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.

1893. Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him. That this signifies that the rational man was not yet, will be evident from what follows, where Isaac is treated of. For, as has been said, there are in every man an internal man, a rational man that is intermediate, and an external, which is properly called the natural man. With the Lord these were represented by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the internal man by Abraham, the rational by Isaac, and the natural by Jacob. The internal man in the Lord was Jehovah Himself, for He was conceived of Jehovah; on this account He so often called Him His “Father,” and in the Word He is called the “Only-begotten of God,” and the only “Son of God.” The rational man is not born with man, but only the capacity for becoming rational, as all may see from the fact that new-born infants are not endowed with any reason, but become rational in process of time by means of things of sense external and internal, as they are imbued with knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. In children indeed there is an appearance of rationality, yet it is not rationality, but is only a kind of rudiment of it, which is known from the fact that reason belongs to adults and men of years.

[2] The rational man in the Lord is treated of in this chapter. The Divine Rational itself is represented by Isaac; but the first rational before it was made Divine, by Ishmael; and therefore that “Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him” here signifies that hitherto there was no Divine rational. As before said, the Lord was born as are other men, and as regards all that He drew from Mary the mother He was like other men; and as the rational is formed by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], which enter through things of the external senses, or those of the external man, therefore His first rational was born as with any other man; but as by His own power He made Divine all the human things that appertained to Him, so did He also make the rational Divine. His first rational is described in this chapter, and also in chapter 21, where Hagar and Ishmael are likewise treated of (from verses 9 to 21), and it is said that Ishmael was expelled when Isaac grew up, by whom is represented the Divine rational.