1020. That these things are meant becomes clear from the fact that everything put together as history from Genesis 1 down to Eber in Chapter 11 means something different from what appears in the letter, and from the consideration that the historical narratives there are purely made-up history customary among the most ancient people. When attesting the truth of some matter they would say that 'Jehovah said it'. Here however 'God' is used because the subject is the spiritual Church. And they did the same when anything true was being, or had been, put into effect.

2044. That 'a son eight days old' means any beginning whatever to purification is clear from the meaning of 'the eighth day'. 'A week', which consists of seven days, means the entire period of any state and length of time - of reformation, regeneration, or temptation, either of the individual in particular or of the Church in general. So the expression 'week' is used whether the period is one of a thousand years, or of a hundred, or of ten, or else one of days, hours, or minutes, and so on, as may become clear from the places quoted in Volume One, in 728. And because the eighth day is the first day of the following week it here means any new beginning whatever. From this it is also clear that just as circumcision itself was a representative of purification, so also was the time when it took place, namely the eighth day. Not that the uncircumcised on that day entered a purer state and on that account were made pure. Rather even as 'circumcision' was a sign meaning purification, so 'the eighth day' meant that such purification ought to go on all the time and so always to be taking place as if from a new beginning.