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.

8513. 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?' means because their actions were not in keeping with Divine order. This is clear from the explanation immediately above in 8512. So that people may know what an action in keeping with Divine order is and what one not in keeping with it is, something further must be said. Everything done in keeping with Divine order is inwardly open all the way to the Lord, and so holds heaven within it; but everything not done in keeping with Divine order is inwardly closed, and so does not hold heaven within it.

[2] Divine order therefore is for the Lord to flow through the inner levels of a person into the outer ones, thus through the person's will into his actions. This actually happens when a person is governed by good, that is, when an affection to do good for its own sake and not for any selfish reason governs him. When anyone does good for a selfish reason and not for its own sake his inner levels are closed, and he cannot be led by the Lord by means of heaven, only by self. The love determines whom he is led by, for everyone is led by his love. One who loves himself more than his neighbour is led by self; but one who loves good is led by good and consequently by the Lord, who is the Source of good.

[3] From all this one may see what the difference is between living a life in keeping with order and not living a life in keeping with it. How to live so that one's life is in keeping with order is taught by the Word and by religious teachings drawn from the Word. The person who does not look beyond externals can never grasp such ideas. He does not know what the internal is; he scarcely knows of the existence of the internal, let alone that it can be opened up, and that when it has been opened it has heaven within it. The intelligentsia of the world especially are ignorant of it, and those of them who do subscribe to the existence of an internal nevertheless have no idea of what it is or only a foolish one. This explains why they have little real belief and also why they use their knowledge to confirm the notion that all things are due to natural forces.