7195. 'And I also established My covenant with them' means the joining together that existed even then through the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'covenant' as a joining together, dealt with in 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804; and from the representation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom 'with them' - those with whom the covenant had been established - refers here, as the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 6804, 6847. From this it is evident what the internal sense of these words is, that the proximate or most immediate meaning of them is the union of the Divine itself with the Divine Human; and that the meaning following on from this is the joining together of the Divine itself with those who belonged to the spiritual Church through the Divine Human. For as has been shown a number of times already, those who belonged to the spiritual Church were saved through the Lord's Divine Human, see 6854, 6914, 7035, 7091 (end). The expression even then is used to link the meaning here to what comes immediately before - to indicate that the joining together existed when they were in a state involving temptations and gave no thought to Divine things within the Church. For the Lord is more present within a state involving temptations than He is outside it, though that is not at all how it seems, 840.

7035. 'Israel is My son, My firstborn' means that those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good have been adopted. This is clear from the meaning of 'son', when used by Jehovah or the Lord to speak of those who belong to the spiritual Church, as one who has been adopted, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'firstborn' as the faith that is wedded to charity, which the spiritual Church possesses, dealt with in 367, 2475, 3725, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6637. 'Israel is My son, My firstborn' means that those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good - that is, those belonging to the spiritual Church - have been adopted and so recognized as sons because the Lord saved them by His Coming into the world, see 6854, 6914. For this reason also, as well as by virtue of their faith in the Lord, they are called 'the firstborn son'; and they are the ones who are meant by the Lord in John,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:16.