54. Male and female He created them. What 'male and female' is used to mean in the internal sense was very well known in the Most Ancient Church, but when among later generations the interior sense of the Word was lost, so too was this particular arcanum. Marriages gave them their highest forms of happiness and delight; and they used to liken to a marriage anything that could be likened to it, in order that from it they might feel the happiness of marriage. And because they were internal men they took delight solely in internal things. As to external things, they did no more with them than take them in with their eyes, but their thoughts involved what those things represented - so much so that external things meant nothing to them except insofar as they could reflect internal things in them, and in those internal things reflect celestial things, and in so doing reflect the Lord, who was to them everything. Consequently they reflected the heavenly marriage in those things, which, they perceived, was the source of the happiness in their own marriages. For this reason they called the understanding in the spiritual man Male and the will Female, and when the two acted as one, they called it Marriage. From that Church sprang the common usage of referring to the Church itself, because of its affection for good, as 'a daughter', and also 'a virgin' - as in Virgin of Zion, Virgin of Jerusalem - and 'a wife' as well. On these matters however see verse 23 of the next chapter, and Chapter 3:15.

5194. 'And it happened at the end of two years of days' means after the state when the joining together took place, that is to say, when the powers of the senses belonging to the exterior natural and those belonging to the interior natural were joined together, both of which powers are dealt with in the previous chapter. This is clear from the meaning of 'two years of days', that is, a period of two years, as a state involving a joining together; for 'two' means a joining together, 1686, 3519, while 'years' means states, as does 'days'. For the meaning of years' as states, see 487, 488, 493, 893, and for that of 'days', 27, 487, 488, 497, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850. The reason 'two' means a joining together is that every single thing in the spiritual world, and consequently in the natural world, has two forces associated with it - goodness and truth. Good is an active inflowing force, truth a passive, recipient one. Also, because everything has these two forces associated with it, and because nothing can ever be brought forth unless the two are made one by becoming so to speak married to each other, a joining together is therefore meant by them.

[2] This type of marriage exists in every single thing within the natural order and its three kingdoms; without it nothing whatever can come into existence. For anything to come into existence within the natural order there needs to be heat and light, heat in the natural world corresponding to the good of love in the spiritual world, and light corresponding to the truth of faith. These two - heat and light - must act as one if anything is to be brought forth. If they do not act as one, as is the case in winter-time, nothing at all is brought forth. The same holds true on a spiritual level, as is quite evident with the human being, who has two mental powers - will and understanding. The will has been formed so that it may receive spiritual heat, that is, the good of love and charity, while the understanding has been formed so that it may receive spiritual light, that is, the truth of faith. Unless these two residing with a person make one nothing is brought forth, for the good of love devoid of the truth of faith cannot give definition and particular character to anything, while the truth of faith devoid of the good of love cannot bring anything into effect. So that the heavenly marriage may exist in a person therefore, or rather so that a person may be in the heavenly marriage, those two entities must make one in him. This explains why the ancients likened every single thing in the world, and every single thing within the human being, to a marriage, 54, 55, 568, 718, 747, 917, 1432, 2173, 2516, 2731, 2739, 2758, 3132, 4434, 4875, 5138. From all this one may see why it is that 'two' means a joining together.

568. 'Daughters' means the things that constituted the will of that man, and so means evil desires. This is clear from what has been stated and shown about sons and daughters at verse 4 of the previous chapter, where 'sons' meant truths and 'daughters' goods. 'Daughters' or goods constitute the will. But as is a person's character so is his understanding and his will, and so therefore his 'sons and daughters'. At the moment the subject is the corrupt human type who has no will but merely evil desire instead, which people imagine to be the will and actually call the will. For any attribute is determined by the nature of the subject to which it is attributed. As shown already, the human type to whom 'daughters' are attributed here is a corrupt type.

[2] The reason 'daughters' means things constituting the will, which are evil desires when the will for good is non-existent, while 'sons' means those constituting the understanding, which are delusions when the understanding of truth is non-existent, is that the female disposition and make-up is such that the will or evil desire reigns rather than understanding. Every one of their fibres runs in that direction; and it is their very nature. The male make-up however is such that the understanding or reason reigns; every one of their fibres too runs in that direction, and it is their very nature. Consequently the marriage of the two sexes is like that of the will and the understanding in the individual. And because nowadays the will for good does not exist, but only evil desire, when yet it is possible for something of the understanding or reason to exist, so many laws were for that reason laid down in the Jewish Church concerning the husband's rights and the wife's obedience.