3031. 'Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?' means whether it could nevertheless be joined to the Divine good of the Rational. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about Abram and about the land he came from, see 1343, 1356, 1992, 2559. From these paragraphs it is evident that the land from which Abram came was Syria, where the second Ancient Church existed, called the Hebrew Church after its founder Eber, 1238, 1241, 1327, 1343. But around the time of Abram this Church too had fallen away from the truth, some households so far away from it that they did not know Jehovah at all but worshipped other gods. This is the land which is meant here and to which the servant was referring when he asked whether he was required to take Abraham's son 'to the land from which you came'. Consequently 'the land' here means an affection which is not compatible with truth. This being the meaning of 'the land', 'taking his son there', or what amounts to the same, taking a woman for him and remaining with her there, means joining an affection incompatible with truth to the Divine good of the Rational. But this could not be done, as Abraham declares in his reply which follows.

2503. That 'Kadesh' is the affection for interior truth coming from rational concepts, while 'Shur' is the affection for exterior truth deriving from factual knowledge, becomes clear from the meaning of 'Kadesh' and of 'Shur'. 'Kadesh' means truth over which there is strife, as has been shown in 1678; thus it means strife over truth regarding its origin, whether it comes from the rational, as is evident from what follows. But because with the Lord all truth came from a celestial origin, 'Kadesh' here means the affection for truth. Residing with every member of the Church there are rational truths and there are factual truths. Rational truths are interior, but factual truths exterior. The former are quite distinct and separate from the latter, altogether so as man's interior memory is from his exterior memory, dealt with in 2469-2473, and following paragraphs. From this it follows that there are two affections for truth, the first more interior, which is an affection for rational truths, the second more exterior, which is an affection for factual truths. The affection for interior truth deriving from rational concepts is meant here by 'Kadesh', while the affection for exterior truth deriving from factual knowledge is meant by 'Shur'. As regards 'Shur' meaning exterior truth, see 1928; and the fact that names in the Word mean nothing other than real things has been shown already in 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, and many times elsewhere.