134. Once he has been brought into a state of the proprium therefore, a proprium is granted to him, which is described as his rib that was built into a woman, verses 21-23.

The number "four" in the Bible represents things being linked together or joined. This is partly because four is two times two, and two represents the ultimate linking between our desire to be good and our understanding of truth. We can also see this in the fact that most buildings are rectangular, with the four sides linking together to make a whole. We also divide directions into four -- north, east, south and west -- and talk about the "four corners" of something meaning all of it. So our special thinking naturally looks at four sides as linking together into a whole.

(Notae: Apocalypse Explained 417; Arcana Coelestia 1686, 9103, 9601, 9767, 9864)