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.

3960. 'And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; once again my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons' in the highest sense means the Lord's Divine itself and His Divine Human, in the internal sense the heavenly marriage, and in the external sense conjugial love. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling together' and also from all the other words which Leah uttered at this point. The reason why 'dwelling together' in the highest sense means the Lord's Divine itself and His Divine Human is that the Divine itself, and the Father, exists mutually and reciprocally within the Divine Human, termed the Son of God, according to the words of the Lord Himself in John,

Jesus said, Philip, he who has seen Me has seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11; 10:38.

This union is the Divine Marriage itself, see 3211, 3952. That union is not however a dwelling together, though it is expressed as such in the sense of the letter. For things which are one present themselves in the sense of the letter as two - as the Father and the Son - or even as three, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They do so for many reasons which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere.

[2] Here also lies the reason why 'dwelling together' in the internal sense means the heavenly marriage, for it is from the Divine Marriage - the union of the Father and the Son, that is, of the Lord's Divine itself with His Divine Human - that the heavenly marriage comes into being. The heavenly marriage exists as that which is called the Lord's kingdom and also heaven, and it is so called because it comes into being from the Divine Marriage, which is the Lord. This then is what is meant in the internal sense by 'dwelling together', and is also the reason why heaven is called God's dwelling-place, as in Isaiah,

Look out from heaven, and see from the dwelling-place of Your holiness and of Your glory. Where are Your zeal and Your might? The yearning of Your loins, and Your compassion ¹ towards me have held themselves back. Isaiah 63:15.

'The dwelling-place of holiness' stands for the celestial kingdom, and

'The dwelling-place of glory' for the spiritual kingdom. 'Dwelling-place' used here in Isaiah is derived from the same word as 'dwelling together' and 'Zebulun' are derived.

[3] The reason why 'dwelling together' in the external sense means conjugial love is that all genuine conjugial love has its origin nowhere else than in the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of good and truth, and this in turn has its origin in the Divine Marriage, which is that of the Lord's Divine itself and His Divine Human. See what has been stated already on these matters in the following places:

The heavenly marriage descends from Divine Good present within the Lord, and from Divine Truth proceeding from Him, 2508, 2618, 2803, 3132.

This marriage is the origin of conjugial love, 2728, 2729.

People who live in genuine conjugial love are dwelling together in the inmost things of life, 2732, and so in love for good and truth since these constitute the inmost things of life.

Conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves, 2737-2739.

The marriage of good and truth exists in heaven, in the Church, with every member of heaven and the Church, and in every individual thing within the natural order, 718, 747, 917, 1432, 2173, 2516, 2712, 2758; it exists in every detail of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712; and so in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself.

The names Jesus Christ mean the Divine Marriage, 3004.

[4] These are the things meant not only by 'dwelling together', that is, by the words 'once again my husband will dwell with me' but also by those preceding them, 'God has endowed me with a good dowry'. The former however means the truth of good whereas the latter means the good of truth, for these two constitute the heavenly marriage. And because this is a conclusion the statement 'because I have borne him six sons' is added; for 'six' here is similar in meaning to twelve. In the Word half a number, or twice that number, has the same meaning as the number itself when the subject is similar.

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