9339. Verses 31-33 And I will set your boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness even to the River; ¹ for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out ² from before you. You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me when you serve their gods; for it will be a snare to you.

'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. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. 'For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand' means dominion over evils. 'And you will drive them out from before you' means the removal of them. 'You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods' means no contact with evils and falsities. 'They shall not dwell in your land' means that evils must not exist together with the Church's forms of good. 'Lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me' means lest evils turn away forms of good from the Lord. 'When you serve their gods' means if worship is kindled by falsities. 'For it will be a snare to you' means owing to evils that are enticing and deceptive.

V:

8100. 'And the children of Israel went up equipped for battle, out of the land of Egypt' means that they had been released from the state in which they underwent molestations and so had been made ready to suffer temptations. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up equipped for battle' as their being made ready, at this point to suffer temptations (for they were led through the Sea Suph into the wilderness, and 'the wilderness' is a state in which people undergo temptations, see above in 8098); from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with often; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as a state of molestations, dealt with in 7278, so that 'going up out of the land' means being released or delivered. From all this it is evident that 'the children of Israel went up equipped for battle, out of the land of Egypt' means that they had been released from the state in which they underwent molestations and so had been made ready to suffer temptations. For the difference between temptations and molestations, see 7474.