1256. The symbolism of in their nations as the general ways that church worshiped can be seen from statements above and below concerning nations. ¹

Footnotes:

1140. The mode of the earliest church continues through this chapter and the next up to the mention of Eber, but it is halfway between a made-up story and true history. Noah and his offspring — Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan — did not and do not mean anything but the ancient church in respect to its worship, in the abstract. Specifically, Shem means inner worship; Japheth, outward worship that corresponds to it; Ham, inner worship corrupted; and Canaan, outward worship detached from inner. These particular people never existed. Instead, different kinds of worship were given their names, because all the different forms of worship, or all the specific differences among them, could be reduced to these basic kinds.

Noah, then, simply meant the ancient church in general, embracing all types of worship, as their progenitor.

Still, aside from those of Eber and his descendants, the names in the current chapter mean individual nations, and all of them were nations forming a part of the ancient church. That church was scattered far and wide in the lands surrounding Canaan.