4786. 'And his father wept for him' means interior mourning. This is clear from the meaning of 'weeping' as the extremity of grief and sadness, and so as interior mourning. In the ancient Churches the external practices by which, internal things were represented included those of wailing and weeping over the dead. Their wailing and weeping meant interior mourning, although their actual mourning was not interior. One reads the following, for example, about the Egyptians who had set out with Joseph to bury Jacob,

When they came to the threshing-floor of Atad which is at the crossing of the Jordan they wailed there with an exceedingly great and grievous wailing, and he mourned for his father seven days. And the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Atad, and they said, This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians. Genesis 50:10-11.

And one reads about David weeping over Abner,

They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. 2 Samuel 3:32.

761. Where she is nourished a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.- That this signifies until the church grows and comes to its fulness, is evident from the signification of being nourished, as denoting to be sustained, and in the meantime to grow; and from the signification of a time, and times, and half a time, as denoting the state of the increase of the church, even to its fulness, for this has a similar signification to that of a thousand two hundred and sixty days in the sixth verse, for it is there also said of the woman that she "fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and sixty days." That this number has a similar signification to that of the number three and a half, also of the number seven, namely, until it grows to its fulness, may be seen above (n. 732). But here it is said a time, times, and half a time because the numbers named above in their places also signify times, and times signify states of life in their progress, as may be seen above (n. 571, 610, 664, 673, 747) - here, therefore, their progress and growth even to fulness. It is said a time, times and half a time, because time in the singular signifies a state of good; times in the plural a state of truth, each as to its implantation, while half a time signifies a holy state of the church. The reason of this signification is, that a thing in the singular number implies good, in the plural, truths, while a half implies what is holy. A half implies what is holy, because three signifies fulness, and similarly "three and a half," and "seven"; but seven signifies fulness when used where holy things are treated of, and the half after the three fills up and makes the number seven; for three and a half doubled make seven, and a number that is doubled or multiplied has a similar signification to that of the number which is doubled or multiplied, as seven has a similar signification here to that of three and a half. That seven signifies fulness and completeness, and is used of holy things, may be seen above (n. 20, 24, 257). That such things are signified by a time, times, and half a time, is evident from these words in Daniel:

A man clothed in linen "lifted up his right hand and his left hand to the heavens, and sware by him who liveth for ever that it shall be for a fixed time of fixed times, and a half; and when they shall have made an end of dispersing the hand of the people of holiness, all these things shall be consummated" (12:7).

It is evident that these times signify consummation, for it is said, "Until all these things shall be consummated," and consummation means fulfilment, thus even to fulness.