7649. Which thy fathers saw not, nor thy fathers’ fathers, since the day that they were upon the ground even unto this day. That this signifies that from ancient time such falsity has not been in the church as there is there, is evident from the signification of “which they saw not” (that is, the locust), as being that there had not been such falsity (that the “locust” denotes falsity in the extremes, see above, n. 7643); from the signification of “fathers,” and of “father’s fathers,” as being from ancient time; and from the signification of “the ground,” as being the church (n. 566, 1068). “Since the day that they were upon the ground even unto this day” signifies the state in which the church was from that time to this. (That “day” denotes state, see n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 3462, 4850 and how this is, n. 7686)

23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for “day” to be used to denote time itself. As in Isaiah:

The day of Jehovah is at hand. Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh. I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place, in the day of the wrath of Mine anger. Her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged (Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22).

And in the same Prophet:

Her antiquity is of ancient days. And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king (Isaiah 23:7, 15).

As “day” is used to denote time, it is also used to denote the state of that time, as in Jeremiah:

Woe unto us, for the day is gone down, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out (Jeremiah 6:4).

And again:

If ye shall make vain My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, so that there be not day and night in their season (Jeremiah 23:20, 25).

And again:

Renew our days, as of old (Lamentations 5:21).