1610. I will make your seed like the dust of the earth means multiplying beyond measure, as can be seen without explanation. This verse says that his seed would be made like the dust of the earth; other passages in the Word say "like the sand of the sea," or "like the stars of the heavens." ¹ Each has its own particular symbolism. The dust of the earth has to do with heavenly qualities, because the earth symbolizes the heavenly aspect of love, as shown earlier [§§620, 1413, 1437, 1585]. The sand of the sea has to do with spiritual qualities, because the sea symbolizes the spiritual aspect of love, as also shown. ² "Like the stars of the heavens" symbolizes both, in a higher degree. Because these items are incapable of being counted, it became customary to use them to express the idea of immeasurable reproducing and multiplying.

[2] The multiplying of the seed — the faith that comes of love, or love itself — beyond measure symbolizes the Lord in the highest sense. Specifically, it symbolizes his human quality, because the Lord's human quality is called the "seed of a woman," as discussed in §256. ³ And since the Lord's human quality is meant, multiplication beyond measure means infinite heavenliness and spirituality.

On the other hand, when seed symbolizes the faith that comes of charity (or charity itself) in the human race, the meaning is that the seed in each individual who lives a life of charity would multiply beyond measure. This actually happens in the other world to everyone who lives a life of neighborly love. Charity and the faith that results from charity, along with happiness, increase so abundantly in such people that it can be depicted only by something immeasurable and inexpressible.

When seed symbolizes the human race itself, its multiplication in the Lord's kingdom is again beyond measure and comes not only from people inside the church and their children but also from people outside the church and their children. As a result, the Lord's kingdom, or heaven, is immeasurable, as will be discussed elsewhere, the Lord in his divine mercy willing. ⁴

Footnotes:

1437. The meaning of they left to go into the land of Canaan as the fact that by these means he would press on all the way to the heavenly aspects of love can be seen from the symbolism of the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan represents the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and on earth, as the Word reveals in many places. ¹ The reason for the connection is that the land of Canaan saw the establishment of the representative church, in which everything in general and particular represented the Lord and the heavenly and spiritual elements of his kingdom. It was not just their rituals that had a representative meaning but everything connected with ritual as well — the people who ministered, the tools of their ministry, and the places where they carried it out. Because the representative church was there, the land was called the Holy Land, even though it was anything but holy, since profane idolaters lived there. This, then, is why the land of Canaan here and in what follows symbolizes the heavenly qualities of love. The heavenly qualities of love are all that the Lord's kingdom contains and all that it comprises.

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