23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

6557. 'And Joseph's brothers saw that their father had died' means the things which had become alienated from truth and good, and a discernment that the Church had been restored to life. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and discerning, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 3863, 4403-4421, 4567, 4723, 5400; from the representation of the sons of Jacob, to whom 'Joseph's brothers' refers here, as the things which had become alienated from truth and good (for when they wanted to kill Joseph but sold him, they represented things alienated from truth and good; and the fact that this state is meant here is evident from the words they now use, 'They said, perhaps Joseph will hate us and will fully return to us all the evil with which we repaid him', so that they had a contrary representation at that point); from the meaning of 'having died' as having been restored to life - referring in this instance to the Church - dealt with in 3326, 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036, 6221; and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as the Church, dealt with in 4286, 6426. From all this it is evident that 'Joseph's brothers saw that their father had died' means a discernment by the things which had become alienated from truth and good that the Church had been restored to life.