1940. In multiplying I will multiply thy seed. That this signifies the fruitfulness of the rational man when it submits itself to the sovereign control of the interior man when this is adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being love and faith (spoken of before, n. 1025, 1447, 1610), but in the present case by “multiplying seed” is signified the fruitfulness of the celestial things of love in the rational, when the rational has submitted itself to interior or Divine truth. “Multiplication” is predicated of truth, and “fruitfulness” of good, as may be seen from what has already been said and shown (n. 43, 55, 913, 983). But as the Lord is here treated of, “multiplying” signifies becoming fruitful, because all the truth in His rational was made good, and thereby Divine, as is here declared concerning Him. It is otherwise in man, whose rational is formed by the Lord from truth or the affection of truth. This affection is his good, from which he acts.

[2] How the case is with man’s rational in regard to multiplication and fruitfulness cannot be understood unless we know how the case is with influx, of which it may be said in a general way that in everyone there is an internal man, a rational man which is intermediate, and an external man, as before said. It is the internal man that is his inmost from which he is man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals, which have not such an inmost; and it is as it were the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for what is celestial and spiritual from the Lord, into man. What is going on there cannot be comprehended by the man, because it is above all his rational, from which he thinks. That rational which appears as man’s own is subject to this inmost, or to this internal man, and into this rational through the internal man there inflow from the Lord the heavenly things of love and of faith, and through this rational they inflow into the memory-knowledges that are in the external man; but the things that inflow are received in accordance with the state of each person.

[3] Now unless the rational submits itself to the Lord’s goods and truths, it either suffocates, or rejects, or perverts the things that flow in; and this is still more the case when they flow into the sensuous knowledges of the memory. This is what is meant by seed falling on a highway, or upon a rocky place, or among thorns, as the Lord teaches (Matthew 13:3-7; Mark 4:3-7; Luke 8:5-7). But when the rational submits itself and believes the Lord, that is, His Word, the rational is then like good ground or earth, into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.

55. Verse 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth. As the most ancient people called the conjunction of the understanding and the will, or of faith and love, a marriage, everything of good produced from that marriage they called “fructifications” and everything of truth, “multiplications.” Hence they are so called in the Prophets, as for instance in Ezekiel:

I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful, and I will cause you to dwell as in your ancient times, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, yea, I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel (Ezekiel 36:11-12).

By “man” is here meant the spiritual man who is called Israel; by “ancient times” the Most Ancient Church; by “beginnings” the Ancient Church after the flood. The reason why “multiplication” which is of truth, is first mentioned, and “fructification” which is of good, afterwards, is that the passage treats of one who is to become regenerated, and not of one who is already regenerated.

[2] When the understanding is united with the will, or faith with love, the man is called by the Lord “a married land” as in Isaiah:

Thy land shall be no more termed waste, but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah [my delight is in her], and thy land Beulah [married], for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married (Isaiah 62:4).

The fruits thence issuing, which are of truth, are called “sons” and those which are of good are called “daughters” and this very frequently in the Word.

[3] The earth is “replenished” or filled, when there are many truths and goods; for when the Lord blesses and speaks to man, that is, works upon him, there is an immense increase of good and truth, as the Lord says in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heavens come and build their nests in the branches thereof (Matthew 13:31-32).

A “grain of mustard seed” is man’s good before he becomes spiritual, which is “the least of all seeds” because he thinks that he does good of himself, and what is of himself is nothing but evil. But as he is in a state of regeneration, there is something of good in him, but it is the least of all.

[4] At length as faith is joined with love it grows larger, and becomes an “herb;” and lastly, when the conjunction is completed, it becomes a “tree” and then the “birds of the heavens” (in this passage also denoting truths, or things intellectual) “build their nests in its branches” which are memory-knowledges. When man is spiritual, as well as during the time of his becoming spiritual, he is in a state of combat, and therefore it is said, “subdue the earth and have dominion.”