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.

1996. 'I will make My covenant between Me and you' means the union of the Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with the Interior Man. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as a joining together, for as often as a covenant between Jehovah and man is mentioned in the Word, nothing else is meant in the internal sense by a covenant than the Lord's being joined to man. The covenants made so many times between Jehovah and the descendants of Jacob had no other representation. As this point has been confirmed in Volume One, in 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, it would be superfluous to do so again here. The Lord's Internal Man was Jehovah because He was conceived from Him, while the Interior Man is represented here by Abram. Consequently 'the covenant between Me and you' means the union of the Internal Man, or Jehovah, with the Interior Man, and so with the Lord's Human Essence.