Arcana Coelestia # 3814
3814. And he dwelt with him a month of days. That this signifies a new state of life, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being life (see n. 1293, 3384, 3613); and from the signification of a “month of days,” as being a new state. (That all “times” denote states, see above, n. 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3404; and therefore so do “years,” “months,” and “days;” but the quality of the states signified is evident from the numbers affixed.) But when a “year,” “month,” or “day” is mentioned in the singular number, it signifies an entire state; thus the end of the preceding and the beginning of the subsequent state, as has been shown above throughout the explications. Here therefore by a “month” is signified the end of the preceding and the beginning of the subsequent state, thus a new state, as also in other parts of the Word. As in Isaiah:
At last it shall come to pass from month to its month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow themselves down before Me, saith Jehovah (Isaiah 66:23).
In John:
He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month (Revelation 22:1-2);
“yielding its fruit every month” signifies a state ever new, in regard to the reception of good, and the practice thence resulting.
[2] In Moses:
Number the sons of Leviticus by their fathers’ house and by their families, every male from a month old and upward thou shalt number them. Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel, from the son of a month and upward, and take the number of their names (Numbers 3:15, 40);
it was because the end of a preceding and the beginning of a subsequent state (that is, a new state), was signified by a “month,” that it was commanded that their numbering should be “from the son of a month and upward.” Again:
If thou seest among the captives a woman beautiful in form, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her to thee to wife, she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall sit in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a month of days, and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt know her; and she shall be unto thee for a wife (Deuteronomy 21:11, 13); where a “month of days” plainly denotes the end of a preceding, and the beginning of a subsequent or new state.
Deuteronomy 21
1
If one be found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him;
2
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain:
3
and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn't been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke;
4
and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.
5
The priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.
6
All the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;
7
and they shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
8
Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don't allow innocent blood [to remain] in the midst of your people Israel." The blood shall be forgiven them.
9
So you shall put away the innocent blood from the midst of you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh.
10
When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive,
11
and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire to her, and would take her to you as wife;
12
then you shall bring her home to your house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
13
and she shall put the clothing of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
14
It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her at all for money, you shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.
15
If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers who was hated;
16
then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn:
17
but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
18
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not listen to them;
19
then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;
20
and they shall tell the elders of his city, "This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard."
21
All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
22
If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree;
23
his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you don't defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
