8891. 'For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, dealt with just above in 8888, and - when used in reference to Jehovah, that is, the Lord - as His labour with a person before he is regenerated, 8510; from the meaning of 'heaven and earth' as the Church or Lord's kingdom in a person, 'heaven' being in his internal man and 'earth' in his external, dealt with in 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535, so that a person who has been regenerated is meant, that is, one who has acquired new life and accordingly been vivified; and from the meaning of 'the sea' as the sensory awareness adhering to the bodily level of a person's mind, dealt with in 8872.

[2] The present verse deals with the sanctifying of the seventh day or institution of the sabbath, describing it as follows,

In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.

When people's thinking does not extend beyond the sense of the letter they cannot do other than suppose that the creation described in the first and second chapters of Genesis is the creation of the universe, and that there were six days within which heaven, earth, the sea, and all that is in them were created, and at length the human being in God's likeness. Yet is there anyone pondering on the details who fails to see that the creation of the universe is not what is meant there? For there are things in those chapters which common sense tells anyone are not literally true, for example, that days existed before the sun and moon, that light and darkness did so, and that plants and trees sprang up, when in fact it is through those [great] lights that light is given, light and darkness are divided, and so days come into being.

[3] Further on after these details, others of a similar nature follow which scarcely anyone who thinks more deeply will consider to have been literally possible, such as these: The woman was built out of the man's rib; two trees were placed in paradise, the fruit of one of which they were forbidden to eat; a serpent spoke from one of them to the wife of man (homo), who had been the wisest of mortal beings; what it said - what came out of the serpent's mouth - deceived them both; and the whole human race, numbering so very many thousands of thousands, was therefore condemned to hell. As soon as they are contemplated these and similar details there inevitably seem nonsensical to those who entertain any doubt about the holiness of the Word; and they lead to a denial of the Divine there. However it should be realized that every detail there down to the smallest is Divine; they all contain arcana which are clearly visible to angels in heaven, as in broad daylight. The reason why this should be so is that angels do not see the literal meaning of the Word but what lies within it, that is, spiritual and celestial realities, and Divine ones within these. When the first chapter of Genesis is read they perceive no other creation than the new creation of a human being, which is called regeneration. This is what is described there, 'paradise' being the wisdom of a person created anew. 'The two trees in the middle of it' are the two mental powers of that person, which are a will desiring good, meant by 'the tree of life', and an understanding seeing truth, meant by 'the tree of knowledge'. And the reason why they were forbidden to eat from this tree was that a person who has been regenerated or created anew ought no longer to be led by an understanding that sees truth but by a will desiring good, or else his newness of life is destroyed. Regarding these matters, see 202, 337, 2454, 2715, 3246, 3652, 4448, 5895 (end), 5897 (end), 7877, 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8690, 8701, 8722. Consequently Adam or Man and Eve his wife there are used to mean a new Church, and 'eating from the tree of knowledge' to mean the decline of that Church from good into truth, consequently from love to the Lord and towards the neighbour into faith without such love. And this came about through reasoning arising from self-intelligence, that reasoning being meant by 'the serpent', see 195-197, 6398, 6399, 6949, 7293.

[4] From all this it is evident that the historical narratives regarding creation, and regarding the first human being and paradise, are the descriptions of fictitious historical events, containing heavenly and Divine realities within them. Making up such stories was in keeping with the accepted custom in the ancient Churches; and the custom also spread from them to many outside the Church, who in a similar way produced descriptions of fictitious historical events, wrapping up arcana within them, as is evident from writers belonging to most ancient times. For the ancient Churches were well acquainted with what such things as exist in the world meant in heaven. Nor were great exploits of sufficient importance for them to write about, only the things of heaven. Things of heaven occupied their minds because they thought on a more internal level than people do at the present day and so were in contact with angels; and for this reason they gained a delight out of putting together such stories. But they were led by the Lord to images which would be held sacred in Churches. Out of these they composed stories in which everything had a correspondence

[5] All this shows what 'heaven and earth' is used to mean in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis - the internal Church and the external Church. The fact that they are meant by 'heaven and earth' is also clear from places in the Prophets which speak of a new heaven and a new earth, by which a new Church is to be understood, see 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535.

From all this it is now evident that 'in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external man.

