2908. 'Sarah died' means night as regards the truths of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying', 'one who has died', and 'death', when used in reference to the Church, as its final period when all faith, that is, charity, has breathed its last, for this period is called 'night' in various places in the Word, 221, 709, 1712, 2353, and 'dying' means ceasing to be what it once was, 494; and from the representation of 'Sarah' as Divine truth, dealt with above in 2904. From this it is evident that these things are meant here.

1437. 'They came out to go into the land of Canaan' means that in this manner He drew closer to the celestial things of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan'. That 'the land of Canaan' represents the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth becomes clear from many things in the Word. The reason it does so is that the representative Church was established in that land, a Church in which every single thing represented the Lord and the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom. This applied not only to religious observances but also to everything associated with those observances - to both the persons who ministered and to the things they administered, and even to the places where the ministrations took place because the representative Church was centred there the land was consequently called 'the Holy Land', even though it was anything but holy, seeing that idolaters and profaners inhabited it. This then is the reason why 'the land of Canaan' here and in what follows means the celestial things of love Indeed the celestial things of love, these alone, exist in the Lord's kingdom and constitute that kingdom