257. Because in this prophetical book numbers are often mentioned; and as no one can know the spiritual sense of what is contained in those numbers unless he knows what the particular numbers signify; for all numbers in the Word, as well as all names, signify spiritual things; and because the number seven is often mentioned amongst others, I am desirous here of showing that seven signifies all, and all things, also what is full and complete for that which signifies all, and all things, signifies also what is full and complete. For what is full and complete is said of the magnitude of a thing, and all and all things of multitude.

That the number seven has such a signification is evident from the following passages. In Ezekiel:

"The inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall set fire to and burn the arms, the shield also and the buckler, with the bow and the arrows, and with the hand-staff, and with the spear; and they shall kindle a fire with them seven years; and they shall bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall cleanse the land seven months" (39:9, 11, 12).

The subject here treated of is the desolation of all things in the church. The inhabitants of the cities of Israel signify all the goods of truth, to set on fire and burn signifies to consume by evils. The arms, the shield, the buckler, the bows, the arrows, the hand-staff, the spear, denote everything pertaining to doctrine; to kindle fire with them seven years denotes to consume them all and fully by evils. Gog signifies those who are in external worship, and in no internal worship; to bury them and cleanse the land denotes to destroy them all, and completely to purge the church of them.

[2] In Jeremiah:

"Their widows shall be multiplied more than the sand of the seas, and I will bring to them upon the mother of the youths the waster at noon-day. She who hath borne seven shall languish, she shall breathe out her soul" (15:8, 9).

By the widows which will be multiplied are signified those who are in good and desire truths, and, in the opposite sense, as in the present case, those who are in evil and desire falsities. By the mother of the youths is signified the church; by the waster at noon-day is signified the vastation of that church, however much they may be in truths from the Word. By she that hath borne seven shall languish, she shall breathe out her soul, is signified that the church, to which all truths were given because the Word was given them, should perish; for she that hath borne seven signifies those to whom all truths were given. This is specifically said concerning the Jews.

[3] Similarly, in the first book of Samuel:

"They that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children hath failed" (2:5).

The hungry who ceased denote those who desire the goods and truths of the church; the barren who hath borne seven signifies those who are outside the church and are ignorant of truths because they have not the Word, as the Gentiles, to whom all things will be given; she that hath many children failing signifies those who have truths, from whom they will be taken away. Again, in David:

"Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom" (79:12).

And in Moses,

That the Jews should be punished seven times for their sins (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28);

seven times here signifying fully.

[4] In Luke:

"And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him" (17:4).

Here, to forgive seven times, if he shall return seven times, denotes to forgive as often as the offender should return, and thus at all times. But lest Peter should understand seven times to be meant by these words, the Lord explains His meaning to him, as recorded in Matthew:

"Peter said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven " (18:21, 22).

Seventy times seven is always, without counting. In David:

"Seven times a day do I praise thee for the judgments of justice" (Psalms 119:164).

Seven times a day denotes always, or at all times.

[5] Again:

"The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings, as silver refined in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psalms 12:6).

Here silver signifies truth from the Divine: purified seven times denotes that it is altogether and fully pure.

[6] In Isaiah:

"The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days" (30:26).

The light of the sun signifies Divine truth from Divine good: and that this light should be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, signifies that the Divine truth in heaven should be without any falsity, thus that it should be altogether and fully pure.

[7] In Matthew,

The unclean spirit "shall take with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and he shall dwell there" (12:45; Luke 11:26).

Here profanation is treated of, and by the seven other spirits with which the unclean spirit is said to return are signified all falsities of evil, thus a plenary destruction of good and truth.

[8] Similar is the signification of the seven times which were to pass over the king of Babylon, in Daniel,

"His heart shall be changed from man, and the heart of a beast shall be given unto him; while seven times shall pass over him" (4:16, 25, 32).

By the king of Babylon are signified those who profane the goods and truths of the Word. By his heart being changed from that of a man to that of a beast is meant that nothing spiritual, that is, truly human, should remain with him, but that instead there should be everything diabolical. By the seven times which were to pass over him is meant profanation, which is a complete destruction of truth and good.

[9] Because the terms seven, and seven times, signified all things, and also what is full, the following commands were given to the children of Israel:

Seven days their hands should be filled (Exodus 29:35).

Seven days they should be sanctified (Exodus 29:37).

Seven days Aaron should put on the garments when he was being initiated (Exodus 29:30).

Seven days they should not go out of the tabernacle when they were being initiated into the priesthood (Leviticus 8:33, 34).

Seven times expiation should be made upon the horns of the altar (Leviticus 16:18, 19).

Seven times should the altar be sanctified with oil (Leviticus 8:11).

Seven times should the blood be sprinkled before the veil (Leviticus 4:16, 17).

Seven times should the blood be sprinkled with the finger towards the east, when Aaron went in to the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:12-15).

Seven times should the water of separation be sprinkled towards the tabernacle (Num. 19:4).

Seven times should blood be sprinkled for the cleansing of leprosy (Leviticus 14:7, 8, 27, 38, 51).

