45. This was how people who lived in most ancient times envisaged matters of the understanding and those of the will. Among the Prophets therefore, and consistently throughout the Old Testament Word, like matters are represented by various kinds of living creatures. There are two kinds of beasts - evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are gentle. Evil [and harmful] things in man were meant by such beasts as bears, wolves, and dogs, while good and gentle things were meant by beasts such as calves, sheep, and lambs. As the subject here is those persons who are to be regenerated, 'the beasts' are good and gentle ones, which mean affections. Things of a baser nature that derive from the body are called 'wild animals of the earth'. These are desires and pleasures.

647. It is bound to seem strange and very far-fetched to everybody that these details have this meaning, that is to say, that the numbers three hundred, fifty, and thirty mean remnants, and in particular that they were few; also that 'length, breadth, and height' means holiness, truth, and good. But in addition to what has been stated and shown above about numbers at verse 3 of this chapter, where a hundred and twenty means the remnants of faith, this matter may also become clear to anybody from the fact that people who possess the internal sense, as good spirits and angels do, are beyond anything earthly, bodily, or purely worldly, and so beyond anything involving numbers and measurements. Yet the Lord enables them to perceive the Word fully, and to do so quite independently from such concepts. This being so, it becomes quite clear that numbers and measurements embody celestial and spiritual things. The latter however are so remote from the sense of the letter that such things cannot possibly be seen. This applies to every single celestial or spiritual thing. From this also anyone may recognize how insane it is to desire to inquire into matters of faith through sensory evidence and factual knowledge and to refuse to believe unless one grasps them by that method.