6. Genesis 1

1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

2. And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face ¹ of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face ¹ of the waters.

3. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

4. And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness.

5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

6. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

7. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.

8. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

9. And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.

10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

11. And God said, Let the earth cause tender plants to spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth; and it was so.

12. And the earth brought forth tender herbs, seed-bearing plants, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

13. And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

14. And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years.

15. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so.

16. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars.

17. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth;

18. And to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

19. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face ¹ of the expanse of the heavens.

21. And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters produced abundantly according to their kinds; and all winged birds according to their kinds; and God saw that it was good.

22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let birds be multiplied upon the earth.

23. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds; and it was so.

25. And God made wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and beasts according to their kinds, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26. And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ² and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

27. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28. And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ² and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.

29. And God said, Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face ¹ of the whole earth, and every tree in which there is fruit, the tree producing seed will be for you for food.

30. And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air, ² and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul, [I give] every green plant for food; and it was so.

31. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.

CONTENTS

The six days or periods of time, which are so many consecutive states in man's regeneration, are in general as follows:

Footnotes:

5335. 'And Joseph was a son of thirty years' means a state when the quantity of remnants was complete. This is clear from the meaning of 'thirty' as a completed number of remnants, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'years' as states, dealt with in 482, 487, 488, 493, 893. In the Word the number thirty can mean some existence of conflict, or else it can mean a completed number of remnants. The reason why that number has this twofold meaning is that it is arrived at by multiplying five and six, or else by multiplying three and ten. When it is the product of five times six it means some existence of conflict, 2276, because 'five' means some, 649, 4638, 5291, and 'six' conflict, 720, 737, 900, 1709. But when thirty is the product of three times ten it means a completed number of remnants, because 'three' means that which is complete, 2788, 4495, and 'ten' means remnants, 576, 1906, 2284. A composite number implies much the same as the simple ones of which it is the product, 5291. Remnants are the truths joined to good which have been stored away by the Lord in a person's interior parts, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135.

[2] A completed number of remnants is likewise meant by 'thirty' - as it is also by 'sixty', and by 'a hundred' too - in Mark,

The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit growing up and increasing. One bore thirty-fold, and another sixty, and another a hundred. Mark 4:8, 10.

Each of these numbers, being a multiple of ten, means a completed number of remnants. Also, because no one can be regenerated - that is, permitted to enter into spiritual temptations, by means of which regeneration is effected - until he has received a completed number of remnants, it was therefore laid down that no Levite should carry out any work in the tent of meeting until he was fully thirty years old. Their work or function is also called 'military service', being referred to in Moses as follows,

Take a census of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi - from sons thirty years of age and over, up to sons fifty years of age, everyone coming to perform military service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. Numbers 4:2-3.

Much the same is said regarding the sons of Gershon, and much the same regarding the sons of Merari, in verses 22, 23, 29, 30, and then in verses 35, 39, 43. Of that same chapter in Moses. And something similar is implied where it says that David began to reign when he was a son thirty years of age, 2 Samuel 5:4.

[3] From all this one may now see why the Lord did not make Himself known until He was thirty years of age, Luke 3:23. At that age a completed number of remnants existed with Him, though these remnants which the Lord possessed were ones that He Himself had acquired for Himself. They were also Divine ones and the means by which He united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence and made that Human Essence Divine, 1906. In Him therefore lies the reason why 'thirty years' means a state when the quantity of remnants is complete and why the priests the Levites began to perform their specific functions when they were thirty years old. And because he was to represent the Lord's kingship, David did not begin to reign until he was that same age. For every representative is derived from the Lord, and therefore every representative has reference to Him.