194. And thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee, signifies ignorance of that time and of the state then. This is evident from the signification of "hour," as being the time when man is to die, and also his state then; and from the signification of "not knowing" it, as being ignorance. It is said "In what hour I will come upon thee," namely, "as a thief," and this means, in the sense of the letter, that the Lord will so come; but in the spiritual sense, it means that evils and falsities will steal away the knowledges that they have from the Word. For in the sense of the letter of the Word doing evil is attributed to Jehovah, or to the Lord, but in the spiritual sense the meaning is that He does evil to no one, but that man does evil to himself (See Arcana Coelestia 2447, 5798, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7877, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8284, 8483, 8632, 9010, 9128, 9306, 10431).

[2] "Hour," moreover signifies state, because all times in the Word, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age, signify states of life, so likewise "an hour" (the reason of this may be seen in the work onHeaven and Hell 162-169, where Time in Heaven is treated of). But as "hour" means both time and state, where "hour" occurs in the Word it can scarcely be known that it signifies anything except time. As in Matthew:

A householder hired laborers into his vineyard, who labored from the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh, and received equal reward (Matthew 20:1-16).

These "hours" mean, in the world, times, but in heaven, states of life, since in heaven there are no hours, because times there are not measurable and divided into days and these into hours, as in the world; consequently instead of these times the angels perceive the states of life of those who die, as old men, men, youths, or children, and who have equally acquired for themselves spiritual life; "laboring in the vineyard" is acquiring for oneself spiritual life by the knowledges of truth and good from the Word applied to the uses of life; the "third," the "sixth," and the "ninth hours" signify a like state of life, for all numbers in the Word are significative, and these numbers have a similar signification. (That "vineyard" in the Word signifies the spiritual church, and with man spiritual life, see Arcana Coelestia 9139, 3220. That "three" signifies a full state, or what is complete even to the end, n. 2788, 4495, 7715, 8347, 9825; likewise "six" and "nine." But "eleven" signifies a state not yet full, and yet a receptive state such as there is with well-disposed children and infants. The "twelfth hour," to which all labored, signifies truths and goods in their fullness, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. That all numbers in the Word are significative, n. 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253; and that composite numbers have a signification like that of the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, thus "three," "six," and "nine," have a similar signification, n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973.)

[3] Since "twelve" signifies truths and goods in their fullness, thus man's state of light or intelligence from these, the Lord says:

Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man walk in the day he stumbleth not (John 11:9).

Elsewhere, also, "hours" signify states of life, as in Revelation:

Those four angels were loosed, which were prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men (Revelation 9:15).

The times here mentioned mean the states of evil with man, as will be seen in the explanation of these words hereafter. From this it is now evident that "Thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee," means not only that one is ignorant of the time of death but also of the state of life at that time which will continue to eternity; for such as the state of man's past life is, even to the end, such he remains to eternity.

[4] Like things are said by the Lord here and there in the Evangelists. In Matthew:

Ye know not in what hour your Lord will come; be ye ready; for in an hour that ye think not, the Son of man cometh (Matthew 24:42, 44).

The lord of the servant shall come in the day when he expecteth not, and in an hour that he knoweth not (Matthew 24:50).

Be wakeful, therefore, for ye know not the day, neither the hour, wherein the Son of man shall come (Matthew 25:13).

It should be known that man remains to eternity such as his whole life is, even to the end, and by no means such as he is at the hour of death: repentance at that time with the evil is of no avail, but with the good it strengthens.

10431. 'And let My anger grow hot against them, and let Me consume them' means that they turn themselves so far away from inward and thus Divine things that they are inevitably destroyed. This is clear from the meaning of 'growing hot with anger', when it has reference to Jehovah, as a turning away on man's part, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'consuming', when this too has reference to Jehovah, as being destroyed by their own evil. Many places in the Word speak of Jehovah's becoming inflamed with anger and growing hot, and also of His consuming and destroying. But the reason why they do so is that when a person turns himself away from the Lord, as happens when he does what is evil, it appears to that person as though He acts in those ways. And since he is not heard then and is also punished the person supposes that the Lord is full of anger towards him, when in fact the Lord is never angry and never consumes; for He is Mercy itself and Goodness itself. This shows the true nature of literal statements in the Word, namely that they are made in accord with the appearance as seen by man. One such appearance occurs in what follows, where Jehovah is said to repent; but in reality He never repents, for everything is foreseen from eternity by Him. From this also it may be recognized how many errors those people fall into who think of nothing beyond the literal sense when they read the Word, thus who read it without the aid of teachings drawn from the Word which show them what the real truth is. For those who read the Word with the aid of such teachings know that Jehovah is Mercy itself and Goodness itself, and that it cannot by any means at all be said of infinite Mercy nor of infinite Goodness that it grows hot with anger and consumes. From those teachings therefore they know and see that when such a statement occurs it is made in accord with the appearance as seen by man.

Anger and evil have their origin in man and not in the Lord, but they are nevertheless attributed to the Lord, see in the places referred to in 9306.

Anger when spoken of in regard to the Lord means a person's turning away from the Lord, 5034, 5798, 8483, 8875.