9325. 'None will suffer miscarriage or be barren in [your] land' means that forms of good and truths will develop in their proper order, in continuous progression. This is clear from the meaning of 'none will suffer miscarriage or be barren' as the progress of regeneration in its proper order, and therefore the development of forms of good and of truths in their proper order, in continuous progression, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'in the land' as in the Church. In the Word 'the land' or 'the earth' means the Church, see 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2571, 2928, 3355, 3368, 3379, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732; and the reason why 'the land' means the Church is that it implies the land of Canaan, where the Church existed, indeed where it had existed since most ancient times, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6306, 6516, 8317. In the spiritual world furthermore, when a land is spoken of no one envisages a land but what the people and their religion in a land are like. Consequently when 'the land' is mentioned in the Word and it implies the land of Canaan, the Church is envisaged. All this goes to show what a new heaven and a new earth is used to mean in the prophetical parts of the Word, namely the internal Church and the external Church, 1850, 3355, 4535; for there are internal people and there are external people.

[2] The reason why 'none will suffer miscarriage or be barren in the land' means that forms of good and truths will develop in their proper order, in continuous progression, is that all things connected with childbirth are used in the internal sense of the Word to mean such things as are connected with spiritual birth, thus such as are connected with regeneration, 2584, 3860, 3868, 3905, 3915. The things connected with spiritual birth or regeneration are the truths of faith and forms of the good of charity; for through these a person is conceived and born anew. It is evident from a large number of places in the Word that such things are meant by 'births', and plainly so from the Lord's words to Nicodemus,

Jesus said to him, Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said, How can a person be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Nicodemus said, How can these things happen? Jesus answered, Are you a teacher in Israel, and do not know these things? John 3:3-6, 9-10.

'Being born through water and the Spirit' means being born again through the truths of faith and the good of love, see the places referred to in 9274.

[3] The origin of this meaning of 'births' in the Word lies in the correspondence of marriages on earth with the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of goodness and truth. Regarding this correspondence, see 2727-2759. But scarcely anyone at the present day knows, and perhaps scarcely anyone is willing to recognize that truly conjugial love comes down from that marriage; for earthly and bodily things are before people's eyes, and those things have a dampening and smothering effect when they think about such correspondence. Furthermore, since that is the source of truly conjugial love, 'births' and 'generations' in the internal sense of the Word mean things connected with new birth and generation effected by the Lord. So it is also that father, mother, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandsons, and many more who are the product of marriages, mean forms of good and truths, and derivations from them, dealt with many times in explanatory sections.

[4] From all this it now becomes clear that 'none will suffer miscarriage or be barren in the land' means that forms of good and truths will develop in their proper order, in continuous progression. The fact that 'one suffering miscarriage' and 'one who is barren' mean instances of miscarriage and barrenness in a spiritual sense, that is, the perversions of goodness and truth, and also the destruction and total rejections of them, is evident from the following places: In Hosea,

Ephraim, when I saw it reaching as far as Tyre, was planted in a beautiful [place]; and Ephraim must lead out its sons to the killer. Give them, O Jehovah, a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. On account of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house. Hosea 9:13-15.

Unless people know what it is that 'Ephraim', 'Tyre', 'the killer', 'sons', 'a miscarrying womb', and 'dry breasts' mean in the internal sense, they cannot have any knowledge at all of what those prophetic statements imply. 'Ephraim' is the Church's power of understanding, which is an understanding enlightened in regard to the truths and forms of the good of faith obtained from the Word, see 3969, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267; 'Tyre' is the cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, 1201; and from this it is evident what 'Ephraim, when I saw it reaching as far as Tyre, was planted in a beautiful place' means. 'A killer' is one who deprives another of spiritual life, that is, the life provided by truth and good, 3607, 6767, 8902; 'sons' are the truths of faith, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257; and from this it is evident what 'Ephraim must lead out its sons to the killer' means. 'Breasts' are affections for goodness and truth, 6432, so that 'dry breasts' are the absence of affections, and desires to pervert instead; and from this it is evident what 'a miscarrying womb' means, namely a perversion of goodness and truth. Things connected with spiritual life are clearly meant by all these words, for it says, 'On account of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house', 'out of Jehovah's house' meaning out of the Church and out of heaven, 2233, 2234, 3720, 5640.

[5] In Malachi,

I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that he does not ruin for you the fruit of the land, nor will the vine in the field miscarry for you. All the nations will declare you blessed, and you will be a land of delight. Malachi 3:11-12.

