9340. 'And I will set your boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines' means the full range of truths from factual ones to interior truths of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting the boundary from one place to another', when it refers to spiritual truths, as the full range; from the meaning of 'the Sea Suph' as truths on the levels of the senses and of factual knowledge, which are the lowest levels of the human mind (the Sea Suph was the final boundary of the land of Egypt, and 'Egypt' means factual knowledge in both senses, that is, true factual knowledge and false, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7779 (end), 7926, 8146, 8148; in this instance true factual knowledge is meant since the subject is the full range of spiritual matters of faith among the children of Israel, who represented the spiritual Church, 4286, 4598, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 8805); and from the meaning of 'the Sea of the Philistines' as interior truths of faith. The reason why these truths are meant by 'the Sea of the Philistines' is that the sea where Tyre and Sidon lay was the boundary of the land of Philistia, and 'Tyre and Sidon' means cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, 1201, while 'the land of Philistia' means the knowledge of interior matters of faith, 1197, 2504, 2726, 3463.

[2] Since 'the land of Canaan' represented the Lord's kingdom, which is heaven and the Church, all places in the land therefore meant such things as form part of the Lord's kingdom, or heaven and the Church, which things are called celestial and spiritual, and are connected with the good of love to the Lord and the truths of faith in Him. For this reason the seas and rivers which were boundaries meant the final limits there, and therefore 'from sea to sea' or 'from river to river' meant the full range of those things, as may be seen in 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516. From all this it becomes clear that 'the boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines' means the range of spiritual things, which are matters of truth, from external ones to internal, thus truths ranging from factual ones to interior truths of faith. But the range of celestial things, which are aspects of the good of love, is described next by the words 'from the wilderness even to the River'. The fact that places belonging to the land of Canaan, including seas and rivers, mean such things in the Word, has been shown in explanations everywhere.

[3] What the full range of truths from factual ones to interior truths of faith is must be stated briefly. Truths which exist in the external man are called factual ones, but truths which exist in the internal man are called interior truths of faith. Factual truths reside in a person's memory, and when they are brought out from there they pass into the person's immediate awareness. But interior truths of faith are truths of life itself which are inscribed on the internal man, but few of which show up in the memory. These however are matters which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of more fully elsewhere. Factual truths and interior truths of faith were meant in Genesis 1:6-7 by the waters under the expanse and the waters above the expanse, 24; for the first chapter of Genesis deals in the internal sense with the new creation or the regeneration of a member of the celestial Church.

[4] The reason why 'Philistia', which also bordered on the land of Canaan as far as Tyre and Sidon, meant the interior truths of faith was that there also the representative Ancient Church had existed, as is evident from the remnants of Divine worship among them which are alluded to in historical sections and prophetical parts of the Word in which the Philistines and the land of Philistia are the subject, such as - in the prophetical parts - Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 47:1-end; Ezekiel 16:27, 57; 25:15-16; Amos 1:8; Zephaniah 2:5; Zechariah 9:6; Psalms 56:1; ¹ 60:8; 83:7; 108:9. The situation with the Philistines was the same as it was with all the nations in the land of Canaan, in that they represented the Church's forms of good and its truths, and also evils and falsities. When the representative Ancient Church existed among them they represented celestial things which were aspects of good and spiritual things which were matters of truth. But when they fell away from true representative worship they began to represent devilish things which were aspects of evil and hellish things which were matters of falsity. This is the reason why 'Philistia', like all the other nations belonging to the land of Canaan in the Word, means either forms of good and truths, or else evils and falsities.

[5] The fact that interior truths of faith are meant by 'the Philistines' is clear in David,

Glorious things are to be spoken in you, O city of God. I will mention Rahab and Babel among those who know Me; also Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia. The latter was born here. ² Psalms 87:3-4.

'The city of God' means teachings presenting the truth of faith that are drawn from the Word, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493, 5297; 'Tyre' means cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, 1201, and so does 'Ethiopia', 116, 117. From this it is evident that 'Philistia' means knowledge of the truths of faith.

[6] In Amos,

Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to Me, O children of Israel? Did I not cause Israel to come up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Amos 9:7.

