9339. Verses 31-33 And I will set your boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness even to the River; ¹ for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out ² from before you. You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me when you serve their gods; for it will be a snare to you.

'And I will set your boundary from the Sea Suph even to the Sea of the Philistines' means the full range of truths from factual ones to interior truths of faith. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. 'For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand' means dominion over evils. 'And you will drive them out from before you' means the removal of them. 'You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods' means no contact with evils and falsities. 'They shall not dwell in your land' means that evils must not exist together with the Church's forms of good. 'Lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me' means lest evils turn away forms of good from the Lord. 'When you serve their gods' means if worship is kindled by falsities. 'For it will be a snare to you' means owing to evils that are enticing and deceptive.

Примітки:

4395. 'As he was coming from Paddan Aram' means that which happened after the previous state. This is clear from the meaning of 'as he was coming' as that which happened after, and from the meaning of 'Paddan Aram' as cognitions of good and truth, dealt with in 3664, 4107, 4112, though exterior cognitions which serve in the introduction of genuine goods and truths; for Laban dwelt there, and he represents the affection for that kind of good, see 3612, 3665, 3778, 3974, 3982, 3986 (end), 4063, 4189, 4206. Consequently the words 'as he was coming from Paddan Aram' are used because the point was reached when external truths and goods gave way to interior, and so when the previous state gave way to the present one.