The prophecy that the vine in the field would not miscarry means that the truths and forms of the good of faith among those who are within the Church will develop in their proper order; for 'the vine' is the spiritual Church's truth and good, 1069, 6375, 6376, 9277, and 'the field' is the Church, 2971, 3766, 7502, 9139, 9295. 'A land of delight' is a Church pleasing to the Lord; for everyone within the Church who has been regenerated through truth and good is an embodiment of the Church. From this it is evident what it is that 'you will be a land of delight' means, 'a land' being the Church, see above.

[6] In Moses,

If you hear My judgements, to keep and do them, you will be blessed above every people; none will be unfruitful or barren among you, or among [your] beasts. Jehovah will take away all sickness from you, and all the evil diseases of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7:12, 14-15.

'None will be unfruitful or barren' stands for not being devoid of the life provided by truth and good; thus it is a promise that spiritually they will have life. Since 'barrenness' had such a meaning, women in the ancient Churches did not think of themselves as being alive if they were barren. This was so with Rachel, who spoke of herself to Jacob - see 3908 - in the following words,

Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children]; and she said to Jacob, Give me sons; if you do not, I am dead. Genesis 30:1.

[7] 'The barren' also means those who are without good because they do not possess truths, yet have a desire for truths in order that they may be governed by good, as with upright nations outside the Church. An example of this meaning occurs in Isaiah,

Sing, O barren one that did not bear; resound with singing and cry out with joy, O one that has not been in travail, for the sons of her that is desolate will be more than the sons of her that was married. Isaiah 54:1.

In David,

Jehovah lifts one who is crushed out of the dust, He raises the needy one from the dunghill, to set him with the princes of His people. He causes the barren one of the house to dwell as a joyful mother of children. Psalms 113:7-9.

[8] In Hannah's prophetic utterance after she had given birth to Samuel,

The full have been hired out [for bread], and the hungry have ceased [to be hungry], till she who was barren has borne seven, while the one who has many children has become feeble. 1 Samuel 2:5.

In these places 'the barren' is used to mean gentile nations who are being summoned to the Church, and to whom the Church is transferred when the old Church has come to an end, that is, when those who formerly belonged to the Church no longer possess faith because they do not have any charity. This old Church is meant by 'the one who has many children has become feeble' and by 'her that was married', while the new one among gentile nations is meant by 'her that is barren and desolate who will have many more sons' and by 'the barren one of the house [who dwells as] a joyful mother of children'. 'Bearing seven' means being regenerated completely, for 'seven' in this prophetic utterance does not mean seven but to completion, 9228. From all this it is evident what the following words spoken by the Lord serve to mean,

The days will come in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts which have not nursed! Luke 23:29.

This refers to the close of the age, which is the final period of the Church.

[9] In the second Book of Kings,

The men of Jericho said to Elisha, Behold, the city's situation is good, but the water is bad and the land barren. Then Elisha told them to put salt in a new dish and to throw the salt from it into the source of the water. And the water was healed, and no more death or barrenness came from it. 2 Kings 2:19-21.

No one can know what this description holds within it except from the internal sense; for all the miracles described in the Word hold within them the kinds of things that happen within the Lord's kingdom, that is, within the Church, 7337, 7465, 8364, 9086. A person needs to know therefore what 'Elisha' represented, what 'the city of Jericho' meant, what 'bad water and barren land' meant, what 'a new dish and salt in it' meant, and also what 'the source of the water' into which they were to throw the salt meant. 'Elisha' represented the Lord in respect of the Word, see 2762. 'Water' means the truths of faith, 28, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 6346, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, and therefore 'bad water' means truths devoid of good, while 'barren land' means the Church's good which as a consequence is not alive. 'A new dish' or new vessel means factual knowledge and cognitions of goodness and truth, 3068, 3079, 3316, 3318. 'Salt' means truth's desire for good, 9207. 'The source of the water' means the human natural which receives the cognitions or knowledge of truth and good and is improved by truth's desire for good.

