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.

9810. 'Aaron' means in respect of the Divine Celestial, that is to say, that which is representative of the Lord in this respect. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good, dealt with above in 9806. The Divine Celestial is what is Divine and the Lord's in the inmost heaven; for the angels there are called celestial angels, being recipients of Divine Truth in the will part of their mind. Divine Truth emanating from the Lord that has been received in that part is called celestial good, whereas that received in the understanding part is called spiritual good. As regards the nature of each kind of good - celestial good and spiritual good - and what the difference is between them, see the places referred to in 9277, 9543.