Arcana Coelestia #893
893. Verse 13 And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from over the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out, and behold, the face 1 of the ground was dry.
'It happened in the six hundred and first year' means a finishing point. 'At the beginning, on the first of the month' means a starting point. 'The waters dried up from over the earth' means that falsities were not at that time apparent. 'And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out' means the light, once falsities had been removed, shed by the truths of faith, which he acknowledged and in which he had faith. 'And behold, the face 1 of the ground was dry' means regeneration.
Footnotes:
1. literally, the faces
[893a] 1
That 'it happened in the six hundred and first year means a finishing point is clear from the meaning of the number six hundred, dealt with at Chapter 7:6, in 737, as a beginning, and in particular in that verse as the beginning of temptation. The end of it is specified by the same number, with a whole year having now passed by. It took place therefore at the end of a year, and this also is why the words are added 'at the beginning, on the first of the month', meaning a starting point. In the Word any complete period is specified either by a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, and even by a hundred or a thousand years - for example, 'the days' mentioned in Genesis 1, which meant stages in the regeneration of the member of the Most Ancient Church. For in the internal sense day and year mean nothing else than a period of time; and meaning a period of time they also mean a state. Consequently a year stands in the Word for a period of time and for a state, as in Isaiah,
To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.
This refers to the Lord's Coming. In the same prophet,
The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed had come. Isaiah 63:4.
Here too 'day' and 'year' stand for a period of time and for a state. In Habakkuk,
Your work, O Jehovah, in the midst of the years make it live, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Habakkuk 3:2.
Here 'years' stands for a period of time and for a state. In David,
'You are God Himself, and Your years have no end. Psalms 102:27.
This statement, in which 'years' stands for periods of time, means that time does not exist with God. The same applies in the present verse where 'the year' of the flood in no way means any one particular year but a period of time that is not determined by a specific number of years. At the same time it means a state. See what has been said already about 'years' in 482, 487, 488, 493.
1. This paragraph is not numbered in the Latin.
Arcana Coelestia #6304
6304. 'And will bring you back to the land of your fathers' means to the state of both Ancient Churches. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with in 566, 661, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4575, 4447, 5577; and from the meaning of 'fathers' as those who belonged to the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient Church, dealt with in 6075. To the state of both Ancient Churches is said to be meant because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like members of the Ancient Churches, were to represent in specific detail the Lord's celestial and spiritual kingdom. That representation was actually established - among the Jewish nation a representation of the celestial kingdom, and among the Israelite people a representation of the spiritual kingdom. But with that generation nothing of the Church or of the Lord's kingdom could be established, only what was a mere representation, for they wished to see and acknowledge in representatives only what was external, and nothing at all internal.
[2] However, so that the overall representation might be effected, and through it some communication with heaven might exist, and through heaven with the Lord, they were restricted to externals; and at that time the Lord saw to it that communication might take place through external representation alone devoid of any internal. This was the state to which Jacob's descendants could be 'brought back'. Yet inwardly, external representatives among those descendants concealed Divine matters, in the highest sense those which had regard to the Lord's Divine Human, and in the relative sense those which had regard to the Lord's kingdom in heaven and to the Church. This state of both Ancient Churches is what is meant by the promise that God will bring them back to the land of their fathers.
