Arcana Coelestia #807
807. Verse 23 And He wiped out every being 1 which was on the face 2 of the ground, from man to beasts, to creeping things, and to birds of the air; 3 and they were wiped out from the earth; and Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark.
'He wiped out every being' 1 means the desires which belong to self-love. 'Which was on the face 2 of the ground' means the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. 'From man to beasts, to creeping things, and to birds of the air' 3 means the nature of the evil of those people - 'man' the nature itself, 'beasts' desires, 'creeping things' pleasures, 'birds of the air' 3 derivative falsities. 'And they were wiped out from the earth' is the finish, namely that the Most Ancient Church breathed its last. 'Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark' means that those who constituted the new Church were preserved. 'That which was with him in the ark' means all things that belonged to that new Church.
Footnotes:
1. literally, every substance
2. literally, over the faces
3. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)
