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.

5835. 'And his soul being bound up with his soul' means when more closely joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'soul' as life, so that 'the soul of the one bound up with the soul of the other' means the life of the one in that of the other. Consequently a closer joining together is meant, that is to say, of spiritual good, which is 'Israel', to the truth springing from that good, which is 'Benjamin'. The implications of good being joined as closely to truth as the soul of the one is bound up with that of the other are as follows: A person's mind, which is the real person and is where his life resides, has two powers, one of which is assigned to the truths of faith, the other to the good of charity. The mental power assigned to the truths of faith is called the understanding, while the one assigned to the good of charity is called the will. To enable a person to be truly human these two powers must make a unified whole.

[2] But at the present day those two mental powers have become completely set apart from each other, as may be recognized from the fact that a person can understand something as being true and yet be unable to will it. For a person can see in his understanding that all the Ten Commandments are truths and to some extent that the contents of religious teachings drawn from the Word are truths; indeed he can also confirm that they are truths by the use of his understanding and in addition through the preaching he hears. yet the intentions of his will are at variance with those truths, and so as a consequence are his actions. From this it is evident that those two mental powers present in a person have become set apart from each other. Yet they ought not to be set apart, as may be recognized from the consideration that should they be set apart when he enters the next life ¹ the truth in his understanding will raise him up towards heaven, while the evil intentions in his will will draw him down towards hell, thus leaving him suspended between the two. Even so, the intentions in his will, which constitute his actual life, will carry him downwards, thus taking him inevitably into hell. Therefore to prevent this from happening, those two mental powers have to be joined together. This is effected by the Lord through regeneration - through the implantation of the truth of faith within the good of charity. For in this way a person is provided through the truth of faith with a new understanding, and through the good of charity with a new will; and this gives him two mental Powers which make one complete mind.

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