9342. 'For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand' means dominion over evils. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving into the hand' as overcoming and having dominion over; and from the meaning of 'the inhabitants of the land' as the Church's evils. Forms of good are meant by 'inhabitants', 2268, 2451, 2712, 3613, and therefore evils in the contrary sense; for the nations of the land of Canaan meant evils and falsities molesting and destroying the Church's forms of good and its truths, 9327.

1293. 'And they dwelt there' means the life that resulted. This becomes clear from the meaning in the Word of 'dwelling' as living. The expression to dwell occurs many times in both the prophetical and the historical sections of the Word, and in the internal sense it as a rule means to live. The reason is that the most ancient people dwelt in tents and celebrated their most holy worship in them, and this also is why 'tents' in the Word means the holiness of worship, as shown in 414. And since 'tents' meant the holiness within worship, 'dwelling' in a good sense also means living, or life. In a similar way it is because the most ancient people travelled around with their tents that 'travelling' in the internal sense of the Word means the established patterns and order of life.