55. Verse 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ¹ and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.

Because the most ancient people applied the term Marriage to understanding and will, or faith and love, when joined together, they gave the name Fruitfulness to any good resulting from that marriage, and Multiplication to any truth. For this reason similar expressions occur in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they will multiply and be fruitful, and I will resettle you ² to be as in your ancient times, and I will bless you more than in your former times, and you will know that I am Jehovah, and I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel. Ezekiel 36:8-11.

Here 'man' is used to mean the spiritual man, who is also called Israel, 'ancient times' the Most Ancient Church, 'former times' the Ancient Church which came after the Flood. The reason why 'multiplying', which relates to truth, comes first and why 'being fruitful', which relates to good, follows is that the subject is the person who is to be regenerated, not one who has been regenerated.

[2] When the understanding is coupled to the will, or faith to love, the individual is called by the Lord in Isaiah 'a married land',

Your land will no more be called Desolate, but you will be named My-good-pleasure-is-in-her, and your land, Married; for Jehovah will take His pleasure in you, and your land will be married. Isaiah 62:4.

The resulting fruits which are matters of truth are called 'sons', and the fruits which are matters of good are called 'daughters'. This recurs very frequently in the Word.

[3] The earth is 'being filled' when there are many goods and truths, for when the Lord is 'blessing' and 'saying' - that is, when He is at work - the increase of good and truth is limitless, as the Lord says,

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of all plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air ³ come and nest in its branches. Matthew 13:31-32.

'A grain of mustard seed' is the good a person has before he becomes spiritual. It is 'the smallest of all seeds' because he imagines that he himself is the source of the good he does. In reality what he does of himself is nothing but evil, yet because he is in a state of being regenerated there is some element of good, though it is quite 'the smallest of all'. Later on when faith is being joined to love it grows larger and becomes 'a plant'. Once it has finally been joined to love it develops into a tree, and at that point 'the birds of the air, ³ which here are truths or intellectual concepts, 'nest in its branches', which are facts.

[4] A person is involved in conflict not only when becoming spiritual, but also when he is spiritual. Hence the statement, 'Subdue the earth, and have dominion over it'.

Footnotes:

8530. 'Take a jar' means truth. This is clear from the meaning here of 'a jar' as truth. The reason why 'a jar' means truth is that it was a vessel to contain 'the manna', by which good is meant; and all truth is like a vessel for good. So it is also that truths are meant by 'vessels' generally, 3068, 3079, 3316, 3318, consequently by 'vessels' in particular, and here by 'a jar'. Various things in the natural order may serve to elucidate the idea that truths are vessels for containing good. Light for example is a container of heat from the sun, and also by light is meant truth and by the heat within light is meant good; the relationship of truth to good is like these. Their relationship is also like that of clothing to the body, and of the body to the soul, as well as being like that of a blood vessel or of a fibre to the blood or to the animal spirit ¹ enclosed within it. In addition it is like that of the lungs to the heart, and therefore of the breathing of the lungs to the beating of the heart. In short, the relationship is like that of any organic form which the body possesses to the life within that form. These comparisons make clear what truth without good is like, or what faith without charity is like. They show that it is like organic forms belonging to the body without any life; like the breathing of the lungs without the beating of the heart, or like the lungs without the heart; like a blood vessel or a fibre without blood or animal spirit; and also like the body without the soul. Consequently truth without good is like an inanimate object; or if evil is present instead of good it is like a corpse.

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