6649. And the land was filled with them. That this signifies even to fullness of the church, is evident from the signification of “being filled,” as being what is full; and from the signification of “land,” as being the church (n. 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577). By the “land of Goshen,” where the sons of Israel now were, is signified the church. That the church was there before the sons of Israel came into the land of Canaan, is evident from what follows, namely, that none of the plagues were there which were in other parts of Egypt, also that there was light there, when in other places there was darkness (Exodus 10:21-23), and that thus that land was quite separated from the rest of the lands in Egypt; and it is further evident from the fact that by the “land of Goshen” is signified the middle or inmost in the natural (n. 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068), thus the church, for the spiritual church is in the inmost of the natural.

82. Verse 1. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the army of them. By these words is meant that man is now rendered so far spiritual as to have become the “sixth day;” “heaven” is his internal man, and “earth” his external; “the army of them” are love, faith, and the knowledges thereof, which were previously signified by the great luminaries and the stars. That the internal man is called “heaven” and the external “earth” is evident from the passages of the Word already cited in the preceding chapter, to which may be added the following from Isaiah:

I will make a man more rare than solid gold, even a man than the precious gold of Ophir; therefore I will smite the heavens with terror, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place (Isaiah 13:12-13).

Thou forgettest Jehovah thy Maker, that stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth; but I will put My words in thy mouth, and I will hide thee in the shadow of My hand, that I may stretch out the heaven, and lay the foundation of the earth (Isaiah 51:13, 16).

From these words it is evident that both “heaven” and “earth” are predicated of man; for although they refer primarily to the Most Ancient Church, yet the interiors of the Word are of such a nature that whatever is said of the church may also be said of every individual member of it, who, unless he were a church, could not possibly be a part of the church, just as he who is not a temple of the Lord cannot be what is signified by the temple, namely, the church and heaven. It is for this reason that the Most Ancient Church is called “man” in the singular number.