3498. 'I do not know the day of my death' means the life within the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'day' as state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and from the meaning of 'death' as rising again or awakening into life, dealt with in 3326. 'The day of death' accordingly means a state of awakening to life, or what amounts to the same, it means life - the life within the natural, it is evident, being meant in particular here, because that life is the subject here. What is implied in all this does not become clear unless one knows about the life of the rational, and the life of the natural, or what amounts to the same, about the life of the internal man and the life of the external man. The life of the rational or internal man is distinct and separate from that of the natural or external man, so distinct indeed that the life of the rational or internal man may exist quite independently of the life of the natural or external man; but the life of the natural or external man cannot exist apart from that of the rational or internal man. For the external man lives from the internal man, so much so that if the life of the internal man ceased to be, the life of the external man would instantly be no more. Exterior things are accordingly dependent on interior in the way that things which are posterior exist from those that are prior, or as an effect exists from its efficient cause. For if the efficient cause ceased to be, the effect would instantly be no more. The same is also so with the life of the external man in relation to the life of the internal man.

[2] This may be seen even more clearly in the human being, for while a person is in the world, that is, while he lives in the body, his rational is distinct and separate from the natural, so much so that he can be raised above the level of external sensory perceptions which belong to the body, and even to a certain extent above the level of inner sensory perceptions which belong to his natural man, and to be aware on the level of his rational, and so of spiritual thought. This is even more evident from the fact that when a person dies he leaves behind him altogether the external sensory perceptions that belong to the body, retaining at the same time the life of his interior man. Indeed he brings with him even the facts that exist in the external or natural memory, though he does not have the use of them, see 2475-2477, 2479-2483, 2485, 2486. From this it is evident that the rational or internal man is distinct and separate from the external man. But while a person is living in the body his rational does not seem to be distinct and separate from the natural, the reason being that he is living in the world or the natural order. That being so the life of the rational manifests itself within the natural, so much so that the rational does not seem to have any life at all if the natural does not at the same time have any. The amount of life that the rational seems to have in this case depends on how far the natural corresponds to it - see above in 3493. From this it may be seen that there is a corresponding life in the natural, which life is meant by the words which Isaac addressed to Esau, 'I do not know the day of my death'. For 'Isaac' represents the rational, and 'Esau' the natural, in both cases as regards good.

482. Until now nobody has known what the years and the numbers of years occurring in this chapter mean in the internal sense. People who stay within the sense of the letter imagine that they are no more than chronological years. But none of the content from here down to Chapter 12 is history as it seems to be in the sense of the letter, for every single detail contains something of a different nature. What applies to names applies to numbers as well. In the Word the number three occurs frequently, and so does the number seven; and in every instance they mean something holy or inviolable as regards those states which the periods of time or whatever else that is mentioned embody or represent. This applies as much to the shortest as to the longest time-intervals; for just as parts makeup the whole, so do the shortest make up the longest. For a similarity must exist in order that a whole may emerge satisfactorily out of the parts, or that which is largest out of that which is smallest.

[2] As in Isaiah,

Jehovah has now spoken, saying, In three years, according to the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be rendered worthless. Isaiah 16:14.

In the same prophet,

The Lord said to me, Within yet a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end. Isaiah 21:6.

Here both the shortest as well as the longest time-intervals are meant. In Habakkuk,

O Jehovah, I have heard Your fame; I was afraid. O Jehovah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Habakkuk 3:2.

Here 'the midst of the years' stands for the Lord's Coming. If the intervals are shorter this stands for every coming of the Lord, as when a person is being regenerated; but if longer it stands for the rising anew of the Lord's Church. It is also called in Isaiah 'the year of the redeemed', The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

So too 'the thousand years' for which Satan is to be bound, Revelation 20:2-3, 7, and 'the thousand years' associated with the first resurrection, Revelation 20:4-6. These in no way mean a thousand years but the states associated with them. For just as 'days, as shown 'already, are interpreted as a state, so too are 'years', and the states are described by the number of the years. From this it becomes clear that periods of time in this chapter also embody states, for every Church experienced a different state of perception from the next, according to differences of disposition resulting from inherited and acquired characteristics.