487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

5025. 'Saying, The Hebrew slave whom you have brought to us came to me' means that servile thing. This is clear from what has been stated above in 5013. Here 'that servile thing' is used to mean spiritual truth and good, which at this particular point is represented by 'Joseph'. This truth and good is seen by the unspiritual natural man as something servile. For example, the desire on the part of spiritual truth and good is that a person's delight should lie not at all in eminent positions or any kind of superiority over others but in the services rendered by him to his country and to communities corporately and individually, thus that a person's delight should lie in the purpose that positions of importance are meant to serve. The merely natural man is entirely ignorant of what this delight is and denies the existence of it. Although he too can in a hypocritical manner say much the same thing, he nevertheless makes 'a lord' out of the delight received from important positions existing for his own benefit and 'a slave' out of such positions existing for the benefit of communities corporately and individually. For in every single thing he does he regards himself first and communities only after himself, promoting their welfare only insofar as they promote his.

[2] Take another example. If one says that the purpose and end in view determine whether something is spiritual or unspiritual - spiritual when the purpose and end have the common good, the Church, and God's kingdom in view, but unspiritual when the purpose and end have, preponderating over these, oneself and one's own family and friends in view - the natural man is indeed able to affirm this with his lips but not in his heart. He can do so with his lips because of the instruction received by his understanding, but he cannot do so in his heart because his understanding has been ruined by evil desires. Consequently he makes 'a lord' out of the purpose and end that has himself in view, and 'a slave' out of the purpose and end that has the common good, the Church, and God's kingdom in view. Indeed he says in his heart, How can anyone possibly be any different from this?

[3] In short, everything that the natural man regards as being separated from himself is considered utterly worthless by him and is cast aside; and everything that he regards as being linked to himself is considered by him to be valuable and acceptable. The natural man neither knows nor wishes to know about any spiritual way of thinking in which a person sees himself linked to everyone who is governed by good, whether or not he is actually acquainted with him, and separated from everyone who is governed by evil, whether or not he is actually acquainted with him. For when this is a person s way of thinking he is linked to those in heaven and cut off from those in hell. But since the natural man does not experience any delight in that spiritual attitude, for the reason that he does not entertain any spiritual influence, he therefore looks upon it as something utterly base and servile, thus something worthless compared with the delight he experiences, coming to him through his physical senses and through the desires of his selfish and worldly love. But this delight is a dead one because it originates in hell, whereas the delight brought by a spiritual influence is living, since this delight, which comes by way of heaven, begins in the Lord.