7293. 'It will then be a water-serpent' means by the prospect that sheer illusions and resulting falsities will reign among them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a serpent' as the sensory and bodily level of mind, dealt with in 6949, and therefore illusions since that level of mind when separated from the rational level, that is, when not subordinate to it, is filled with illusions, to such an extent that it consists of scarcely anything else than illusions, see 6948, 6949. 'A water-serpent' is what is meant here; for in the original language the same word is used for this kind of serpent as that which is used to refer to a monster that is a very large fish of the sea; and 'a (sea-)monster' means factual knowledge in general.

When therefore falsities resulting from illusions are meant by 'the Egyptians', that word used in the original language denotes a serpent - a water-serpent since it can also be used to refer to the monster living in water and 'the water of Egypt' means falsities.

[2] The fact that Pharaoh or Egypt is called 'a monster' is clear in Ezekiel,

Speak and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers. Ezekiel 29:3.

In the same prophet,

Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, You have become like a young lion of the nations, you are like monsters in the seas, and you have come forth with your rivers; you have stirred up your rivers Ezekiel 32:2.

Here 'monster' means known facts in general which, being the product of what a person's senses tell him, are used to pervert matters of faith. The reason why 'monster' means factual knowledge in general is that 'a fish' means that knowledge in particular, 40, 991. And since known facts perverting the truths of faith are meant by 'monsters', reasonings based on illusions, which give rise to falsities, are also meant by the same word.

[3] The same things are meant by 'monsters' in David,

You broke up the sea by your strength; you broke the heads of the monsters upon the waters. Psalms 74:13.

Much the same is also meant by 'leviathan' in Isaiah,

On that day Jehovah will make a visitation with His hard and great and strong sword upon Leviathan the full-length serpent, ¹ and upon Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the monsters that are in the sea. Isaiah 27:1.

And in David,

You broke in pieces the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food to the people, the Ziim. Psalms 74:14.

In the good sense 'Leviathan' stands for reason based on truths, in Job 41:1-34; reason based on truths is the opposite of reasonings based on falsities.

[4] Since 'monsters' means reasonings that are based on illusions and pervert truths, 'water-serpents' - the word for which in the original language is the same as that used for 'monsters' - means the actual falsities resulting from illusions which give rise to reasonings and lead to perversions of the truth. Falsities are meant by such 'serpents' in the following places: In Isaiah,

The iim will reply in its palaces, and serpents in the delightful palaces. Isaiah 13:22.

In the same prophet,

Thorns will come up into its palaces, thistle and brier in its fortifications, so that it may be a dwelling-place of serpents, a courtyard for daughters of the owl. Isaiah 34:13.

In the same prophet,

In the dwelling-place of serpents will his bed be, grass instead of reed and rush. Isaiah 35:7.

In Jeremiah,

I will make Jerusalem heaps of rubble, the dwelling-place of serpents. Jeremiah 9:11.

In Malachi,

I have turned the mountains of Esau into a waste, and his inheritance into [a place] for the serpents of the wilderness. Malachi 1:3.

In all these places 'serpents' stands for falsities on which reasonings are based.

[5] The same things are also meant by 'dragons', but 'dragons' are reasonings that spring from self-love and love of the world, thus from desires for what is evil, which pervert not only truths but forms of good as well. These reasonings are produced by people who in their hearts repudiate the truths and forms of the good of faith, but affirm them with their lips because of their intense desire to obtain dominance and gain. Thus such reasonings are also produced by those who render truths and forms of good profane. Both of these kinds of people are meant by 'the dragon, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and satan, who leads the whole world astray', Revelation 12:9, and also by this same dragon which persecuted the woman who had given birth to a son who was caught up to God and to His throne, Revelation 11:5, and which emitted water from its mouth like a river, to swallow up the woman, Revelation 12:13, 15.

[6] The son to whom the woman had given birth is Divine Truth now revealed at the present day, 'the woman' being the Church. 'The dragon, the serpent' is those who are going to persecute it, and 'the water like a river which the dragon emitted' is falsities arising out of evil and the resulting reasonings which they are going to use in their endeavour to destroy the woman, that is, the Church. But the fact that they will not at all accomplish this is described by the statement that 'the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon emitted', Revelation 12:16.

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