This refers to the corruption and destruction of the Church after it had been established. 'The children of the Ethiopians' here are those in possession of cognitions of goodness and truth, which they use to substantiate evils and falsities, 1163, 1164. 'The children of Israel from the land of Egypt' are those who had been brought to spiritual truths and forms of good by means of factual truths, 'the children of Israel' being people in possession of spiritual truths and forms of good, thus in the abstract sense spiritual truths and forms of good, see 5414, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 5879, 5951, 7957, 8234, and 'the land of Egypt' being factual truth, as shown above. The same is meant by 'the Philistines from Caphtor' and by 'the Syrians from Kir', to whom they are therefore likened. 'The Philistines from Caphtor' are people who had been brought to interior truths by means of exterior ones, but who perverted them and used them to substantiate falsities and evils, 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413, 3762, 8093, 8096, 8099, 8313, whereas 'the Syrians from Kir' are those who were in possession of cognitions of goodness and truth, which they likewise perverted, 1232, 1234, 3051, 3249, 3664, 3680, 4112.

[7] In Jeremiah,

... because of the day that is coming to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that is left, for Jehovah is laying waste the Philistines, the remnants of the island of Caphtor. Jeremiah 47:4.

The subject in Jeremiah 47 is the laying waste of the Church's truths of faith, interior truths of faith being meant by 'the Philistines' and exterior truths by 'the remnants of the island of Caphtor'.

[8] In Joel,

What have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? Swiftly I will return your recompense upon your own head, inasmuch as you have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples. Joel 3:4-5.

'All the borders of Philistia' stands for all the interior and the exterior truths of faith; 'carrying silver and gold, and good and desirable treasures into their temples' stands for perverting truths and forms of good, and profaning them by putting them together with evils and falsities. For the meaning of 'silver and gold' as truths and forms of good, see 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 8932.

[9] In Obadiah,

At that time those in the south will be the heirs of the mountain of Esau, and of the plain of the Philistines, and they will become the heirs of the field of Ephraim; but Benjamin [will be the heir] of Gilead. Obad. verse 19.

This refers to the establishment of the Church; but spiritual things are implied by the names. 'Those in the south' are people who dwell in the light of truth, 1458, 3195, 3708, 5672, 5962; 'the mountain of Esau' is the good of love, 3300, 3322, 3494, 3504, 3576; 'the plain of the Philistines' is the truth of faith, 'the plain' being also that which constitutes matters of doctrine about faith, 2418; 'Ephraim' is the Church's power of understanding, 3969, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267; 'Benjamin' is the Church's spiritual-celestial truth, 3969, 4592, 5686, 5689, 6440; and 'Gilead' is the corresponding exterior good, 4117, 4124, 4747.

[10] In Isaiah,

He will gather the outcasts of Israel, and will assemble the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. They will fly down onto the shoulder of the Philistines towards the sea, together they will plunder the sons of the east. Isaiah 11:12, 14.

Here 'Israel' and 'Judah' are not used to mean Israel and Judah; rather, 'Israel' means those who are governed by the good of faith, and 'Judah' those who are governed by the good of love. 'Flying down onto the shoulder of the Philistines' stands for receiving and taking into possession interior truths of faith; and 'plundering the sons of the east' stands for receiving and taking into possession interior forms of the good of faith, for 'the sons of the east' are people who are governed by forms of the good of faith and with whom cognitions or knowledge of good exists, 3249. 3762. For the meaning of 'plundering' as receiving and taking into possession, see what has been shown in 6914, 6917, regarding the plundering of the Egyptians by the children of Israel.

[11] Since 'the land of Philistia' meant knowledge of the interior truths of faith, and since Abraham and Isaac represented the Lord, and the sojourning of these two in places meant instruction received by the Lord in the truths and forms of the good of faith and love, which belong to God's wisdom, therefore - to provide a figurative representation of this - Abraham was commanded to sojourn in Philistia, Genesis 20:1-end, and so too was Isaac, Genesis 26:1-24. Therefore also Abimelech king of the Philistines made a covenant with Abraham, Genesis 21:22-end, and also with Isaac, Genesis 26:26-end. Regarding all this, see the explanations to those chapters.

