When 'islands' are contrasted to 'earth' or 'mountains,' they signify the truths of faith, because they are in the sea. They signify doctrinal things which are rituals. 'Islands' signify peoples who are more remote from the worship of God. People who are steeped in the internal sense of the Word, such as angels, do not know what islands are, because they no longer have any concept of such places. Instead they have a perception of more remote worship, like the gentiles outside the church.

'Islands,' in Ezekiel 27:6, signify people in the church in a natural, materially-oriented state but still rational.

(Referências: Apocalypse Explained 406; Isaiah 1, Isaiah 49, 49:1)

6346. 'Light as water' means that faith alone does not possess such qualities, neither glory nor powerfulness. This is clear from the meaning of 'being light as water' as having no weight or worth. The fact that faith alone is meant, that is, faith separated from charity, is evident from the things mentioned in what follows that involve Reuben, and that involve Simeon and Levi. Those men - Reuben, Simeon, and Levi - are used here also to refer to faith alone or faith separated from charity.