10255. 'Half of that, two hundred and fifty' means the corresponding amount. This is clear from the meaning of the number that is 'half of the one before' as that which exists in some measure, also a sufficient amount or the amount needed for the purposes to be served, thus also the corresponding amount. So it is that 'two hundred and fifty', being half of the number before, that is to say, half of the number 'five hundred', means the corresponding amount. Examples will help to clarify all this. Take the number 'ten'. When this number means all of the people, half of it or five means some of them; when ten means what is complete, five means a sufficient amount; but when ten means that which is much, five means some; and so on. The situation is similar with all other numbers when they are halved. Regarding 'five', that it means some of the people, also that which exists in some measure, as well as a sufficient amount and the amount needed for the purposes to be served, see 4638, 5708, 5956, 9102, 9689. Thus its various meanings are related to those of the number 'ten', when this means all of the people, what is complete, or else that which is much. Like meanings accompany fifty in relation to a hundred, and two hundred and fifty in relation to five hundred ¹ . It makes no difference whether the number is large or small; large numbers have a similar meaning to the smaller ones which are their factors, see 5335, 5708, 7973, and numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see in the places referred to in 9488, 10127. From all this it becomes clear that the present number, which is half of the one before, does not mean half of the perception of interior truth in relation to the perception of exterior truth, but the corresponding amount. Things in heaven are not measured and counted as things are on earth; for in heaven there are no spatial distances or periods of time, but states instead, the nature and amount of which are perceived without regard to any kind of numbering. Counting and measuring are connected with things such as belong to space and time, thus with those that belong properly to the lowest levels of the natural order.

脚注:

5335. 'And Joseph was a son of thirty years' means a state when the quantity of remnants was complete. This is clear from the meaning of 'thirty' as a completed number of remnants, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'years' as states, dealt with in 482, 487, 488, 493, 893. In the Word the number thirty can mean some existence of conflict, or else it can mean a completed number of remnants. The reason why that number has this twofold meaning is that it is arrived at by multiplying five and six, or else by multiplying three and ten. When it is the product of five times six it means some existence of conflict, 2276, because 'five' means some, 649, 4638, 5291, and 'six' conflict, 720, 737, 900, 1709. But when thirty is the product of three times ten it means a completed number of remnants, because 'three' means that which is complete, 2788, 4495, and 'ten' means remnants, 576, 1906, 2284. A composite number implies much the same as the simple ones of which it is the product, 5291. Remnants are the truths joined to good which have been stored away by the Lord in a person's interior parts, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135.

[2] A completed number of remnants is likewise meant by 'thirty' - as it is also by 'sixty', and by 'a hundred' too - in Mark,

The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit growing up and increasing. One bore thirty-fold, and another sixty, and another a hundred. Mark 4:8, 10.

Each of these numbers, being a multiple of ten, means a completed number of remnants. Also, because no one can be regenerated - that is, permitted to enter into spiritual temptations, by means of which regeneration is effected - until he has received a completed number of remnants, it was therefore laid down that no Levite should carry out any work in the tent of meeting until he was fully thirty years old. Their work or function is also called 'military service', being referred to in Moses as follows,

Take a census of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi - from sons thirty years of age and over, up to sons fifty years of age, everyone coming to perform military service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. Numbers 4:2-3.

Much the same is said regarding the sons of Gershon, and much the same regarding the sons of Merari, in verses 22, 23, 29, 30, and then in verses 35, 39, 43. Of that same chapter in Moses. And something similar is implied where it says that David began to reign when he was a son thirty years of age, 2 Samuel 5:4.

[3] From all this one may now see why the Lord did not make Himself known until He was thirty years of age, Luke 3:23. At that age a completed number of remnants existed with Him, though these remnants which the Lord possessed were ones that He Himself had acquired for Himself. They were also Divine ones and the means by which He united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence and made that Human Essence Divine, 1906. In Him therefore lies the reason why 'thirty years' means a state when the quantity of remnants is complete and why the priests the Levites began to perform their specific functions when they were thirty years old. And because he was to represent the Lord's kingship, David did not begin to reign until he was that same age. For every representative is derived from the Lord, and therefore every representative has reference to Him.