8751. 'From the going of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt' means after those belonging to the spiritual Church were delivered from molestations. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' as being delivered; from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as molestations, dealt with in 7278. What molestations are, see 7474; and the fact that those belonging to the spiritual Church were held back on the lower earth until the Lord's Coming into the world, and were delivered by the Lord, 6854, 6914, 7035, 7091, 7474, 7878, 7932, 8018, 8054, 8099

4116. 'And crossed the river' means a state in which a joining together takes place. This is clear from the meaning of 'the river', which in this case is the Euphrates, as a joining together, namely a joining to the Divine. The reason 'the river' has this meaning here is that it was the boundary separating the land of Canaan from that region, and all the boundaries of the land of Canaan were representative of and consequently meant spiritually that which came last and yet first - last because that was where it came to an end, and first because it was where it began. For all boundaries are such that they come last for those who are going out of the country but first for those who are coming in. Because Jacob was at that point coming in, that river was the first boundary that he crossed, and so means a joining together - in the highest sense a joining to the Divine; for 'the land of Canaan' in the internal sense means the Lord's heavenly kingdom, 1607, 3481, and in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Human, 3038, 3705. From all this one may see what is meant here by 'he crossed the river'. For all things in the land of Canaan were representative, with distances, positions, and boundaries determining their individual representations, see 1585, 3686; thus the rivers which served as boundaries, such as the river of Egypt, the river Euphrates, and the river Jordan, were representative, 1866.