22. Verse 5 And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

What 'evening' means, and what 'morning', is recognized from what is said above. 'Evening' means every prior state, because it is a state of shade, that is, of falsity and of absence of faith, while 'morning' is every subsequent state, because it is one of light, that is, of truth and of cognitions of faith. 'Evening' in general means all the things that are man's own, whereas 'morning' means all those that are the Lord's, as is said through David,

The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken within me, and His word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has said, the Rock of Israel has spoken to me. He is like the morning light, when the sun is rising on a cloudless morning, shining bright, as when after rain tender grass [springs up] from the earth. 2 Samuel 23:4.

Because 'evening' is a time when there is no faith, and 'morning' when there is, the Lord's Coming into the world is called 'the morning', and the time at which He comes, since faith does not exist at that point, is called 'the evening', as in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:13-14.

In the Word, 'morning' stands in a similar way for every coming of the Lord, and so is a term describing the new creation.

6441. 'Is a wolf' means an eagerness to rescue and deliver the good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a wolf' as one who seizes and scatters; and since natural desires are meant in the Word by 'beasts', 'a wolf' means an eagerness to seize, as is also clear from places in the Word where 'a wolf' is mentioned, as in Matthew,

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15.

In John,

The hireling who is not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf seizes them, and scatters them. John 10:12.

Similar references to the wolf occur in other places, such as Luke 10:3; Jeremiah 5:6; Ezekiel 22:27; Zephaniah 3:3. From all these places it is evident that 'a wolf' means those who seize, but here one who rescues from hell those who have been seized. How it is with the meaning of the wolf is much the same as it is with that of the lion, which is also a rapacious creature. The lion too is said to seize the prey, collect the spoil, and gather the plunder, as the wolf here is said to do; but in the good sense 'lion' means truth when empowered by good, see 6367. Something similar applies also to other ravenous creatures, such as leopards or eagles.