4573. Be fruitful and multiply. That this signifies good and thence truth, Divine, is evident from the fact that “fructifying” is predicated of good, and “multiplying” of truth (see n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847).

43. Verse 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl shall be multiplied in the earth. Everything that has in itself life from the Lord fructifies and multiplies itself immensely; not so much while the man lives in the body, but to an amazing degree in the other life. To “be fruitful” in the Word, is predicated of the things that are of love, and to “multiply” of the things that are of faith; the “fruit” which is of love contains “seed” by which it so greatly multiplies itself. The Lord’s “blessing” also in the Word signifies fructification and multiplication, because they proceed from it. verse 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.