Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases -- when it is connected to ideas or objects -- its spiritual meaning and natural meaning are essentially the same. When the Bible talks about people knowing each other and especially when it talks about the Lord knowing people, the meaning has more to do with the states of love within people than it does with any factual knowledge. This makes sense if you think about it. When we really "know" somebody, what we mean is that we know what kind of person they are, what their motivations are, what they love, what they hate, what makes them tick. Those things are far more important than knowing their parents' names, where they were born or what year they graduated from school. Most often then, especially applied to people, "knowing" has to do with the perceptions we have about other people's loves and the conjunction that can exist between those with similar loves, not just a collection of facts.

8732. 'And he went his way to his own land' means to the Divine Himself. This is clear from the meaning of 'going to his own land' as to the former state, that is, to the Divine. Furthermore 'land' in the internal sense means the Church and also heaven, so that in the highest sense it means the Divine. As regards the meaning of 'land' in the internal sense as the Church, and so also the Lord's kingdom in heaven, see 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011. But as regards the meaning of 'land' in the highest sense as the Divine, the explanation for this is that 'Jethro' represented Divine Good, thus the Divine Himself; and going back to the Divine cannot be expressed in the historical narrative of the literal sense in any other way than by the words, 'going to his own land'. For spiritual meanings in the Word adapt themselves to whatever is being represented; yet the meaning which belongs properly to a word still remains. This is so with the meaning of 'land'. Its proper meaning is the Church, the reason for this being that those in heaven do not think of a land when 'land' is referred to in the Word; rather they think of the spiritual state of the nation in that land and so of religion as it exists there. When therefore a land where the Church exists is referred to they think of the Church there; along with the Church they also think of the Lord's kingdom, and consequently of heaven; and along with heaven they also think of the Divine there. But when the thing represented has all to do with some holy reality existing in the Church or in heaven, then that reality is to be understood by 'land' - such as love, charity, good, or faith. From this it is evident that the proper meaning of that word still remains. When for example good is meant, or love, or charity, its overall meaning as the Church still remains; for those virtues are the essential characteristics of the Church, and cause it to be the Church.