6458. 'Which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite' means redemption. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as making one's own, dealt with in 5374, 5397, 5410, 5426, thus also redeeming, since what one redeems one makes one's own; from the representation of 'Abraham' in the highest sense as the Lord, dealt with in 1965, 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3305, 3703, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276; from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, dealt with in 2971, 3766; and from the representation of 'Ephron the Hittite' as those with whom the ability exists to receive what is good and true, dealt with in 2933, 2940, 2969. From all this one may see what the meaning of these words is - the redemption by the Lord of those in the Church with whom the ability exists to receive what is good and true.

5374. 'To buy [grain]' means a making one's own. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as acquiring to oneself and so making one's own. Spiritually, acquiring and making one's own is effected by means of good and truth, to which the acquisition and ownership that are achieved in the world by the payment of silver and gold correspond; for in the spiritual sense 'silver' is truth, and 'gold' is good. Consequently 'buying' means a making one's own, as it also does in the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! And come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1

Also in Jeremiah 13:1-2, 11. In Matthew,

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man (homo) finds and hides, and in his joy he goes and sells whatever he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader seeking fine pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46.

And in the same gospel,

The wise virgins said to the foolish ones, Go to those who sell and buy oil for yourselves. While they were going to buy, the Bridegroom came. Matthew 25:9-10.

[2] Because 'buying' meant a making one's own, a clear distinction is made in the Word between things bought with silver and those acquired in some other way. Slaves bought with silver were so to speak the buyer's own, and were like 'those born in the house, but in a lower degree. This also explains why the two are mentioned together in various places, as in the command in Genesis 17:3, 'He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your silver must be circumcised', or as in Leviticus 22:11, 'If a priest buys a person ¹ - a buying with silver - [this person] and one who is born in his house shall eat of his bread'. From this one may see what is meant in the Word by 'the redeemed of Jehovah', ² namely those who have acquired good and truth, thus those to whom things that are the Lord's have been made over as their own.

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