Swedenborg tells us that space and time in the physical world correspond to states of life in the spiritual world. So when the Bible talks about someone being “old,” the internal meaning has to do with the progression of spiritual life.
And just as elderly people in the physical world tend to be pretty settled in their ideas about life and their place in the scheme of things, the spiritual state described by “old” is one of confirmation and completion – a state in which a person’s ideas have fully crystalized, they are confirmed in who they are and what they believe and think, and they are ready to move on to a new state.
As with all things, these representations can be positive or negative – people can be confirmed in evil desires and the lies that support them just as well as they can be confirmed in love of the Lord or love of the neighbor and the truths that spring from them.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2348
2348. ‘From boy even to old man’ means falsities and evils, both recent and confirmed. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘a boy’ and of ‘an old men’ when used in reference to falsities and evils. That is to say, ‘boys’ means evils and falsities that were not yet fully developed, and so those that were recent, while ‘old men’ means evils and falsities that had matured, and so that had been confirmed. ‘Boy’ and ‘old man’ have a similar meaning when they occur elsewhere in the Word, as in Zechariah,
Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets. Zech. 8:4, 5.
Here ‘Jerusalem’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom and Church, 402, 2117. ‘Streets’ stands for truths there, 2336. ‘Old men’ accordingly stands for confirmed truths, ‘old women’ for confirmed goods, ‘boys playing in the streets’ stands for recent truths, ‘girls’ for recent goods, and for their affections and resulting joys. This shows how celestial and spiritual things are converted into those of a historical nature when they come down into the worldly things that constitute the sense of the letter, in which it seems scarcely otherwise than that old men and boys, [old] women and girls, are meant.
[2] In Jeremiah,
Pour it out upon the small child in the street of Jerusalem and upon the gathering of young men equally; for even man together with woman will be taken, old man together with one full of days. Jer. 6:11.
Here ‘the street of Jerusalem’ stands for falsities which reign within the Church, 2336. Those that are recent and those that are more developed are called ‘the small child’ and ‘young men’, those that are well established and those that have been confirmed are called ‘old man’ and ‘one full of days’. In the same prophet,
In you I will scatter the horse and its rider, and in you I will scatter the chariot and him who rides in it; and in you I will scatter men and women, and in you I will scatter old man and boy. Jer. 51:21, 22.
Here similarly ‘old man and boy’ stands for truth both confirmed and recent.
[3] In the same prophet,
Death has come up into four] windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off the small child in the street, and the young men from the lanes. Jer. 9:21.
Here ‘the small child’ stands for truths which are newly born and which are cut off when ‘death has entered [our] windows and palaces’, that is, things of the understanding and those of the will – ‘windows’ meaning things of the understanding, see 655, 658 and ‘palaces’ or houses those of the will, 710.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2905
[2] The Church passes through different phases that are like the ages of man. The first of these is early childhood, the second youth, the third adult years, and the fourth old age. The last of these – old age – is called the completion or conclusion. The phases of the Church are also like the times and seasons of the year, the first of which is spring, the second summer, the third autumn, and the fourth winter. The last of these is the conclusion of the year. The phases of the Church are also like the times and divisions of the day, the first being the dawn, the second midday, the third evening, and the fourth night. The last of these is the completion or conclusion of the day. In the Word too the states of the Church are compared to the ages of man, the seasons of the year, and the divisions of the day, and are meant there by the same because periods of time mean states, 2625, 2788, 2837. Good and truth with those who belong to the Church usually diminish in this fashion. And when good and truth do not exist any longer, or, as is said, when faith does not exist any longer, that is to say, when charity does not exist any longer, the Church has reached its old age, or its winter, or its night. And that period of time or state is called the settlement, close, and fulfilment, see 1857. Statements about the Lord coming into the world in the fullness of time, or when completion had been reached, have the same meaning, for at that time no good existed any longer, not even natural good, nor consequently any truth. This is the specific meaning of the things stated in this verse.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3016
3016. ‘Abraham, being old, was advanced in years’ means when the state was reached in which the Lord’s Human could become Divine. This is clear from the representation of ‘Abraham’ as the Lord, dealt with in 1893, 1965, 1989, 2011, 2172, 2198, 2501, 2833, 2836, and many times elsewhere; from the meaning of ‘old’ or old age as casting off what is human and putting on what is heavenly, dealt with in 1854, 2198, and when it has reference to the Lord, putting on what is Divine; and from the meaning of ‘day’ as state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and therefore from the meaning of ‘advanced in years’ as the point when a state has been reached. The reason why ‘old’ and ‘advanced in years’ mean these things is that with angels the notion of old age does not exist, nor that of getting older, meant by ‘advanced in years’, only the notion of state as regards the life that is theirs. Consequently when getting older or old age is mentioned in the Word the angels present with man can have no other idea than that of the state of life that is theirs or that is men’s as they pass through the different stages of life until they reach the last, that is to say, as they accordingly cast off what is human and put on what is heavenly. For man’s life from infancy to old age is nothing else than an advance from the world towards heaven, the last stage of which is death and the actual transition from one life to the next. Burial therefore is also resurrection since the casting-off process is completed then, 2916, 2917. Such being the idea that angels have, nothing else can be meant by ‘advanced in years’ and by ‘old age’ in the internal sense – the sense which exists primarily for angels and for men who have minds like those of angels.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3492
3492. ‘So it was, that Isaac was old’ means when the state was reached. This is clear from the meaning of ‘growing old’ as the arrival and presence of a new state; for ‘old age’ in the Word means both the casting aside of the previous state and the assumption of the new one. The reason it has these two meanings is that old age is the final stage of life, when bodily things start to be cast aside together with the loves which belong to the preceding stage, and so when interior things start to be enlightened; for once bodily things have been removed interior things are enlightened. And a further reason for the two meanings is that angels, who perceive spiritually the things that are in the Word, no longer have the concept of old age but instead the concept of new life.