8888. 'Six days you shall labour and do all your work' means the conflict which comes before and is preparatory to that marriage. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, conflict being meant by 'six', see 720, 737, 900, and states by 'days', 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 4850, 5672, 5962, 6110, 8426; and from the meaning of 'labouring and doing one's work' as attending to the necessary things of life, here those of spiritual life, which is life in heaven.

[2] Furthermore by the conflict which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage one should understand spiritual conflict or temptation. For before a person enters into the heavenly marriage, that is, before being regenerated, he is involved in conflict with the evils and falsities residing with him; these have to be removed before truth and good from the Lord can be received. They are removed - those evils and falsities - by means of the truths of faith; for a person not only learns through those truths what good is, but is also led to good by means of them. This state is the first that a person who is being regenerated passes through; and it is called the state which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage. But when the person is governed by good and is led by the Lord by means of good, he has entered into the heavenly marriage, and so is in heaven since the heavenly marriage is heaven. The first state is what is meant by the six days that come before the seventh, the second is what is meant by the seventh day. Regarding these two states with a person, see 7923, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8722.

[3] Since the heavenly marriage, which is heaven, is meant by 'the sabbath', the Lord's kingdom in the heavens is called an everlasting sabbath, that is, everlasting rest and peace; and there the six days of labour are no more.

900. That 'the second month' means the whole of the state prior to regeneration is clear from the meaning of 'two' in the Word. 'Two' has the same meaning as 'six', that is, the conflict and toil that come before regeneration. Thus here it means the whole of the state that comes before a person has been regenerated. In the Word it is common for periods of time, long or short, to be divided into threes or sevens and to be called days, weeks, months, years, or ages. 'Three' and 'seven' are holy, while 'two' or 'six', which come before them, are not holy but in comparison are unholy, as shown already in 720. Three and seven are also sacred numbers because both of them occur in statements concerning the Last Judgement which will take place on the third or the seventh day. It is the last judgement for everybody when the Lord comes, either in general or in particular. That is to say, there was a last judgement when the Lord came into the world; there will be a last judgement when He comes in glory; there is a last judgement when He comes to each person in particular. There is also a last judgement awaiting everyone when he dies. This last judgement is meant by 'the third day' and 'the seventh day'. It is a holy day for people who have lived well, but not for those who have lived wickedly. Consequently 'the third day', and 'the seventh', apply to people for whom judgement points to death as well as to those for whom judgement points to life. In reference to those therefore whose judgement points to death these numbers mean that which is not holy, but in reference to those whose judgement points to life they mean that which is holy. Two or six which come before them relate to, and in general mean, the whole of that state which precedes. This is the meaning of the numbers two and six, whatever the subject and whatever the aspects of it they refer to. This becomes clearer still from what follows next concerning the number 'twenty-seven'.