When 'islands' are contrasted to 'earth' or 'mountains,' they signify the truths of faith, because they are in the sea. They signify doctrinal things which are rituals. 'Islands' signify peoples who are more remote from the worship of God. People who are steeped in the internal sense of the Word, such as angels, do not know what islands are, because they no longer have any concept of such places. Instead they have a perception of more remote worship, like the gentiles outside the church.

'Islands,' in Ezekiel 27:6, signify people in the church in a natural, materially-oriented state but still rational.

(참조: Apocalypse Explained 406; Isaiah 1, Isaiah 49, 49:1)

1157. Verse 5 From these the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations.

'From these the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad' means that the worship of even more nations emanated from these, 'islands' being individual pieces of land, and so individual forms of worship, which were more remote still, 'lands' the general features of those forms of worship. 'Every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations' means that they were ranged according to the character of each one, 'according to his tongue' meaning according to each one's individual belief, 'according to their families' meaning according to uprightness, 'as to their nations' meaning as regards both belief and uprightness in general.