeternum, hoc Est, quod autem finem habet respective non Est, {8}illud quod Est providet Divinum, non autem quod non Est, nisi quantum hoc conducat ad illud; Jehovah enim, {9}Qui est ipsum Divinum, Est, et quod ab Ipso, quoque Est; inde patet quale id est quod homini datur et providetur a Divino, et quale {10}est quod homo sibi ipsi procurat. Praeterea unusquisque homo ducitur a Divino per suum intellectuale, si non per id duceretur, nullus homo salvari posset; inde est quod Divinum id apud hominem in suo libero relinquat, nec refrenet; ex ea causa evenit quod malis succedant machinationes et astutiae, quae ex intellectu eorum; sed fausta quae per id obtinent, finem habent cum vita eorum in mundo, {11}ac fiunt infausta; at quae providentur bonis a Divino, nullum finem habent, ac fiunt fausta et felicia in aeternum. Ita locutus sum cum illis qui tales fuerunt in mundo, qui respondebant quod de bono, fausto, et felici in aeternum tunc nihil cogitaverint, et quod {12}cum in amoribus suis erant, vitam hominis post mortem prorsus negaverint; et quod quantum ad honores {13}venerunt ac ad divitias, tantum crediderint non dari alia bona, {14}immo nec caelum nec Divinum; consequenter quod nesciverint quid sit duci a Divino. Qui in his se confirmaverunt in mundo doctrina et vita, illi quoque tales manent in altera vita; clausa (t)sunt illis interiora, et sic non communicationem habent cum caelo; et patent modo exteriora, per quae tunc communicatio solum illis est cum infernis; qui eorum per machinationes, artes, et astus venerunt ad honores aut ad divitias, fiunt ibi magi; apparent sub natibus sedere ad mensam cum pileo usque ad palpebras {15}depresso; et sic quasi meditabundi colligunt talia quae arti magicae inserviunt, putantes se per {16}illa semet posse ducere; loquela eorum cadit inter dentes cum aliquo sibilo; ac postea, cum devastantur, conjiciuntur in foveam lati fundi, ubi densa caligo; ibi lumen intellectus eorum obscuratur usque ad fatuitatem; illuc conjectos vidi qui pro ingeniosissimis habiti sunt in mundo. @1 interno$ @2 credunt etiam hi, quod Divinum nihil amplius operetur apud hominem, sed quod homo omnia faciat ex se, et semet ducat. Quomodo se habet cum illis qui credunt semet ducere, et non duci a Divino, paucis dicetur$ @3 apprimis$ @4 ex commercio cum talibus$ @5 quae sunt fidei ejus sicut$ @6 id sciant a communi experientia$ @7 vocat IT$ @8 hoc$ @9 oA, quod est Ipsum Divinum, IT$ @10 id$ @11 ut dictum est$ @12 vitam hominis post mortem, cum in amoribus suis erant, prorsus negaverint, et quoque confirmaverint se contra illam; inde$ @13 venerint$ @14 imo cum apud se cogitaverint; crediderunt, non dari Divinum, ita nec coelum$ @15 demisso$ @16 illam$