The Bible generally uses two different terms for large groups: “people” and “nations.” When it uses “nation,” it is talking about a group with the desire for good as its ultimate underlying motivation; when it uses the term “people” it is talking about a group whose deep motivation is to seek true ideas and concepts. As with all symbolism in the Bible, this can be also used in a negative sense, to describe groups with the lust for evil or those driven by false concepts. It can also be used in the abstract, with “nation” representing desires for good themselves and “people” representing true ideas themselves. In a way, these meanings make sense if we look at the two words themselves. “People” brings to mind a collection of individuals, and that is somewhat how it is with ideas -- you can have many of them that inter-relate, but also stand somewhat on their own, individually. “Nation” is a more unified term, reflecting the way that a desire for good tends to unify other feelings.

2652. 'The son of Hagar the Egyptian' means into the merely human rational, 'Hagar the Egyptian' being the affection for knowledge, from which affection as its mother that rational was born. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son', who was Ishmael, as the first rational which the Lord had, dealt with in Chapter 16, where Hagar and Ishmael are the subject, and from his representation and that of Hagar the Egyptian who was his mother, also dealt with in that chapter. As regards the first or merely human rational with the Lord being conceived from the Divine celestial as a father, and being born from the affection for knowledge as a mother, see 1895, 1896, 1902, 1910.