4394. 'Which is in the land of Canaan' means within the Lord's kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as the Lord's kingdom, dealt with in 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705. When a person in faith and life is governed by interior truths he is within the Lord's kingdom and experiences the state of serenity, at which time his vision of exterior truths is like that of a person looking down from a tall hill onto a boisterous sea.

A "house" is essentially a container -- for a person, a family, several families or even a large group with shared interests (think of the term "houses of worship.") In the Bible, a "house" is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a "house" can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church. The other nuance to the word "house" is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven most by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So "house" tends to represent the things we want and care about -- which are ultimately the things that define us.