9487. Two cubits and a half the length thereof. That this signifies all in respect to good, is evident from the signification of “two and a half,” as being much, and what is full; and when spoken of the Divine, as being all. That “two and a half” denotes much, and what is full, is because this number signifies the like as five, ten, a hundred, and a thousand; for the double of two and a half is five, the double of five is ten, ten times ten is a hundred, and when numbers are doubled and multiplied they signify the like as the simple numbers of which they are compounded (see n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973). (That the number “five” signifies much, and what is full, see n. 5708, 5956, 9102; in like manner “ten,” n. 3107, 4638; also “a hundred,” n. 2636, 4400; and “a thousand,” n. 2575, 8715.) Hence these numbers, when said of the Divine, denote all. And from the signification of “length,” as being good (n. 1613, 8898)
[2] That “length” in the Word signifies good, and “breadth” truth, may seem a paradox, but still it is so. It originates in the fact that each and all things in the Word signify such things as belong to heaven and the church, thus as bear relation to the good of love, and to the truth of faith. Nothing of space-such as implies length and breadth-can be predicated of these; but instead of space the state of being, which is the state of good, and from this the state of manifestation, which is the state of truth. Moreover, in heaven spaces are appearances arising from these states (n. 4882, 9440). From all this it can be seen that real things are signified by the measures and dimensions in Ezekiel 40:0-47:0, where the new temple and the new earth are treated of; consequently here also, where the ark, the Habitation, and the court, the tables therein, and the altars, are treated of; and in like manner in the description of the temple of Jerusalem; and again in that of the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, in that it was four-square, its length as great as its breadth (Revelation 21:16; and Zech. 2:1-2); for by “Jerusalem” is signified the New Church; and by its measurement as to length, the quality of its good; and as to breadth, the quality of its truth.
[3] That by “breadth” is signified truth, is very manifest in David:
In straitness I called upon Jah; He answereth me in breadth (Psalms 118:5).
Thou hast made my feet to stand in breadth (Psalms 31:8).
The stretching out of the wings of Asshur shall be the fullness of the breadth of the land (Isaiah 8:8).
I raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, that walketh in the breadths of the land (Hab. 1:6);
“to walk in the breadths of the land,” when said of the Chaldeans, denotes to destroy the truths of faith.
