1444. And the Canaanite was then in the land. That this signifies the evil heredity from the mother, in His external man, is evident from what has been already said concerning that which was inherited by the Lord; for He was born as are other men, and inherited evils from the mother, against which He fought, and which He overcame. It is well known that the Lord underwent and endured the most grievous temptations (concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter), temptations so great that He fought alone and by His own power against the whole of hell. No one can undergo temptation unless evil adheres to him; he who has no evil cannot have the least temptation; evil is what the infernal spirits excite. [2] In the Lord there was not any evil that was actual, or His own, as there is in all men, but there was hereditary evil from the mother, which is here called "the Canaanite then in the land." Concerning this, see what was said above, at verse 1 (n. 1414), namely, that there are two hereditary natures connate in man, one from the father, the other from the mother; that which is from the father remains to eternity, but that which is from the mother is dispersed by the Lord while the man is being regenerated. The Lord's hereditary nature from His Father, however, was the Divine. His heredity from the mother was evil, and this is treated of here, and is that through which He underwent temptations (see Mark 1:12-13; Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1-2). But, as already said, He had no evil that was actual, or His own, nor had He any hereditary evil from the mother after He had overcome hell by means of temptations; on which account it is here said that there was such evil at that time, that is, that the "Canaanite was then in the land." [3] The Canaanites were those who dwelt by the sea and by the coast of Jordan, as is evident in Moses. The spies on their return said: