6649. 'And the land was filled with them' means even to the point at which the Church was complete. This is clear from the meaning of 'being filled' as that which is complete; and from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with in 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577. 'The land of Goshen' where the children of Israel now were means the Church. The fact that this was where the Church was before the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan is clear from what follows - from the absence there of the plagues which occurred elsewhere in Egypt, and also from the presence of light there while darkness reigned elsewhere, Exodus 10:21-23, making that territory entirely separate from all other territories in Egypt. The same fact is also clear from the consideration that 'the land of Goshen' means the middle or inmost part of the natural, 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068, and so means the Church since the spiritual Church exists in the inmost part of the natural.

913. 'Let them spread out into the earth' means the action of the internal man into the external, while 'be fruitful' means increases in good, 'and multiply' increases in truth, and 'over the earth' means with the external man. This is clear from the train of thought and also from what has been stated and shown already about the meaning in the Word of 'being fruitful' as having reference to goods, and of 'multiplying' to truths. That 'the earth' means the external man has in like manner been shown already, so there is no need to pause and confirm these points. Here the subject is the action of the internal man into the external after a person has been regenerated. That is to say, when good starts 'to be fruitful' and truth 'to multiply', the external man is rendered correspondent or obedient. Until then this is not possible because the desires of the body are incompatible with goods, and the illusions of the senses with truths. The former annihilate the love of good, the latter the love of truth. The fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth take place in the external man - the fruitfulness of good in his affections, the multiplication of truth in his memory. The external man is here called 'the earth' into which mankind spreads out and over which they are fruitful and multiply.