478. The reason he is called Adam is that the Hebrew word Adam means man. But the fact that Adam was never used as a proper name, only Man, is quite clear from the consideration that both here and earlier he is spoken of in the plural and not in the singular, and that the term refers to both man and woman. The two together are called Man. Anyone may see from these words that both are included, for it is said, 'He called their name Man on the day in which they were created', and similarly in 1:26, 28, 'Let Us make man in Our image, and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea. This shows also that the subject is not about someone who, when created, was the first human being of all, but about the Most Ancient Church.

9226. 'Seven days it shall be with its mother' means their first state with truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'seven days' as the first state of those who are being regenerated, 'days' being states, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 5672, 5962, 8426, 9213, and 'seven' being from start to finish, thus what is complete, 728, 6508; and from the meaning of 'mother' as the Church in respect of truth, thus also the Church's truth, dealt with in 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 4257, 5581, 8897. From all this it follows that 'seven days it shall be with its mother' means the first state in its completeness or the whole of it from start to finish, during which a person is governed by truths. The implications of all this will be stated in the next paragraph.