The lampstand had seven lamps (Exodus 25:32, 37; 37:18-25).

Feasts should be celebrated for seven days (Exodus 34:18; Leviticus 23:4-9, 39-44; Deuteronomy 16:3, 4, 8).

Seven days of the feast there should be a burnt offering of seven bullocks and seven rams daily (Ezekiel 45:23).

Baalam built seven altars, and sacrificed seven oxen and seven rams (Num. 23:1-7, 15-18, 29, 30).

They numbered seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and then should cause the trumpet of the jubilee to be sounded in the seventh month (Leviticus 25:8, 9).

From the signification of the number seven, it is evident what is signified

By the seven days of creation (Genesis 1).

Also by four thousand men being filled from seven loaves, and that seven basketsful of fragments remained over (Matthew 15:34-37; Mark 8:5-9).

Hence now it is clear what is signified in the Apocalypse,

By the seven churches (1:4, 11).

By the seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of man (1:13).

By the seven stars in His right hand (1:16, 20).

By the seven spirits of God (3:1).

By the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne (4:5).

By the book sealed with seven seals (5:1).

By the seven angels to whom were given seven trumpets (8:2).

By the seven thunders which uttered their voices (10:3, 4).

By the seven angels having the seven last plagues, (15:1, 6).

By seven vials full of the seven last plagues (16:1; 21:9)

and elsewhere in the Word, where seven is mentioned.

8286. 'And with the wind of Your nostrils the waters were heaped up' means falsities gathered together through heaven's presence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wind of Your nostrils' as heaven, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'being heaped up' as being gathered into one; and from the meaning of 'the waters' as falsities, dealt with in 7307, 8137, 8138. Damnation and being cast into hell involves having all the falsities arising from evil gathered together, and then being hemmed in by them, see 8146, 8210, 8232; and this happens as a result simply of the Lord's presence, 8265. The reason why 'the wind of Jehovah's, or the Lord's, nostrils' means heaven is that the expression is used to denote the breath of life, that is, God's life; and since God's life constitutes heaven's life, heaven is meant by 'the wind of Jehovah's nostrils'. This also explains why the same word in the original language means both wind and spirit.

[2] The fact that Jehovah's wind or His breath means heaven's life, and the life of a person in heaven, that is, of one who has been regenerated, is clear in David,

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all their host by the spirit (wind) of His mouth. Psalms 33:6.

In the same author,

You gather up their spirit, they breathe their last and fall back into their dust. You send forth Your spirit (wind), they are created. Psalms 104:29-30.

In Ezekiel,

Jehovah said to me, Will these bones live? Then He said, Prophesy over the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the wind, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these killed, that they may live. And the spirit came into them, and they lived again. Ezekiel 37:3, 9-10.

In John,

I saw four angels standing over the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, in order that the wind should not blow onto the earth, nor onto the sea, nor onto any tree. Revelation 7:1.

Here 'the wind' stands for heaven's life, which is God's life, as also in Job,

The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of Shaddai ¹ has given me life. Job 33:4.

[3] Since 'wind' meant life the Lord also says, in His teaching about a person's regeneration,

The spirit (or wind) blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or goes away to; so it is with everyone who has been born from the spirit. John 3:8.

And since life from God was meant by 'Jehovah's wind' or 'His breath' it therefore says of Jehovah, when Adam's new life is the subject, that

He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7.

The word 'nostrils' is used because a person breathes by means of them and by means of breathing has life, as in Isaiah,

Turn yourselves away from the person in whose nostrils there is breath. ² Isaiah 2:22.

In Jeremiah,

The Breath ³ Lamentations 4:20Job 27:3.

[4] Since therefore 'the wind of Jehovah's nostrils' means life which comes from the Lord, and so in the universal sense means heaven, and since through the Lord's presence - or through the presence of heaven, where the Lord is - evils and falsities are cast into hell, 8265, so also is the accomplishment of this meant by 'the wind of Jehovah's nostrils', as in David,

The channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were revealed, because of Jehovah's rebuke, at the blast of breath from His nostrils. ⁴ Psalms 18:8, 15; 2 Samuel 22:16. ⁵

In Isaiah,

The breath of Jehovah like a stream ⁶ of brimstone sets it alight. Isaiah 30:33.

In the same prophet,

Indeed they are not planted, indeed they are not sown, indeed their trunk does not take root in the earth, and also He breathes onto them and they wither, so that the whirlwind may bear them away like stubble. Isaiah 40:24Psalms 147:1718

In addition this explains why 'the nose', when used in reference to Jehovah or the Lord, also means wrath, and so the punishment, vastation, and damnation suffered by those ruled by evils and falsities, as in Numbers 25:4; Deuteronomy 7:4; Judges 2:14; Isaiah 9:12; Jeremiah 4:8Hosea 14:4; Psalms 6:1; 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; and very many other times elsewhere. It explains too why 'breathing with the nostrils' or 'breathing out' means being angry, Deuteronomy 4:21; Isaiah 12:1; Psalms 2:12; 6:1; 60:1; 79:5; 85:5.