8712. And do thou set them for princes of thousands. That this signifies the primary truths which are in the first degree under the truth that is immediately from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “princes,” as being primary things (on which see n. 1482, 2089, 5044), here truths from good, because these princes were to be under Moses, by whom is represented truth Divine proceeding from Divine good, that is, from the Lord; and from the signification of “thousands,” as being those who are in the first degree; for by “a thousand” are signified many persons, or in the abstract sense many things and where there are many things, or they who are over many, and are thereby in a degree of greater dignity than those who are over few; here therefore those who are in the first degree, for they who were in a lower degree were princes of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens (that in the internal sense “a thousand” does not mean a thousand, but many persons or many things, see n. 2575).