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.
The Last Judgement #70
70. There are many reasons why such communities, or such heavens, were tolerated. The chief is that by means of outward holiness and outward honesty and fairness they were linked with the simple good people in the lowest heaven, and with those who were still in the world of spirits and not yet admitted to heaven. In the spiritual world all are in touch with and so linked with similar spirits. The simple good people in the lowest heaven and those in the world of spirits pay attention mainly to externals, yet without being inwardly wicked. If therefore they were torn apart before the appointed time, heaven would suffer at its lowest level; yet the lowest level is the basis on which the higher levels of heaven rest.
[2] The Lord teaches in this passage that this was why they were tolerated until the final period:
The servants of the head of the household came to him and said, Was it not good seed you sowed in your field? Where then do the weeds come from? And they said, Do you want us then to go and gather them? But he said, No, for fear that in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat together with them. So let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I shall say to the reapers, Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into the barns. He who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed is the children of the kingdom, the weeds the children of evil; the harvest is the ending of the age. As therefore the weeds are gathered and burnt with fire, so shall it be at the ending of this age. Matthew 13:27-30, 37-42.
The ending of this age is the final period of the church; the weeds are those who are inwardly wicked; the wheat those who are inwardly good; their gathering and tying in bundles for burning is the Last Judgment. 1
[3] A similar meaning is conveyed by the Lord's parable in the same chapter about the gathering of fish of every kind, when the good were put into vessels and the bad thrown out; of these too it is said:
So shall it be at the ending of the age; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous. Matthew 13:47-49.
They are compared to fish, because in the spiritual sense of the Word fish mean those who are natural and external, good as well as wicked; on the meaning of the righteous see at the end of the chapter. 2
Footnotes:
1. Bundles in the Word mean the arrangement of the truths and falsities a person has into groups, so also groupings of People possessing those truths and falsities (4686, 4687, 5339, 5530, 7408, 10303). The Son of Man is the Lord as regards Divine truth (1729, 1733, 2159, 2628, 2803, 2813, 3773, 3704, 7499, 8897, 9807). Sons are affections for truth coming from good (489, 491, 533, 2623, 3373, 4257, 8649, 9807); so the children of the kingdom are those with affections for truth coming from good, and the children of evil are those with affections for falsity coming from evil. Consequently the latter are called weeds, and the former good seed, for weeds mean falsity coming from evil and good seed means truth coming from good. The seed of the field is truth coming from good which a person has from the Lord (1940, 3038, 3310, 3373, 10248, 10249). In the contrary sense seed is falsity from evil (10249). The seed of the field is also the nourishment of the mind by means of Divine truth from the Word; to sow is to instruct (6158, 9272). The ending of the age is the final period of the church (4535, 10622).
2. Fish in the spiritual sense of the Word mean the factual knowledge of the natural or external man; and thus also natural or external people, both good and wicked (40, 991). Animals of every kind correspond to the kind of things in a person's character (45-46, 246, 714, 716, 719, 2179, 2180, 3519, 9280, 10609). In the Word people are called righteous if the Lord's righteousness and merit is attributed to them, but unrighteous if self-righteousness and self-acquired merit is attributed to them (3648, 15069, 9263). 3
3. [Arcana Caelestia 15069 seems to be incorrect; a possible reference would be 9486.]
