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.
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