'Land' in the Word, denotes the church, for the things which signify the church also signify the things relating to the church, for these constitute the church. The reason why 'land' denotes the church in the Word is because the land of Canaan was the land in which the church had been since the most ancient times. Hence, when 'land' is named in the Word, it means the land of Canaan, which then means the church. For when the expression 'the land' appears there, people in the spiritual world do not concern themselves with the idea of a land, only with the idea of the nation inhabiting it. And yet not with an idea of that nation but with an idea of the essential nature of it.

'Land' or 'earth,' as in Genesis 20:15, signifies the doctrine of love and charity.

'Land' signifies the celestial principle of love in Genesis 24:4.

In Genesis 26:12, 'land' signifies rational things.

In Genesis 28:13, this signifies the good of the natural.

The 'land' represents the divine of the rational principle in Genesis 30:25.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 5577)

The spiritual meaning of being deceitful is pretty close to the literal meaning: According to the Works of Swedenborg it means using false thinking and logic to attack and destroy true ideas, done on purpose and for evil intent. The biggest difference is that on a spiritual level the ideas being destroyed are spiritual ones, making deceit just that much worse than it is in ordinary life. Some translations of the Bible, including the King James Version, use the word "subtil" to mean deceitful. This is essentially an archaic spelling of "subtle," but seems to carry a more harshly negative meaning than its modern counterpart. More recent translations generally use "deceitful" or "cunning" instead.