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.

3865. 'For now my husband will love me' means that from this state would come the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'will love' as the good coming from this state, for all good is the product of love and is therefore the meaning of 'love' at this point; and from the meaning of 'husband' (vir) as truth, dealt with in 3134. What the good of truth is has been explained frequently already, namely an affection for truth for the sake of life, for life is the good seen within truth by those who are subsequently regenerated. Without life in accordance with truth no truth can ever become joined to good nor consequently can good be made one's own.

[2] This can be seen quite clearly by anyone if he turns his attention to those who lead evil lives and to those who lead good lives. Those who lead evil lives, though instructed in the teachings of the Church during childhood and youth like everybody else, will be found on examination to believe nothing at all about the Lord, about faith in Him, or about the truths of the Church, whereas those who lead good lives will be found in every case to have faith in those truths which they believe to be truths. Those however who teach truths, as Church leaders do, and yet lead evil lives will indeed say that they believe, yet they do not believe in their hearts.

[3] With some a persuasive faith exists which is an imitation of true faith, but that faith is no more than factual knowledge which has been corroborated by them not because it is the truth but because by declaring their allegiance to it they improve their chances of personal position, honour, and gain. That knowledge goes no further than through the ears into the memory, and from the memory passes out on to the lips. It does not enter the heart and from there into a confession of it. From these considerations it is evident that the life is the guide to what kind of acknowledgement of truth exists, that is, to what kind of faith. They also show that faith separated from the good of life declares that no matter how a person lives he can still be saved by grace, and that such faith argues against the teaching that everyone's life remains with him after death.