633. Forty and two months.- That this signifies even to the end of the old church, and the beginning of the new, is evident from the signification of months as denoting states, in this case the states of the church; for times, whether hours, days, months, years, or ages, signify states, and such states are designated by the numbers by which those times are determined, as in this case by the number forty-two (concerning this see above, n. 571, 610); and from the signification of forty-two as denoting the end of the former and the beginning of a new church. The reason this number has such a signification is, that it means six weeks, and by six weeks is signified the same as by six days of one week, that is, a state of combat and labour, consequently the end, when the church is altogether vastated, or when evil is consummated; and by the seventh week, which then follows, is signified the beginning of a new church. For the number forty-two results from the multiplication of six into seven, six times seven being forty-two, therefore it signifies the same as six weeks, and six weeks the same as six days of one week, that is, a state of combat and labour, as stated, and also a full state, in the present case, a full consummation of good and truth, or a complete vastation of the church.

[2] In the Word mention is frequently made of forty days, months, and years, and that number there signifies either a complete vastation of the church, or also a full state of temptation. That this state is signified by the numbers forty and forty-two, is evident from the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

Egypt "shall not be inhabited forty years; I will make Egypt a solitude in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and her cities in the midst of the cities that are devastated shall be a solitude forty years; and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and I will scatter them in the lands; at the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples, whither they were dispersed, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt" (29:11-14)

Egypt signifies the church as to truths scientific (vera scientifica) upon which doctrine is founded. Truths scientific at that time were the knowledges (scientiae) of correspondences and representations, upon which the doctrine of their church was founded. But because the Egyptians turned those knowledges into magic, and by that means perverted the church, therefore its vastation, meant by forty years, is described. This, then, is the signification of Egypt not being inhabited forty years, and its cities being a solitude forty years. By Egypt being dispersed among the nations, and scattered in the lands, is signified that evils and falsities would completely take possession of that church and pervert all its scientifics. It is therefore evident that by forty years is signified the state of its complete vastation, or even to its end, when there would be no longer any truth and good remaining. But the beginning of a new church, signified by the end of forty years, is meant by these words, "at the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples whither they were dispersed, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt."

[3] In the same prophet there is a similar signification in the command

"that he should lie on his right side forty days, and lay siege to Jerusalem," which "shall want bread and water, and shall be desolate a man and a brother and waste away for their iniquity" (4:6, 7, 17).

The complete vastation of the church is also signified by that number; by Jerusalem is signified the church; by laying siege to it is signified to bring it into distress by evils and falses; by wanting bread and water is signified to be vastated as to the good of love and as to the truth of doctrine; by a man and a brother being desolate, and wasting away for their iniquity, things of a similar kind are signified, for a man and a brother denote truth and charity, and to waste away denotes to die.

[4] The forty days of the flood have a similar signification in Genesis:

"For yet seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy all substance, which I have made, from upon the faces of the earth; and there was rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights"; then "after seven days, he sent out a dove, which did not return unto him" (7:4, 12; 8:6, 13).

The flood signifies the devastation of the old, or Most Ancient church, also a last judgment upon those who were of that church. By the rain of forty days is signified its destruction by the falsities of evil; but the beginning of a new church is signified by the drying up of the earth after those forty days, and by its germinating anew. The dove which he sent out signifies the good of charity, which was the essential of that church. Concerning these things see the Arcana Coelestia, where they are explained.

[5] From this signification of the number forty originated this law in Moses, That the wicked man shall be smitten with forty stripes, and not more, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes" (Deuteronomy 25:3). Full punishment as well as vastation is described by forty, for punishment is equally the consummation of evil. And because after punishment reformation succeeds, therefore it is said that he shall not be smitten with more stripes, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes"; for forty signifies the end of evil and also the beginning of good, therefore if more than forty stripes were given, the beginning of good, or reformation, would not be signified.

[6] The vastation of the church with the sons of Jacob by the servitude of four hundred years in Egypt is signified by the words of Jehovah to Abraham,

"Know thou that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land not theirs, where they shall make them serve four hundred years" (Genesis 15:13).

The signification of four hundred is similar to that of forty, also the signification of a thousand is similar to that of a hundred, of a hundred to that of ten.

[7] The vastation of the church, and also full temptation, are also signified by the sons of Israel remaining forty years in the wilderness, of which it is thus written in the following passages:

"Your sons shall be feeding in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, even until your carcases are consumed in the wilderness" (Numbers 14:33, 34):

"He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that did evil in the eyes of Jehovah was consumed" (Numbers 32:13):

"Jehovah hath known thy walking through this great wilderness these forty years, Jehovah thy God was with thee, that thou lackedst nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7):

"Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, and to tempt thee; he fed thee with manna to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and that he might do thee good at the last" (Deuteronomy 8:2, 3, 16):

"Your fathers tempted me, they proved me; forty years I loathed in this generation, and I said, they are a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways" (Psalm 95:9, 10):

"I made you to ascend out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite" (Amos 2:10).

