Arcana Coelestia #737
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.
1 Corinthians 15
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Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
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By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
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For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
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And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
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And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
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After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
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After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
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And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
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For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
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But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
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Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
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Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
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But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
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And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
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Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
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For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
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And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
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Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
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If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
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But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
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For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
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For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
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But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
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Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
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For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
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The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
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For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
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And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
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Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
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And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
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I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
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If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
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Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
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Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
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But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
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Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
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And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
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But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
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All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
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There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
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There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
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So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
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It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
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It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
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And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
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Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
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The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
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As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
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And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
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Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
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Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
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In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
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For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
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So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
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O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
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The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
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But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
