2571. 'Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you' means the Lord's perception regarding the doctrine of love and charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as thinking, dealt with in 2506, and from the meaning of 'land' here as the doctrine of love and charity. 'Land' or 'earth' has various meanings in the internal sense, 620, 636, 1066, but what is meant in a specific instance is clear from the train of thought. For 'land' or 'earth' means the external member of the Church when 'the sky' or 'heaven' means the internal, 82, 913, 1411, 1733; it also means the region where the Church is, 662, 1066; it means the Church itself, and also in the universal sense the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth, since 'the land of Canaan' or 'the holy land' was representative of that kingdom, 1437, 1585, 1607. The same was also meant by 'a new heaven and a new earth', 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118. And because 'land' or 'earth' means the member of the Church, the Church, and the Lord's kingdom, it also means that which is the essential component of these, namely love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, for it is on these that they all depend, 537, 540, 547, 553, 2130. Consequently 'land' or 'earth' means the doctrine of love and charity which belongs to the Church, and to which here 'the land of Abimelech' refers. For 'Abimelech as a king' means the doctrine of faith, as has been shown, while his land, from which he sprang and in which he dwelt, means the doctrine of love and charity, from which faith springs and in which faith dwells.

[2] The reason why up to this point the Lord's thought had been concerned with the doctrine of faith but was now concerned with the doctrine of love and charity is that the Lord joined the Human to the Divine by means of truths which are matters of faith, yet at the same time by means of Divine Goods which are matters of love that were present within those truths. This He did according to the order by which also man becomes spiritual and celestial but not Divine so as to have life in himself, in the way that the Lord became so. But when the marriage had taken place in the Lord of Divine Truth to Good, and of Good to Truth, which is meant by the words 'Abimelech restored to Abraham Sarah his wife', 2569, His thought was now concerned with the doctrine of love and charity, and this also was according to order; for once man has become spiritual and celestial he no longer thinks from truth but from good, yet not as the Lord did - from Divine Good united to Divine Truth. This is the reason why the doctrine of love and charity is only now mentioned for the first time, even though the doctrine of faith regarded in itself is the same, and the Lord's perception and thought always sprang from Divine love within every thing of faith. Hence it is that the doctrine of love and charity is Divine doctrine itself, and was the doctrine which was cultivated in the Most Ancient Churches. And because that doctrine made one with the doctrine of faith, they rejected people who separated these; see 2417.

2088. 'Behold I will bless him, I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him, more and more' means that they were to be furnished and endowed with goods of faith and with truths from that source, without limit. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed', 'being fruitful', and 'being multiplied'. 'Being blessed' means being endowed with all goods, as shown in Volume One, in 981, 1096, 1420, 1422. 'Being fruitful' means the goods of faith with which they were to be endowed, and 'being multiplied' the truths from that source, as also shown in Volume One, in 43, 55, 913, 983.

[2] Who exactly are celestial people and who spiritual would take too long to describe here. See where they have been described already, for example in 81, 597, 607, 765, 2069, 2078, and many times elsewhere. In general celestial people are those who have love to the Lord, and spiritual those who have charity towards the neighbour. For the distinction between having love to the Lord and having charity towards the neighbour, see above 2023. Celestial people are those whose affection for good stems from good, but spiritual people are those whose affection for good stems from truth. To begin with all people were celestial, because they were governed by love to the Lord, and from this they received perception by which they perceived what was good, not from truth but from the affection for good.

[3] But after this, when love to the Lord was no longer what it had been, spiritual people took their place, these being called spiritual when they were governed by love towards the neighbour, which is charity. But love towards the neighbour, or charity, was implanted by means of truth and in this way they received a conscience in accordance with which they acted, not from an affection for good but from an affection for truth. With them charity looks like the affection for good, but is in fact the affection for truth. Because it looks like the affection for good charity is still referred to as good. But that good is a good arising out of their faith. It is these who are meant by the Lord in John,

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. I am the good Shepherd; and I know My own and am known by My own. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:9, 14, 16.