10570. 'And I and Your people will be made more distinguished than all the people who are on the face of the ground' means the consequent pre-eminence over all throughout the whole world where the Church exists. This is clear from the meaning of 'being made more distinguished than all the people who are on the face of the ground' as pre-eminence over all throughout the whole world. The reason why where the Church exists is also meant is that 'the ground' means the Church, which is dealt with below.

[2] It was this end in view - that they should be made more distinguished than all throughout the whole world - that caused the Israelite nation to worship Jehovah and enabled them to be outwardly holy. This is clear from what has been shown previously regarding that nation. The fact that such people are able to be outwardly holy and to seem to others to be worshippers of God is clear from the idolaters spoken of in the historical narratives of the Word, who were able in like manner to do the outward things. But anyone may see and deduce that those idolaters possessed no inner holiness from the consideration that the Divine Truths which have been revealed in the Word are what make worship internal, when people know them and lead a life in keeping with them. For if a person were able to worship God in a holy way without those Truths there would be no need for any of the Church's teachings, nor for any preaching.

[3] Since that nation was such that their end in view - to be pre-eminent over others - enabled them to be outwardly holy, and since among people such as these the things that are representative of celestial and spiritual realities, which the outward things of their worship were, can be conveyed to angels and a link with heaven can thereby be established, that nation was accepted. But anyone who supposes that this made them worshippers of God is very much mistaken; for they were worshippers of self and the world, and idolaters at heart. And because they were such, neither was any revelation given them of the interior things of worship, which have to do with faith in the Lord and love to Him. This is evident from the books in the Old Testament, and also from the fact that they did not acknowledge the Lord when He came into the world, and indeed still do not acknowledge Him; and if presented with teachings about the Lord contained in the prophetical parts, even then they do not accept them. They desire a Messiah who will exalt them above all throughout the whole world, not a Messiah whose kingdom is in heaven and who looks from there to the salvation also of all on earth. From all this it becomes clear what that nation has been like since the earliest ages, and why it is that it says here that by Jehovah's going with them they would be made more distinguished than all the people who are on the face of the ground.

[4] By the words 'on the face of the ground' wherever the Church exists should be understood; for 'the ground' has the same meaning as 'the earth', namely the Church (for the meaning of 'the earth', or 'the land', as the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325). But 'the ground' means the Church for the same reason as 'the field' does, that is, because it receives various kinds of seeds, which then grow into plants and bear fruit, by which the truths and forms of the good of faith and love are meant. For the human being is a recipient of these just as the ground is of seeds. The earth is called a Church however on account of the people inhabiting it, with whom the Church exists. But since the ground implies that which extends spatially just as the earth or the land does, translators use the word 'earth' instead of 'ground'. Here they say 'on the face of the earth' instead of 'on the face of the ground', as they do in other places. And yet in the original language the term that denotes the ground is derived from an entirely different root from the one that the term denoting the earth springs from.

[5] The fact that 'the ground' means the Church, just as 'the earth' or 'the land' does, is clear from various places in the Word, of which let only some be quoted, such as this in Jeremiah,

The nobles sent their inferiors for water, they came to the pits, and they found no water; their vessels returned empty, because the ground was broken up in pieces, no rain had come to be on the land. Jeremiah 14:3-4.

Here 'the ground' means the Church, and so does 'the land', for the subject in the internal sense is the lack of truth and resulting ruination of the Church. 'Water' means truths; 'pits' where those truths, thus religious teachings, are stored; 'vessels' recipients of them; and 'rain' the influx of them from heaven. 'The land' is where the Church is situated, and 'the ground' the actual Church, which is said to be 'broken up in pieces' owing to drought, that is, to the lack of truth from heaven.

[6] In Isaiah,

It will happen at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to her harlot's reward and commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the ground. At length her merchandise and her harlot's reward will be holy to Jehovah. Isaiah 23:17-18.

'Tyre' means the Church in respect of its cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, and so in the abstract sense means those cognitions. These are called 'a harlot's reward' when they are taught for the sake of gain, position, and reputation for knowing them, thus when they are put on sale so to speak, and are not taught for truth's own sake. In the Word this is called harlotry and whoredom. 'Committing whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth' means doing so with all the truths of the Church; 'on the face of the ground' means wherever the Church is situated. Since cognitions of truth and good continue to be cognitions of truth and good and so continue to be Divine, even when they are used for gain by a person who teaches and puts them up for sale, and they are consequently 'a harlot's reward', it says that 'her merchandise and her harlot's reward will be holy to Jehovah'. Everyone whose thought extends beyond the sense of the letter can see that a harlot's reward should not be understood in these verses, nor whoredom committed with all the kingdoms of the earth, nor that such a thing will be holy to Jehovah.

