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.

9380. 'And the people shall not come up with him' means no joining whatever to the outward without the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming up' as being joined to, as above in 9373, at this point no joining since it says 'shall not come up'. The reason why no joining to the outward sense of the Word without the inward is meant is that the children of Jacob, to whom 'the people' refers here, were restricted to external things devoid of anything internal, see 3479, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911, 4913, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8871. Their devotion to external things devoid of anything internal is plainly evident from their worship of the golden calf forty days on from that time. They would have behaved differently if they had been conscious at the same time of internal things, that is, of the good of love to and faith in Jehovah, that good being what is inward. Those who have been joined to Him by this good cannot depart into the worship of an idol, because their heart is far away from this. But since that people were not joined to the Lord except through outward forms, by which inward realities were represented, it says that 'the people shall not come up', meaning that there shall be no joining whatever to the outward without the inward. Representations without any knowledge of, belief in, or affection for the inner realities that are represented cause the thing to be joined but not the person.

[2] The situation is similar with those who keep solely to the literal sense of the Word and acquire no teaching at all from the Word, because they are separated from the internal sense, the internal sense being such teaching itself. The Lord joins Himself to outward images of the Word through its inner contents. Therefore if the inner contents have been separated no joining of the Lord to the outward images can exist other than one resembling a bodily gesture that is not in accord with the heart. The situation is similar also with those who have a perfect, detailed knowledge of the teachings of their Church, yet do not apply them to life. They too are restricted to external things devoid of anything inward, for the truths contained in such teachings occupy an external position with those people if they have not been inscribed on their life. There is no joining of the Lord to these people's truths, because the Lord enters a person's truths of faith by way of his life, thus by way of the soul within the truths.