फुटनोट:

405. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died. (8:9) This symbolically means that those who had lived that faith and continued to live it could not be reformed and receive life.

A third symbolizes all such, as said above. Creatures mean people who can be reformed (no. 290). The reason is that to create means, symbolically, to reform (no. 254). Their living means, symbolically, to be able by reformation to receive life. That they died means, symbolically, that people who live that faith alone cannot receive life. They cannot, because people are all reformed by a faith united to charity, thus by a faith accompanying charity, and none by faith alone; for charity is the life of faith.

[2] Since in the spiritual world the affections and consequent perceptions and thoughts of spirits and angels appear at a distance in the forms of animals or creatures on the earth called beasts, of creatures in the air called birds, and of creatures in the sea called fish, therefore the Word so often mentions beasts, birds, and fish, which nevertheless have precisely the meaning stated. So for example in the following places:

...Jehovah has a quarrel with the inhabitants of the land, for there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God... And everyone who dwells in it will waste away along with the beast of the field and the bird of the air; even the fish of the sea will be gathered up. (Hosea 4:1, 3)

I will consume man and beast..., the bird of the heavens, the fish of the sea, ...the stumbling blocks along with the impious... (Zephaniah 1:3)

There shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, and the fish of the sea, the bird of the heavens, and the beast of the field... shall tremble before Me. (Ezekiel 38:18-20)

You have made Him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet... the beasts of the fields, the bird of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the path of the seas. (Psalms 8:6-8)

The latter is said of the Lord.

Pray ask the beasts, and they will teach you; or the birds of the air, and they will inform you...; and the fish of the sea will tell you. Who of all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah has done this? (Job 12:7-9)

And in many other places as well.

[3] Fish, moreover, and creatures of the sea, as they are called here, mean the affections and consequent thoughts of such people as are concerned with general truths, and so who take more from a natural source than from a spiritual one. These people are meant by fish in the preceding passages, and also in the following ones:

By My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink... and die of thirst. (Isaiah 50:2)

...the king of Egypt, a great whale, you who lie in the midst of your rivers, you said, "The river is mine; I made myself..".. (Therefore) I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales..., and I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. (Ezekiel 29:3-5)

This was addressed to the king of Egypt, because Egypt symbolizes the natural level divorced from the spiritual one, and so the fish of his rivers mean people governed by doctrines, who because of them are caught up in faith separated from charity, a faith that is simply knowledge.

Because of that separation, moreover, one of the miracles in Egypt was the turning of their waters into blood, so that the fish died (Exodus 7:17-25, Psalms 105:29).

[4] Furthermore:

Why do You make mankind like fish of the sea...? Everyone draws them up with a hook, and gathers them in a net... (Habakkuk 1:14-16)

Fish here stand for people concerned with general truths and caught up in faith divorced from charity. In contrast, fish stand for people concerned with general truths and governed by a faith conjoined with charity in Ezekiel:

He said to me: "These waters flowing to the eastern boundary... enter the sea, (from which comes) every living soul that creeps... and very much fish... ...fishermen will stand by it... with a spreading of their nets. Its fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. (Ezekiel 47:1, 8-10)

In Matthew:

(Jesus said,) the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, and they gathered (fish).... And they put the good ones into vessels and threw the bad away. (Matthew 13:47-49)

And in Jeremiah:

I will bring (the children of Israel) back into their land... And I will send for many fishermen...(who) shall fish them. (Jeremiah 16:15-16)

[5] Consequently, anyone who knows that fish symbolize people and things of the kind stated, can see the following: Why the Lord chose fishermen to be His disciples, and said,

Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:18-19)

Why the disciples, with the Lord's blessing, caught a huge multitude of fish, and the Lord said to Peter,

Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men. (Luke 5:2-10)

Why, when they wished to exact tribute from the Lord, He told Peter to go to the sea and draw out a fish, and to give them the coin found in it for Him and for himself (Matthew 16:24-27).

Why, after His resurrection, the Lord gave His disciples fish and bread to eat (John 21:2-13).

And why He told them to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). For the nations they were converting possessed only general truths, and were concerned more with natural things than spiritual ones.