406. And a third of the ships were destroyed. This symbolically means that concepts of goodness and truth from the Word that are serviceable for application to life, in them had all been destroyed.

A third means, symbolically, all, as in nos. 400, 404, 405 above. Ships symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word that are serviceable for application to life. Ships have this symbolism because ships travel the sea and bring back the necessities that the natural self needs for its every endeavor, and concepts of goodness and truth are the necessities that the spiritual self needs for its every endeavor. For out of them is formed the doctrine of the church, and in accordance with that a person's life.

Ships symbolize these concepts because they are vessels, and in many places in the Word a vessel is used to express what it contains, as a cup for wine, a dish for food, the Tabernacle or Temple for the sacred objects in it, the Ark for the Law, altars for worship, and so on.

[2] Ships symbolize concepts of goodness and truth in the following places:

Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore, and serve as a haven for ships... (Genesis 49:13)

Zebulun means the conjunction of goodness and truth.

Your builders (O Tyre) have perfected your beauty. They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make you a mast. Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; they made your beam of ivory, your deck of pines from the isles of Kittim... Inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen; your wise men were... your shipmasters... All the ships of the sea and their sailors were in you to market your merchandise... Ships of Tarshish were your companies in your commerce, by which you were filled and honored greatly in the midst of the seas. (Ezekiel 27:4-9, 25)

This is said of Tyre, because Tyre in the Word symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and goodness, as can be seen from the particulars about it in this chapter, and in the following one, chapter 28, understood in its spiritual sense. Moreover, because the church's concepts of truth and goodness are symbolically meant by Tyre, therefore the ship is described in its various parts, and each part symbolizes some aspect of those concepts leading to intelligence. What does the Word have in common with ships of Tyre and its commerce?

[3] The devastation of that same church is afterward described in the following way:

The common-land will shake at the sound of the cry of your shipmasters, and all who handle the oar will come down from your ships; all the sailors and shipmasters of the sea... because of you will cry bitterly... (Ezekiel 27:28-30; see also Isaiah 23:14-15)

The devastation of Babylon is similarly described in respect to all its concepts of truth in the following verses in the book of Revelation:

...in one hour such great riches were devastated. Every shipmaster, and everyone traveling on ships, and sailors... cried out... saying, "Alas, alas, the great city (Babylon), in which all became rich who had ships on the sea...." (Revelation 18:17, 19)

See below for the exposition.

[4] Ships symbolize concepts of truth and goodness also in the following places:

My days have been swift...; they fled away, they saw no good. They passed by with ships of longing... (Job 9:25-26)

Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing work on many waters, they see the works of Jehovah, and His wonders in the deep. (Psalms 107:23-24)

...the coastlands shall trust in Me, and ships of Tarshish will be first to bring your sons from afar... (Isaiah 60:9)

...the kings assembled...; fear took hold of them... With an east wind You will break the ships of Tarshish. (Psalms 18:4, 6-7)

Wail, you ships of Tarshish! (Isaiah 23:1, 14)

And so on elsewhere, as in Numbers 24:24, Judges 5:17, Psalms 104:26, Isaiah 33:21.

Intellectual things -- ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding -- are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it's easier to imagine numbering them as individual things. Our loves and affections tend to be more amorphous -- they can certainly be powerful, but would be harder to measure. Using words like “much,” “many,” myriad” and “multitude” to describe a collection of things gives the sense that there is an exact number, even if we don't know what it is and don't want to bother trying to count. These words, then, are used in the Bible in reference to intellectual things -- our thoughts, knowledge and concepts. Words that indicate largeness without the idea of number -- “great” is a common one -- generally refer to loves, affections and the desire for good. Here's one way to think about this: Say you want to take some food to a friend who just had a baby. That's a desire for good (assuming you're doing it from genuinely good motives). To actually do it, though, takes dozens of thoughts, ideas, facts and knowledges. What does she like to eat? What do you have to cook? What do you cook well? Can you keep it hot getting to her house? Is it nutritious? Does she have any allergies? So one good desire can bring a multitude of ideas into play.