565. The symbolism of humankind as the human race of that time — an evil and corrupt race — is established by subsequent verses:

My spirit will not denounce humankind forever, because they are flesh. (Genesis 6:3)

The evil of the people in the land multiplied; and everything that the thoughts of their heart fabricated was nothing but evil. (Genesis 6:5)

I will obliterate the human whom I created. (Genesis 6:7)

And from the next chapter:

All flesh creeping on the earth passed away, and every human, in whose nostrils was the breath of living spirit. (Genesis 7:21-22)

In regard to humanity, it has already been said that the Lord alone is human [§§49, 162] and that from him every heavenly person (or heavenly church) acquires the name of human [§477]. Everyone who is not heavenly acquires the name of human from him too, as do people of all religions whatever. It is what distinguishes us from animals. Still, we are not human, are not different from the animals, except through having a remnant (as noted [§§530, 560]), which is the Lord's. The remnant too enables us to be called human, and since the remnant enables this, and the remnant is the Lord's, again it is from the Lord that we acquire the name of human, no matter how bad we are. We would not be human but the lowest of the animals if we had no remnant.

477. The identification of the human being with the earliest church has been stated and demonstrated many times before [§§277, 288]. In the highest sense, the Lord himself is the only human being [§49]. The heavenly type of church acquires its name as human from this, because it is a likeness of the Lord [§§50-51]. The spiritual type of church does too, because it is an image of him. But in common usage, a human being is defined as anyone who has a human intellect, [on the supposition that] the intellect makes us human, and [that] having more of it makes one person more human than another; although distinctions among us would [better] be based on the degree of our loving belief in the Lord.

[2] What is mainly called the human is the earliest church and every true religion, and consequently the people in such a religion, or people characterized by love for and faith in the Lord. The Word makes this clear, as in Ezekiel:

I will multiply humankind — the whole, entire house of Israel — upon you, [mountains of Israel]. I will multiply human and animal upon you so that they may multiply and reproduce. And I will cause you to live as in your ancient times, and I will do good to you beyond that at your beginnings. And I will cause humankind — my people Israel — to walk upon you. (Ezekiel 36:10-11, 12)

The ancient times here symbolize the earliest church, the beginnings symbolize the ancient churches, and the house of Israel and the people Israel symbolize the early [Christian] church, or the church among non-Jews. All these churches are being referred to as human beings.

[3] In Moses:

Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation, when the Highest One gave an inheritance to the nations; when he divided the children of humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:7-8)

The days of old mean the earliest church, while "generation after generation" means the ancient churches. The ones being called children of humankind are those who believed in the Lord; their belief is "the number of the children of Israel." A regenerate individual is called a human being in Jeremiah:

I looked at the earth and there — void and emptiness; and to the heavens, and these had no light! I looked, and there — not a human! And every bird of the heavens had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:23, 25)

The earth stands for the outer self and heaven for the inner, the human stands for love of goodness, and the bird of the heavens stands for comprehension of truth.

[4] In the same author:

Look! The days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of human and the seed of animal. (Jeremiah 31:27)

The human stands for the inner self and the animal for the outer. In Isaiah:

Keep your distance from humans, whose breath is in their nose, for how much are they worth? (Isaiah 2:22)

The person stands for someone in the church. In the same author:

Jehovah will send humankind far away, but a great [portion] will be left in the middle of the land. (Isaiah 6:12)

This is about the devastation of a person to the point where no good or truth remains. In the same author:

The residents of the land will be destroyed by fire, and the humanity left behind will be a pittance. (Isaiah 24:6)

Humanity here stands for those who possess faith. In the same author:

The paths have been abandoned; the traveler on the path has ceased. They have nullified the compact; they have despised the cities; they have thought nothing of humankind. The land mourns and droops. (Isaiah 33:8-9)

This time "humankind" actually refers to humankind, or a human being, which in the Hebrew [here] is enosh. ¹ In the same author:

I will make humankind more precious than pure gold, and humanity [more precious] than Ophir's gold. Therefore I will shake heaven, and the earth will quake out of its place. (Isaiah 13:12-13)

Here humankind [in the Hebrew] is called enosh the first time, adam the second time. ²

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