4608. 'And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl: Dan and Naphtali' means secondary goods and truths which serve the interior ones. This is clear from the representation of 'Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl' as a secondary affection which, as a means, serves the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3849. 'A servant-girl' furthermore is used to denote a means which serves to effect a joining together, 3913, 3917, 3931, her 'sons' being the same kinds of means. By secondary goods and truths are meant those goods and truths which do not enter in directly but are derived from these and are associated with them like maidservants, acting also as intermediaries and facilitators. The essential characteristics of them are represented by 'Dan and Naphtali'. In the highest sense 'Dan' means righteousness and mercy, in the internal sense the holiness of faith, and in the external sense the good of life, 3921, 3923, while 'Naphtali' in the highest sense means [the Lord's] own power, in the internal sense temptation in which a person overcomes, and in the external sense resistance offered by the natural man, 3927, 3928. These are the essential characteristics of the means that serve interior goods and truths.

In Exodus 7:7, eighty signifies the state and quality of the Law, since it applies to Moses. Also, 80, like 40, can represent a state of temptation, when we face and battle our desires for evil – and that it can also be looked at as the product of eight and 10, combining the meanings of those two numbers. Eight generally represents a beginning state (the eighth day is the first of a new week) and 10 can represent either a state of fullness or what are called "remains" – true ideas and desires for good implanted deep within us by the Lord in infancy, which can react with other good and truths as we grow. See Arcana Coelestia 7284.