1020. That these things are meant becomes clear from the fact that everything put together as history from Genesis 1 down to Eber in Chapter 11 means something different from what appears in the letter, and from the consideration that the historical narratives there are purely made-up history customary among the most ancient people. When attesting the truth of some matter they would say that 'Jehovah said it'. Here however 'God' is used because the subject is the spiritual Church. And they did the same when anything true was being, or had been, put into effect.

83. 3. One's country is the neighbour according to its spiritual, moral, and civil good.

In everyone's idea his country is as it were one thing; and therefore all the laws, both those relating to justice and those relating to the structure of the state, are framed as it were for one man. His country, therefore, is as it were a man in compound form: it is, besides, called a body, in which the king is in the supreme position. Its good, which ought to be considered, is termed the public good and the common good. It is also said of the king that the people are in the body of his government.