[10] From all this it is evident what that miracle held within it, namely the improvement of the Church and its life by the Lord's Word and by truth's desire for good from there. The improvement is brought about when the human natural receives truths from the Word as a result of such a desire. The reason why the miracle took place at the city of Jericho was that this city was located not far from the Jordan, and 'the Jordan' means that with a member of the Church which first receives truths, which is the natural, 1585, 4255. The human natural is the first to receive truths from the Lord which are present in the Word, but it is regenerated last; and when it has been regenerated the whole person has been regenerated. This was meant by the Lord's words to Peter when He washed the disciples' feet,

Jesus said, He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, and the whole person is clean. John 13:10.

'The feet' are those things that belong to the human natural, and in general are the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328. The natural or external man must be in agreement with the spiritual or internal man if a person is to be regenerated. Thus a person has not been regenerated until the natural has been, see 2850, 3167, 3286, 3321, 3470, 3493, 3508, 3509, 3518, 3573, 3576, 3579, 3620, 3623, 3671, 3882, 3969, 4353, 4588, 4612, 4618, 5168, 5326, 5373, 5651, 6299, 6454, 7442, 7443, 8742-8747, 9043, 9046, 9061.

8989. 'And shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost' means a state in which strengthened and implanted truth [communicates] with spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the door' as the means by which truth is introduced into good, dealt with in 2356, 2385, at this point strengthened and implanted truth, meant by a Hebrew slave after servitude lasting six years, 8976, 8984, and since 'the door' is the means of introduction it is also the means of communication (for a door is the means by which one room communicates with another); and from the meaning of 'the doorpost' as that truth linked to good, since a doorpost stands between two rooms, linking one to the other. For the meaning of 'the doorpost' as the truth of the natural, see 7847. Who can fail to see that this symbolic act carried out when slaves stayed on contains an arcanum, indeed a Divine one? For Jehovah declared and commanded it from Mount Sinai. People who do not think there is anything holier and more Divine in the Word than that which is seen in the letter must be astonished that these and many more things contained in the present and following chapters were declared vocally by Jehovih. For in the letter they appear to be simply the kinds of matters that nations' civil laws deal with, as is the case with this law regarding slaves, which decrees that any of them who does not wish to go out of servitude should be brought to the door or to the doorpost, where his master should pierce his ear with an awl. In the sense of the letter this does not savour of what comes from God; even so, it is utterly Divine. But this is not evident unless made so by the internal sense. The internal sense is that those imbued with truths alone and not with complementary good, yet nevertheless with the delight in remembering forms of spiritual good, 8986, 8987, have some communication and link with spiritual good.

[2] This was represented by the law that the slave's ear should be pierced at the door or at the doorpost by his master; for the door is the means of communication, the doorpost is that which serves to link, the ear is obedience, and piercing it with an awl is a representative sign of the state in which he is to stay on. This is how these details are perceived by the angels present with a person who reads this command. The angels do not think of a door, of a doorpost, of an ear and the piercing of it, nor even of a slave, but instead they think of the communication and linking together mentioned above. For the understanding which angels have is of the latter kind of things, because they are in the light. And none except spiritual and heavenly matters occur to them, not natural and worldly ones such as the literal sense of the Word contains; for the literal sense of the Word is natural and worldly, whereas its internal sense is spiritual and heavenly. The former exists for men, the latter for angels; consequently the Word is the means through which heaven has communication with and is linked to mankind.

[3] To bring further out into the open the arcana contained in this procedure followed in the case of slaves staying on with their master, something must be said about why it is that 'the door' and 'the doorpost' mean the means of communication and of linking together. Angels and spirits possess dwelling-places, which are in appearance exactly like those in the world, 1116, 1626-1628, 1631, 4622. And - what is an arcanum - every single thing that appears in their dwelling-places is a sign of something spiritual; it also arises out of spiritual things which exist in heaven, and which are therefore present in their minds. Communication between truth and good is presented visually there as a door, and the linking together of them as a doorpost; and other things are presented as the actual rooms, porches, windows, and different kinds of adornment. Nobody at the present day, least of all one who is merely natural, is able to believe that these things are so, because they are not evident to people's physical senses; and yet it is clear from the Word that such things were seen by prophets when their inner eyes were opened to see into heaven. I too have discerned and seen the same things a thousand times. I have also on many occasions heard them say, when their thoughts were being communicated to me, that the doors of their rooms were open, or when they were not being communicated, that their doors were shut.

[4] This explains why 'doors' are mentioned in the Word in places where communication is the subject, as in Isaiah,

Go away, my people, enter your bed chambers, and shut your door behind you. Hide yourself, so to speak, for a little moment, until the anger passes over. Isaiah 26:20.

