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:

9384. 'And all the people answered with one voice' means an acceptance with the understanding by those who truly belong to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'answering with one voice' as an acceptance with the understanding, for 'answering' means receptivity, 2941, 2957, and 'voice' means the affirmation (confessio) which comes forth from the understanding (things which belong to the mouth, and consequently to speech or voice, correspond to the understanding part of the mind; this is also the part from which voice or speech emanates, whereas the actual affection within speech, which has its origin in the end that is intended or in the love that enlivens, emanates from the will part); and from the meaning of the children of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as the Church, dealt with in 9340, thus those who truly belong to the Church. From all this it is evident that 'the people answered with one voice' means an acceptance with the understanding by those who truly belong to the Church.