Arcana Coelestia #737
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.
John 10
1
"Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn't enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
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But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
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The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
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Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
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They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don't know the voice of strangers."
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Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn't understand what he was telling them.
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Jesus therefore said to them again, "Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep's door.
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All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them.
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I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
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The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
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I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.
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The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep.
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I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own;
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even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
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I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
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Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
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No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father."
19
Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words.
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Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?"
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Others said, "These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn't possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?"
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It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.
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It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch.
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The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, "How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
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Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you don't believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these testify about me.
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But you don't believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.
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My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.
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I and the Father are one."
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Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him.
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Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?"
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The Jews answered him, "We don't stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God."
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Jesus answered them, "Isn't it written in your law, 'I said, you are gods?'
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If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can't be broken),
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do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God?'
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If I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe me.
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But if I do them, though you don't believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
39
They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.
40
He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed.
41
Many came to him. They said, "John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true."
