3498. I know not the day of my death. That this signifies life in the natural, is evident from the signification of “day,” as being state (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788); and from the signification of death,” as being to rise again, or to be resuscitated into life (n. 3326); thus by the “day of death” is signified a state of resuscitation of life, or what is the same, life; that this is in the natural is evident, because life therein is here treated of. How the case herein is cannot be seen unless it is known how the case is with the life of the rational and with the life of the natural; or what is the same, with the life of the internal man and the life of the external. The life of the rational or internal man is distinct from the life of the natural or external man, and indeed so distinct that the life of the rational or internal man is possible apart from the life of the natural or external man; but the life of the natural or external man is not possible without the life of the rational or internal man, for the external man lives from the internal, insomuch that if the life of the internal man should cease, the life of the external would immediately become a nullity, because exterior things depend on interior ones as posterior things on prior, or as the effect on the efficient cause, for if the efficient cause should cease, the effect would immediately become a nullity. It is the same with the life of the external man relatively to the life of the internal.

[2] This may be plainly seen from man; for when man is in the world, or lives in the body, his rational is distinct from his natural, insomuch that he can be withdrawn from the external sensuous things of the body, and also in some degree from the interior sensuous things of his natural man, and can be in his rational, thus in spiritual thought. This appears better from the fact that when a man dies he altogether leaves the external sensuous things of the body, and then retains the life of his interior man; and also that although he indeed has with him the memory-knowledges of the external or natural memory, he nevertheless does not enjoy the use of them (see n. 2475-2477, 2479-2486). From this it is evident that the rational or internal man is distinct from the external; but during man’s life in the body his rational does not appear to be distinct from his natural, because he is in the world, or in nature; and this being so, the life of the rational appears within the natural, insomuch that there does not appear to be any life in the rational unless it is in the natural at the same time. (That the rational appears to have life only insofar as the natural corresponds to it, may be seen above, n. 3493.) From this it may be seen that it is life corresponding in the natural which is signified by these words which Isaac spoke unto Esau, “I know not the day of my death;” for the rational is represented by Isaac, and the natural by Esau, both as to the good therein.

488. That “days” signify states in general, and “years” states in special, appears from the Word, as in Ezekiel:

Thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years (Ezekiel 22:4),

speaking of those who commit abominations, and fill up the measure of their sins, of whose state in general are predicated “days” and in special “years.”

So in David:

Thou shalt add days to the days of the king, and his years as of generation and generation (Psalms 61:6),

speaking of the Lord and of His kingdom, where also “days” and “years” signify the state of His kingdom. Again:

I have considered the days of old, the years of the ages (Psalms 77:5),

where “days of old” signify states of the Most Ancient Church, and “years of the ages” states of the Ancient Church.

In Isaiah:

The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come (Isaiah 63:4),

speaking of the last times, where the “day of vengeance” signifies a state of damnation, and the “year of the redeemed” a state of blessedness. Again:

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:2),

where both “days” and “years” signify states.

In Jeremiah: Renew our days as of old (Lamentations 5:21),

where state is plainly meant.

[2] In Joel:

The day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand, a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and of obscurity; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be after it, even to the years of generation and generation (Joel 2:1-2), where “day” signifies a state of darkness and of thick darkness, of cloud and of obscurity, with each one in particular, and with all in general.

In Zechariah: I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day; in that day shall ye cry a man to his companion under the vine, and under the fig tree (Zechariah 3:9-10).

And in another place:

It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah, not day nor night, and it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light (Zechariah 14:7),

where it is plain that state is meant, for it is said that there shall be a day that is “neither day nor night, at evening time it shall be light.” The same appears from expressions in the Decalogue:

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee upon the ground (Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15),

where to have the “days prolonged” does not signify length of life, but a happy state.

[3] In the literal sense it must needs appear as if “day” signifies time, but in the internal sense it signifies state. The angels, who are in the internal sense, do not know what time is, for they have no sun and moon that distinguish times; consequently they do not know what days, and years are, but only what states are and the changes thereof; and therefore before the angels, who are in the internal sense, everything relating to matter, space, and time disappears, as in the literal sense of this passage in Ezekiel:

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it shall be the time of the nations (Ezekiel 30:3),

and of this in Joel:

Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as vastation shall it come (Joel 1:15),

where a “day of cloud” signifies a cloud, or falsity; the “day of the nations” signifies the nations, or wickedness; the “day of Jehovah” signifies vastation. When the notion of time is removed, there remains the notion of the state of the things which existed at that time. The case is the same with regard to the “days” and “years” that are so often mentioned in this chapter.