'Land' in the Word, denotes the church, for the things which signify the church also signify the things relating to the church, for these constitute the church. The reason why 'land' denotes the church in the Word is because the land of Canaan was the land in which the church had been since the most ancient times. Hence, when 'land' is named in the Word, it means the land of Canaan, which then means the church. For when the expression 'the land' appears there, people in the spiritual world do not concern themselves with the idea of a land, only with the idea of the nation inhabiting it. And yet not with an idea of that nation but with an idea of the essential nature of it.

'Land' or 'earth,' as in Genesis 20:15, signifies the doctrine of love and charity.

'Land' signifies the celestial principle of love in Genesis 24:4.

In Genesis 26:12, 'land' signifies rational things.

In Genesis 28:13, this signifies the good of the natural.

The 'land' represents the divine of the rational principle in Genesis 30:25.

(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 5577)

2881. If it had been possible for man to be reformed under compulsion there would not be anyone at all in the universe who would not be saved. Nothing would in fact be easier for the Lord than to compel man to fear Him, to worship Him, or indeed so to speak to love Him. The means available to Him are countless. But because that which is done under compulsion is not joined to a person and so does not become his own, it is therefore quite alien to the Lord to compel anybody. As long as a person is engaged in conflicts, that is, is a member of the Church militant, it seems as though the Lord does compel that person and thus that he has no freedom; for he is at that time constantly battling against self-love and love of the world, and so against the freedom into which he was born and into which he has grown up, and as a consequence he seems, as just mentioned, to have no freedom. But in those conflicts in which he is victorious he possesses greater freedom than outside of them; yet this freedom does not originate in himself but in the Lord, though it still seems to be his own; see 1937, 1947.