Swedenborg says that in terms of measurement, height relates to the desire for good and breadth relates to the knowledge of truth. Following that, something that is “broad” has a great capacity for truth, and a “broad place” or “broad land” is one where a large amount of truth can be learned and understood, one where a mind can expand.
This meaning also applies to “broad places” that typically existed in towns and cities — what we might think of as a town square. Translation issues can make this tricky: In Genesis 19, for instance, the angels told Lot they would spend the night in Sodom’s “broad place,” which is typically translated as “street” or “square.” Swedenborg says cities generally represent defined belief systems, so the “broad place” in a city would represent the capacity for additional knowledge and deeper understanding within a belief system.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1613
1613. ‘The length of it and the breadth of it’ means the celestial dimension and the spiritual dimension, or what amounts to the same, good and truth. ‘length’ means good and ‘breadth’ truth; see what has been stated already in 650. The reason is that ‘land’ means the heavenly kingdom, or Church, to which length and breadth are not attributable, only those things that match them and correspond to them, that is to say, goods and truths. The celestial dimension, or good, being primary, is compared to length, while the spiritual dimension, or truth, being secondary, is compared to breadth.
[2] That ‘breadth’ is truth is quite clear from the Prophetical part of the Word, as in Habakkuk,
I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching’ into the breadths of the earth. Hab. 1:6.
‘Chaldeans’ stands for people under the influence of falsity, ‘marching* into the breadths of the earth’ for the destruction of truths, for these words are used in reference to the Chaldeans. In David,
O Jehovah, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have made my feet stand in abroad place. Ps. 31:8.
‘Standing in a broad place’ stands for abiding in the truth. In the same author,
Out of my distress I called on lain; He answered me in a broad place. Ps. 118:5.
‘Answering in a broad place’ stands for answering with the truth. In Hosea,
Jehovah will pasture them like a lamb in a broad place. Hosea 4:16.
‘Pasturing in a broad place’ stands for teaching the truth.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4482
4482. ‘Behold, the land is broad and spacious before them’ means extension, that is to say, of truth which is the truth of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land’ as the Church, dealt with just above in 4480, and from the meaning of ‘broad and spacious’ as extension as regards truths, and so as regards those taught by doctrine. When in the Word the measurements of something are given, it is not those measurements that are meant in the internal sense but the essential characteristics of a state that is being described. For measurements involve spatial dimensions and in the next life there are no intervals of space, as there are no periods of time, but states which correspond to these, see 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 3404, 4321. That being so, lengths, breadths, and heights, which are spatial measurements, mean the aspects of a state – length meaning holiness, height good, and breadth truth, see 650, 1613, 3433, 3434. This then is why ‘the land is broad and spacious’ means the extension of truth which is the truth of doctrine within the Church.
[2] Anyone who does not know of the existence of anything spiritual in the Word other than that which stands out in the literal sense is bound to be amazed by the statement that ‘the land is broadand specious’ means the extension of truth which is the truth of doctrine within the Church. But the truth of this statement may be established from places where ‘breadth’ is mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Asshur will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck; and the outstretchings of its wings will fill the breadth of the land. Isa. 8:8.
In David,
O Jehovah, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have made my feet stand in abroad place. Ps. 31:8.
In the same author,
Out of my distress I called on Jah; He answered me in a broad place. Ps. 118:5.
In Habakkuk,
I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching’ into the breadths of the earth. Hab. 1:6.
‘Breadths’ here means nothing other than the truth of the Church.
[3] The reason why breadth has this meaning is that in the spiritual world, that is, in heaven, the Lord is the centre of all, for He is the Sun there. Those in a state of good are more interior, their exact position towards the middle being determined by the character and the amount of the good present in them. This is why ‘height’ is used in reference to good. Those who are in a similar degree of good are also in a similar degree of truth, and so dwell so to speak at the same distance from the centre, or one might say, dwell on the same contour; and this is why ‘breadth’ is used in reference to truths. Therefore when a person reads the Word the angels present with him do not understand by ‘breadth’ anything other than truths. When in the Historical sections, for example, the ark, the altar, the temple, and the spaces outside cities are referred to, states of good and truth are perceived by the dimensions indicating the lengths, breadths, and heights of these. The same is so with the new earth, new Jerusalem, and new Temple – described in Chapters 40-47 of Ezekiel – by which heaven and a new Church are meant, as may be seen from the detailed descriptions in those chapters. So also in John where it is said of the New Jerusalem that it will be foursquare, ‘its length being as great as its breadth’, Rev. 21:16.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6856
6856. ‘To a land good and broad’ means to heaven where the good of charity and the truth of faith are. This is clear from the meaning of ‘land’, in this instance the land of Canaan, as the Lord’s kingdom, and so heaven, dealt with in 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4447; from the meaning of ‘a good land’ as the presence of the good of charity there; and from the meaning of ‘a broad land’ as the presence of the truth of faith there. For the meaning of ‘broad’ as truth which is the truth of faith, see 3433, 3434, 4482.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 652
[3] That such things are signified by streets is evident from the following passages.
In Jeremiah:
“Run ye through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, I pray, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man that doeth judgment, seeking truth; then will I pardon her” (v. 1).
Since the streets in Jerusalem, and the broad places thereof, signify truths of doctrine, according to the states of the affection and perception of those who are of the church, and as by Jerusalem is signified the church as to doctrine, therefore it is said, “Run ye through the streets of Jerusalem, and see and know, and seek in the broad places thereof.” And since judgment is said of truths, because all judgment is effected from laws and precepts, which are truths, and because by truth is signified the truth of doctrine and of faith, therefore it is said, “If ye can find a man that doeth judgment and that seeketh truth.” The broad places specifically signify the corners of the city, thus the quarters where they dwell; and because every one dwells in the cities in the spiritual world according to clear and obscure affection for good and perception of truth, therefore by broad places are signified truths and goods according to every one’s affection and perception.