'Shutting the door behind oneself, until the anger passes over' stands for having no contact with evils, which are 'the anger', 3614, 5034, 5798, 6358, 6359, 6997, 8284, 8483. In Malachi,

Will He accept you favourably? ¹ said Jehovah Zebaoth. Who even among you would rather shut the doors, and not kindle a light on My altar in vain? Malachi 1:9-10.

'Shutting doors' stands for not communicating with sacred or Divine things. In Zechariah,

Open your doors. O Lebanon, that fire may consume your cedars. Zechariah 11:1.

'Opening doors' stands for providing access or communication.

[5] In David,

He commanded the skies from above, He threw open the doors of the heavens. Psalms 78:23.

'Throwing open the doors of the heavens' stands for providing communication with the truths and forms of good which come from the Lord in the heavens. In the same author,

I have chosen to stand at the door in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalms 84:10.

'Standing at the door' stands for communicating from the outside with good, which is 'the house of God', 3720. In the same author,

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, ² so that the King of glory may come in. Psalms 24:7, 9.

'Ancient doors being lifted up' stands for opening and raising hearts to the Lord, who is 'the King of glory', and so providing communication, that is, enabling Him to flow in with the good of charity and the truth of faith. The Lord is called 'the King of glory', by virtue of the truth that radiates from good.

[6] In Isaiah,

Jehovah said to His anointed, to Cyrus - whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him, in order that I may ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him, and gates may not be shut - I will go before you and make straight the crooked places. And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and the secret wealth of concealed places, that you may know that it is I, Jehovah, who called you by your name, the God of Israel. Isaiah 45:1-3.

This refers to the Lord in respect of His Human, He being 'Cyrus' in the representative sense. 'Opening doors before him' is providing access to the Divine itself, which is why even in respect of His Human He is called 'God', in this instance 'the God of Israel'

[7] In John,

Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one can shut; for you have a little strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Revelation 3:8.

'Setting an open door' stands for communication with heaven. In the same book,

After these things I saw, and behold, an open door in heaven. I heard, Come up here, in order that I may show you things which must take place after this. Revelation 4:1.

'A door' there plainly stands for communication, since a revelation which he was going to receive from heaven is the subject. From this it is also evident that communication is represented in heaven by a door, as stated above In the same book,

Behold, I stand at the door and knock If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20.

Here also 'the door' plainly stands for access to and communication with heaven where the Lord is, thus with the Lord.

[8] Similarly in Matthew,

The bridegroom came, and the virgins went in to the wedding feast and the door was shut. Eventually the remaining virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying said, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Matthew 25:10-12.

What these words mean in the internal sense, see 4635-4638, where it is shown that 'virgins' are those within the Church. 'Having oil in their lamps' refers to those who have the good of charity within the truths of faith, and 'not having oil in their lamps' to those who have the truths of faith and not the good of charity in them. The door is said to be shut to the latter because they do not communicate with heaven, that is, through heaven with the Lord. Communication with heaven and through heaven takes place through the good of charity and love, but not through truths that are called the truths of faith devoid of good within them. This is why the latter are called 'foolish virgins', while the former are called 'wise virgins'.

[9] In Luke,

Many will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the Householder has risen up and shut the door, then you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying will say to you, I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, We ate in Your presence and we drank; and You taught in our streets. But He will say to you, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:24-27.

Here also 'the door' plainly stands for access and communication, as above. Those to whom the door is shut and who knock on it but are not let in are people imbued with the truths of faith received from the Word but not with the good of charity. All this is meant by their eating with the Lord and drinking, and by their hearing the Lord teaching in their streets, when yet they do not live the life of faith, for 'workers of iniquity' are those who do not live that life.

[10] In John,

Truly, truly I say to you, He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved. John 10:1-2, 9.

'Entering by the door' means passing through the truth of faith to the good of charity and love, thus to the Lord. For the Lord is Goodness itself, and the Truth that introduces too, thus also the door; for faith is received from Him.

[11] The use of 'the door' to mean the means of communication seems to be a metaphorical way of speaking, or a comparison. But in the Word they are not metaphors or comparisons; rather they are real correspondences. Even the comparisons made there involve the use of such things as are correspondential, as becomes clear from what has been stated regarding a door, namely that actual doors appear in heaven where angels and spirits reside, opening or shutting in accord with states of communication. So also with every other comparison.

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