8732. And he went to himself unto his own land. That this signifies to the Divine Itself, is evident from the signification of “going unto his own land,” as being to the former state, thus to the Divine. Moreover by “land” in the internal sense is signified the church, and also heaven; therefore in the supreme sense is signified the Divine. (That by “land” in the internal sense is signified the church, thus also the kingdom of the Lord in heaven, see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011.) That by “land” in the supreme sense is signified the Divine, is because Jethro represented the Divine good, thus the Divine Itself, the returning whereto cannot otherwise be expressed in the historic sense of the letter than by “going unto his own land.” For the significatives in the Word accommodate themselves to the thing represented, the signification which properly belongs to the expression still remaining, as for instance the signification of “land,” which properly signifies the church, for the reason that they who are in heaven do not think of land when it is read of in the Word, but of the spiritual state of the nation which is in the land, thus of the religion there; and therefore when a “land” is read of where the church is, then they have an idea of the church there; and when an idea of the church, they have also an idea of the Lord’s kingdom, consequently of heaven; and when an idea of heaven, they have also an idea of the Divine there. But when the thing represented treats of any other holy thing in the church or in heaven, then that thing can be understood by “land”—as love, charity, good, faith. Hence it is evident that the signification still remains which properly belongs to the expression; as when good is signified, or love or charity, still through all there remains the signification of the church; for these things are the essentials of the church, and make it to be the church.

1733. Possessor of the heavens and the earth. This signifies the conjunction of the internal man or Jehovah with the interior and the exterior man, as appears from the signification of “heaven and earth.” That which is interior in man is called “heaven;” and that which is exterior is called “earth.” The reason why “heaven” signifies that which is interior in man, is that a man as to his interiors is an image of heaven, and so is a kind of little heaven. Primarily the Lord’s interior man is heaven, because the Lord is the all in all of heaven, and thus is heaven itself. It follows from this that the exterior man is called the earth. For the same reason also, by the “new heavens” and the “new earth,” spoken of in the Prophets and in Revelation, nothing else is meant than the Lord’s kingdom, and everyone who is a kingdom of the Lord, or in whom the Lord’s kingdom is. That “heaven and earth” signify these things may be seen, as to “heaven,” n. 82, 911; and as to “earth,” n. 82, 620, 636, 913.

[2] That here “God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and earth,” signifies the conjunction in the Lord of the internal man with the interior and exterior man, may be seen from the fact that as to His internal man the Lord was Jehovah Himself; and because the internal man or Jehovah led and instructed the external, as a father his son, therefore relatively to Jehovah He is called, as to the external man, the “Son of God;” but relatively to the mother, He is called the “Son of Man.” The Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah Himself, is what is here called “God Most High;” and before plenary conjunction or union was effected, it is called “Possessor of the heavens and earth,” that is, Possessor of all things which are in the interior and the exterior man; for these, as before said, are here meant by “the heavens and the earth.”