488. As has been stated, 'days' means states in general, and 'years' states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezekiel 22:4.

This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so 'days' has reference in this case to such people's state in general, 'years' to that state in particular.

In David,

You will add days to the king's days; and his years as generation after generation! Psalms 61:6.

This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again 'days' and 'years' stand for the state of His kingdom.

In the same author,

I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.

Here 'days of old' is states of the Most Ancient Church, and 'years of long ago' states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

This stands for the final times, where 'the day of vengeance' stands for a state of condemnation, and 'the year of the redeemed' for a state of blessedness.

Similarly, in the same prophet,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.

Here again 'days' and also 'years' are mentioned and mean states.

In Jeremiah,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

Here 'days' plainly stands for state.

[2] In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1-2, 11.

Here 'day' stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom - a state of individuals in particular and of all in general.

In Zechariah,

I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:9-10.

And elsewhere in Zechariah,

There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zechariah 14:7.

State is clearly meant here, for it is said that 'it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light'.

The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15.

Here 'a prolonging of days' does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.

[3] In the sense of the letter 'day' cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezekiel 30:3.

And in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.

Here 'a day of cloud' stands for cloud or falsity, 'a day of the nations' for the nations or wickedness, and 'the day of Jehovah' for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.

7831. 'On the tenth of this month' means the state of the initiation of the interiors. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tenth' - day, that is to say - as the state of the interiors. For 'day' means state, 23, 487, 488, 493, 576, 893, 1738, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 5672, and 'ten' means remnants, 576, 1906, 2284, that is, the truths and forms of good stored away by the Lord in a person's interiors, 1050, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5897, 7560, 7564. And since the remnants reside in his interiors, and they are used to prepare the person for and initiate him into receiving goodness and truth from the Lord, 'the tenth day' here means the state of the initiation of the interiors. With regard to a person's being regenerated by means of remnants, and so to his being initiated by means of them into receiving the inflow of goodness and truth from the Lord, see 5342, 5898, 6156, and with regard to his contact with heaven through them, 7560, for those forms of good and truths originate in the Lord, not in man, 7564. 'Month' is used to mean a whole state from start to finish, 7814, thus the complete state of deliverance, which the Passover in its entirety means. From all this it is evident that 'on the tenth of this month' means the state of the initiation of the interiors. This state - of the initiation of the interiors - lasted from the tenth day of that month through to the fourteenth day of it, between which days the Passover animal was to be held in safe keeping. 'The Passover animal' means the good of innocence, which is inmost; thus this good which is inmost, together with the interiors in which it resides, was in the meantime to be isolated and kept away from such things as defile it. This state is the state of the initiation of the interiors, that is, of being made ready to receive the inflow of goodness and truth from the Lord. This is the holy meaning contained in the words under consideration, for without that holy meaning deeply concealed within them no command would have been given for the Passover animal to be taken on the tenth of the month and held in safe keeping until the fourteenth day, or for it to be slaughtered after that between the evenings, and to be eaten roasted with fire and not boiled in water. Nor would they have been commanded not to leave any of it till morning, to burn with fire what remained, not to break a bone of it, and much else. These regulations, as anyone who ponders on them may recognize, have to do with things of a holy nature which no one is as yet acquainted with; and these holy things are spiritual ones that belong to the Church and heaven, and that are concerned with the Divine from whom every detail of the Word has come down.

4850. 'The days were multiplied' means a change of state. This is clear from the meaning of 'the days being multiplied' as undergoing a change of state, for 'day' or a time in the internal sense means state, 23, 487, 488, 893a, 2788, 3462, 3785, and 'being multiplied' when used in reference to days or times means undergoing a change. The fact that a change of state is the meaning is also evident from the details that follow. The expression 'to be multiplied' is used because it implies a change of state so far as truths are concerned; for 'to be multiplied' is used in reference to truths, 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847. Since the terms state and change of state are being used time and again, and yet few know what a state or a change of state is, a statement needs to be made about what these are. Neither time and the passage of time nor space and the extension of space can be associated with the interior aspects of the human being - that is to say, with his affections and his thoughts formed by these - because his affections and thoughts are not located in time and place, though to the senses in the world they do seem to be thus located. Rather, they are located in the interior things which correspond to time and place. The things which correspond to them cannot be called anything else than states, for no other term exists to describe the things that correspond to time and place. A change of state in interior things is said to take place when the affections and resulting thoughts in a person's mind or disposition (mens seu animus) undergo change, as when sadness turns to joy, or joy back to sadness, when ungodliness turns to godliness or devotion, and so on. These changes are called changes of state and are attributable to affections and, insofar as thoughts are governed by these, to thoughts also. But the changes of state which thoughts held within affections undergo are like those of individual parts within their general wholes, compared with which they are variations.