6508. 'Seventy days' means a complete state. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy'; for this number implies much the same as 'seven', and 'seven' means a whole period from start to finish, thus a complete state, 728, 2044, 3845. Numbers in the Word express spiritual realities, see 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175; and compound numbers have a similar meaning to the simple ones of which they are the product, 5291, 5335, 5708, so that seventy is similar in meaning to seven.

[2] The fact that 'seventy' means a whole period, thus a complete state, is further evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

It will happen on that day, that Tyre will pass into oblivion for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre [according to] the song of the harlot. For it will happen at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre. Isaiah 23:15, 17.

'Tyre' stands for the cognitions of what is good and true that are known to the Church, 1201, which 'will Pass into oblivion'. 'Seventy years' stands for a whole period from start to finish. 'Like the days of one king' stands for a state of truth within the Church, for 'days' are states, 6505, and 'king' is truth, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 5044, 5068, 6148. Anyone who gives the matter careful consideration can see that 'Tyre' is not used here to mean Tyre, and that without the internal sense one cannot understand what is meant by 'Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years' and that this will be 'like the days of one king', or by the rest of what is said.

[3] In Jeremiah,

The whole land will be a desolation, a devastation, and these nations will serve the king of Babel seventy years; and it will happen, when the seventy years are fulfilled, that I will visit the king of Babel and this nation for their iniquity. Jeremiah 25:11, 21; 29:10.

'Seventy years' stands for a complete state in which there is desolation and devastation. This is what was meant by the seventy years of captivity that the Jewish people underwent.

[4] In Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed concerning your people and your holy city to bring transgression to a close and to seal up sins and to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting justice, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24.

'Seventy' plainly stands for a complete state, thus for a whole period prior to the Lord's Coming, which explains why it is said that He came 'in the fullness of time'. The fact that 'seventy weeks' means a complete state is evident from the details of this verse - that so many weeks have been decreed 'to bring transgression to a close', also 'to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting justice, to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place'. These details imply fullness; and something similar is also meant in further details coming immediately after them,

Know therefore and perceive that from the going forth of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks. Daniel 9:15.

Here 'seven' stands for a complete state; for as may be seen just above, 'seven' means a complete state in the same way as 'seventy' does. Here 'Jerusalem' plainly stands for a new Church, for at the time the Messiah came Jerusalem was not built but destroyed.

488. As has been stated, 'days' means states in general, and 'years' states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezekiel 22:4.

This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so 'days' has reference in this case to such people's state in general, 'years' to that state in particular.

In David,

You will add days to the king's days; and his years as generation after generation! Psalms 61:6.

This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again 'days' and 'years' stand for the state of His kingdom.

In the same author,

I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.

Here 'days of old' is states of the Most Ancient Church, and 'years of long ago' states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

This stands for the final times, where 'the day of vengeance' stands for a state of condemnation, and 'the year of the redeemed' for a state of blessedness.

Similarly, in the same prophet,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.

Here again 'days' and also 'years' are mentioned and mean states.

In Jeremiah,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

Here 'days' plainly stands for state.

[2] In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1-2, 11.

Here 'day' stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom - a state of individuals in particular and of all in general.

In Zechariah,

I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:9-10.

And elsewhere in Zechariah,

There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zechariah 14:7.

State is clearly meant here, for it is said that 'it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light'.

The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15.

Here 'a prolonging of days' does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.

[3] In the sense of the letter 'day' cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezekiel 30:3.

And in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.

Here 'a day of cloud' stands for cloud or falsity, 'a day of the nations' for the nations or wickedness, and 'the day of Jehovah' for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.