9338. 'And inherit the land' means when governed by good, thus when regenerated. This is clear from the meaning of 'inheriting' as receiving as an heir, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the land', at this point the land of Canaan, as the Lord's kingdom, thus heaven, dealt with in 1413, 1437, 1607, 1866, 3038, 3481, 3705, 3686, 4240, 4447, so that 'inheriting the land' means receiving heaven as an heir to it. The proper way to understand the word 'heir', when used in reference to heaven, is a person who has life from the Lord, 2658, 2851, 3672, 7212, thus who is governed by good received from the Lord, who therefore has been regenerated. The fact that a person is in heaven, and so has been regenerated, when he is governed by good received from the Lord, see 9274 and the places referred to there.

[2] The fact that 'inheriting' has this meaning, when used in reference to heaven, is evident in Matthew,

Then the King will say to those who are at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink. Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matthew 25:34-35, 40.

'Possessing as an inheritance the Lord's kingdom (or heaven)' is said here in regard to those governed by good; and the actual forms of the good of charity in their proper order are also enumerated. Finally it is said, 'Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me'. People are called the Lord's brothers if they are governed by good, 6756, thus also if they practise good; for good is the Lord present with a person. And this is why it says, 'Insofar as you did it to one of [the least of] these My brothers' (not simply 'brothers').

[3] In Revelation,

He who overcomes will receive all things by inheritance, and I will be his God and he will be My son. Revelation 21:7.

It says here of those who overcome that they will receive all things by inheritance; and because they are heirs they are called 'sons'. 'Overcoming' means using good and truth to fight with, for evil is overcome by means of good, and falsity by means of truth.

[4] In David,

God will save Zion and will build the cities of Judah; and they will dwell there and possess it by inheritance; and the seed of His servants will inherit it, and those loving His name will dwell in it. Psalms 69:35-36.

Here 'possessing by inheritance' has regard to those governed by celestial good, and 'inheriting' to those governed by spiritual good. Celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good is the good of charity towards the neighbour, 9277. In Isaiah,

He who trusts in Me will inherit the land, and will possess by inheritance My holy mountain. Isaiah 57:13.

[5] From all this it is evident what was meant by the division of the land of Canaan into twelve inheritances for the twelve tribes of Israel, in Chapters 14-19 of Joshua, and in Chapter 47:13-end and Chapter 48 of Ezekiel. For 'the land of Canaan' meant the Lord's kingdom, or heaven, 1413, 1437, 1607, 1866, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705, 4240, 4447, and 'the twelve tribes' meant all forms of good and all truths in general and in particular, 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640. 'Twelve inheritances' accordingly meant heaven with all its heavens and communities, which divide off one from the next on the basis of forms of the good of love and consequently of truths of faith, 7836, 7891, 7996, so that in the abstract sense [without reference to persons] those inheritances mean forms of good themselves which originate in the Lord and therefore are the Lord in heaven.

[6] For heaven is nothing other than Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. The angels there are recipients of truth in good; and in the measure that they receive it they constitute heaven. Also - and this is an arcanum - the Lord dwells with an angel, and similarly with man, only in that which is His own with the angel or man; for the Divine must dwell in what is of God, not in what is of the self with anyone. This is meant by the Lord's words regarding His union with those governed by the good of love, in John,

On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who loves Me keeps My word, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:20, 23.

And elsewhere in the same gospel,

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one even as We are one, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:22, 26.

3803. 'Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother' means the kinship of the good represented by 'Jacob' and of the good represented by 'Laban'. This is clear from the meaning of 'telling' as making known; from the representation of 'Jacob' as good, dealt with already; from the representation of 'Rachel', to whom it was made known, as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3793; from the meaning of 'brother', who in this place is Jacob, as good, dealt with in 367, 2360, 3303, 3459; and from the meaning of 'father', who in this place is Laban, as good also, dealt with in 3703. From these meanings and from the train of thought it is evident that 'Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother' means the kinship of the good meant by 'Jacob' and of the good meant by 'Laban'. To explain the actual kinship however and so the joining together of the two through the affection for interior truth meant by 'Rachel' would only throw the matter into obscurity, for few know what the good of the natural is and that this is distinct and separate from the good of the rational. Neither do they know what a parallel good springing from a common stock is, nor also what the affection for interior truth is. Anyone who has not by finding out for himself gathered some idea of these matters gains merely a superficial idea, if any at all, from a description of them; for a person takes in only as much of a description given by others as fits in with ideas of his own or else which he acquires by coming to see the thing in himself. All else passes him by. It is enough if one knows that countless kinships of good and truth exist, and that heavenly communities exist in accordance with those kinships, 685, 917, 2739, 3612.

[2] The reason why Jacob calls himself Laban's brother when he was in fact his sister's son is that by virtue of good all are brothers. This also is why Laban in turn calls Jacob 'brother' in verse 15. For it is good that constitutes blood-relationship and which effects any joining together, since good is an attribute of love, and love is a spiritual joining together. This also was the reason why in the ancient Churches all who were governed by good were called brothers. The same happened in the Jewish Church, but because that Church despised everybody else and imagined that they alone were the elect it spoke only of those who had been born Jews as brothers. The rest it called companions or foreigners. The primitive Christian Church also referred to as brothers all who were governed by good, but later on it confined the term to those inside its own group. But the name brother disappeared from among Christians when good did so. And when truth took the place of good, or faith the place of charity, none was able any longer to call another brother by virtue of good, only neighbour. This is also a feature of the doctrine of faith when devoid of the life of charity, in that it seems to be beneath them to exist as a brotherhood when this includes any of lower rank than themselves. For being brothers in their case does not have its origin in the Lord, and therefore in good, but in themselves, and therefore in position and gain.

[3803a] 'And that he was Rebekah's son' means the link between these kindred varieties of good. This becomes clear without explanation, for Rebekah, who was Jacob's mother and Laban's sister, was the one in whom the link existed.