4516. Ye have troubled me, to make me to stink to the inhabitant of the land. That this signifies that they who were of the Ancient Church would abhor them, is evident from the signification of “troubling me, to make me to stink,” as being to cause them to feel abhorrence; and from the signification of “the inhabitant of the land,” as here being those who were of the Ancient Church, for by the “land” is signified the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447), thus by the “inhabitant of the land,” those who were of the church, here of the Ancient Church, because this still remained among some nations in the land of Canaan. The representative of a church was not instituted among the people sprung from Jacob until after this Ancient Church had altogether perished, which is also signified by the fact that the descendants of Jacob were not admitted into the land of Canaan until the iniquity of the inhabitants of the land had been consummated, as is said in Genesis 15:16; for no new church is set up until the former one has been vastated.

2849. As the stars of the heavens. That this signifies the multitude of the knowledges of good and truth, is evident from the signification of the “stars,” as being the knowledges of good and truth (see n. 1808, 2495). The spiritual are they who in the Word are in various places compared to the stars, and this owing to the knowledges of good and truth which they have; but the celestial are not so compared, because they have not knowledges but perceptions; moreover the stars illumine the night, and the spiritual have a light of night (as from the moon and stars) in comparison with the light of day in which the celestial are. (That the spiritual have comparative obscurity may be seen above, 1043, 2708 at the beginning, 2715)