3391. And Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw. That this signifies the doctrine of faith looking to rational things in knowledges, is evident from the representation of Abimelech, as being the doctrine of faith that looks to rational things (n. 2504, 2509, 2510, 2533); from the signification of “king of the Philistines” as being doctrinal things (n. 3365); and from the signification of a window,” as being the intellectual faculty (n. 655, 658), consequently the internal sight, for this was formerly signified by “windows.” Thus to “look out through a window” is to perceive those things which appear by means of the internal sight, which in general are knowledges such as are of the external man. Rational things, or what is the same, appearances of truth, that is, truths spiritual, are not knowledges, but are in knowledges, for they belong to the rational, thus to the internal man, and it is the internal man which looks to the things of the external man, thus to truths in knowledges. For as knowledges are of the natural man, they are vessels that receive rational things (that truths Divine flow into the rational, and through this into the natural, and in this latter are exhibited as an image of many things in a mirror, may be seen above, n. 3368).

[2] That “windows” signify the things of the internal sight-that is, of the understanding-which in one word are called intellectual things, is evident from those passages of the Word which were adduced in n. 655; and further from the following.

In Joel:

They shall run to and fro in the city, they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up into the houses, they shall enter in by the windows as a thief (Joel 2:9);

speaking of the evils and falsities of the last days of the church; “climbing up into the houses” denotes destroying the goods of the will (that “house” denotes the goods of the will may be seen above, n. 710, 2233, 2334); and “entering in by the windows” denotes destroying truths and their knowledges which are of the understanding.

In Zephaniah:

Jehovah will stretch out His hands upon the north, and destroy Asshur; herds shall lie down in the midst of her; every wild animal of his kind; both the pelican and the osprey, shall pass the night in the pomegranates thereof; a voice shall sing in the windows, drought shall be upon the threshold, because he hath laid bare the cedar (Zeph. 2:13-14); where the destruction of the truths of faith by reasonings, which are “Asshur,” is treated of (n. 119, 1186); that a “voice shall sing in the windows” signifies the desolation of truth, thus of the intellectual faculty as to truth.

[3] In the book of Judges:

Through the window she looked forth, and the mother of Sisera cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? (Judg. 5:28);

this is the prophecy of Deborah and Barak concerning the resuscitation of a spiritual church; “looking forth through a window” denotes through the reasonings of those who deny truths and thus destroy what is of the church; for such reasonings are intellectual things in the opposite sense.

In Jeremiah:

Woe unto him that buildeth his house without righteousness, and his chambers without judgment; that saith, I will build me a roomy house and spacious chambers; and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion (Jeremiah 22:13-14);

“[B]uilding a house without righteousness, and chambers without judgment” denotes building up a religious system from what is not good and not true (that “righteousness and judgment” are good and truth may be seen above, n. 2235); “cutting him out windows and ceiling with cedar, and painting with vermilion,” denotes falsifying intellectual and spiritual truths. The windows of the temple at Jerusalem represented nothing but that which belongs to intellectual and thus to spiritual things. The like is signified by the windows of the new temple described in Ezekiel (40:16, 40:22, 25, 40:33, 36; 41:16, 26); for anyone can see that in this Prophet the new temple, the new Jerusalem, and the new earth, are nothing else than the Lord’s kingdom; thus that the things mentioned in regard to them are such as belong to His kingdom.

893. Verse 13. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw, and behold, the faces of the ground were dry. “And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year” signifies a last boundary [or ending]; “in the beginning, on the first of the month” signifies a first boundary [or new beginning]; “the waters were dried up from off the earth” signifies that falsities did not then appear; “and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked” signifies on the removal of falsities there was the light of the truths of faith, which he acknowledged and in which he had faith; “and behold the faces of the ground were dry” signifies regeneration. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year. That this signifies a last boundary, is evident from the signification of the number “six hundred” concerning which in the preceding chapter (Genesis 7:6, and n. 737), as being a beginning, and there indeed the beginning of temptation, its end being here designated by the same number, a whole year having passed, so that what took place was at the end of the year, and therefore it is added, “in the beginning, on the first of the month” by which is signified a first boundary [or new beginning]. Any whole period is designated in the Word as a “day” a “week” a “month” a “year” even though it be a hundred or a thousand years, as the “days” in the first chapter of Genesis, by which are meant periods of the regeneration of the man of the Most Ancient Church; for “day” and “year” in the internal sense signify nothing else than a time, and because they signify a time they signify a state, and therefore in the Word a “year” is continually used with the meaning of a time and a state. As in Isaiah:

To proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:2),

where the coming of the Lord is treated of. Again:

For the day of vengeance was in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed had come (Isaiah 63:4),

where also “day” and “year” denote a time and state.

In Habakkuk:

O Jehovah, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known (Habakkuk 3:2),

where “years” denote a time and state.

In David:

Thou art God Himself, and Thy years are not consumed (Psalms 102:27),

where “years” denote times, and it is shown that with God there is no time. So in the passage before us, the year of the flood by no means signifies any particular year, but a time not determined by fixed years, and at the same time a state. (See what has been said before about “years” n. 482, 487, 488, 493)