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.

8137. 'And I will be glorified' means that they were about to see a Divine feat, accomplished by the Lord's Divine Human, in the dispersion of falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'being glorified', when it refers to Jehovah or the Lord, as a Divine feat, here a Divine feat accomplished by His Divine Human. For through His coming into the world, assuming the Human, and making it Divine the Lord cast into the hells all evils and falsities, restored the heavens to order, and also delivered from damnation those belonging to the spiritual Church, see 6854, 6914, 7091, 7828, 7932, 8018. These things are meant generally by 'being glorified'; but at this point the meaning is that those who molested the upright were to be cast into hell, where they would be engulfed by falsities as if by the waters of the sea. And this would take place as a Divine feat, accomplished simply by the Lord's presence.

[2] So that the nature of all this may become known, the matter will be explained further. The number of the hells is as great as that of the genera and species of evils. Every hell is separated from the next as if by mists, clouds, or waters. In the next life evils and falsities appear before the eyes of spirits as mists and clouds, and also as waters. The falsities arising from evils of those who belonged to the spiritual Church and led an evil life appear as waters, while the falsities arising from evils of those who belonged to the celestial Church appear as mists. The inhabitants of the hells appear engulfed by such waters or mists, though everywhere the amount and nature of them, the thickness and thinness, the murkiness and dimness varies as determined by each genus and species of falsity arising from evil. The hell inhabited by those who were governed by faith separated from charity and led a life of evil is engulfed as if by waters of the sea. The falsities arising from evil, it is true, do not appear as waters to its inhabitants, only to those looking on from outside. Above that sea they are engulfed in are the adulterers' hells. The reason why they are above it is that in the internal sense adulteries are adulterations of good and consequent perversions of truth, thus evils from which stem falsities opposed to the truths and forms of the good of faith, 2466, 2729, 3399. This kind of falsities exists with those in the hell below, who led a life contrary to the Church's truth and considered its good to be of no importance whatever. And because they considered it to be of no importance they also adulterated and perverted everything the Word states about good, that is, about charity towards the neighbour and love to God.

[3] As regards 'being glorified in Pharaoh and in his army', this implies here their submersion into that hell and their engulfment by waters like those of the sea, simply at the presence of the Lord, as has been stated above. The evil flee from the Lord's presence, that is, from the presence of the goodness and truth that spring from Him; for at their mere approach the evil feel terrified and tormented, and also as a result of the presence of that goodness and truth they are engulfed by their own evils and falsities, because these now burst out from them. They envelop the evil and are interposed to prevent the Divine from flowing into them, as a consequence of which they would suffer torment. This Divine feat is the meaning here of 'being glorified in Pharaoh and in his army'. The reason why the feat is accomplished by the Lord's Divine Human is, as stated above, that through His Coming into the world, assuming the Human and making it Divine the Lord cast all falsities and evils into hell, restored to order truths and forms of good in the heavens, and delivered from damnation those belonging to the spiritual Church.