4009. 'And he gave them into the hand of his sons' means that they were given to truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 2623, 3373. 'Giving into their hand' means giving them the right of control, for 'the hand' means power, 878, 3387. The truths which are meant by 'sons' in this case are those which are called sensory truths, for what the senses perceive as truths exist as the boundaries of the natural mind. For the natural degree of man's mind communicates on one side with sensory impressions which belong to the body and on the other side with the rational concepts which belong to the rational mind. By means of what lies in between a way of ascent so to speak is provided from sensory impressions which belong to the body, and are open in the direction of the world, up to the rational concepts which belong to the rational mind and are open in the direction of heaven. And in the same manner they provide a way of descent, that is to say, from heaven down to the world. This situation exists only with man. It is this ascent and descent that is dealt with in the internal sense of the chapters at this point in Genesis. And in order that every single thing may be expressed representatively, the rational is represented by Isaac and Rebekah, the natural by Jacob and both his wives, and the sensory awareness by the latters' sons. But since the sensory awareness as the ultimate degree of order incorporates everything prior to it each son represents something general in which those things are present, as shown above.

493. There is no need to pause too long over the consideration that 'days' and 'years mean periods of time and states. Only this need be stated here, that in the world periods of time and measurements to which numbers may be applied are indispensable, for they belong within the ultimate realms of nature. But whenever such application occurs, the numbers of days and years, and also the numbers applied to measurements, mean something which is completely different from periods of time or from measurements, and which is determined by the meaning of the number used, as in the statements about there being six days for work, and the seventh being holy, which are dealt with above; in the statement about a jubilee having to be announced every forty-ninth year and celebrated in the fiftieth; about the tribes of Israel being twelve, the same number as the Lord's Apostles; and about there being seventy elders, the same number as the Lord's disciples. And there are many other examples where the numbers mean some special characteristic completely different from the persons or objects to which they apply. And when completely separated one from the other the states meant by the numbers are then left.