2269. And He said, I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five. That this signifies that man should not perish if good and truth could be conjoined together, is evident from the signification of the number forty-five, as being conjunction. It has been already shown that the simple numbers retain their signification even when they are multiplied; and that consequently the greater numbers have a signification similar to that of the less; and such is the case with forty-five, which number is compounded by the multiplication of five into nine; and as it has been compounded by the multiplication of five into nine, it has the same signification as have “five” and “nine.” That “five” signifies a little, was shown above (n. 649), and that “nine” signifies conjunction, or what is conjoined (n. 2075); and thus the signification here is: If goods have in some measure been conjoined with truths. That in the Word numbers signify actual things, or states, is evident from what was said about fifty (n. 2252); also from what has been shown before concerning numbers (n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988).

[2] It is because “five” signifies a little, and “forty-five” conjunction, that the very setting forth of these numbers in this verse is of such a nature, for it is said, “Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous;” and by this is signified, If there should be somewhat less; and then it is said, “Wilt Thou destroy all the city for five?” by which is signified, Shall they perish for the little which is wanting? For as “five” signifies a little, this number is not employed again, but it is said, “I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five;” by which is signified that they would not perish if good and truth could be conjoined together. The reason also of its being said here “forty and five,” and not “if there lack five of fifty,” is because “five” not only signifies a little (as was shown, n. 649), but also signifies disjunction (as was likewise shown in volume 1, n. 1686); and therefore in order that not disjunction, but conjunction, might be signified, this number forty-five is named; for “forty-five” denotes some conjunction, as stated above; and thus in the internal sense all things follow on in a beautiful sequence Of their own.

[3] As regards the conjunction of good with truth, it is an arcanum which cannot be described so that it can be grasped by the ordinary comprehension. It must be told in a few words. The more genuine and pure the truth, the better can the good which is from the Lord be adapted into it as its recipient vessel; but the less genuine and pure the truth, the less can the good which is from the Lord be adapted into it; for they must correspond to each other, and the conjunction of the two is effected according to the correspondence. Goods cannot possibly be insinuated into falsities, nor evils into truths, as their recipient vessels; for they are of a contrary character and nature, the one casting out the other as its enemy; nay, should they attempt to conjoin themselves together, the one would spew out the other, that is to say, good would spew out evil as if it were poison, and evil would spew out good as if it were an emetic. Such enmity between good and evil has been provided by the Lord in order to prevent the possibility of their being commingled, for if they were commingled, the man would perish. In the deceitful and in hypocrites they are not far from being conjoined together, but still precautions are taken by the Lord in order to prevent their being so conjoined. This is the reason why in the other life those who are deceitful and those who are hypocrites suffer things more direful than those which are suffered by any others.

647. That these particulars have such a signification, as that the numbers “three hundred” “fifty” and “thirty” signify remains, and that they are few; and that “length” “breadth” and “height” signify holiness, truth, and good, cannot but appear strange to everyone, and very remote from the letter. But in addition to what was said and shown above concerning numbers (at verse 3 of this chapter, that a “hundred and twenty” there signify remains of faith), it may be evident to everyone also from the fact that they who are in the internal sense, as are good spirits and angels, are beyond all such things as are earthly, corporeal, and merely of the world, and thus are beyond all matters of number and measure, and yet it is given them by the Lord to perceive the Word fully, and this entirely apart from such things. And this being true, it may therefore be very evident that these particulars involve things celestial and spiritual which are so remote from the sense of the letter that it cannot even appear that there are such things. Such are celestial and spiritual things both in general and in particular. And from this a man may know how insane it is to desire to search into those things which are matters of faith, by means of the things of sense and knowledge [sensualia et scientifica]; and to be unwilling to believe unless he apprehends them in this way.