487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

2400. 'He spoke to his sons-in-law who were marrying his daughters' means together with those governed by truths to which affections for good could be allied. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons-in-law' as cognitions of truth, and consequently truths, dealt with above, in 2389, and from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections for good, also dealt with above, in 2362. And because it is said that he spoke to his sons-in-law who were marrying his daughters, the meaning is, together with those governed by truths to which affections for good were able to be joined. Because those affections could be so joined the expression 'his sons-in-law' is used, but because they had not actually been joined the expression 'who were marrying his daughters' is added.

[2] Here the subject is a third group of persons inside the Church, that is to say, those who have knowledge of truths but nevertheless lead evil lives. There are in fact three groups of people inside the Church:

1. Those in whose lives the good of charity is present; these are represented by 'Lot'.

2. Those who are immersed completely in falsity and evil, and who repudiate both truth and good; these are represented by 'the men of Sodom'.

3. Those who do indeed have knowledge of truths but nevertheless lead evil lives; these are meant here by 'sons-in-law'.

The last of these are chiefly people who teach, but the truth which they teach sends its roots down no more deeply than knowledge solely in the memory is accustomed to do; for it is learned and displayed by them solely for the sake of position and gain. And because with such people the ground in which the truth is sown is accordingly self-love and love of the world their belief in truth is no more than a certain persuasion, resulting from those loves. The nature of that persuasion will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere. Here they are described as the sons-in-law who did not believe a thing about the overthrow of Sodom but laughed at the idea. And the faith within their heart is also of that nature.