872. 'The face ¹ of the ground' means those things that reside with the member of the Church, and the expression 'the ground' is used because it is the first stage at which man comes to be the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', dealt with already, as the member of the Church who is at that point called 'the ground' when the goods and truths of faith can be sown within him. Previously he is called 'the land', as in Genesis 1 where 'the land' refers to man prior to his becoming celestial, while Chapter 2, when he has become celestial, refers to him as 'the ground' and 'the field'. It is similar in the present chapter. The expression 'the land' and the expression 'the ground' are sufficient by themselves to enable someone to recognize what is meant in the internal sense, not only here but also anywhere else in the Word. 'The ground' in the universal sense means the Church, and as the Church is meant so too is the member of the Church for, as stated already, every member of the Church is the Church.

Footnotes:

5817. 'And so it was, when we went up to your servant my father' means a raising up to spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up' as a raising up, dealt with below; and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598. A raising up of the kind meant here by 'going up is a movement towards more internal things; here it is a raising up from the truths in the natural, which are represented by 'Jacob's ten sons', to spiritual good from the natural, represented by 'Israel'. For there is an exterior natural and there is an interior natural, 5497, 5649. The interior natural holds spiritual good, which is 'Israel', while the exterior natural holds the truths known to the Church, which are 'Jacob's sons', and therefore 'going up to their father' means a raising up of these to spiritual good.