935. 'Each month yielding its own fruit' signifies that the Lord produces goods with the man in accordance with every state of truth with him. By 'a month' is signified a man's state of life as to truth, concerning which [something] follows. By 'to yield fruit' is signified to produce goods. That 'fruits' are the goods of love and charity has been shown just above (n. 934); and because the Lord produces these with the man essentially, although the man does them as from himself, thus apparently, as was said above (n. 934), it is established that it is signified that the Lord produces them out of the inmost, while He is there. But it shall be stated how this is to be understood, that the Lord produces the goods of charity with the man in accordance with the state of truth with him. He who believes that a man does the good taken from the Lord, which is called spiritual good, is much deceived, unless there are with him truths from the Word. Goods without truths are not good, and truths without good are not true with the man, although in themselves they are true. For good without truth is like a man's voluntary without the understanding, this voluntary being not human, but like that of a beast or like a carved statue made to work by a craftsman. But the voluntary together with the intellectual becomes human in accordance with the state of the understanding by means of which it comes into existence. For the state of life with every man is such that his will cannot do anything except by means of the understanding, nor can the understanding think anything except by virtue of the will. It is similar with good and truth, since good is of the will and truth is of the understanding. [2] From these considerations it is plain that the good that the Lord produces with a man is in accordance with the state of truth with him from which the understanding is derived. The reason why this is signified by [the statement] that the tree of life 'each month yields its own fruit' is because by 'a month' is signified the state of truth with a man. That states of life are signified by all times, which are hours, days, weeks, months, years, ages, may be seen (n. 476, 562). The reason why by 'months' are signified states of life as to truths is because by 'months 'are understood the times determined by the moon, and by 'the moon' is signified the truth of the understanding and of faith (n. 332, 413, 414, 919). Similar things are understood by 'months' in these passages:-
Blessed by Jehovah is the land of Joseph, in respect of the precious things of the products of the sun, and of the precious things of the products of the months Deut. xxxiii 14,
It shall come to pass from month to month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow before Jehovah Isa. lxvi 23.
On account of the signification of 'a month', which is a lunar measure, 'sacrifices were made at the beginning of each month or of the new moon' (Num. xxix 6; Isa. i 14). And then also they used 'to sound the trumpets' (Num. x 10; Ps. lxxxi 3 [H.B. 4]); and it was commanded that 'they should observe the month Abib, in which they used to celebrate the Passover' (Exod. xii 2; Deut. xvi1). By 'months' are signified states of truth, and in the opposite sense states of untruth with a man, in the Apocalypse above also (chap. ix 5, 10, 15; xi 2; xiii 5). Something similar to what is here is signified by 'month' in Ezek. xlvii 12.
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