The Bible

 

Genesis 1:13

Study

       

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Commentary

 

Six

  

Like most numbers in the Bible, "six" can have various meanings depending on context, but has a couple that are primary. When used in relation to time -- six days, six hours, six years, etc. -- six generally represents a state of labor, struggle and conflict, especially the conflict involved with spiritual growth. The six days of creation, for instance, represent the stages we go through in our lives, working toward the peaceful seventh day, in which our evil desires are removed from us and we can rest. In most other references, six represents all desires for good and all the true ideas that come from those desires for good -- or in the contrary sense, all evil and all the resulting false thinking.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7796

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

7796. 'And Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh' means that these stages of vastation, and the consequent corroborations that they are ruled by evil, were brought about by the truth emanating from God. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses and Aaron' as God's truth, 'Moses' truth that emanates directly from God, and 'Aaron' that which does so indirectly, dealt with in 7010, 7089, 7382; and from the meaning of 'the wonders' performed in Egypt or belonging to the Church who have led an evil life. The fact that those things are depicted by the wonders of Egypt may be recognized from the meaning of each wonder. And for the fact that they also depict corroborations that those people do not have faith but are ruled by evil, see immediately above in 7795. It says that 'Moses and Aaron performed these wonders', when in fact they were not Performed by them but by God. But what happened has been stated in that way because God's truth is represented by 'Moses and Aaron', and the wonders were performed by God through the truth emanating from Himself, since all that God Himself performs is performed through the truth emanating from Him. God Himself is the Being (Esse) of all things, but the truth emanating from Him is the Coming-into-Being (Existere) of all things, which rises out of His Being. Good itself, which is God's Being (Esse), brings forth all things by means of its Truth. It is said that the stages of vastation were brought about by the truth emanating from God; but it should be understood that Divine Truth is not the cause of them since God subjects no one to vastation. Rather, an evil person subjects himself to it through obstinate opposition to God's truth by eliminating, rejecting, or perverting it, and through turning God's goodness, which flows in unceasingly, into evil. This then is what subjects him to vastation; and from this it is evident where the cause of it lies, not in the inflow of goodness and truth from God - for unless they inflow life is non-existent - but in their conversion to evil and falsity, committed by the person who is ruled by evil.

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.