10608. 'And also no one shall be seen on all the mountain' means that they are entirely remote from that Truth, and so stand outside it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the mountain', at this point Mount Horeb, as heaven in its entirety, thus also Divine Truth. It amounts to the same thing whether you say heaven or Divine Truth, since the angels, of whom heaven consists, are recipients of Divine Truth. The full extent of that mountain was called Horeb, but the higher part in the middle was called Mount Sinai; and this is why 'Horeb' means heaven, or what amounts to the same thing, Divine Truth in its entirety. The inward aspect of that Truth is meant by Mount Sinai, and the outward by the lower parts of the mountain surrounding it. So it is that 'Horeb', when used to include those surrounding parts, means that which is external, see 10543. The interest of the Israelite nation lay in what was external and closed off to anything internal and so in what was external separated from what was internal, or what amounts to the same thing, that nation stood outside anything that had an internal aspect; and this was why the command 'no one shall be seen on all the mountain' was given. The like is meant, in verses 8-10 of the previous chapter, by that nation's standing at the door of the tent in which Moses was and their bowing down to it, see 10545-10555.

[2] Something brief must be stated here to show why it is that Mounts Horeb and Sinai mean heaven and Divine Truth. The belief in the world is that angels live in the region above the sky, where they exist like puffs of wind and have no solid ground on which to stand. The reason why such a notion exists in the minds of very many people is that they have no idea that angels and spirits exist within a form similar to that in which people on earth do, that is, that they have faces, arms and hands, and feet, in short have actual bodies. Still less do people have any idea that they have abodes or dwelling-places, when in fact angels and spirits live among others in exactly the same way as people on a planet do, on land beneath their feet. Celestial angels live on mountains, spiritual angels on rocks, and those who have not yet become angels on plains between mountains or rocks; but hellish spirits live below mountains and rocks. These things have been stated in order that people may know why it is that in the Word mountains, especially Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai, mean heaven. Furthermore the more internal angels inhabit places higher up the mountains; and the higher they are, the more internal and perfect they are. From all this it is evident why Jehovah descended onto the peak of Mount Sinai when He proclaimed the Law, and why Moses was ordered to stand with Him on the top of the mountain. The mountains on earth do not constitute heaven; rather they represent the mountains on which angels in heaven live.

8891. 'For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, dealt with just above in 8888, and - when used in reference to Jehovah, that is, the Lord - as His labour with a person before he is regenerated, 8510; from the meaning of 'heaven and earth' as the Church or Lord's kingdom in a person, 'heaven' being in his internal man and 'earth' in his external, dealt with in 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535, so that a person who has been regenerated is meant, that is, one who has acquired new life and accordingly been vivified; and from the meaning of 'the sea' as the sensory awareness adhering to the bodily level of a person's mind, dealt with in 8872.

[2] The present verse deals with the sanctifying of the seventh day or institution of the sabbath, describing it as follows,

In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.

When people's thinking does not extend beyond the sense of the letter they cannot do other than suppose that the creation described in the first and second chapters of Genesis is the creation of the universe, and that there were six days within which heaven, earth, the sea, and all that is in them were created, and at length the human being in God's likeness. Yet is there anyone pondering on the details who fails to see that the creation of the universe is not what is meant there? For there are things in those chapters which common sense tells anyone are not literally true, for example, that days existed before the sun and moon, that light and darkness did so, and that plants and trees sprang up, when in fact it is through those [great] lights that light is given, light and darkness are divided, and so days come into being.

[3] Further on after these details, others of a similar nature follow which scarcely anyone who thinks more deeply will consider to have been literally possible, such as these: The woman was built out of the man's rib; two trees were placed in paradise, the fruit of one of which they were forbidden to eat; a serpent spoke from one of them to the wife of man (homo), who had been the wisest of mortal beings; what it said - what came out of the serpent's mouth - deceived them both; and the whole human race, numbering so very many thousands of thousands, was therefore condemned to hell. As soon as they are contemplated these and similar details there inevitably seem nonsensical to those who entertain any doubt about the holiness of the Word; and they lead to a denial of the Divine there. However it should be realized that every detail there down to the smallest is Divine; they all contain arcana which are clearly visible to angels in heaven, as in broad daylight. The reason why this should be so is that angels do not see the literal meaning of the Word but what lies within it, that is, spiritual and celestial realities, and Divine ones within these. When the first chapter of Genesis is read they perceive no other creation than the new creation of a human being, which is called regeneration. This is what is described there, 'paradise' being the wisdom of a person created anew. 'The two trees in the middle of it' are the two mental powers of that person, which are a will desiring good, meant by 'the tree of life', and an understanding seeing truth, meant by 'the tree of knowledge'. And the reason why they were forbidden to eat from this tree was that a person who has been regenerated or created anew ought no longer to be led by an understanding that sees truth but by a will desiring good, or else his newness of life is destroyed. Regarding these matters, see 202, 337, 2454, 2715, 3246, 3652, 4448, 5895 (end), 5897 (end), 7877, 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8690, 8701, 8722. Consequently Adam or Man and Eve his wife there are used to mean a new Church, and 'eating from the tree of knowledge' to mean the decline of that Church from good into truth, consequently from love to the Lord and towards the neighbour into faith without such love. And this came about through reasoning arising from self-intelligence, that reasoning being meant by 'the serpent', see 195-197, 6398, 6399, 6949, 7293.

[4] From all this it is evident that the historical narratives regarding creation, and regarding the first human being and paradise, are the descriptions of fictitious historical events, containing heavenly and Divine realities within them. Making up such stories was in keeping with the accepted custom in the ancient Churches; and the custom also spread from them to many outside the Church, who in a similar way produced descriptions of fictitious historical events, wrapping up arcana within them, as is evident from writers belonging to most ancient times. For the ancient Churches were well acquainted with what such things as exist in the world meant in heaven. Nor were great exploits of sufficient importance for them to write about, only the things of heaven. Things of heaven occupied their minds because they thought on a more internal level than people do at the present day and so were in contact with angels; and for this reason they gained a delight out of putting together such stories. But they were led by the Lord to images which would be held sacred in Churches. Out of these they composed stories in which everything had a correspondence

[5] All this shows what 'heaven and earth' is used to mean in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis - the internal Church and the external Church. The fact that they are meant by 'heaven and earth' is also clear from places in the Prophets which speak of a new heaven and a new earth, by which a new Church is to be understood, see 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535.

From all this it is now evident that 'in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external man.