1102. 'He will dwell in the tents of Shem' means so that the internal features of worship may be present in the external features. This becomes clear from all that has been stated already about Shem, to the effect that 'Shem' is the internal Church or internal worship, and that external worship is something altogether soulless or unclean if it does not have internal worship to give it life and sanctify it. That 'tents' means nothing else than the holiness of love and worship arising out of this becomes clear from the meaning of 'tents' dealt with already in 414. Among the ancients 'wandering about and dwelling in tents' was common expression, and by 'tents' in the internal sense was meant holy worship, for the reason that the most ancient people not only wandered about with tents but also dwelt in tents and used to celebrate holy worship in them. Consequently 'wandering about and dwelling' also meant in the internal sense living.

[2] In addition to the places quoted already in 414, let the following as well serve to confirm that 'tents' means holy worship: In David,

God forsook the dwelling-place at Shiloh, the tent where He dwelt with man. Psalms 78:60.

Here 'tent' has a similar meaning to the Temple, in which God is said 'to dwell' when He is present with someone within love. For this reason the individual in whose life holy worship had a place was called by the ancients 'a tent', and later 'a temple'. In Isaiah,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out. Isaiah 54:1.

This stands for enlightenment in the things that belong to true worship. In Jeremiah,

The whole land has been laid waste; suddenly My tents have been laid waste, My curtains in a moment. Jeremiah 4:20.

Here it is quite evident that tents are not meant but holy worship. In Zechariah,

Jerusalem will dwell yet again in her own place, in Jerusalem Jehovah will save the tents of Judah. Zechariah 12:6-7.

Here 'the tents of Judah' stands for worship of the Lord arising out of the holiness of love.

[3] From these quotations it now becomes clear what 'dwelling in the tents of Shem' means, namely, so that internal worship may be present in external. But because 'Japheth', the member of the external Church, has little knowledge of what internal things are, a brief description of him will be given. When a person feels or perceives within himself that he has thoughts regarding the Lord which are good and thoughts regarding the neighbor which are good, and he wishes to perform acts of kindness for him, but not for the sake of any gain or for the sake of his own position, and when he feels that he has pity for anyone who suffers misfortune, and more so for him who errs in regard to the doctrine of faith, he may then know that 'he is dwelling in the tents of Shem', that is, that there are with him things of an internal nature by means of which the Lord is working.

788. 'The waters increased and raised the ark and lifted it above the earth' means that in such manner it wavered; and 'the waters grew stronger and increased greatly over the earth, and the ark went over the face ¹ of the waters' means that in such manner its waverings grew stronger. This does not become clear unless the nature of the state of this Church called Noah is stated beforehand. 'Noah' was not the Ancient Church itself but, as already stated, was like the parent or seed of that Church. But Noah together with Shem, Ham, and Japheth constituted the Ancient Church that followed immediately after the Most Ancient Church. Every member of the Church called Noah belonged to the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, and therefore as far as hereditary evil was concerned his state was little different from that of other descendants who did not survive. Those whose state was little different were unable to be regenerated and become spiritual as those could whose hereditary disposition was not like theirs. The nature of their hereditary disposition has been stated already in 310, but to enable people to have a better knowledge of it let the following be said.

[2] People who belong to the seed of Jacob, such as the Jews, cannot be regenerated so easily as gentiles. The reverse of faith is ingrained within them not only on account of the assumptions they have adopted since early childhood and subsequently confirmed, but also on account of their heredity. That it is also ingrained within them on account of their heredity becomes clear to some extent from the consideration that they are by disposition different from others, indeed have different customs and also different facial features from others, by which they can be singled out, such characteristics being theirs by heredity. And the same applies to their interior peculiarities, for customs and facial features are the imprints of the things within. This also is why converted Jews, more than anybody else, waver between truth and falsity. It was similar with the first people of this Church who were called Noah, for they belonged to the stock and seed of the most ancient people. These waverings are what are being described here, and in what follows further on where it is said that Noah was a man of the ground and that he planted a vineyard, and drank some of the wine, and became drunk, so that he lay naked in the middle of his tent, Genesis 9:20-21. That those people were few has been made clear to me from the consideration that the member (homo) of that Church is represented in the world of spirits as a tall slim man (vir) clothed in white, in a narrow room. Even so these were the people who preserved and possessed among themselves doctrinal matters concerning faith.

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