1580. Is not the whole land before thee? That this signifies all good, is evident from the signification of “land” in a good sense, and here of the land of Canaan, which is the celestial, and therefore also good (concerning which see above, n. 566, 620, 636, 662). The internal man here addresses the external, but those things in the external man which disagree; as a man is wont to do when he perceives some evil in himself from which he desires to be separated, as is the case in temptations and combats. For it is known to those who have been in temptations and combats, that they perceive in themselves things which disagree; from which, so long as there is combat, they cannot be separated; but still they desire separation, and sometimes to such a degree that they are angry with the evil, and desire to expel it. These are the things that are here signified.

636. I will destroy them with the earth. That this signifies that together with the church the human race would perish, is evident from its being said “with the earth;” for the “earth” in a wide sense signifies love, as before said, and thus the celestial of the church. Here, since no love and nothing whatever that is celestial remained, the “earth” signifies the love of self, and whatever is contrary to the celestial of the church. And yet there was a man of the church, for they had doctrinal things of faith. For, as before stated, the earth is the containant of the ground, and the ground is the containant of the field; as love is the containant of faith, and faith is the containant of the knowledges of faith.