2909. 'In Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron in the land of Canaan' means within the Church. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Kiriath Arba' as the Church as regards truth, and from the meaning of 'Hebron in the land of Canaan' as the Church as regards good. In the Word, especially the prophetical part, whenever truth is the subject, good also is included, on account of the heavenly marriage that exists in every detail of the Word, see 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712. Here therefore when Kiriath Arba is mentioned, so also is 'Hebron in the land of Canaan'. The land of Canaan is the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1607, and locations in that land were in varying ways representative, 1585, 1866.

[2] As regards 'Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron', this was a region where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt. Abraham's dwelling there is evident from what has gone before,

Abraham came and dwelt in [the oak-groves of] Mamre, which are in Hebron. Genesis 13:18.

And Isaac and Jacob's dwelling there too is evident from what comes further on, Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, to Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. Genesis 35:27.

Joseph was sent by Jacob his father to his brothers, from the Valley of Hebron. Genesis 37:14.

From the representation dealt with already of those three personages it is clear that 'Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron' represented the Church before Jerusalem did so.

[3] In the course of time every Church deteriorates until it ceases to possess any faith or charity at all, at which point it is destroyed. This too was represented by 'Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron', that is to say, when this place was occupied by the Anakim, by whom dreadful false persuasions were meant, 581, 1673, regarding which occupation by the Anakim, see Numbers 13:21-22; Joshua 11:21; 14:15; 15:13-14; Judges 1:10. As regards the end or close of the Church and its destruction, this was represented by Joshua's utterly destroying everything in that place, Joshua 10:36-37; 11:21, and by Judah and Caleb's smiting the Anakim, Judges 1:10; Joshua 14:13-15; 15:13-14. The establishment again of a new Church was represented by the allotment of its fields and villages to Caleb as his inheritance, Joshua 21:12. The city itself however became a city of refuge, Joshua 20:7; 21:13, and a city for priests, for the sons of Aaron, Joshua 21:10-11, within the inheritance of Judah, Joshua 15:54.

[4] From this it is evident that Hebron represented the Lord's spiritual Church in the land of Canaan. For the same reason also David was ordered by Jehovah's command to go to Hebron and was there anointed king over the house of Judah; and after he had reigned there for seven years and six months he went to Jerusalem and took possession of Zion, see 2 Samuel 2:1-11; 5:5; 1 Kings 2:11, at which point the Lord's spiritual Church now began to be represented by Jerusalem, and His celestial Church by Zion.

2053. 'My covenant shall be in your flesh' means conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as conjunction, dealt with above, and from the meaning of 'flesh' as man's proprium, also dealt with above, in 2041. How impure the proprium is has also been stated in that paragraph, and has been shown in Volume One, in 141, 150, 154, 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047. The implications of 'My covenant in your flesh' being the conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity are as follows: No pure intellectual truth, which is Divine truth, resides with man. Instead the truths of faith residing with man are appearances of truth to which illusions of the senses attach themselves, and to these in turn falsities, belonging to the desires that go with self-love and love of the world. Such are the truths that reside with man. And how impure they are becomes clear from the fact that such illusions and falsities attach themselves to them.

[2] Nevertheless the Lord joins Himself to man within those very impurities, for with innocence and charity He brings soul and life to these, and in this way forms a conscience. The truths that constitute conscience vary, that is to say, they depend on the religion of the individual. These truths the Lord is unwilling to violate provided they are not contrary to the goods of faith, because the person has taken them to himself and considered them holy. The Lord breaks nobody, but bends him. This becomes clear from the consideration that every type of religious thought in the Church has followers who are being endowed with conscience. The closer its truths get to the genuine truths of faith the better that conscience is. Since it is from the truths of faith such as this that conscience is formed, it is clear that it has been formed in the understanding part of man's mind, for the understanding part is what receives those truths. This part of his mind the Lord has therefore miraculously separated from the will part. This is an arcanum previously unknown, concerning which see what has appeared in Volume One, in 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023. That 'covenant in your flesh' in addition denotes a meaningful sign, namely that of purification, is clear from what has been shown in 2039 about circumcision.