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Genesis 7

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1 And the Lord said to Noah, Take all your family and go into the ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright.

2 Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female;

3 And of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth.

4 For after seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, for the destruction of every living thing which I have made on the face of the earth.

5 And Noah did everything which the Lord said he was to do.

6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the waters came flowing over all the earth.

7 And Noah, with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the flowing of the waters.

8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts which are not clean, and of birds, and of everything which goes on the earth,

9 In twos, male and female, they went into the ark with Noah, as God had said.

10 And after the seven days, the waters came over all the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep came bursting through, and the windows of heaven were open;

12 And rain came down on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On the same day Noah, with Shem, Ham, and Japheth, his sons, and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark;

14 And with them, every sort of beast and cattle, and every sort of thing which goes on the earth, and every sort of bird.

15 They went with Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life.

16 Male and female of all flesh went in, as God had said, and the ark was shut by the Lord.

17 And for forty days the waters were over all the earth; and the waters were increased so that the ark was lifted up high over the earth.

18 And the waters overcame everything and were increased greatly on the earth, and the ark was resting on the face of the waters.

19 And the waters overcame everything on the earth; and all the mountains under heaven were covered.

20 The waters went fifteen cubits higher, till all the mountains were covered.

21 And destruction came on every living thing moving on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and everything which went on the earth, and every man.

22 Everything on the dry land, in which was the breath of life, came to its end.

23 Every living thing on the face of all the earth, man and cattle and things moving on the face of the earth, and birds of the air, came to destruction: only Noah and those who were with him in the ark, were kept from death.

24 And the waters were over the earth a hundred and fifty days.

   

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Six hundred years

  

In Genesis 7:6, this refers to Noah's initial state of temptation. This is clear from the fact that from here on to Eber in Chapter 11, the numbers, years of age, or names all refer to real things, as was also the case with the ages and names of all those mentioned in Chapter 5. Here 'six hundred years' means the initial state of temptation. This becomes clear from its prime factors, which are ten and six multiplied again by ten.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 737)

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Arcana Coelestia # 737

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737. 'Noah was a son of six hundred years' means his initial state of temptation. This is clear from the fact from here down to Eber in Chapter 11 nothing else is meant by numbers, years of age, or names than real things, as was the case also with the ages and names of all those mentioned in Chapter 5. Here 'six hundred years' means the initial state of temptation. This becomes clear from its prime factors which are ten and six multiplied again by ten. When the same factors are involved it makes no difference whether the number arrived at is large or small. As for ten, this has been shown already at 6:3 to mean remnants, while the meaning of six here as labour and conflict is clear from places throughout the Word. For the situation is this: What has gone before dealt with man's preparation for temptation, that is to say, he was supplied by the Lord with truths of the understanding and with goods of the will. These truths and goods are remnants, but they are not brought forth so as to be acknowledged until man is being regenerated. In the case of those who are being regenerated by means of temptations the remnants existing with any man are for the angels present with him. From these remnants they draw out those things with which they protect him against the evil spirits who activate falsities with him and in this way attack him. It is because remnants are meant by 'ten' and conflict by 'six' that six hundred years are spoken of, a number in which ten and six are the prime factors and which means a state of temptation.

[2] As regards conflict being the particular meaning of 'six', this is clear from Genesis 1, which describes the six days of man's regeneration prior to his becoming celestial. During those six days there was constant conflict, but on the seventh day came rest. Consequently there are six days of labour, and the seventh is the sabbath, a word which means rest. This also is why a Hebrew slave was to serve for six years and in the seventh was to go free, Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14, and why for six years they were to sow the land and gather in the produce, but in the seventh they were to leave it alone, Exodus 23:10-12. The same applied to a vineyard. It is also the reason why in the seventh year the land was to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to Jehovah, Leviticus 25:3-4. Because 'six' means labour and conflict it also means the dispersion of falsity, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which looks towards the north, every man with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. Ezekiel 9:2.

And in the same prophet, against Gog,

I will cause you to turn about, and I will split you into six, and cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north. Ezekiel 39:2.

Here 'six' and 'splitting into six' stand for dispersion, 'the north' for falsities, and 'Gog' for people who seize on doctrinal matters based on things of an external nature with which they destroy internal worship. From Job,

He will deliver you in six troubles, and in a seventh no evil will touch you. Job 5:19.

This stands for the conflict that constitutes temptations.

[3] 'Six' occurs in other parts of the Word where it does not mean labour, conflict, or the dispersion of falsity, but the holiness of faith. In these instances it is related to twelve, which means faith and all things of faith in their entirety, and to three which means that which is holy. Consequently there is also a genuine derivative meaning to the number six, as in Ezekiel 40:5, where the man's measuring rod with which he measured the holy city of Israel was six cubits long; and in other places. The reason for this derivative is that in the conflict of temptation the holiness of faith is present, and also that six days of labour and conflict look forward to the holy seventh day.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.