1068. The fact that Noah started as a man of the soil symbolizes those in general who are equipped with the doctrinal precepts of faith is established by the symbolism of the soil, or ground, discussed earlier in §§268, 566. The soil is the people in the church or, to put it another way, the church itself, since if a church is to exist, each individual has to be a church. ¹

The church is called the soil because it receives the seeds of faith, or in other words, the true concepts and good urges of faith.

The difference between the soil and the earth (which also symbolizes the church, as shown) resembles that between faith and charity. Just as charity is what contains faith, the earth is what contains the soil. So when there is a general discussion of religion, it is referred to as the earth, and when there is a specific discussion of it, it is referred to as soil, which is the term used here. A general category is a composite of the items belonging to it.

The doctrinal teachings that the people of the ancient church possessed came from ideas revealed to and perceived by the earliest church, as noted before [§§519:1, 521, 609, 920:4]. These had been preserved, and the people of the ancient church believed in them, the same way we today believe in the Word. Those articles of doctrine were their Word. So Noah's starting as a man of the soil symbolizes those who are equipped with the doctrinal precepts of faith.

Footnotes:

609. Again, because humankind's state-of-being in this church called Noah had altered completely from that in the earliest church, the race no longer could be taught or enlightened in the same way as the earliest people had been. The inner pathways were now blocked off, preventing any contact with heaven except that which lay hidden to consciousness. No channel of instruction lay open but the external one through the senses, as just noted.

Accordingly, the Lord in his providence saw to it that the teachings of faith would be safeguarded for the use of this generation, along with certain revelations made to the earliest church. Cain was the first to collect these teachings and preserve them against destruction. That is why a mark was said to have been put on him to prohibit his murder. (For more on these things, see the discussion of Genesis 4:15 [§§392-396].) Later, Enoch reduced those teachings into a systematic theology. The theology was not at all useful to the people of that time but only to a generation yet to come, which is why it is said that God took him. (For more, see the discussion of Genesis 5:24 [§521].) These are the teachings of faith that the Lord saved up for the use of the posterity or the church now being described. The Lord had foreseen that perception would die out and so had provided that the teachings would endure.