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1 Mose 18:17

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17 Da sprach der HERR: Wie kann ich Abraham verbergen, was ich tue,

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Arcana Coelestia #2252

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2252. Peradventure there be fifty righteous in the midst of the city. That this signifies that the truths may possibly be full of goods, is evident from the signification of “fifty,” as being what is full; from the signification of “righteous” as being good (see n. 612, 2235); from that of the “midst,” as being what is within (n. 1074); and from that of “city,” as being truth (n. 402). Thus “fifty righteous in the midst of the city,” means in the internal sense that truths may possibly be full of goods within. That there is this meaning in these words cannot be seen from the letter, for the historicals of the literal sense lead the mind in quite a different direction, that is, to different thoughts; and yet that these words are so perceived by those who are in the internal sense, I know of a certainty. The numbers themselves also, as here “fifty,” and in what follows “forty-five,” “forty,” “thirty,” “twenty,” and “ten,” are by no means perceived as numbers by those who are in the internal sense, but as real things or states (as is shown, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 2075).

[2] For the ancients marked the states of their church-in one way-by numbers; and the nature of their computation in so doing is evident from the signification of the numbers in the places just referred to. They had the signification of numbers from the representatives which exist in the world of spirits, where, when anything appears as numbered, it does not signify anything that is determined by the numbers, but the thing or state itself; as is evident from the things that have been adduced (n. 2129, 2130, also n. 2089) concerning “twelve,” as meaning all the things of faith. It is similar with the numbers which now follow. This shows what is the nature of the Word in the internal sense.

[3] That “fifty” signifies what is full, comes from its following next after the product of seven into seven, or forty-nine, so that it is the impletion of this number, on which account there was in the Representative Church the festival of the Seven Sabbaths on the fiftieth day, and the Jubilee in the fiftieth year. As regards the festival of the seven sabbaths we read in Moses:

Ye shall count unto you from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven entire sabbaths shall there be, even unto the morrow of the seventh sabbath shall ye count fifty days, and ye shall offer a new offering unto Jehovah (Leviticus 23:15).

And concerning the Jubilee:

Thou shalt count for thee seven sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, and they shall be to thee seven sabbaths of years, nine and forty years, and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty in the land to all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you (Leviticus 25:8, 10),

which shows that the fiftieth is what is full in relation to sabbaths.

[4] Moreover, wherever “fifty” is mentioned in the Word, it signifies what is full; as when it is said that:

The Levites were numbered from a son of thirty years and upward, even unto a son of fifty years (Numbers 4:23, 34, 35, 39, 43, 47; 8:25);

meaning the full or final state of discharging the ministry.

That a man lying with a damsel, a virgin, shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she should be to him for a wife, nor could he put her away (Deuteronomy 22:29),

which denotes a full fine and full restitution.

David’s giving to Araunah for the threshing-floor where he built the altar to Jehovah, fifty shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24)

denotes a full price and a full purchase.

Absalom’s preparing for himself a chariot and horses, and having fifty men running before him (2 Samuel 15:1),

and in like manner:

Adonijah’s having chariots and horsemen, and fifty men running before him (1 Kings 1:5),

denotes full excellence and greatness. For they had from the ancients certain representative and significative numbers, which they observed, and which were also commanded in their rites; but most of them did not know what they signified.

[5] And in the same way, as “fifty” signifies what is full, and as this number was also representative-already said-the same thing is signified by it in the Lord’s parable of the steward, who said to him that owed the oil:

How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, a hundred baths of oil. And he said unto him, take thy bond, and sit down quickly, and write fifty (Luke 16:6);

“fifty” denoting full payment. As fifty is a number, it indeed appears to involve nothing beyond the number; whereas in the internal sense what is full is everywhere meant by it, as in Haggai:

One came to the wine-press to draw out fifty out of the wine-press; there were twenty (Haggai 2:16),

that is, instead of fullness there was not much. “Fifty” could not have been mentioned here in the Prophet unless it had been significative.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

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Genesis 6

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1 It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

2 that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose.

3 Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."

4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

7 Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.

9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.

10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

13 God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.

15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.

17 I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.

18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.

21 Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them."

22 Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.