It is evident from what has been stated that by forty years is not only signified the vastation of the church with the sons of Israel, but also a full state of temptation; also that by the end of those years the beginning of a new church is signified. The vastation of the church is described by these words, that they should feed in the wilderness forty years, and bear their whoredoms, until their bodies should be consumed; also by these, until all this generation, which hath done evil in the eyes of Jehovah, be consumed; also by these, I loathed in this generation, and I said, they are a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. But the temptation which is also signified by forty years is described by these words: Jehovah thy God was with thee through the forty years, that thou lackedst not any thing; also by these, Jehovah hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, and to tempt thee, and he fed thee with manna; also by these, He led thee in the wilderness to tempt thee, and to do thee good at the last. The beginning of the new church, at the end of the forty years, is described by their introduction into the land of Canaan, which took place after those forty years; and is also meant by the words, to do thee good at the last; also by these, I led you in the wilderness forty years to possess the land of the Amorite.

Full temptation is also signified by Moses being upon Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights, during which he neither ate bread nor drank water (Exodus 24:18; 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 18, 25); similarly, also, by "Jesus being in the wilderness tempted by the devil, where He fasted forty days" (Matthew 4:1, 2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1).

[8] From this it is evident that the number forty in the Word signifies complete vastation and consummation, that is, when all the good of the church is vastated, and evil consummated. The same number also signifies full temptation, and at the same time the establishment of the church anew, or reformation. From this the signification of the holy city being trodden under foot by the nations forty and two months is evident. And also in the following in the Apocalypse - that to the beast coming up out of the sea "was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him forty and two months" (Revelation 13:15). Let no one therefore suppose that by forty and two months are meant months, or that any special time is designated by the numbers mentioned here and in the words that follow.

9262. 'And do not kill the innocent and the righteous' means detesting the destruction of good, interior and exterior. This is clear from the meaning of 'the innocent' as a person governed by interior good, and so in the abstract sense as interior good, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'the righteous' as a person governed by exterior good, and in the abstract sense as exterior good, since 'righteous' has reference to the good of love towards the neighbour, but 'innocent' to the good of love to the Lord - the good of love towards the neighbour being exterior good, and the good of love to the Lord being interior good; and from the meaning of 'killing' as destroying. The fact that 'righteous' means the good of love towards the neighbour will also be seen below. But the reason why 'the innocent' means the good of love to the Lord is that people endowed with innocence are those who love the Lord; for innocence consists in the acknowledgement in a person's heart that left to himself he intends nothing but evil and perceives nothing but falsity, and that all good of love and all truth of faith come from the Lord alone. No others can acknowledge these things in their heart except those who have been joined to the Lord in love. Such people inhabit the inmost heaven, which is accordingly called the heaven of innocence. Therefore the good that is theirs is interior good; for the Divine Good of Love coming from the Lord is that which inhabitants of the heaven of innocence receive. Therefore also they appear naked and also look like young children. So it is that innocence is represented by nakedness and also by early childhood. For its representation by nakedness, see 165, 213, 214, 8375; and by early childhood, 430, 1616, 2280, 2305, 2306, 3183, 3494, 4563, 4797, 5608 (end).

[2] From all that has just been stated regarding innocence it may be seen that what is Divine and the Lord's cannot be received except within innocence. This being so, good is not good unless there is innocence within it, 2526, 2780, 3994, 6765, 7840, 7887, that is, unless there is the acknowledgement that from the self nothing but evil and falsity arises and that from the Lord comes all goodness and truth. Believing the former about the self, and believing the latter about the Lord and also desiring it to be so, are what constitutes innocence. Therefore the good of innocence is God's goodness itself coming from the Lord and residing with a person. So it is that 'the innocent' means a person governed by interior good and in the abstract sense means interior good.

[3] Because 'the innocent' or 'innocence' means Divine Good coming from the Lord, shedding innocent blood was a thoroughly atrocious crime. And when it had been committed the whole land was under damnation until the crime had been expiated, as becomes clear from the process of investigation and absolution from guilt if someone had been found slain in the land. That process is spoken of in Moses as follows,

When one is found slain in the land, lying in the field, and it is not known who smote him, then your elders and your judges shall come out and they shall measure [the distance] to the cities which are around the one slain. It shall be however, that in the city nearest to the one slain the elders of this city shall take an ox's heifer by means of which no work has been done, which has not pulled in the yoke; and the elders of this city shall bring the heifer down to a barren valley which is neither tilled nor sown, and there they shall break the heifer's neck in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, and all the elders of this city standing by the one slain. They shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck has been broken in the valley; and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it; expiate Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Jehovah, and do not set innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel. In this way the blood will be expiated for them. But you shall put away the innocent blood from the midst of you, if you do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah. Deuteronomy 21:1-10.

