Arcana Coelestia #872
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:
1. literally, The faces
Genesis 26:26-35
26
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
27
And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
28
And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
29
That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.
30
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32
And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
33
And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.
34
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35
Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
