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.

6508. 'Seventy days' means a complete state. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy'; for this number implies much the same as 'seven', and 'seven' means a whole period from start to finish, thus a complete state, 728, 2044, 3845. Numbers in the Word express spiritual realities, see 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175; and compound numbers have a similar meaning to the simple ones of which they are the product, 5291, 5335, 5708, so that seventy is similar in meaning to seven.

[2] The fact that 'seventy' means a whole period, thus a complete state, is further evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

It will happen on that day, that Tyre will pass into oblivion for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre [according to] the song of the harlot. For it will happen at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre. Isaiah 23:15, 17.

'Tyre' stands for the cognitions of what is good and true that are known to the Church, 1201, which 'will Pass into oblivion'. 'Seventy years' stands for a whole period from start to finish. 'Like the days of one king' stands for a state of truth within the Church, for 'days' are states, 6505, and 'king' is truth, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 5044, 5068, 6148. Anyone who gives the matter careful consideration can see that 'Tyre' is not used here to mean Tyre, and that without the internal sense one cannot understand what is meant by 'Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years' and that this will be 'like the days of one king', or by the rest of what is said.

[3] In Jeremiah,

The whole land will be a desolation, a devastation, and these nations will serve the king of Babel seventy years; and it will happen, when the seventy years are fulfilled, that I will visit the king of Babel and this nation for their iniquity. Jeremiah 25:11, 21; 29:10.

'Seventy years' stands for a complete state in which there is desolation and devastation. This is what was meant by the seventy years of captivity that the Jewish people underwent.

[4] In Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed concerning your people and your holy city to bring transgression to a close and to seal up sins and to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting justice, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24.

'Seventy' plainly stands for a complete state, thus for a whole period prior to the Lord's Coming, which explains why it is said that He came 'in the fullness of time'. The fact that 'seventy weeks' means a complete state is evident from the details of this verse - that so many weeks have been decreed 'to bring transgression to a close', also 'to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting justice, to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place'. These details imply fullness; and something similar is also meant in further details coming immediately after them,

Know therefore and perceive that from the going forth of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks. Daniel 9:15.

Here 'seven' stands for a complete state; for as may be seen just above, 'seven' means a complete state in the same way as 'seventy' does. Here 'Jerusalem' plainly stands for a new Church, for at the time the Messiah came Jerusalem was not built but destroyed.