2928. 'To the people of the land, to the sons of Heth' means by those who belonged to the [new] spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the people' as those who are governed by truths, and so those who are spiritual, dealt with in 1259, 1260; from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church dealt with in 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end); and from the meaning of 'the sons of Heth' as those who belonged to the new spiritual Church, dealt with above in 2913. The expression 'the people of the land' is used in various places in the Word when the subject is Israel and Jerusalem, and by those people is meant in the internal sense the spiritual Church or those who belong to the spiritual Church, for Israel and Jerusalem are used to mean that Church. When Judah and Zion are the subject however the expression 'the nation' is used. 'The nation' means the celestial Church, for Judah and Zion are used to mean that Church.

[2] That the expression 'the people of the land' is used when Israel and Jerusalem, and so when the spiritual Church are the subject, is clear from many places in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

Say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord Jehovih to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the land of Israel, They will eat their bread in sorrow, and drink their waters in vastation, that her land may be devastated. The inhabited cities will be vastated and the land made desolate. Ezekiel 12:19-20.

Here in the internal sense 'Jerusalem' and 'the land of Israel' stand for the spiritual Church, 'bread' and 'waters' for charity and faith, or good and truth. 'The land' stands for the Church itself which as regards good is said to be 'vastated' and as regards truth to be 'made desolate'.

[3] In the same prophet,

The house of Israel will bury Gog and his multitude so that they will cleanse the land in seven months, and all the people of the land will bury them. Ezekiel 39:11-13.

'Gog' stands for external worship separated from internal, which is idolatrous, 1151. 'The house of Israel' stands for the spiritual Church as regards good, 'the people of the land' as regards truth, 'the land' for the Church itself. The reason 'the land' is the Church is that 'the land of Canaan' represented the Lord's kingdom and so the Church, since the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church.

[4] In the same prophet,

All the people of the land will give ¹ this thruma (oblation) to the prince of Israel. And the prince will prepare for himself on that day, and for all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. The people of the land will bow down at the door of the gate on the sabbaths and at new moons. And the people of the land will enter at the appointed feasts. Ezekiel 45:16, 22; 46:3, 9.

This refers to the New Jerusalem, that is, to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, whose subjects are here called 'the people of the land'. 'The prince' is Divine truth coming from the Lord. The expression 'the sons of Heth' is used because 'sons' means truths, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623.

[5] The reason why truths are attributable to those who are spiritual is that these people are introduced to good by way of truths, that is, to charity by way of faith. And because the good they do is done from an affection for truth - for they do not know otherwise than that it is good because they have been taught that it is - their conscience too is founded on these truths of faith, see 1155, 1577, 2046, 2088, 2184, 2507, 2715, 2716, 2718.

脚注:

9224. 'The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me' means also all the matters of faith that [are acquired] through them - that they are to be ascribed to the Lord and not to self. This is clear from the meaning of 'the firstborn of sons' as all matters of faith the Church possesses, dealt with in 2435, 6344, 7035, 7039, 7778, 8042; and from the meaning of 'giving to Me' as ascribing to the Lord, 'Jehovah' being used in the Word to mean the Lord. All matters of faith, meant by 'the firstborn of sons', are beliefs which spring from the good of charity; for faith comes into being from this good. Whether truths are acquired from the Word or from the teachings of the Church, they cannot by any means become matters of faith without the presence of good in which they can be implanted. The reason for this is that the understanding part of the mind is that which receives truths first, for it sees them and introduces them into the will; and when those truths are in the will they are in the person, the will being the person's true self. Anyone therefore who supposes that faith is faith with a person before the person wills it, and does it because he wills it, is very much mistaken. Nor before this do the truths of faith themselves have life in them. All that which belongs to the will is called good, because it is loved; thus truth becomes good, or faith becomes charity, when it is in the will.

[2] There are two controversies which have bothered the Church since earliest times. The first is whether faith is the firstborn of the Church or whether charity is; and the second is whether faith separated from charity brings salvation. The reason why these two controversies arose was that before a person has been regenerated he discerns the truths that are to become matters of faith but not the good that is the good of charity. For the truths of faith enter by the external route, that is to say, through hearing; they deposit themselves in the memory, and from there they appear in the understanding. But the good of charity flows in by the internal route - through the internal man from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven. Therefore it does not come to be discerned until the truths called matters of faith start to be loved for the sake of performing good and useful service and leading a good life, which happens when they come to belong to the will. This now explains why faith was declared to be the firstborn of the Church, and also why people attributed to it the rights of the firstborn, that is, the rights of priority and superiority over the good of charity, when in actual fact the good of charity is prior and higher, and the truth of faith only apparently so, see 3325, 3494, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977, 5351, 6256, 6269, 6272, 6273.

[3] The reason why those who belong to the Church have been in the dark in regard to these matters is that they have failed to perceive that all things in the universe have connection with truth and good, and to be anything must have connection with both. They have also failed to perceive that in the human being there are two mental powers, the understanding and the will, and that truth has connection with the understanding and good with the will, and that without the connection with both nothing is made a person's own. Because these considerations have lain in the dark, and yet the ideas composing a person's thought are based on such considerations, the error could not be made plain to the natural man. Yet if it had at some time been made plain, members of the Church would have seen from the Word as in broad daylight that the Lord Himself had countless things to say about the good of charity, that this good ranks first in the Church, and that faith does not exist anywhere else than within that good. The good of charity consists in doing good because one wills it. They would also have seen the errors that teachings upholding faith separated from charity bring in with them. One such error is the idea that a person is able to will evil and believe truth, consequently that truth is in agreement with evil. Another is the idea that faith can cause the life of heaven to exist with a person who has the life of hell in him, therefore that one life can be transformed into the other, so that those in hell can be raised to heaven and lead among angels a life contrary to their former life. People entertaining such errors do not take into consideration the fact that if anyone leads a life contrary to the life already acquired in the world he is deprived of his life. Anyone who tries to do so is like those who are in the throes of death and end their life in dreadful torment. Errors like these and very many others are what the teachings upholding faith separated from charity bring in with them.