489. 'Sons and daughters' means the truths and goods which they perceived, 'sons to be exact meaning the truths and 'daughters' the goods. This becomes clear from very many places in the Prophets. For in the Word, as happened in earliest times, conceptions and births of the Church are called 'sons and daughters', as in Isaiah,

Nations will walk to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather and they come towards you. Your sons will come from far, and your daughters will be nursed at your side. Then you will see and abound, and your heart will be astounded and enlarged. Isaiah 60:3-5.

Here 'sons' stands for truths and 'daughters' for goods.

In David,

Rescue me and snatch me from the hand of sons of the foreigner, whose mouths speak lies. Our sons are like plants made large in their youth, our daughters like corner-pillars cut in the form of the temple. Psalms 144:11-12.

'Sons of the foreigner' stands for spurious truths, which are falsities, 'our sons' for matters of doctrine concerning truth, and 'daughters' for matters of doctrine concerning good.

In Isaiah,

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not withhold. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth. Bring forth the blind people, and they will have eyes, and the deaf, who will have ears. Isaiah 43:6, 8.

Here 'sons' stands for truths, 'daughters' for goods, 'the blind' for people who will see truths, and 'the deaf' for those who comply with them.

In Jeremiah,

From our youth shame is devouring the work of our fathers - their flocks, their herds, their sons, and their daughters. Jeremiah 3:24.

Here 'sons and daughters' stands for truths and goods.

[2] 'Male children' and 'sons' stand for truths in the following in Isaiah,

Jacob will no more be ashamed, and no more will his face grow pale. For when he sees his male children, the work of My hands, in his midst they will sanctify My name, and they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who err in spirit will know understanding Isaiah 29:12-24.

'The Holy One of Jacob, the God of Israel' stands for the Lord, 'male children' for regenerate people who have an understanding of good and truth, as is also explicitly stated.

In the same prophet,

Sing, O barren one, who did not bear, for the sons of her that is desolate are more than the sons of her that is married. Isaiah 54:1

'The sons of her that is desolate' stands for truths of the Primitive Church, or Church among gentiles, while 'the sons of her that is married' stands for truths of the Jewish Church.

In Jeremiah,

My tent has been laid waste, and all My cords torn away; My sons have gone away from Me, and they are not. Jeremiah 10:20.

'Sons' stands for truths.

In the same prophet,

Their sons will be as they were of old, and their congregation will be established before Me. Jeremiah 30:10

Here 'sons' stands for the truths of the Ancient Church.

In Zechariah,

I will rouse your sons, O Zion, together with your sons, O Jehovah, and I will set you as the sword of one who is powerful. Zechariah 9:13.

Here 'sons' stands for truths of faith inherent in love.

493. There is no need to pause too long over the consideration that 'days' and 'years mean periods of time and states. Only this need be stated here, that in the world periods of time and measurements to which numbers may be applied are indispensable, for they belong within the ultimate realms of nature. But whenever such application occurs, the numbers of days and years, and also the numbers applied to measurements, mean something which is completely different from periods of time or from measurements, and which is determined by the meaning of the number used, as in the statements about there being six days for work, and the seventh being holy, which are dealt with above; in the statement about a jubilee having to be announced every forty-ninth year and celebrated in the fiftieth; about the tribes of Israel being twelve, the same number as the Lord's Apostles; and about there being seventy elders, the same number as the Lord's disciples. And there are many other examples where the numbers mean some special characteristic completely different from the persons or objects to which they apply. And when completely separated one from the other the states meant by the numbers are then left.