4516. 'You have brought trouble on me, by making me stink to the inhabitant of the land' means that those who belonged to the Ancient Church abominated them. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing trouble on me, by making me stink' as causing them to abominate, and from the meaning of 'the inhabitant of the land' here as those who belonged to the Ancient Church. For 'the land' means the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, and so 'the inhabitant of the land' those who belong to the Church, which in this case is the Ancient Church since that Church continued to exist among some nations in the land of Canaan. But that which was a representative of the Church was not established among the people descended from Jacob until that Ancient Church had completely come to an end. This fact is also meant by those descended from Jacob not being allowed into the land of Canaan until the iniquity of the inhabitants of the land had come to a close, as stated in Genesis 15:16. For no new Church is ever established until the previous one has been laid waste.

2896. The Word in the Most Ancient Church before the Flood was not a written Word but one revealed to each member of the Church; for they were celestial people and so, like the angels in whose company they lived, knew through perception that which was good and true. Thus they had the Word written on their hearts. For these matters, see 597, 607, 895, 920, 1114-1125. Because they were celestial people and lived in the company of angels, everything they saw and apprehended with any of their senses was to them a representative and a meaningful sign of celestial and spiritual things within the Lord's kingdom; so that they did indeed see worldly and earthly things with their eyes or apprehend them with one or other of their senses; but from and through those things their thoughts were of celestial and spiritual things. In this and no other way they were able to talk to angels, for the things that exist among angels are celestial and spiritual, and when these come down to man they descend into such things as exist with man in the world. The fact that particular objects in the world represent and mean those that exist in heaven has been shown all through from Genesis 1 to here. Such was also the origin of the representatives and meaningful signs, which, when communication with angels started to fade, were gathered together by the people meant by 'Enoch'. See 521, where it is shown that the gathering of those things is meant by the following words,

Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him. Genesis 5:24.