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.

4345. 'And he put the servant-girls and their sons first, and Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back' means an ordering beginning with quite general things in which all else is included. This becomes clear from what has been stated directly above about the meaning of 'the servant-girls, Leah, Rachel, and their sons' to the effect that 'the servant-girls' means the affections for knowledge and for cognitions, 'Leah' the affection for exterior truth, and 'Rachel' the affection for interior truth. The affections for knowledge and for cognitions are the most external ones since knowledge and cognitions are the foundations out of which truths arise and on which they are based. The affection for external truth follows them and is more interior, while the affection for interior truth is more interior still. The more external they are the more general they are too, and the more internal they are the less general they are and in relation to the general are called particular and specific.

[2] With regard to general truths, they are called general because they are made up of the particular truths and so include the particular ones within them. General truths without particular ones are not general truths, but are called such from the particular. They are like a general whole and its parts. No general whole can be called a whole if there are no parts, for the parts make up the whole. Indeed nothing exists in the nature of things which does not first exist from and then continue to exist from things other than itself. That which exists and continues to exist from things other than itself is called general, and the things which compose it and keep it in existence are called particular. Being composed of internal things, external ones in relation to internal are therefore general. The same applies to the human being and his mental faculties: the more external these are the more general they are since they are composed of things that are more interior, while these in turn are composed of those that are inmost.

[3] In relation to the rest of the human being the actual body and the things belonging to the body, as its external senses and its actions are called, are most general. The natural mind and the things belonging to the natural mind are less general because they are more internal, and in relation to the body and bodily things are called particulars. The rational mind however and the things belonging to the rational mind are more internal still, and are - in relation to the body, the natural mind and the things belonging to these - called specifics. These differences are clearly observable by a person when he casts aside his body and becomes a spirit, for then he is able to observe clearly that the things of the body had been nothing more than the most general forms taken by the things of his spirit, and that bodily things received their existence and were kept in existence by those of his spirit. Thus he sees that the things of his spirit in relation to those of his body were particulars. And when the same spirit becomes an angel, that is, when he is raised up into heaven, he is able to observe that the same things which previously he has seen and experienced in an obscure light he now sees and experiences in their particular form and in bright light. For he now observes countless details which previously he had seen and experienced as a single entity.

[4] The same is also evident from what is the case while that person is living in the world. The things which he sees and experiences in early childhood are most general, whereas those which he sees and experiences in later childhood and youth are the particular aspects of those general ones; and those that he sees and experiences in adult years are the specific details of those particular aspects. For as a person advances in years he introduces the particular ideas into general ones acquired in early childhood, and after that specific notions into the particular ideas; for he advances gradually towards more interior things, filling what is the general with the particular, and the particular with the specific. From this one may now see the implications of an ordering beginning with general things in which all else is included, which is the meaning of 'he put the servant-girls and their sons first, Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back'.

[5] A similar situation exists when a person is being regenerated, or what amounts to the same, when in him truths are being joined to good; and this situation is the subject here. During that time general affections together with their truths, meant here by 'the servant-girls and their sons', are the first to be introduced into good; after that the less general are introduced, that is, those which in relation to the general are particular, meant here by 'Leah and her sons'; and finally the less general still, that is, those which in relation to the same are specific, meant here by 'Rachel and Joseph'. For when being regenerated a person passes so to speak through comparable phases of life - he experiences early childhood first; after that later childhood and youth; and finally adult years.