299. There are two arcana here: the first that 'Jehovah God' means the Lord and at the same time heaven, the second that if they had been instructed in mysteries of faith they would have perished forever.

4617. 'A hundred and eighty years' means the nature of this state. This becomes clear from the fact that all numbers in the Word have spiritual realities as their meaning, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495. 'A hundred and eighty years' accordingly means the nature of the reality, that is, of the state, which is being dealt with. 'A hundred' means a complete state, see 2636, and 'eighty' temptations, 1963, here by means of temptations - in addition to many other things which cannot be known. Numbers obtain their meanings from the simpler numbers of which they are the products when the simpler are brought together or multiplied, as with the number here which is the product of twelve and fifteen and also of others yet simpler than these.