1067. Verse 20 And Noah began to be a man (vir) of the ground, and planted a vineyard.

'Noah began to be a man of the ground' means in general a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith. 'And he planted a vineyard' means the Church resulting from this, 'vineyard' being the spiritual Church.

6505. 'And forty days were completed for him' means states of preparation through temptations. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'forty' as temptations, dealt with in 730, 862, 2272, 2273; and from the meaning of 'days' as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850. The fact that they are states of preparation is meant by the words 'days were completed for him'; for the completion of that number of days allowed preparation to be made so that bodies might be preserved from putrefaction, by which in the spiritual sense is meant the preparation that is made so that souls may be preserved from the corruption of evil. For more about the removal of evils and falsities by means of temptations, and a person's preparation through temptations to receive truths and forms of good, see 868, 1692, 1717, 1740, 2272, 3318, 4341, 4572, 5036, 5356, 6144.