9181. Verses 16-17 When a man persuades a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay silver according to the dowry of virgins. 'When a man persuades a virgin who is not betrothed' means good that has not been joined to truth. 'And lies with her' means a wrongful joining together. 'He shall surely endow her to be his wife' means a token of consent on his side to a rightful joining together. 'If the father utterly refuses to give her to him' means if interior good does not allow the joining together. 'He shall pay silver according to the dowry of virgins' means another kind of truth which consents instead.

841. 'Noah', as previously, means the member of the Ancient Church, and 'every wild animal and every beast that was with him in the ark' means all things that resided with him. This becomes clear from what has been stated already concerning Noah and concerning the meaning of 'wild animal' and 'beast'. In the Word 'wild animal' takes on a two-fold sense; it stands for things with a person that are alive and for things that are dead. The reason why it stands for those that are alive is that this expression in Hebrew means a living thing. But because the most ancient people in their humility acknowledged that they themselves were but wild animals, things with a person that are dead were therefore meant as well by the same expression. Here 'wild animal' means both what is alive and what is dead in their entirety, as is usually the case with someone after temptation. Things that are alive and those that are dead - that is, those that are the Lord's and those that are the person's own - seem so intermingled that at that time the person scarcely knows what truth and good are. At that time however the Lord is re-arranging and restoring all things to order, as becomes clear from what follows. For the fact that 'wild animal' means things that are alive with man, see the previous chapter, 7:14, and also verses 17, 19 of the present chapter. And from what has been shown several times already about wild animals and beasts, for example in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, it is clear that it also means the things with a person that are dead.