900. In the second month. That this signifies the whole state before regeneration, is evident from the signification of “two” in the Word. “Two” signifies the same as “six” that is, the combat and labor which precede regeneration; thus here the whole state which precedes the completion of man’s regeneration. Periods of time, great and small, are commonly distinguished in the Word as “threes” or “sevens” and are called “days” “weeks” “months” “years” or “ages.” “Three” and “seven” are holy, “two” and “six” which precede, are not holy, but are relatively profane, as before shown (n. 720). “Three” and “seven” are both sacred for the additional reason that they are predicated of the last judgment, which is to come on the “third” or on the “seventh” day. The last judgment comes to everyone when the Lord comes, both in general and in particular. For example, there was a last judgment when the Lord came into the world, and there will be a last judgment when He shall come in glory; there is a last judgment when He comes to any man whatever in particular; and there is also a last judgment for everyone when he dies. This last judgment is what is meant by the “third day” and the “seventh day” which is holy to those who have lived well, but not holy to those who have lived ill. Thus the “third day” or the “seventh day” is predicated as well of those who are adjudged to death, as of those who are adjudged to life; and therefore these numbers signify what is not holy to those who are adjudged to death, and what is holy to those who are adjudged to life. “Two” and “six” preceding three and seven, have relation to and signify in general all that state which precedes. This is the signification of “two” and of “six” in application to any subject, and to any matter that is the subject of which they are predicated, as is more clearly evident from what now follows about the number twenty-seven.

720. That “pairs” signify things relatively profane, is evident from the signification of the number “two.” A “pair” or “two” not only signifies marriage (and is, when predicated of the heavenly marriage, a holy number), but it also signifies the same as “six.” That is to say, as the six days of labor are related to the seventh day of rest, or the holy day, so is the number “two” related to “three;” and therefore the third day in the Word is taken for the seventh, and involves almost the same, on account of the Lord’s resurrection on the third day. And hence the Lord’s coming into the world, and in glory, and every coming of the Lord, is described equally by the “seventh” and by the “third” day. For this reason the two days that precede are not holy, but relatively are profane. Thus in Hosea:

Come and let us return unto Jehovah, for He hath wounded, and He will heal us; He hath smitten and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him (Hosea 6:1-2).

And in Zechariah:

It shall come to pass in all the land, saith Jehovah, that two parts therein shall be cut off and die, and the third shall be left therein; and I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined (Zechariah 13:8-9).

And that silver was most pure when purified seven times appears in Psalms 12:6; from all of which it is plain that as “seven” does not signify seven, but things that are holy, so by “pairs” are signified not pairs, but things relatively profane; and therefore the meaning is not that the unclean beasts, or evil affections, in comparison with the clean beasts, or good affections, were few in the proportion of two to seven, for the evils in man are far more numerous than the goods.