755. The symbolism of the six hundredth year, second month, and seventeenth day as the next stage of their trials follows from what has been said so far. From verse 6 up to this point, verse 11, the text has dealt with the first stage of trial, which was a challenge to the concerns of the intellect, but the present passage deals with the next stage, a challenge to the concerns of the will. This is the reason for the restatement of Noah's age. It is expressed the first time as the fact that he was a son of six hundred years but here as the fact that the Flood took place in the six hundredth year of his life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day.

No one can possibly guess that the years of Noah's life, specified down to the year, month, and day, mean a condition of struggle in respect to the promptings of the will, but this was the way the earliest people spoke and wrote, as noted [§66]. They took particular delight in being able to specify periods and names in order to construct an authentic-sounding history. This is what their wisdom consisted in.

[2] I have already shown, at verse 6 above [§737], that six hundred years simply symbolize the first stage of trial. The six hundred years here have a similar meaning, but the months and days are added in order to symbolize the second stage. In fact, two months (or in the second month) is added, symbolizing the actual combat, as can be seen from the symbolism of the number two, given above at verse 2 of this chapter. It was shown to have the same symbolism as six: hard work, combat, and dispersing something. (See the demonstration there.) ¹

The number seventeen, however, symbolizes both the beginning and the end of trial, because it is composed of seven and ten. When seven symbolizes the beginning of trial, it implies the phrase in seven days, or a seven-day week, which was shown above at verse 4 of this chapter [§728] to symbolize the beginning of trial. But when seven symbolizes the end of trial, as it does below in Genesis 8:4, it is a holy number. Ten, symbolizing the things that remain, is added to the seven because without a remnant we cannot be reborn.

[3] The symbolism of seventeen as the beginning of trial can be seen in Jeremiah, where he was commanded to buy a field in Anathoth from Hanamel, his father's brother. Jeremiah weighed out silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver (Jeremiah 32:9). This number also symbolized the people's captivity in Babylon, which represented the trials suffered by the faithful and the devastation suffered by the faithless. In fact it represented the start of trial and at the same time the end of trial, or liberation. All this can be seen from later verses in the same chapter of Jeremiah: verse 36 concerns their captivity, and the next, verse 37, their liberation. A number like this would never have shown up in Jeremiah had it not, like all the other details, entailed secrets from heaven.

[4] The symbolism of seventeen as the start of trial can also be seen from Joseph's age — he was a "son of seventeen years" — when he was sent to his brothers and sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:2). The fact that he was sold into Egypt has a similar representation, as will be demonstrated in the appropriate place [§§4670, 4788, 5886], with the Lord's divine mercy.

That passage in Genesis contains historical details with a representative meaning, and events happened according to the description there. The events of the current passage, though, are made-up history with a symbolic meaning and did not happen according to the literal description here. Yet the components of Joseph's story down to the individual words still involve heavenly secrets as much as those of Noah's story do.

This fact necessarily seems strange, because anywhere that an item of true or made-up history occurs, the mind lingers over the literal meaning, unable to extricate itself, and it therefore believes no symbolism or representation exists beyond the letter.

[5] But any intelligent person can see that the Word has some kind of inner meaning in which its life resides. (Its life is not in the letter, which apart from the inner meaning is dead.) Without a deeper meaning, how does a historical fact [in the Word] differ from one reported by any secular author? What use would it be to know in what year, month, and day of Noah's life the Flood took place, if this did not involve some heavenly mystery? Can anyone fail to see that all the springs of the great abyss burst and heaven's floodgates opened is a prophetic turn of speech? Other similar arguments could be offered.

Footnotes:

737. The symbolism of Noah, a son of six hundred years, as the first stage of their trials can be seen from this: From here all the way to Eber in chapter 11, the numbers, the ages in years, and the names have a purely symbolic meaning, just as the ages and names of everyone in chapter 5 did.

The symbolism here of six hundred years as the first stage of trial can be seen from the number's major factors, ten and six, which are multiplied twice. ¹ If a larger or smaller number is produced by the use of the same factors, the symbolism does not change.

The number ten has already been shown at Genesis 6:3 to symbolize remaining traces [§576]. The symbolism here of six as hard work and combat can be seen from many places in the Word. The case is this: preceding verses have discussed our preparation for struggle, which involves receiving from the Lord a supply of truth in the intellect and goodness in the will. This truth and good are in the form of remaining traces, which are not brought to our consciousness until we are regenerating. If the trials we go through are a means to regeneration for us, the remnant we possess is for the use of the angels who attend us. From the remnant they draw out those resources that they can employ in defending us against evil spirits, who attack us by stirring up the falsity in us.

The symbolism of the number ten as the remnant and of six as combat is the reason for the reference to six hundred years, in which the numbers ten and six predominate, symbolizing a time of trial.

[2] The particular symbolism of six as combat or conflict is established by the first chapter of Genesis, which specifies six days for rebirth before a person turns heavenly. During those six days, the combat never lets up, but on the seventh day comes rest. This is the source of the six days of labor and the seventh of Sabbath, symbolizing rest.

For the same reason, a Hebrew slave was to serve for six years and go free in the seventh (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14). For the same reason, they were to sow the land and gather its produce for six years but to leave it fallow in the seventh (Exodus 23:10-11, 12); and the same for a vineyard. And for the same reason, the seventh year was to be an absolute Sabbath for the land, a Sabbath to Jehovah (Leviticus 25:3-4).

Because six symbolizes labor and conflict, it also symbolizes the dispersing of falsity. In Ezekiel:

Here, six men were coming by way of the upper gate, which faces north, and each had a weapon for dispersing [people] in his hand. (Ezekiel 9:2)

And in the same author's prophecy against Gog:

And I will make you turn back and will destroy a sixth of you ² and bring you up from the flanks of the north. (Ezekiel 39:2)

In these verses, six and destroying a sixth stands for dispersing something, the north stands for falsity, and Gog stands for those who wring dogma from the most superficial matters and use it to destroy inner worship. From Job:

In six periods of distress he will liberate you, and in the seventh, evil will not touch you. (Job 5:19)

Here six stands for spiritual battles.

[3] In some of the other occurrences of six in the Word, it does not symbolize hard work, battles, or the dispersing of falsity. Instead it symbolizes the holy quality of faith, because it is drawing a connection with twelve (which symbolizes faith and all properties of faith taken together) and with three (which symbolizes holiness). From those numbers comes this additional, positive meaning of six. One example occurs in Ezekiel 40:5, where it says that the reed a man was using to measure Israel's holy city was six cubits. There are other instances as well.

The reason the positive meaning develops out of those numbers is that spiritual struggles have the holy quality of faith in them. Then too, the six days of labor and combat look to the seventh, holy day.

Footnotes: