737. 'Noah was a son of six hundred years' means his initial state of temptation. This is clear from the fact from here down to Eber in Chapter 11 nothing else is meant by numbers, years of age, or names than real things, as was the case also with the ages and names of all those mentioned in Chapter 5. Here 'six hundred years' means the initial state of temptation. This becomes clear from its prime factors which are ten and six multiplied again by ten. When the same factors are involved it makes no difference whether the number arrived at is large or small. As for ten, this has been shown already at 6:3 to mean remnants, while the meaning of six here as labour and conflict is clear from places throughout the Word. For the situation is this: What has gone before dealt with man's preparation for temptation, that is to say, he was supplied by the Lord with truths of the understanding and with goods of the will. These truths and goods are remnants, but they are not brought forth so as to be acknowledged until man is being regenerated. In the case of those who are being regenerated by means of temptations the remnants existing with any man are for the angels present with him. From these remnants they draw out those things with which they protect him against the evil spirits who activate falsities with him and in this way attack him. It is because remnants are meant by 'ten' and conflict by 'six' that six hundred years are spoken of, a number in which ten and six are the prime factors and which means a state of temptation.

[2] As regards conflict being the particular meaning of 'six', this is clear from Genesis 1, which describes the six days of man's regeneration prior to his becoming celestial. During those six days there was constant conflict, but on the seventh day came rest. Consequently there are six days of labour, and the seventh is the sabbath, a word which means rest. This also is why a Hebrew slave was to serve for six years and in the seventh was to go free, Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14, and why for six years they were to sow the land and gather in the produce, but in the seventh they were to leave it alone, Exodus 23:10-12. The same applied to a vineyard. It is also the reason why in the seventh year the land was to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to Jehovah, Leviticus 25:3-4. Because 'six' means labour and conflict it also means the dispersion of falsity, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which looks towards the north, every man with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. Ezekiel 9:2.

And in the same prophet, against Gog,

I will cause you to turn about, and I will split you into six, and cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north. Ezekiel 39:2.

Here 'six' and 'splitting into six' stand for dispersion, 'the north' for falsities, and 'Gog' for people who seize on doctrinal matters based on things of an external nature with which they destroy internal worship. From Job,

He will deliver you in six troubles, and in a seventh no evil will touch you. Job 5:19.

This stands for the conflict that constitutes temptations.

[3] 'Six' occurs in other parts of the Word where it does not mean labour, conflict, or the dispersion of falsity, but the holiness of faith. In these instances it is related to twelve, which means faith and all things of faith in their entirety, and to three which means that which is holy. Consequently there is also a genuine derivative meaning to the number six, as in Ezekiel 40:5, where the man's measuring rod with which he measured the holy city of Israel was six cubits long; and in other places. The reason for this derivative is that in the conflict of temptation the holiness of faith is present, and also that six days of labour and conflict look forward to the holy seventh day.

1096. And he cried out in strength with a great voice.- That this signifies manifestation before heaven and in the church from joy of heart, is evident from the signification of crying out, as denoting to make manifest, namely, that the Last Judgment was accomplished upon Babylon, for the words "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great" follow; and from the signification of in strength, as denoting in power before heaven and in the church, of which we shall speak in what follows; and from the signification of a great voice, as denoting joy of heart, for from that the voice becomes great. The cause of the joy of heart was, that after the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by the harlot or Babylon, the Divine Truth, which proceeds from the Lord, acquired light and power as stated in the article above. A great voice signifies joy of heart, because exclamation in a loud voice proceeds from some affection, and is more intense according to the affection or degree of love. The reason why in strength signifies in heaven and on earth, is, that strength signifies power, and the power then existed of manifesting those things before heaven and the world. Concerning this power see above (n. 1093).

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- The first and primary thought that opens heaven to man, is thought concerning God; the reason of this is, that God is the All of heaven, so that whether we speak of heaven or of God it is the same thing. The Divine things (Divina) taken together, which cause the angels, of whom heaven consists, to be angels, are God. This is the reason why thought concerning God is the first and primary of all the thoughts that open heaven to man; for it is the head and sum of all truths and loves celestial and spiritual. But there is thought from light, and there is thought from love, thought from light alone is the knowledge that God exists, which appears like acknowledgement, but is not.

[3] By thought from light, man has presence in heaven, but not conjunction with heaven. For the light of thought alone, does not conjoin, but is the cause of the presence of man before the Lord and the angels; for that light is like the light of winter, in which a man sees as clearly as in the light of summer, nevertheless that light does not enter into conjunction either with the earth, or with any tree, shrub, flower, or grass. In every man is implanted, by means of the light of heaven, the faculty of thinking about God, and, also, of understanding those things that pertain to God, but thought alone from that light, which is intellectual thought, is merely the cause of his presence before the Lord and before the angels, as said above.

[4] When a man is merely in intellectual thought concerning God and concerning those things which pertain to God, he appears then to the angels, from a distance, like an image of ivory or marble, which is capable of walking and uttering sounds, but in whose face and utterance there is yet no life. He also appears to the angels, comparatively, like a tree in winter time whose branches are bare and without leaves, which, is nevertheless, expected to be covered with leaves, and afterwards with fruit, when the heat is conjoined with light, as is the case in time of spring. As thought concerning God primarily opens heaven, so thought against God primarily closes heaven.