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.

4912. 'And said, She is more righteous than I am' means that no joining of what was external to what was internal existed, only what was internal to what was external. This is clear from what has been stated above regarding the Church among the Jewish nation and within that nation, in 4899, namely that the Church existed among that nation, that is, what was internal was joined to what was external, but that no Church existed within that nation, that is, what was external was not joined to what was internal. For if a Church is to exist within a nation, a reciprocal relationship must exist.