'Forty' represents completeness because 'four' and 'ten' both mean what is complete. Forty is the product of four and ten. Compound numbers have a meaning similar to the simple numbers which compose them, and all numbers in the Word represent spiritual realities.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 9437; Exodus 24:18)

4787. Verse 36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's bedchamber-servant, the chief of the attendants.

'The Midianites sold him into Egypt' means that those in whom some truth partnering simple good was present consulted facts. 'To Potiphar, Pharaoh's bedchamber-servant' means facts of a more internal kind. 'The chief of the attendants' means those facts which are first and foremost in explanations.