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.

7506. 'And Jehovah will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians' means the difference between the forms of the truth and good of faith of those who belong to the spiritual Church and forms of the truth and good of faith [acquired from the Church] which reside with those engaged in molestation. This is clear from the meaning of 'making a distinction' as a difference; from the meaning of 'the livestock' as forms of the truth and good of faith, as above in 7502; from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, also dealt with above, in 7500; and from the meaning of 'the livestock of the Egyptians' as forms of good and truth belonging to the Church which reside with those who engage in molestation. Regarding 'the Egyptians', that they are those who belonged to the Church and therefore had a knowledge of the truth and good of faith, but led an evil life, and are those who engage in molestation in the next life, see 7097, 7127, 7317, 7501.

[2] Let the difference between forms of the truth and good of faith with those belonging to the Church who are saved and forms of the truth and good of faith which reside with those belonging to the Church who are damned be stated briefly. Forms of the truth and good of faith which reside with those who belong to the Church and are saved are rooted in the good of charity; and since the affection characteristic of charity constitutes the truly spiritual level of things, those forms of truth and good are spiritual, flowing in from the Lord by way of heaven. For those people's interiors, which are receptive, are open to heaven. But forms of truth and good possessed by those who belong to the Church and are damned are not rooted in the good of charity, and so they are not spiritual. They do, it is true, flow in by way of heaven, but they are given a very cold and dark reception, very cold because the good of charity is lacking, and very dark because the light in which they receive them resembles the light of winter, a light which, compared with the light of heaven, is as thick darkness. These people's interiors are not open to heaven but to the world; they turn the truth and good that flow in from heaven in a worldly direction. As a consequence, too, the ideas they have about the good and truth of faith are wholly natural, indeed material ones, which when represented in the spiritual world are ugly and bear no kind of resemblance to a human being. But the ideas about the truth and good of faith of those who belong to the Church and are saved are spiritual, and although they are embodied in material images of worldly things, yet they are separate from those images, for they can be raised above them. When the ideas of these people are represented in the spiritual world they are beautiful, and take on a resemblance to a human being. Such is the difference, no matter how much alike they seem to be to outward appearances, that is, when people speak and preach about them.

[3] What causes such a difference is the kind of life a person leads. For when good reigns in a person's life, that is, good which springs from charity, it has an effect on his understanding, which is the receptacle of truth. It creates beautiful ideas about forms of the good and truth of faith. But when evil reigns in a person's life, that is, the opposite of charity, that too has an effect on his understanding. It produces ugly ideas about forms of the good and truth of faith; and such ideas find no acceptance in heaven.