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.

2284. 'Perhaps ten will be found there' means if remnants were still present. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'ten' as remnants, dealt with in Volume One, in 576, 1738. What remnants are however has been stated and shown in various places already, as in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, namely that they are all the good and all the truth with a person which lie stored away in his two memories and in his life.

[2] It is well known that there is nothing good nor anything true except that from the Lord; also that what is good and true is flowing in constantly from the Lord into man, but it is received in varying ways, and that in fact it is received according to the life of evil and according to the false assumptions in which the person has confirmed himself. These are what either annihilate, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths flowing in constantly from the Lord. To prevent goods being mixed with evils therefore, and truths with falsities - for if they were mixed a person would perish for ever - the Lord separates them, and stores away within his interior man the goods and truths he receives. From there the Lord will never allow them to come forth as long as that person is governed by evil and falsity, except at those times when the person has entered some state that is a holy state, or when deeply and anxiously concerned about something, or in times of sickness, or other similar circumstances. These things which the Lord has so stored away in the person are what are called remnants, and of which very much mention is made in the Word, though nobody as yet knows that this is what they mean.

[3] It is according to the nature and the amount of the remnants, that is, of the good and truth residing with him, that a person experiences blessedness and happiness in the next life, for, as has been stated, such remnants are stored away in his interior man and are laid bare when he leaves things of a bodily and worldly nature behind him. The Lord alone knows the nature and the amount of remnants a person has. The person himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is such that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil. A person can also appear to be evil and yet may have good within. For these reasons one is never allowed to judge the nature of another person's spiritual life; for the Lord alone, as has been stated, knows this. But one is allowed to judge the nature of another person's life, private and public, since this is of importance to society.

[4] It is very common for those who have adopted an opinion regarding any truth of faith to sit in judgement on others and to say that they cannot be saved unless their beliefs coincide with their own - a judgement which the Lord has forbidden, in Matthew 7:1-2. Yet from much experience I have been led to know that members of every religion are saved provided that they have received through a life of charity remnants of good and appearances of truth. This is what was meant by 'if ten were found [there] they would not be destroyed for the sake of the ten', that is, that if remnants were present they would be saved.

[5] The life of charity consists in thinking what is good in regard to another, and in willing for him that which is good, and in feeling joy within oneself that others as well are saved. But those people do not possess the life of charity whose will is that no others should be saved than those whose beliefs coincide with theirs, especially those who are indignant that the situation is otherwise. This becomes clear solely from the fact that more gentiles are saved than Christians. For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life.