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.

2272. 'And said, Perhaps forty will be found there' means people who have undergone temptations. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'forty' as temptations, dealt with in Volume One, in 730. How these details follow on in the train of thought is seen from what temptations are. Temptations arise not only so that a person may be confirmed in truths but also so that truths may be joined more closely to goods; for in times of temptation he fights for truths against falsities. And because during temptations he suffers inward distress and suffers torment, the delights of life belonging to evil desires and their attendant pleasures cease to exist. Goods from the Lord flow in, and at the same time evils are regarded as abominable. As a consequence of this new thoughts contrary to those that he had previously now arise. Towards these his mind is then able to be turned, and so it is able to be turned from evils to goods, which are then joined to truths. And because it is through temptations that good becomes joined to truth, and because in the previous verse it was said that those would be saved with whom goods are able to be joined to truths, what occurs in this verse to the effect that goods and truths are able to be joined through temptations therefore follows. This is the sequence of ideas seen by those who know the internal sense.