2914. Verse 4. I am a sojourner and a dweller with you; give me a possession of a sepulcher with you, and I will bury my dead from before me. “I am a sojourner and a dweller with you,” signifies their first state, that although the Lord was unknown to them, still He could be with them; “give me a possession of a sepulcher with you” signifies that they might be regenerated; “and I will bury my dead from before me,” signifies that thus He would come forth and rise again from the night which is with them.

1844. In a land which is not theirs. That this signifies where there is a church that is as it were not composed of those who are in charity and faith, is evident from the signification of “a land,” as being the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067). At this day men speak of the church as existing from the mere doctrinals of faith, and thereby distinguish the churches of the Lord, not caring what life men live-whether they cherish inward hatreds, and tear one another like wild beasts, rob one another, and deprive others of reputation, honor, and wealth, and at heart deny whatever is holy. And yet with such there is no church at all; but the church is with those who love the Lord, and who love the neighbor as themselves, who have conscience, and are averse to such hatreds as have been mentioned. But among those previously described these men are like strangers, and are treated with the utmost possible abuse and persecution, or else are regarded as being simple, mean, and of no account. This then is what is meant by “thy seed shall be a stranger in the land.”