3031. 'Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?' means whether it could nevertheless be joined to the Divine good of the Rational. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about Abram and about the land he came from, see 1343, 1356, 1992, 2559. From these paragraphs it is evident that the land from which Abram came was Syria, where the second Ancient Church existed, called the Hebrew Church after its founder Eber, 1238, 1241, 1327, 1343. But around the time of Abram this Church too had fallen away from the truth, some households so far away from it that they did not know Jehovah at all but worshipped other gods. This is the land which is meant here and to which the servant was referring when he asked whether he was required to take Abraham's son 'to the land from which you came'. Consequently 'the land' here means an affection which is not compatible with truth. This being the meaning of 'the land', 'taking his son there', or what amounts to the same, taking a woman for him and remaining with her there, means joining an affection incompatible with truth to the Divine good of the Rational. But this could not be done, as Abraham declares in his reply which follows.

1238. As for Eber meaning a nation as well, whose father was thus named Eber, the position is this: Those named so far were nations with whom the Ancient Church existed. All of them were called sons of Shem, Ham, Japheth, or Canaan, because 'Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan' meant differing types of worship in the Church. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan never were actual people, but because the Ancient Church in particular was such, and every Church in general is such, that it includes a true internal, a corrupted internal, a true external, and a corrupted external, these names were therefore adopted so that all differences in general could be related to those characters and their sons as to their heads. The nations named here also at first possessed such worship, for which reason they are called the sons of one of Noah's sons, and also such forms of worship themselves are meant by the names of these nations in the Word.

[2] This first Ancient Church meant by Noah and his sons was not confined to a few people but was spread throughout many kingdoms, as is clear from the nations mentioned - throughout Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia up to Tyre and Sidon, and throughout the whole of the land of Canaan, on this side of the Jordan and on the other side. Subsequently however a certain type of external worship started in Syria which spread far and wide from there and through many countries, particularly Canaan. It was a different form of worship from the worship of the Ancient Church. And because something of a Church arose in this way that was separate from the Ancient Church, a new Church so to speak rose up from it which may therefore be called the second Ancient Church. Eber was its first founder, and therefore this Church took its name from Eber. As stated already, everybody at that time was distinguished into separate houses, families, and nations. One nation recognized one father from whom it also took its name, as is clear throughout the Word, the nation which recognized Eber as its father thus being called the Hebrew nation.