Anyone can see that this process of investigation and absolution from guilt when innocent blood had been shed in the land holds within it the arcana of heaven, of which people cannot have any knowledge at all unless they know what is meant by 'one slain, [lying] in the field', by 'an ox's heifer by means of which no work has been done, and which has not pulled in the yoke', by 'a barren valley which is neither tilled nor sown', by 'breaking the neck of the heifer in the valley', by 'washing hands over the heifer', and by all the other details of the process. Unless everything laid down had meant those arcana it would have been totally unsuitable for the Word that has been dictated by God and inspired in every word and part of a letter. For without its deeper meaning such a process would have been an observance which had nothing holy about it, indeed which had scarcely any value.

[4] But exactly which arcana lie within it is nevertheless evident from the internal sense, that is, if it is known that 'one slain in the land, lying in the field' means truth and good wiped out in the Church where good exists; that 'the city nearest to the one slain' means the truth taught by the Church whose good has been wiped out; that 'an ox's heifer by means of which no work has been done, and which has not pulled in the yoke' means the good of the external or natural man, who has not as yet, through enslavement to evil desires, drawn falsities into his faith and evils into his life; that 'a barren valley which is neither tilled nor sown' means the natural mind that is not cultivated with truths or forms of the good of faith owing to lack of knowledge; that 'breaking its neck in the valley' means purification, on account of absence of blame because it was due to lack of knowledge; and that 'washing the hand' means being absolved from that atrocious crime. Once these things are known it is evident that 'shedding innocent blood' means wiping out Divine Truth and Good that come from the Lord, thus the Lord Himself as He exists with a member of the Church.

[5] It should be recognized that this entire process represented in heaven the kind of crime that had no blame attached to the commission of it because it was due to ignorance that had innocence within it and was therefore as something not evil. Each detail within that process, even the smallest, represented some essential aspect of the reality portrayed by the whole. But which aspect each one represented is clear from the internal sense.

'One who has been slain' is truth and good that have been wiped out, see 4503.

'The land' is the Church, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732.

'The field' is the Church in respect of good, thus the Church's good, 2971, 3310, 3766, 4982, 7502, 7571, 9139.

'The city' is teachings presenting the truth, thus the truth taught by the Church, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

'Ox' is the good of the external or natural man, 2180, 2566, 2781, 9134, so that 'a heifer' is good in its infancy, 1824, 1825.

[6] 'No work had been done by it, and it had not pulled in the yoke', it is evident, means that up to then it had not, owing to lack of knowledge, served falsities and evils; for 'working' and 'pulling in the yoke' mean serving.

'A valley' is the lower mind, which is called the natural mind, 3417, 4715; 'a barren valley' is that mind when devoid of truths and forms of good, 3908; so that 'a valley which is neither tilled nor sown' is the natural mind not yet cultivated with truths and forms of good, thus which is still lacking in knowledge, 'the seed with which it is sown' being the truth of faith, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3373, 3671, 6158.

'Breaking the neck' is expiation, because the slaughter of various beasts, like the offering of sacrifice, meant expiation.

'Washing the hand' means purification from falsities and evils, 3147; here therefore it means purification from that atrocious crime; for 'shedding blood' in general means violence done to goodness and truth, 9127, so that 'shedding innocent blood' means wiping out what is Divine residing with a person and comes from the Lord, thus the Lord Himself residing with that person; for truth and good residing with a person are the Lord Himself since they come from Him.

[7] The like is meant by 'shedding innocent blood' in Deuteronomy 19:10; 27:25; Isaiah 59:3, 7; Jeremiah 2:34; 7:6; 19:4; 22:3, 17; Joel 3:19; Psalms 94:21. 'One who is innocent' means in the proximate sense someone who is blameless and also free from evil, to which people also bore witness in former times by washing their hands, Psalms 26:6; 73:13; Matthew 27:24; John 18:38; 19:4. The reason for this is that good which comes from the Lord and resides with a person is blameless and free from evil; this good is the good of innocence in the internal sense, as has been shown. But good that is blameless and free from evil as it exists in the external man, which is exterior good, is called 'righteous', as also in David,

The throne of perdition will not be linked to You - those who gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn innocent blood. Psalms 94:20-21.