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.

4517. 'To the Canaanite and the Perizzite' means those who are governed by good and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the Canaanite' here as those who are governed by the good of the Church, and 'the Perizzite' those who are governed by the truth of the Church. Canaanite and Perizzite have these meanings because the Ancient Church continued to exist in that land among those people, as stated just above in 4516. For in that land there were people who belonged to the Most Ancient Church, see 4447, 4454. There were also those who belonged to the Ancient Church, in particular the one called the Hebrew Church, which was why people from the land of Canaan were in general called the Hebrews, Genesis 40:15, and had altars and offered sacrifices, and why after they had become idolaters the command was frequently given for their altars to be destroyed. Therefore so long as the Church or something like the Church remained with them 'the Canaanites' meant the good of the Church and 'the Perizzites' the truth of the Church. But once everything of the Church with these had reached its end 'Canaanite' means evil and 'Perizzite' falsify, 1573, 1574.