4447. And Hamor spoke with them, saying. That this signifies the good of the Church among the Ancients, is evident from the representation of Hamor, as being what is from the ancients (see n. 4431), that is, the good of the church which was among them. For the good of the church is father, and the derivative truth (“Shechem”) is son; and therefore by “father” in the Word is signified good, and by “son” truth. It is here said “the good of the Church among the Ancients,” but not “the good of the Ancient Church,” for the reason that by the “Church among the Ancients” is meant the church that was derived from the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, and by the “Ancient Church” is meant the church that existed after the flood. These two churches have sometimes been treated of in the preceding pages, and it has been shown that the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood was celestial, but the Ancient Church which was after the flood was spiritual, and the difference between them has often been treated of.

[2] The remains of the Most Ancient Church which was celestial still existed in the land of Canaan, especially among those called Hittites and Hivites. The reason why these remains did not exist anywhere else was that the Most Ancient Church called “Man” or “Adam” (n. 478, 479) was in the land of Canaan, and therefore the “garden of Eden,” by which was signified the intelligence and wisdom of the men of that church (n. 100, 1588), and by the trees in it their perception, (n. 103, 2163, 2722, 2972), was in that land. And because intelligence and wisdom were signified by this “garden” or paradise, the church itself was meant by it; and because the church was meant, so also was heaven; and because heaven, so also in the supreme sense, was the Lord; and therefore in this sense the “land of Canaan” itself signifies the Lord, in the relative sense heaven and also the church, and in the individual sense the man of the church (n. 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705); and therefore also the term “land” or “earth” when mentioned alone in the Word has a like signification (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 3355); the “new heaven and new earth” being a new church in respect to its internal and its external (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355). That the Most Ancient Church was in the land of Canaan may be seen in n. 567; and the result of this was that the places there became representative, and for this reason Abram was commanded to go there, and the land was given to his descendants the sons of Jacob in order that the representatives of the places in accordance with which the Word was to be written, might be retained. (See n. 3686 and that for the same reason all the places there, as well as the mountains and rivers, and all the borders round about, became representative, n. 1585, 1866, 4240.)

[3] All this shows what is here meant by the “Church among the Ancients,” namely, remains from the Most Ancient Church. And as these remains existed among the Hittites and Hivites, therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with their wives, obtained a place of burial with the Hittites in their land (Genesis 23:1-20; 49:29-32; 50:13); and Joseph with the Hivites (Josh. 24:32). Hamor the father of Shechem represented the remains of this Church, and therefore by him is signified the good of the Church among the Ancients, and consequently the origin of interior truth from a Divine stock (n. 4399). (What the distinction is between the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and the Ancient Church which was after the flood, may be seen above, n. 597, 607, 608, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1128, 1238, 1327, 2896, 2897.)

3023. I will make thee swear by Jehovah the God of heaven and the God of the earth. That this signifies a most holy pledging to the Divine which is in the highest and in that which is therefrom, is evident from the signification of “causing to swear,” as being to pledge by oath; for to cause to swear is nothing else than to pledge; and this is most holy when it is by Jehovah the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that is, to the Divine which is above and which is beneath, or what is the same, to the Divine which is in the highest and in that which is therefrom. “Jehovah the God of heaven,” being said of the Lord, denotes Jehovah Himself who is called the Father, from whom He was conceived, thus who was His Divine Essence; for the conception itself gave the veriest essence from which He was. “Jehovah the God of the earth” in this case means Jehovah who is called the Son, thus His Human essence; this came forth from the Divine essence when the Lord made it also Divine. Thus by “Jehovah the God of heaven” is signified the Divine that is in the highest; and by “Jehovah the God of the earth” is signified the Divine that is in that which is therefrom. But the Lord is called “Jehovah the God of heaven” from His Divine that is in the heavens; and He is called the “God of the earth” from His Divine that is on earth. The Divine in the heavens is also that which is with man in his internals; but the Divine on earth is that which is in his externals; for the internals of man are his heaven, because by them he is conjoined with the angels; but his externals are his earth, for by them he is conjoined with men (n. 82, 913, 1411, 1733). When a man is regenerate, the internals flow into the externals, and the externals are from the internals. Hence also it may be known what the internals of the church are, and what its externals.