3686. And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father. That this signifies the Lord’s foresight and providence, that the affections of that truth with which natural good had been heretofore conjoined would not conduce to conjunction, is evident from the signification here of “seeing,” as being foresight and providence (see n. 2837, 2839); and from the representation of Esau, as being the Lord in respect to the Divine good of the natural (concerning which see above); from the signification of the “daughters of Canaan,” here the daughters of Heth, as being the affections of truth from a ground not genuine (n. 3470, 3620-3621, 3622); and from the signification of “being evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,” as being not to conduce to conjunction, namely, through the good of the natural, which is “Esau,” with the good of the rational, which is “Isaac.” From all this it is evident that by these words is signified the Lord’s foresight and providence, that the affections of that truth, because not from a genuine ground, would not conduce to conjunction. How the case herein is, may be seen from the explication at chapter 26, verses 34-35, where the daughters of Heth are treated of whom Esau had taken to himself for women; and at chapter, 27 verse 46, where it is said of Jacob that he should not take to himself a woman of the daughters of Canaan [Heth]. That by the “daughters of Canaan” are here signified the affections of truth from a ground not genuine, and above by the “daughters of Canaan,” the affections of falsity and evil (n. 3662, 3683), is because the Hittites were of the Church of the Gentiles in the land of Canaan, and were not so much in falsity and evil as were the other nations there-the Canaanites, Amorites, and Perizzites. Hence also by the Hittites there was represented the Lord’s spiritual church among the Gentiles (n. 2913, 2986).

[2] That the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial and existed before the flood, was in the land of Canaan, may be seen above (n. 567); and that the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, was also in that land, and moreover in a number of other kingdoms, see above (n. 1238, 2385). From this it came to pass that all the nations in that land, and likewise all the regions and all the rivers thereof, became representative; for the most ancient people, who were celestial men, by means of all the objects which they saw, perceived such things as are of the Lord’s kingdom (n. 920, 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995); thus also by means of the regions and rivers of that land. After their times these representatives remained in the Ancient Church, thus also the representatives of the places in that land. The Word in the Ancient Church (n. 2897-2899), also had thence the names of places representative, as had also the Word after their time which is called “Moses and the Prophets;” and because this was so, Abraham was commanded to go thither, and a promise was made him that his posterity should possess that land; and this not because of their being better than other nations, for they were among the worst of all (n. 1167, 3373), but in order that by them a representative church might be instituted, in which no attention should be paid to person or to place, but to the things that were represented (n. 3670); and that thereby also the names used in the Most Ancient and the Ancient Church might be retained.

1238. That by “Eber” is signified a nation also, whose father was Eber, one who was called by this name, is to be understood in this way. Those mentioned hitherto were the nations among whom the Ancient Church existed, and were all called sons of Shem, of Ham, of Japheth, and of Canaan, because by Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan are signified the various worships of the church. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan never existed as men; but because the Ancient Church specifically, and in general every church, is such that it is true internal, corrupt internal, true external, and corrupt external, therefore the above-mentioned names were given in order that all the differences in general might be referred to them and their sons, as to their heads. Moreover the nations here named originally had such worship; and therefore are called the sons of one of the sons of Noah. And for the same reason also, such worships themselves are signified by the names of these nations in the Word.

[2] This first Ancient Church, signified by Noah and his sons, was not confined to a few, but extended over many kingdoms, as is evident from the nations mentioned, namely, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Lybia, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Sidon, and the whole land of Canaan, on this side and beyond Jordan. But afterwards in Syria a kind of external worship began, which from thence spread itself widely around, over many countries, especially over Canaan, and which was different from the worship of the Ancient Church. And as something of a church thus arose that was separate from the Ancient Church, there sprang up thence as it were a new church, which may therefore be called the Second Ancient Church. The first institutor of this was Eber, and therefore this church is called after Eber. At that time, as has been said before, all were distinguished into households, families, and nations. Each nation acknowledged one father, from whom also it was named, as is seen in various places in the Word. Thus the nation which acknowledged Eber as its father was called the Hebrew nation.