[7] In David,

You send forth Your spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground. Psalms 104:30.

'Jehovah's spirit' means the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 9818; 'being created' means being created anew, that is, being regenerated, 10373; 'renewing the face of the ground' reforming and establishing the Church, 'the face of the ground' meaning wherever anything of the Church can be received. The like is meant in other places where the expression 'the face of the ground' occurs, such as Genesis 7:4; 8:8, 13; Exodus 32:12; Numbers 12:3; Deuteronomy 6:15; 7:6; 1 Samuel 20:15; 2 Samuel 14:7.

6222. 'And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim' means the Church's will and the Church's understanding, born from the internal. This is clear from the representation of 'Manasseh' as the new will in the natural and its essential nature, dealt with in 5354 (end); and from the representation of 'Ephraim' as the new understanding in the natural and its essential nature, dealt with in 5354. The birth of the two from the internal is meant by the fact that they were the sons of Joseph, who represents the internal celestial, 5869, 5877.

[2] What the Church's understanding is and what its will is must be stated. The Church's understanding consists in perceiving from the Word what the truth of faith is and what the good of charity is. As is well known, the literal sense of the Word is by nature such that a person can use that sense to support any opinion at all that he may adopt. The reason for this is that ideas appearing in the literal sense of the Word serve as general vessels to receive truths, though not until they have actually received truths does the real nature of those vessels reveal itself as if through transparency. Thus those ideas form merely a general impression which a person must gain first in order that he may aptly receive particular aspects and specific details. This fact - that the literal sense of the Word is by nature such that a person can use that sense to support any opinion at all that he may adopt - is clearly evident from the great number of heresies that have existed in the Church, and still exist in it. Adherents of each heresy find support for it in the literal sense of the Word, support which enables them to believe fully that it is the truth, which means that if they were to hear the actual truth from heaven they would receive nothing at all of it.

[3] The reason why they would not receive it is that they do not share in the understanding that the Church possesses; for that understanding exists when people read the Word, assiduously take one statement together with another, and by doing so see what they ought to believe and what they ought to do. Such understanding comes only to those who receive light from the Lord, whom the Christian world also calls 'the enlightened'. That enlightenment does not come to any but the kind of people who have the desire to know truths, not for the sake of reputation and glory but for the sake of life and service. That same enlightenment is received by a person in his understanding, for the understanding is the receiver of light. This is clearly evident from the fact that people who have little understanding cannot by any means see such things from the Word but have faith in those who they think are the enlightened. Furthermore it should be recognized that those who have been regenerated receive from the Lord an understanding which is capable of being enlightened; and it is the light of heaven coming from the Lord that flows into the understanding and gives it light, for the understanding receives its light, its sight, and consequently its perception from no other source.

[4] But this understanding which is being called the Church's understanding is more internal than an understanding based merely on factual knowledge, for it consists in a discernment that a thing is true not because factual evidence and philosophical deductions dictate it but because the Word in its spiritual sense does so. For example, people who possess the Church's understanding can perceive clearly that in every single part the Word teaches that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are the essential qualities of the Church, that a person's life continues after death, and that his life arises out of his loves. They can also perceive that faith separated from charity is not faith, that faith contributes nothing to eternal life except in the measure that the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbour are linked to it, and that faith and charity must therefore be joined together so that spiritual life may exist. People with an enlightened understanding can perceive quite clearly that these things are true; but those without it can by no means see that they are.

[5] It is thought that the people with an understanding in things of the Church are those who know how to substantiate extensively the opinions or teachings of their Church, to the point of convincing others that they are true, and who know how to refute numerous heresies in a masterly way. But this is not what is meant by the Church's understanding, for substantiating opinions is not a characteristic of the understanding but of mental ability at a sensory level, which sometimes comes to exist in very wicked people; indeed those without any beliefs at all, also those who are steeped in actual falsities, can have that ability. Nothing comes more easily to both these kinds of people than to substantiate whatever idea they like, so thoroughly that they convince the simple. But before substantiating any opinion the Church's understanding engages in seeing and perceiving whether it is true or not, and in substantiating it only after that.

[6] This understanding is what is represented by 'Ephraim'. But the Church's good, which is represented by 'Manasseh', is the good of charity, which the Lord instills into a member of the Church through the truths of faith. For these truths together with the good of charity are what flow into the understanding and give it light, and also enable the understanding and the will to constitute one mind. The truth that both these - the understanding and the will - are born from the internal may be seen from what was stated and shown previously; for the whole affection for goodness and truth, the affection through which enlightenment comes, flows in from no other origin, thus is born from no other origin than the internal; that is, it comes from the Lord through the internal.