891. The symbolism of the dove did not return to him again as a liberated state follows logically. It also follows from the consideration that the dove — religious truth, or the truth of faith — like the other birds, the animals, and Noah, was no longer trapped in the ark by the flood water. As long as it stayed on the ark, buffeted by the flood water (falsity), its state was one of slavery, of captivity or imprisonment. This state, along with the state of trial, is portrayed above in Genesis 7:17, which said that the waters grew and lifted the ark and the ark rose off the earth. It is portrayed in Genesis 7:18 as well, which said that the water strengthened and the ark went on the face of the water. Its state of freedom is depicted in the fact that not only Noah but everything else with him too went out of the ark (which occurs later in the present chapter, verses 16, 17, 18-19). 1 The first of them all to leave was the dove, that is, religious truth that grows out of goodness, because all freedom comes from the goodness connected with faith, that is, from a love for what is good.
Footnotes:
1. The verse references here are substituted for the first Latin edition's 15, 16, 17, 18. [LHC]
