487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

8149. 'And all the chariots of Egypt' means also doctrinal teachings upholding falsity that were subservient to these. This is clear from the meaning of 'Pharaoh's chariots' as the chief doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity, to which all others are subordinate, so that 'the chariots of Egypt' means doctrinal teachings upholding falsity that were subservient to them, dealt with immediately above in 8148. For 'the king' and 'his chariots' mean the chief things, while 'the people' or the Egyptians and 'their chariots' mean the secondary ones. The Church's teachings among those who lead a life of evil are called doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity, even though in part, to a greater or a lesser extent, they may contain the truth. The reason for this is that truths residing with those who lead a life of evil are not truths insofar as they exist with those people; for when they are applied to evil in life they lose the essential quality of truth and take on the nature of falsity, because they look towards the evil to which they are joined. Truths cannot be joined to evil without being falsified, which comes about through misinterpretations and so perversions of them. So it is that the Church's teachings among those people are called doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity, even though they have been truths. For it is a law or principle that truths among people who lead a life of evil are made false, and falsities among those who lead a life of good are made true. The reason why falsities among them are made true is that they are used to accord with good, and when that is done the crudities of falsity are wiped away, see 8051.