1238. In regard to the fact that Eber too means a nation — one whose ancestor was Eber, an individual called by that name — the case is this: The names mentioned so far were nations among whom the ancient church was present. All of them were called children of Shem, Ham, Japheth, or Canaan because Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan symbolized dissimilar cultures in the church. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan themselves never existed. But the ancient church in particular (like every religion in general) by its very nature had genuine depths, corrupt depths, genuine externals, and corrupt externals. That is why these names came into being: so that all the different general types could be categorized under the headings represented by these individuals and their offspring.

At their outset, the nations named here also practiced the kind of worship [symbolized by each]. That is why they are called the children of one of Noah's sons, and it is why the names of these nations in the Word symbolize the different cultures themselves.

[2] This first ancient church — the one that Noah and his sons symbolize — did not exist among only a few people but spread out through many countries. One indication is the number of nations mentioned: Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Sidon, and the whole land of Canaan on both the far and the near sides of the Jordan.

Afterward, though, a certain shallow kind of worship took hold in Syria, and it eventually spread far and wide through many lands (especially in Canaan). It was at variance with the worship of the ancient church, and since its existence constituted the start of something like a church distinct and separate from the ancient church, a seemingly new church now arose, which can therefore be called the second ancient church. The founder was Eber, so the religion was named after him.

At that period people were all divided into households, clans, and nations, as already noted [§§470-471, 483:2, 1159:3]. Each nation acknowledged one father, for whom it was named, as the Word demonstrates throughout. So the nation that acknowledged Eber as its father was called the Hebrew nation.

470. What follows establishes clearly enough that the book of births is the enumeration of those who were part of the earliest church. From here up to chapter 11, or to Eber, names never refer to individuals but to some development.

In the earliest era, the human race was divided up into households, clans, and nations. A household comprised a husband and wife and their children along with others of the same clan who served them. A clan comprised several households (the number could be small or large) living not far from each other but not in exactly the same place either. A nation comprised a small or large number of clans.