2213. About this time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. That this signifies that the Lord would then put off the human rational, and put on the Divine rational, is evident from the signification of “returning at this time of life,” or at this present time of the following year, as being the conjunction of the Lord’s Divine with His Human (spoken of above, n. 2193); and from the signification of Sarah’s “son,” as being the rational about to be Divine (also spoken of above, n. 2194). This time of life, or the present time of the following year, denotes the time when Abraham should enter upon his hundredth year, by which year is signified the unition of the Lord’s Human with His Divine and of His Divine with His Human (as shown above, n. 1988). There then intervened a year, because by a “year” in the Word is not signified a year, but an entire time, and thus a whole period, whether it be of a thousand years, or of a hundred, or of ten, or of hours (as was also shown before, n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 893; and also by a “week,” see above, n. 2044).

493. That by “days” and “years” are signified times and states needs no further explication, except to say that in the world there must needs be times and measures, to which numbers may be applied because they are in the ultimates of nature; but whenever they are applied in the Word, the numbers of the days and years, and also of the measures, have a signification abstractedly from the times and measures, in accordance with the signification of the number; as where it is said that there are six days of labor, and that the seventh is holy, of which above; that the jubilee should be proclaimed every forty-ninth year, and should be celebrated in the fiftieth; that the tribes of Israel were twelve, and the apostles of the Lord the same; that there were seventy elders, and as many disciples of the Lord; and so in many other instances where the numbers have a special signification abstractedly from the things to which they are applied; and when thus abstracted, then it is states that are signified by the numbers.