When the Bible talks about riches, it is (according to Swedenborg) talking about spiritual wealth, not worldly wealth – ideas and knowledge about the Lord and spiritual things, not money or other earthly possessions. The rich men in the Lord’s various parables, then, were those who were educated in the Scriptures and knowledgeable about the Lord and the ways he wants us to behave.
Of course, having lots of money does not necessarily mean you’re going to spend it wisely and use it to make the world a better place; wealth is also often used in the negative sense in the Bible, representing those who have a great deal of knowledge but use it to selfish ends.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1488
Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah, who delights greatly in His commandments! Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness stands for ever. Ps. 112:1, 3.
Here ‘wealth and riches’ stands for the wealth and riches of wisdom and intelligence, thus for cognitions, which are ‘in his house’, that is, residing with him.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4744
[3] God has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. Luke 1:53.
‘The rich’ stands for those who know a great deal, for in the spiritual sense factual knowledge, matters of doctrine, and cognitions of good and truth are meant by ‘riches’. People are called ‘rich’ but ’empty’ if they know these things but do not carry them out; for with them truths are not truths because these are devoid of good, 4736.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8906
- ‘You shall not steal’ means that no one’s spiritual goods or possessions must be taken away from him, and that things which are the Lord’s must not be attributed to self. This is clear from the meaning of ‘stealing’ as taking spiritual goods or possessions away from someone. The reason why ‘stealing’ has these meanings is that wealth and riches in the spiritual sense are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, in general everything that composes the faith and charity, that is, the spiritual life a person has. Therefore taking these away from someone is what ‘stealing’ means in the spiritual sense. And since all spiritual goods or possessions, that is, everything composing faith and charity, come wholly from the Lord and not at all from man, ‘stealing’ also means attributing to self things which are the Lord’s.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9467
[5] Similar things are meant by ‘purple and fine linen’ in Luke,
There was a certain rich man (homo) who was clothed in purple and fine linen and indulged in delicacies splendidly every day. Luke 16:19.
‘A rich man’ is used to mean in the internal sense the Jewish nation, and the Church there, which was said to be ‘rich’ because of the cognitions or knowledge of good and truth from the Word which existed there. Garments of ‘purple and fine linen’ are those cognitions, ‘of purple’ meaning cognitions of good, and ‘of fine linen’ cognitions of truth, both from a heavenly origin because they come from the Divine.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9960
[7] 2 When nakedness applies to the whole body it means the deprivation of the truths of faith
This is clear in John,
To the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, Because you say, I am rich and in need of nothing – when you do not know that you are wretched and miserable, and needy, and blind, and naked – I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified in fire, and white garments that you may put on, that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested. Rev. 3:14, 17, 18.
‘The angel of the Church’ is God’s truth there. ‘Saying it is rich’ means that it is in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good. ‘Wretched, needy, blind, and naked’ means being nevertheless devoid of truths implanted in life, thus being devoid of good. ‘Buying gold purified in fire’ means acquiring good to itself, ‘white garments’ authentic truths of faith springing from good. From this it is evident what ‘that the shame of nakedness may not be manifested’ means.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10227
- ‘The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give [the offering] of Jehovah’ means that all equally, however much ability they possess, should attribute to the Lord all forms of truth springing from good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the rich’ as one who is affluent in truths and forms of good, and in cognitions or knowledge of them, dealt with below; from the meaning of ‘the poor’ as one who is not affluent in them, also dealt with below; from the meaning of ‘not giving more and not giving less’ as all equally; from the meaning of ‘half a shekel’ as all forms of truth springing from good, dealt with in 10221; and from the meaning of ‘giving to Jehovah’ as attributing to the Lord, for ‘Jehovah’ in the Word means the Lord, see the places referred to in 9373. From these meanings it is evident that ‘the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give [the offering] of Jehovah’ means that all equally, however much ability they possess, should attribute to the Lord all forms of truth springing from good.
