Arcana Coelestia # 2575
2575. 'Behold, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother' means an infinite abundance of rational truth joined to [celestial] good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a thousand' as much and countless, here, as infinite, or an infinite abundance, since the expression has reference to the Lord, a meaning dealt with below; from the meaning of 'silver' as rational truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048; and from the meaning of 'a brother' as celestial good joined to rational truth, like a brother to a sister, 2524, 2557. From this it is evident that 'I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother' means an infinite abundance of rational truth joined to [celestial] good. The reason this abundance was granted to good, meant by 'a brother', but not to truth, is that truth derives from good, not good from truth. Regarding that infinite abundance, see 2572.
[2] That 'a thousand' in the Word means much and countless, and infinite when it has reference to the Lord, is evident from the following places: In Moses,
I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generations of those who hate Me; and showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:5-6; 34:7; Deuteronomy 5:9-10.
And in Jeremiah,
Jehovah shows mercy to thousands and He repays the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. Jeremiah 32:18.
In these two places 'thousands' does not mean a definite number but that which is infinite, for the Lord's mercy, being Divine, is infinite. In David,
The chariots of God are myriad on myriad, thousands on thousands; 1 the Lord is within them, Sinai within holiness. Psalms 68:17.
Here 'myriads' and 'thousands' stand for things that are countless.
[3] In the same author,
A thousand will fall at your side, and a myriad at your right hand; it will not come near you. Psalms 91:7.
Here also 'a thousand' and 'a myriad' stand for things that are countless, and as it has reference to the Lord, who is meant by 'David' in the Psalms, those numbers stand for all who are His enemies. In the same author,
Our garners are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks bring forth a thousand, and ten thousand in our streets. Psalms 144:13.
Here also 'a thousand', and 'ten thousand' or a myriad, stand for things that are countless. In the same author,
A thousand years in Your eyes are but as yesterday when it is past. Psalms 90:4.
'A thousand years' stands for that which is outside time, thus for eternity, which is infinity of time. In Isaiah,
One thousand at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five will you flee until you are left like a flagstaff on top of a mountain. Isaiah 30:17.
Here 'one thousand' or a chiliad stands for a large indefinite number, 'five' for few, 649. In Moses,
May Jehovah the God of your fathers add to you, as you are, a thousand times, and may He bless you. Deuteronomy 1:11.
Here 'a thousand times' stands for things that are countless, as in everyday speech in which also a thousand is an expression for many, as when one speaks of things being said thousands of times, or done in thousands of ways. Similarly in Joshua,
One man of you will chase a thousand, for Jehovah your God fights for you. Joshua 23:10.
[4] Being a definite calculable number, the word 'thousand' when used in prophetical parts, especially when these are linked together as historical descriptions, appears to mean a thousand. But in fact it means people who are many or countless - an unspecified number. For historical descriptions are of such a nature that they restrict people's ideas to the most immediate and proper meanings that the words possess, as they also do with the names that occur there, when in fact numbers in the Word, like names also, mean real things, as may become clear from what has been shown already concerning numbers in 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252. This explains why some people suppose that the thousand years referred to in Revelation 20:1-7 means a thousand years or periods of time, for the reason, as has been stated, that prophecies are declared in that book through historical descriptions. But in fact 'a thousand years' there means nothing else than that which is large and indeterminate, and elsewhere infinity of time, or eternity.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, two myriads, thousands doubled.
Genesis 12
1
Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
2
I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
3
I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you."
4
So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5
Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came.
6
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.
7
Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your seed." He built an altar there to Yahweh, who appeared to him.
8
He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on the name of Yahweh.
9
Abram traveled, going on still toward the South.
10
There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11
It happened, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.
12
It will happen, when the Egyptians will see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife.' They will kill me, but they will save you alive.
13
Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you."
14
It happened that when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15
The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16
He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17
Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
18
Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?
19
Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way."
20
Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they brought him on the way with his wife and all that he had.
