10507. 'And now, go! lead the people to what I have spoken of to you' means bringing this nation to represent the Church, and does not mean that the Church was to exist among them. This is clear from the meaning of 'leading the people to the land of Canaan' as causing the Church to exist there; for 'the land of Canaan' means the Church, and 'leading the people to that land' in the spiritual sense means establishing the Church among that people, for that nation was therefore being led to that land in order that the Church might come into being there. Here however the meaning is that they were being brought merely to represent it, for it says, 'Lead the people to what' and not 'to the land which'.

Among the Israelite and Jewish nation the Church did not exist but only that which was representative of the Church, see 4281, 4288, 4311, 4500, 4899, 4912, 6304, 7048, 9320.

'The land of Canaan' means the Church, 3686, 3705, 4447, 5136, 6516, and therefore 'the land' or 'the earth' in the Word means the Church, in the places referred to in 9325.

4478. 'And they spoke to the men of the city, saying' means persuasion. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as willing and also as flowing in, dealt with in 2951, 3037. In this case persuading is meant because persuasion exists in one who wills something; and when anyone like this influences another he communicates his persuasion. Furthermore 'the men of the city' means those with whom the truths of doctrine are present, in this case truths like those with Shechem. For in ancient times a city was nothing other than one family belonging to a nation; the dwelling together of those who belonged to one family was called a city. And because in the internal sense it is not the family that is meant but the essential nature of that family so far as life and doctrine are concerned, 'city' means the truth of doctrine and 'inhabitants' the good of doctrine, see 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216. But when the inhabitants of a city are referred to as 'the men of the city' it is not the good of doctrine that is meant but the truths of it; for in the Word 'men' means truths, 3134.