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.

Footnotes:

10707. 'Until he went in to talk to Him' means even though they were receiving instructions. This is clear from the meaning of 'until Moses went in to talk to Jehovah' as the state of what was outward when what was inward from the Lord flowed into it and it received instructions, dealt with above in 10702. The reason why even though they were receiving instructions is also meant here is that 'Moses' represents the outward form that the Word takes, containing what is inward, 10694, and he went in before Jehovah and came out, and then conveyed instructions to them. For 'going in and coming out' means communicating, 5249, 6901, and 'talking' conveying instructions, see in the places referred to in 10280. Their not wishing to know about the inward things of the Word, the Church, and worship, which have regard to the Lord, to His kingdom, and to loving Him and believing in Him, is plainly evident from the fact that when the Lord was in the world they were unwilling to acknowledge Him, even though He instructed them from the Word. It is also evident in the fact that they are still unwilling at the present day to acknowledge Him, although they live among Christians and know that the Word foretold that the Messiah, that is, Christ, was going to come. The reason why they did not and do not acknowledge Him is that they make everything in the Word apply to themselves and their pre-eminence over others, and so use everything there in support of their own loves, which are self-love and love of the world. All who do this lack any ability to see in the light of heaven. The inward level of their mind, which ought to lie open to heaven, is closed, and therefore they do not receive any light at all from there. As a consequence thick darkness and blindness are theirs so far as spiritual things are concerned, thus so far as anything belonging to the inward level of the Word, the Church, and worship is concerned. The inward level of the Word is spiritual, the outward level of it is natural. When the inward level of the Word is spoken of, the inward level of the Church and worship should also be understood, since the Church resides where the Word is and owes its existence to the Word, and worship consists of those things that are contained in the Word. Consequently whatever the quality of a person's understanding of the Word is, so is the quality of the Church in him and the quality of his worship.