871. 'He sent out a dove from himself to see' means a state of receiving the truths and good of faith. This becomes clear from the train of thought and also from what follows, where the subject is the three states following temptations in the regeneration of this man, states meant by his sending out the dove three times. Taken almost literally these words imply that he made investigations, for it is said that he sent out the dove from himself 'to see', that is to say, as the phrase following shows, to see 'whether the waters had abated', which was seeing whether the falsities were still so great that goods and truths of faith could not be received. With the Lord however, because He knows every single thing, no such investigation is necessary. Consequently these words in the internal sense do not mean an investigation but a state, here a first state when falsities were still a hindrance. Such falsities are meant by the words 'whether the waters had abated'.

6304. 'And will bring you back to the land of your fathers' means to the state of both Ancient Churches. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with in 566, 661, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4575, 4447, 5577; and from the meaning of 'fathers' as those who belonged to the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient Church, dealt with in 6075. To the state of both Ancient Churches is said to be meant because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like members of the Ancient Churches, were to represent in specific detail the Lord's celestial and spiritual kingdom. That representation was actually established - among the Jewish nation a representation of the celestial kingdom, and among the Israelite people a representation of the spiritual kingdom. But with that generation nothing of the Church or of the Lord's kingdom could be established, only what was a mere representation, for they wished to see and acknowledge in representatives only what was external, and nothing at all internal.

[2] However, so that the overall representation might be effected, and through it some communication with heaven might exist, and through heaven with the Lord, they were restricted to externals; and at that time the Lord saw to it that communication might take place through external representation alone devoid of any internal. This was the state to which Jacob's descendants could be 'brought back'. Yet inwardly, external representatives among those descendants concealed Divine matters, in the highest sense those which had regard to the Lord's Divine Human, and in the relative sense those which had regard to the Lord's kingdom in heaven and to the Church. This state of both Ancient Churches is what is meant by the promise that God will bring them back to the land of their fathers.