4265. Verses 16-23 And he gave them into the hand of his servants, drove by drove separately; and he said to his servants, Pass over in front of me and put a space between drove and drove. And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, To whom do you belong, and where are you going; and whose are these in front of you? then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us. And he commanded the second also, the third also, and all also following the droves, saying, In this manner ¹ shall you speak to Esau when you find him. And you shall also say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the gift that is going in front of me, and after that I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. And the gift passed over in front of him, and he spent that night in the camp. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives (femina), and his two servant-girls, and his eleven sons, and passed over at the passage of Jabbok. And he took them and made them pass over the river, and made all that he had pass over.

'He gave them into the hand of his servants, drove by drove separately, and he said to his servants, Pass over in front of me and put a space between drove and drove' means an arrangement of them into the order in which they were to be introduced. 'And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, To whom do you belong; and where are you going; and whose are these in front of you? then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us' means submission. 'And he commanded the second also, the third also, and all also following the droves, saying, In this manner shall you speak to Esau when you find him' means a continuation. 'And you shall also say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the gift that is going in front of me, and after that I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me' means preparation for what follows. 'And the gift passed over in front of him' means being carried into effect. 'And he spent that night in the camp' means the things which follow. 'And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servant-girls, and his eleven sons, and passed over at the passage of Jabbok' means the first instillation of the affections for truth, together with truths that had been acquired, 'the passage of Jabbok' meaning the first instillation. 'And he took them and made them pass over the river, and made all that he had pass over' means a further instillation.

Footnotes:

487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.