Heaven and Hell (Dole) n. 365
- We may gather from this that rich people arrive in heaven just as much as poor people do, one as easily as the other. The reason people believe that it is easy for the poor and hard for the rich is that the Word is misunderstood when it talks about the rich and the poor. In the spiritual meaning of the Word, “the rich” means people who are amply supplied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the church where the Word is. “The poor” means people who lack these understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church, where the Word is not found.
[2] The rich person dressed in purple and fine linen who was cast into hell means the Jewish nation. Because they had the Word and were therefore amply supplied with understandings of what is good and true, they are called “rich.” The garments of purple actually mean understandings of what is good, and the fine linen means understandings of what is true.(g) The poor person who was lying in the gateway and who longed to feast on the crumbs that were falling from the rich person’s table, who was carried up into heaven by angels, means the non-Jews who did not have understandings of what is good and true but who still longed for them (Luke 16:19, 31).
The rich who were invited to the great feast but who excused themselves also mean the Jewish nation, and the poor who were brought in to replace them mean the non-Jews who were outside the church (Luke 12:16-24 [14:16-24]).
[3] We need also to explain who are meant by the rich of whom the Lord said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). “The rich person” here means the rich in both senses, natural and spiritual. Rich people in the natural sense are people who have abundant wealth and set their hearts on it, while in a spiritual sense they are people who are amply supplied with insights and knowledge (for these are spiritual wealth) and who want to use them to get themselves into heavenly and ecclesiastical circles by their own intellect. Since this is contrary to the divine design, it says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. On this level of meaning, a camel means our cognitive and informational level in general, and the eye of a needle means spiritual truth.(h)
Nowadays people do not know that this is the meaning of the camel and the eye of a needle because there has not yet been any access to the knowledge that teaches what is meant spiritually by the things that the Word says literally. There is spiritual meaning in the details of the Word, and natural meaning as well; because the Word was written in pure correspondences of natural realities with spiritual ones in order to effect a union of heaven and the world, or of angels with us, once the direct union had ceased. We can see from this exactly who are meant by the rich in the Word.
[4] We may gather from a number of passages that on the spiritual level “the rich” in the Word refers to people who enjoy insights into what is good and true and that wealth means those insights themselves, which are spiritual riches: see Isaiah 10:12, 13, 14; 30:6, 7; 45:3; Jeremiah 17:3; 47:7 [48:7]; 50:36-37; 51:13; Daniel 5:2-4; Ezekiel 26:7, 12; 27:1-36; Zechariah 9:3-4; Psalms 45:12; Hosea 12:9; Revelation 3:17-18; Luke 14:33; and elsewhere. On the poor in the spiritual sense as people who do not have insights into what is good and true but who long for them, see Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20-21; 14:21; Isaiah 14:30; 29:19; 41:17-18; Zephaniah 3:12, 18 [13]. An explanation of the spiritual meaning of all these passages may be found in 10227 of Secrets of Heaven.
g. Garments mean things that are true, and therefore insights: 1033 [1073], 2576, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536. Purple means heavenly good: 9467. Linen means truth of a heavenly origin: 5319, 9469, 9744.
h. A camel in the Word means our cognitive and informational level in general: 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. What embroidery, embroidering, and therefore needles are: 9688. To start from outward facts in order to gain access to truths of faith is contrary to the divine design: 10236. People who do this become insane in matters of heaven and the church: 128, 129, 130, 232, 233, 6047; and in the other life, when they think about spiritual things, they become virtually drunk: 1072. More about their nature: 196. Examples to illustrate the fact that spiritual things cannot be grasped if they are approached on this basis: 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209. It is all right to go from spiritual truth into the knowledge appropriate to our natural level, but not the other way around, because there is an inflow of the spiritual into the natural but not an inflow of the natural into the spiritual: 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5478, 6322, 9110, 9111 [10199]. We need first to acknowledge the truths of the Word and the church, and then it is all right to take our secular learning into account; but not the other way around: 6047.