3306. 'And Isaac was a son of sixty years when she bore them' means the state of Rational Truth at that time. This becomes clear from what has been stated above about numbers in 3252, 3275. What the number 'sixty' entails however becomes clear from the simple numbers of which it is the product - from five and twelve, since five times twelve makes sixty (for the meaning of five, see 649, 1686, of twelve, 2372); also from six and ten, since six times ten makes sixty (for the meaning of six, see 720, 737, 900, and of ten, 576, 2284, 3107); from two and thirty as well, since two times thirty makes sixty (for the meaning of two, see 720, 900, 1335, 1686, and of thirty, 2276). Since the number sixty is the product in each of these multiplications of numbers, it embodies the things meant by such numbers in their order, all of which constitute the state experienced by the Lord's Rational at that time. Those things are displayed by the Lord in a clear light before the eyes of the angels, but before the eyes of men, especially of someone who does not believe that numbers in the Word have any meaning at all hidden within them, they cannot be disclosed, not only because of lack of belief but also because so many things contained in those numbers cannot be arranged into a sequence of ideas within man's mental grasp.

1482. That 'Pharaoh's princes saw' means the first and foremost commandments, which are 'pharaoh's princes', is clear from the meaning of 'princes' and of 'Pharaoh'. In the Word, in both its historical and its prophetical parts, princes mean the things that are first and foremost. 'pharaoh' has the same meaning as Egypt, Egypt or Pharaoh being used in the best sense here, since they refer to knowledge comprised of cognitions which the Lord took in first in childhood. That first and foremost commandments from the Word are meant is clear from the meaning of these princes in the internal sense. That in general 'Pharaoh' in the Word has the same meaning as Egypt may be confirmed from many references, even as the kings of other kingdoms who are mentioned by name have the same meaning as the actual names given to their kingdoms. But by 'the princes' are meant their first and foremost features, as in Isaiah,

The princes of Zoan are foolish, the wise counselors of Pharaoh. . . . How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old? The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Noph deluded. Isaiah 19:11, 13.

Here 'the princes of Zoan and the wise counselors of Pharaoh' stands for facts that are first and foremost. And since wisdom flourished initially in Egypt, as stated already, it is called 'a son of the wise, and a son of the kings of old'. And there are many other places in the Word where in the same way 'princes' stands for features that are first and foremost.