4198. 'And Mizpah, for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and you' means the presence of the Lord's Divine Natural, that is to say, within the good that 'Laban' represents now. This is clear from the meaning of 'watching' or keeping watch as presence, for one who keeps watch on another, or sees him from high up in a watchtower, is present with his sense of sight with him below. What is more, when used in reference to the Lord, 'seeing' means Foresight and Providence, 2837, 2839, 3686, 3854, 3863, and so presence too, but through Foresight and Providence.

[2] As regards the Lord's presence, the Lord is present with everyone, yet only to the extent He is received; for all receive their life from the Lord alone. The life in people who receive His presence within good and truth is the life of intelligence and wisdom, whereas the life of those who do not receive His presence within good and truth but within evil and falsity is the life of insanity and foolishness. All the same, the latter have the capacity to be intelligent and wise. The fact that they do have that capacity is shown by their knowing how to counterfeit and imitate the outward appearance of what is good and true and to win people over by means of that outward appearance. This would not be possible if they did not have that capacity. The nature of the presence is meant by 'Mizpah', at this point the nature of it with those whose works are inherently good, that is, with the gentiles, who are represented here by 'Laban'. Indeed the name Mizpah in the original language is derived from the verb 'to watch'.

2913. 'And spoke to the sons of Heth, saying' means those with whom a new spiritual Church was to exist. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Heth' and of Hittite. Many were the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan who are mentioned one by one in various places in the Word, among them the Hittites, see Genesis 15:20; Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23; Deuteronomy 7:1; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 11:1, 3; 12:8; 24:11; 1 Kings 9:20; and elsewhere. Most of them belonged to the Ancient Church which was spread through many lands, including the land of Canaan, see 1238, 2385. All who belonged to that Church acknowledged charity as the chief thing, and everything they taught was about charity or life. People who cultivated teachings about faith were called Canaanites and were separate from the rest of the inhabitants in the land of Canaan, Numbers 13:29 - see 1062, 1063, 1076.

[2] The Hittites belonged among those in the land of Canaan who were more acceptable. This is also made clear by the fact that Abraham, and subsequently Isaac and Jacob, dwelt among them and had a burial-place there, and also by the fact that they treated Abraham with greatest respect, as is quite clear from what is recorded about them in this chapter, especially verses 5-6, 10-11, 14-15. Since they were an upright nation they therefore represent and mean the spiritual Church, or the truth of the Church. But it happened that like all the others who belonged to the Ancient Church the Hittites fell away in the course of time from charity or good that goes with faith; and this explains why later on they mean the falsity of the Church, as in Ezekiel 16:3, 45, and elsewhere. Yet the Hittites did belong among those who were more honourable, as may be seen from the fact that David had Hittites with him, such as Ahimelech, 1 Samuel 26:6, and Uriah, who was a Hittite, 2 Samuel 11:3, 6, 17, 21 - by whose wife Bathsheba David begot Solomon, 2 Samuel 12:24. 'Heth' means exterior cognitions that have regard to life and which constitute the external truths of the spiritual Church, ¹ see 1203.

[3] The subject in the present verse is a new Church which the Lord establishes when the previous one breathes its last, and in the verses which follow the subject is the reception of faith among those people. The subject is not some particular Church among the sons of Heth but in general the re-establishment by the Lord of a spiritual Church after its predecessor fades away and approaches its end. The sons of Heth are simply those who represent and carry a spiritual meaning. Please see what has been stated already about Churches in the following places:

In course of time a Church goes into decline and decay, 494, 501, 1327, 2422.

It departs from charity, and brings forth evils and falsities, 1834, 1835.

At that point the Church is said to be vastated and made desolate, 407-411, 2243.

The Church is established among gentiles; the reason why, 1366.

Within a Church undergoing vastation something of the Church is always preserved as a nucleus, 468, 637, 931, 2422.

If the Church did not exist in the world the human race would perish, ibid.

The Church is like the heart and lungs in that vast body, of which every member of the human race is a part, 637, 931, 2054, 2853.

The nature of the spiritual Church, 765, 2669.

Charity constitutes the Church, not faith separated from charity, 809, 916.

If all possessed charity the Church would be one even though they differ in matters of doctrine and in forms of worship, 1285, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385.

All people on earth who belong to the Lord's Church, though they are scattered throughout the entire world, still so to speak make a single whole, as is the case in heaven, 2853.

Every Church is internal and external, and both together constitute a single Church, 409, 1083, 1098, 1100, 1242.

The external Church is valueless if there is no internal Church, 1795.

The Church is compared to the rise and the setting of the sun, to the seasons of the year, and also to the periods of the day, 1837.

The Last Judgement is the final period of the Church, 900, 931, 1850, 2117, 2118.

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