2928. 'To the people of the land, to the sons of Heth' means by those who belonged to the [new] spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the people' as those who are governed by truths, and so those who are spiritual, dealt with in 1259, 1260; from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church dealt with in 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end); and from the meaning of 'the sons of Heth' as those who belonged to the new spiritual Church, dealt with above in 2913. The expression 'the people of the land' is used in various places in the Word when the subject is Israel and Jerusalem, and by those people is meant in the internal sense the spiritual Church or those who belong to the spiritual Church, for Israel and Jerusalem are used to mean that Church. When Judah and Zion are the subject however the expression 'the nation' is used. 'The nation' means the celestial Church, for Judah and Zion are used to mean that Church.

[2] That the expression 'the people of the land' is used when Israel and Jerusalem, and so when the spiritual Church are the subject, is clear from many places in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

Say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord Jehovih to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the land of Israel, They will eat their bread in sorrow, and drink their waters in vastation, that her land may be devastated. The inhabited cities will be vastated and the land made desolate. Ezekiel 12:19-20.

Here in the internal sense 'Jerusalem' and 'the land of Israel' stand for the spiritual Church, 'bread' and 'waters' for charity and faith, or good and truth. 'The land' stands for the Church itself which as regards good is said to be 'vastated' and as regards truth to be 'made desolate'.

[3] In the same prophet,

The house of Israel will bury Gog and his multitude so that they will cleanse the land in seven months, and all the people of the land will bury them. Ezekiel 39:11-13.

'Gog' stands for external worship separated from internal, which is idolatrous, 1151. 'The house of Israel' stands for the spiritual Church as regards good, 'the people of the land' as regards truth, 'the land' for the Church itself. The reason 'the land' is the Church is that 'the land of Canaan' represented the Lord's kingdom and so the Church, since the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church.

[4] In the same prophet,

All the people of the land will give ¹ this thruma (oblation) to the prince of Israel. And the prince will prepare for himself on that day, and for all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. The people of the land will bow down at the door of the gate on the sabbaths and at new moons. And the people of the land will enter at the appointed feasts. Ezekiel 45:16, 22; 46:3, 9.

This refers to the New Jerusalem, that is, to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, whose subjects are here called 'the people of the land'. 'The prince' is Divine truth coming from the Lord. The expression 'the sons of Heth' is used because 'sons' means truths, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623.

[5] The reason why truths are attributable to those who are spiritual is that these people are introduced to good by way of truths, that is, to charity by way of faith. And because the good they do is done from an affection for truth - for they do not know otherwise than that it is good because they have been taught that it is - their conscience too is founded on these truths of faith, see 1155, 1577, 2046, 2088, 2184, 2507, 2715, 2716, 2718.

Poznámky pod čarou:

637. The implications of 'I will destroy them together with the earth' meaning that the human race would perish together with the Church are as follows: If the Lord's Church had been completely wiped out on earth, the human race could not have remained in being at all, for all without exception would have perished. As previously stated, the Church is as the heart. As long as the heart is alive, surrounding organs and limbs are able to live as well. But the moment the heart dies, everything else dies as well. The Lord's Church on earth is as the heart, and from it the human race, even that part of it lying outside of the Church, has life. The reason why is totally unknown to anybody. But so that something of this may be known, let it be said that the whole human race on earth is like the body and all its parts, with the Church resembling the heart. And if there were no Church, with which as a kind of heart the Lord might unite Himself by way of heaven and the world of spirits, there would be a severance; and once the human race was severed from the Lord it would perish instantly. This is the reason why since man was first created there has always been some Church in existence; and as often as the Church has begun to perish it has nevertheless remained with certain people.

[2] This was also the reason why the Lord came into the world. Unless, in His Divine mercy, He had come, the whole human race on this planet would have perished, for at that time the Church was nearing its end, and scarcely any good or truth was surviving. The reason the human race cannot possibly live unless it is joined to the Lord by way of heaven and the world of spirits is that regarded in himself man is even lower than animals. Left to himself he would rush to ruin himself and everybody else, for he has no other desire than to destroy himself and everybody else. His order ought to be as one person loving another as he does himself, but at present everyone loves himself more than others and so hates everybody else. Dumb animals are quite different however, for theirs is an order which they do live according to; and so they live wholly according to the order that is theirs, whereas man lives altogether contrary to order. Consequently unless the Lord had taken pity on man and by means of angels joined him to Himself he could not possibly live for a single moment. Of this man has no knowledge.