4069. 'Return to the land of your fathers' means that He had now to bring Himself closer to Divine good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of your fathers' as Divine good in this case because it has reference to the Lord, for 'the land', which is Canaan, means the Lord's kingdom, 1607, 3481, and in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Human since this Human flows in and makes His kingdom, 3038, 3705; and 'father' means good, 3703. And since the goods and truths by means of which the Lord was to make the Natural Divine had now been acquired - those goods and truths being represented by Jacob's stay with Laban and by the cattle he acquired there - 'returning to the land of your fathers' consequently means bringing Himself closer to Divine good.

1145. That 'these are the generations of the sons of Noah' means derivative matters of doctrine and derivative forms of worship in the Ancient Church, which in general is Noah, is clear from the meaning of 'generations', dealt with already. In the external or literal sense, generations involve one being begotten from another, as is well known; but in the internal sense everything has regard to things that are celestial and spiritual, that is, to what are matters of charity and of faith. Thus 'generations' here means things of the Church, and therefore matters of doctrine, as will be better evident from what follows.