In many cases, the spiritual meaning of "own," both as a verb and as an adjective, is relatively literal. When people are described as the "Lord's own," however, it specifically means those people who know Him and have His Word. This has taken various forms since the dawn of humanity; in the prehistoric church known as the "Most Ancient Church" the Lord's truth -- the direct expression of His love -- flowed into people directly. In the Ancient Church the Lord's Word was recognized in nature and in the form of deeply representative stories, some of which were passed on to us in the early chapters of Genesis. Among the Children of Israel the Lord's Word was expressed through the Ten Commandments, the laws of Moses, the very history of the nation of Israel and the various psalms and prophecies. The early Christians had those stories along with the teaching and inspiration of Jesus himself. We now have the whole Bible, including the teachings of Jesus, and can understand the Bible's true meaning. Each of these churches, then, was at some point the Lord's own.

130. The person who wishes to become wise from the world has for his 'garden' sensory evidence and factual knowledge. His 'Eden' is self-love and love of the world, his 'east' is the west or himself. His 'river Euphrates' is all his factual knowledge, which is condemned; his 'second river', where Asshur is, is his insane reasoning from which come falsities; his 'third river', where Cush is, is the resulting assumptions he makes consisting of evil and falsity, which are his cognitions of faith; his 'fourth' is the wisdom that results, which in the Word is called magic. This is why Egypt, which means knowledge, after it has become magical, means this kind of person, the reason being that he wants to become wise from self, as shown throughout the Word. Such people are described in Ezekiel as follows,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of his rivers, who said, My river is my own, and I have made myself. And the land of Egypt will be made into a desolation and a waste. And they will know that I am Jehovah. Moreover he has said, The river is mine, and I made it. Ezekiel 29:3, 9.

People like this are also called in the same prophet where again Pharaoh or the Egyptian is the subject 'the trees of Eden in hell' as follows,

I will cause him to go down into hell with those going down into the pit. Whom have you become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world, in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those pierced by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his horde. Ezekiel 31:16, 18.

Here 'trees of Eden' stands for facts and cognitions drawn from the Word which they profane in this manner by means of reasonings.