In Genesis 25:16, because they were outside the cities, signifies the external things of the church. (Arcana Coelestia 3270)

In Joshua 21:12, this signifies again a new church which was both internal and external. (Arcana Coelestia 2909[3])

In Exodus 8:13, this signifies the exteriors of the natural mind (because they were Egyptian Villages) (Arcana Coelestia 7407)

In Isaiah 42:11, this signifies natural knowledges, and memorized things. (Apocalypse Explained 405[12])

In Matthew 9:35, this signifies that a new church was to be proclaimed both in heaven and on earth. (Apocalypse Explained 612[7, 8])

'Villages,' as in Exodus 8:13, signify the exteriors of the natural mind.

3270. 'In their villages' means the external aspects of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'villages' as those things which constitute the external aspects of faith, and so of the Church. The external aspects of the Church are its religious observances, its internal aspects matters of doctrine when the latter are not matters of knowledge but of life. External aspects were represented by 'villages' because these lay outside cities, whereas internal aspects were represented by the cities themselves - 'cities' meaning matters of doctrine, see 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216.