1826. And a turtle-dove and a young pigeon. That this signifies the representatives of the spiritual things of the church, is evident from the signification of birds in general and of turtle-doves and pigeons in particular. That “birds” signify spiritual things, which are those of faith or of truth, and therefore are intellectual and rational things, was shown above (n. 40, 745, 776, 991); also that “doves” signify the goods and truths of faith (n. 870). What they signified in the sacrifices shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated in what follows, where the sacrifices are treated of. In the Word, especially in the prophetic part, when celestial things are spoken of, spiritual things also are spoken of, and in this way they are conjoined; because the one is from the other, so that the one is the other’s (as before said, n. 639, 680, 683, 707, 793, 801).

707. Here, as far as the fifth verse (Genesis 7:5), are found almost the same things that were said in the previous chapter, merely changed in some little measure, and it is the same in the verses that follow. One who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word cannot but think that this is merely a repetition of the same thing. Similar instances occur in other parts of the Word, especially in the Prophets, where the same thing is expressed in different words; and sometimes is also taken up again and described a second time. But, as before said, the reason is that there are two faculties in man which are most distinct from each other-the will, and the understanding-and the two are treated of in the Word distinctively. This is the reason of the repetition. That this is the case here will be evident from what follows.