Arcana Coelestia #6451
6451. 'I am being gathered to my people' means that [spiritual good] will come to exist within the forms of good and the truths of the natural which spring from that good. This is clear from the representation of the sons of Israel and of the tribes named after them, to which 'his people' refers here, as forms of good and truths in the natural - dealt with in 3858, 3926, 3939, 5414, 5879, 5951, 6335, 6337 - which, it is self-evident, sprang from him; and from the meaning of 'being gathered to that people' as existing within those forms of good and truths. Since the subject here and in what follows is the gathering of spiritual good, which is 'Israel', that is, its coming to exist within the forms of good and the truths of the natural, which are 'his sons' or the tribes named after them, something must be said about how one is to understand all this.
[2] Within a person there is what is inmost; there are interior things beneath what is inmost; and there are exterior things. All these are utterly distinct and separate. They follow one after another in consecutive order, thus from what is inmost to what is outermost; and in accordance with that consecutive order there is also a flow from one into another. This being so, life flows in by way of what is inmost into the interior things, and by way of the interior things into the exterior ones, in accordance with the order in which they follow one another, and it does not come to rest except in what is last and lowest, where it is brought to a halt. And since interior things flow in accordance with order right through to what is last and lowest and are there brought to a halt, it is evident that interior things exist together within what is last and lowest. But they do so there in the following order: What is inmost and has flowed in occupies the central area; interior things, which are beneath what is inmost, encircle the central area; and exterior things are on the edge all the way round. This applies not merely in what is general and overall but also in every specific thing. The first kind of order is called consecutive order, whereas the second is called simultaneous order. The second arises from the first since everything simultaneous arises from what is consecutive, and then exists as it was when first brought into being.
[3] Because the interior things are also present all together in what is last and lowest, the appearance is that life exists in what is last and lowest, which is the body. The reality however is that it exists in interior things, yet not in them but in what is highest, which is the Lord, the Source of all life. This also explains why the life in the exterior things is obscure when compared with the life in the interior ones, for in exterior things the life is wholly general, the product of many, indeed countless elements that flow in from interior things, yet are seen all together as a general, single whole. All this now shows to some extent how one is to understand the idea that spiritual good, which is 'Israel', will come to exist within the forms of good and the truths of the natural, which are 'his sons' or 'the tribes'. For spiritual good, which is 'Israel', exists in the interior part of the natural, while the forms of good and the truths, which are 'his sons', exist in the exterior part of it. The idea that spiritual good will come to exist in them is meant by 'I am being gathered to my people'.
Arcana Coelestia #893
893. Verse 13 And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from over the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out, and behold, the face 1 of the ground was dry.
'It happened in the six hundred and first year' means a finishing point. 'At the beginning, on the first of the month' means a starting point. 'The waters dried up from over the earth' means that falsities were not at that time apparent. 'And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out' means the light, once falsities had been removed, shed by the truths of faith, which he acknowledged and in which he had faith. 'And behold, the face 1 of the ground was dry' means regeneration.
Bilješke:
1. literally, the faces
[893a] 1
That 'it happened in the six hundred and first year means a finishing point is clear from the meaning of the number six hundred, dealt with at Chapter 7:6, in 737, as a beginning, and in particular in that verse as the beginning of temptation. The end of it is specified by the same number, with a whole year having now passed by. It took place therefore at the end of a year, and this also is why the words are added 'at the beginning, on the first of the month', meaning a starting point. In the Word any complete period is specified either by a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, and even by a hundred or a thousand years - for example, 'the days' mentioned in Genesis 1, which meant stages in the regeneration of the member of the Most Ancient Church. For in the internal sense day and year mean nothing else than a period of time; and meaning a period of time they also mean a state. Consequently a year stands in the Word for a period of time and for a state, as in Isaiah,
To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.
This refers to the Lord's Coming. In the same prophet,
The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed had come. Isaiah 63:4.
Here too 'day' and 'year' stand for a period of time and for a state. In Habakkuk,
Your work, O Jehovah, in the midst of the years make it live, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Habakkuk 3:2.
Here 'years' stands for a period of time and for a state. In David,
'You are God Himself, and Your years have no end. Psalms 102:27.
This statement, in which 'years' stands for periods of time, means that time does not exist with God. The same applies in the present verse where 'the year' of the flood in no way means any one particular year but a period of time that is not determined by a specific number of years. At the same time it means a state. See what has been said already about 'years' in 482, 487, 488, 493.
1. This paragraph is not numbered in the Latin.
