4576. And the land which I gave unto Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it. That this signifies the Divine good appropriated, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being good. For the land of Canaan which is here meant by “the land,” denotes in the internal sense the Lord’s kingdom, and hence the church, which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth (see n. 1607, 3481, 3705, 4447, 4517), and as it denotes these, it denotes good, for this is the very essential thing of the Lord’s kingdom and church. But in the supreme sense the “land of Canaan” denotes the Lord’s Divine good, for the good which is in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth is from the Lord. The above is evident also from the representation of Abraham and Isaac, as being the Lord’s Divine-Abraham the Divine Itself, and Isaac the Divine Human, specifically the Lord’s Divine rational (concerning Abraham see n. 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207; and Isaac, n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180); and from the signification of “giving the land to thee,” as being to appropriate it to the natural; for by Jacob, who here is “thee,” is represented the Lord’s Divine natural, as has been frequently shown. From all this it is evident that by “the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee will I give it” is signified the Divine good appropriated.

3481. I have very frequently spoken with the Jews in the other life. They appear in front, in the lower earth, beneath the plane of the left foot. I once spoke to them concerning the Word, the land of Canaan, and the Lord: concerning the Word, that there are in it deepest arcana which are not manifest to men; and this they affirmed; then, that all the arcana which are therein treat of the Messiah and His kingdom which also they were willing to allow: but when I said that Messiah in the Hebrew tongue is the same as Christ in the Greek, they were not willing to hear. Again, when I said that the Messiah is most holy, and that Jehovah is in Him, and that no other is meant by the Holy One of Israel and by the God of Jacob; and that because He is most holy, none can be in His kingdom but those who are holy, not in external form but internal, thus who are not in the unclean love of the world, and in the exaltation of themselves against other nations, and in hatred among themselves, this they could not hear.

[2] Afterwards when I told them that according to the prophecies the Messiah’s kingdom must be eternal, and that they who are with Him will also inherit the earth forever; and that if His kingdom were of this world, and they were to be introduced into the land of Canaan, it would only be for the few years which are of a man’s life; besides that all those who died after they were driven out of the land of Canaan would not enjoy such blessedness and that from this they might know that by the land of Canaan is represented and signified the heavenly kingdom; and especially as they now know that they are in the other life, and are to live forever, so that it is manifest that the Messiah has His kingdom there; and that if it were given them to speak with angels they might know that the universal angelic heaven is His kingdom; and moreover that by the new earth, the New Jerusalem, and the new temple in Ezekiel, nothing can be signified but such a kingdom of the Messiah-to these things they could make no reply, except merely that they who were to be introduced into the land of Canaan by the Messiah, and were to die after so few years and leave the blessedness which they were to enjoy there, would weep bitterly.