1844. 'In a land that is not theirs' means where there will be a Church which does not so to speak consist of people in whom charity and faith are present. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with in 566, 662, 1066, 1068. At the present day people speak of doctrinal matters of faith, these alone, as the things which make the Church; and it is on the basis of these that they distinguish the Lord's Churches from one another. They are not concerned about the kind of life people lead, whether or not they foment inner hatred and like wild animals tear one another apart, violently rob one another, deprive one another of reputation, position, and wealth, and at heart deny whatever is holy. The Church however does not exist in any way with people who are like this but with those who love the Lord and their neighbour as themselves, who have conscience, and who turn away from the kinds of hatred that have been mentioned. When the latter with whom the Church in fact exists are among the others described above they are like 'strangers', and they are subjected by these others to every possible insult and persecution, or are regarded by them as being simple, insignificant, and worthless. This then is what is meant by 'your seed will be strangers in the land'.

1068. That 'Noah began to be a man of the ground' means in general a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', dealt with already in 268, 566, as the member of the Church, or what amounts to the same, the Church. For if the Church is to exist at all the individual must be the Church. The Church is called 'the ground' from the fact that it receives the seeds of faith, which are the truths and goods of faith. 'The ground' is distinguished from 'the earth' or 'the land' - which, as has been shown, also means the Church - as faith is from charity. As charity includes faith within itself so does earth or land include the ground. Consequently when the Church is dealt with in general it is called 'the earth' or 'the land', and when dealt with specifically it is called 'the ground', as here. For that which is general is a complex whole consisting of the things deriving from it. The matters of doctrine which the members of the Ancient Church possessed had come down, as stated already, from revelations and perceptions of the Most Ancient Church which had been preserved, and in which they had faith, such as those we have today in the Word. Those matters of doctrine were their Word. 'Noah began to be a man of the ground' therefore means a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith.