“The Church is... where the Lord is acknowledged, and where the Word is.” - The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §242
Kempton New Church
 

Week 1    Day 1

    Listen:

The Borders of the Land of Canaan in General

Joshua 1:4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon, and to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going in of the sun, shall be your border.

Numbers 34:1-12

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Command the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan with her borders.

3 And the south quarter for you shall be from the wilderness of Zin by the hands of Edom, and for you the south border shall be the edge of the Salt Sea eastward;

4 and the border for you shall turn around from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross over toward Zin; and its outgoings shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, and shall go out to Chazar-addar, and cross over toward Azmon;

5 and the border shall turn around from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and the outgoing of it shall be toward the sea.

6 And as for the west border, you shall even have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your west border.

7 And this shall be your north border; from the Great Sea you shall mark for you Mount Hor;

8 from Mount Hor you shall mark your border to the coming in of Hamath; and the outgoings of the border shall be toward Zedad;

9 and the border shall go out toward Ziphron, and the outgoings of it shall be at Chazar-enan; this shall be for you the border of the north.

10 And you shall mark for yourselves for a border towards the east, from Chazar-enan to Shepham;

11 and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, from the east to Ain; and the border shall go down, and shall rub on the shoulder of the Sea of Chinnereth eastward;

12 and the border shall go down to the Jordan, and the outgoings of it shall be at the Salt Sea; this shall be the land for you with her borders all around.

AC 3708:16. From the description of the land of Canaan, which was first described by Moses in respect to the boundaries round about, and this at the south corner, at the west corner, the north corner, and the east corner (Num. 34:2-12); and the same afterwards when it was given by lot to the tribes (Josh. 15 to 19); from which and also from the most ancient people who dwelt in the land of Canaan, all the places therein became representative and significative, according to their situation, distance, and boundaries in respect to the quarters (n. 1607, 1866).

AC 2973. By the “land of Canaan” was represented the kingdom of the Lord; its celestial by “Zion,” and its spiritual by “Jerusalem,” where the dwelling place of Jehovah or the Lord was. The country “round about,” even to the borders, represented the celestial and spiritual things flowing forth in their order and derived therefrom; and in the furthest boundaries the representatives of celestial and spiritual things ceased. These representatives had their origin from those in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens. There the Lord as a Sun is in the midst; from this is all celestial flame and spiritual light. Those who are nearest are in the highest light, but those who are more remote are in less light, and those who are most remote are in the least; and there are the boundaries, and hell begins, which is outside of heaven.

AC 3693:5. [In Joshua 1:4, it says:]

From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.

[This passage] describes the extension of the land of Canaan, by which is signified in the internal sense the Lord’s kingdom (see n. 1607, 3038, 3481). That the “river Euphrates” is one border of it, that is, of things spiritual and celestial, see above, n. 1866; and that the “great sea” and the “going down of the sun” is another, by which is represented the ultimate, which is relatively obscure; also that all the borders and all the places in that land are representative, n. 1585.

AC 1585:2. The boundaries of Canaan were several; in general, the two rivers Euphrates and Jordan, and also the sea. Hence the Euphrates and the Jordan represented the externals.

Questions and Comments
  1. What are the borders of the Land of Canaan generally? What does the Land of Canaan represent on the most general level?
  2. How does the story of the Exodus from Egypt fit with the representation of the Land of Canaan generally? What does this teach us about the Lord’s plan for us?
  3. In AC 3708:16 it says, “all the places [in the Land of Canaan] became representative and significative, according to their situation, distance, and boundaries in respect to the quarters.” What do you think that means?
  4. AC 2973 says that like the Land of Canaan, heaven has boundaries, outside of which hell begins. When we think of the trials the Israelites went through before the conquest of Canaan, can we see them as the trials brought on by evil spirits that we go through as well?