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:

2557. 'My father's daughter but not my mother's daughter' means that the rational was conceived from celestial good as the father but not from spiritual truth as the mother. This becomes clear from the conception of the rational, that is to say, it comes into being through an influx of Divine celestial good into the affection for factual knowledge, dealt with in 1895, 1902, 1910. Two arcana are present here, the first being that man's rational is conceived from Divine celestial good as the father, and that there is no other way in which any rational may come into being; and the second, that the rational is not conceived from spiritual truth as the mother. As regards the first arcanum - that man's rational is conceived from Divine celestial good as the father, and that there is no other way in which any rational comes into being - this may become clear from what has been stated already in 1895, 1902, 1910, as well as from what anybody may know if he reflects.

[2] For it is well known that man is born without any knowledge and without any actual rationality, and with only the ability to acquire these; also that after he is born he learns and absorbs all things gradually, chiefly by means of sensory impressions received through hearing and sight; and as he learns and absorbs them so he becomes rational. The fact that these things are accomplished by way of the body, which is an external way, because they are accomplished through hearing and sight, is self-evident. But the thing man does not know, because he does not reflect on the matter, is that something is flowing in constantly from within which receives those things that thus enter in and are implanted through hearing and sight, and arranges them into order. That which flows in, receives, and arranges them is Divine celestial good, which comes from the Lord. This is the source of the life of those things, the source of their order, and the source of all the separate relationships among them, as has been stated. From all this it may become clear that man's rational springs from Divine celestial good as the father, in accordance with the words in this verse, 'she is my father's daughter'.

[3] As regards the second arcanum - that the rational is not conceived from spiritual truth as the mother - this becomes clear from what has been stated in 1902. For if spiritual truth were to flow in from within, as good does, man would be born with total rationality and at the same time with complete knowledge, so that he would have no need to learn anything. But since man is such that because of his heredity he is under the influence of every evil and consequently of every falsity, so that if truths themselves also were to flow in he would adulterate them and falsify them and in so doing would perish for ever, the Lord has provided against any truth at all flowing in by way of man's internal being, only by way of his external. From this it becomes clear that man's rational does not spring from spiritual truth as the mother, in accordance with the words in this verse, 'but not my mother's daughter'. It pleased the Lord that His own Rational as well should be formed according to the same order, to the end that by His own power He might make Divine all things with Him that were Human, and might implant Divine spiritual Truth in, and unite it to, Divine celestial Good, and implant Divine celestial Good in, and unite it to, Divine spiritual Truth.