The Bible

 

Genesis 1:27

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27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #487

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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.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8421

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8421. 'And it shall be on the sixth day' means at the end of each state. This is clear from the meaning of 'day' is state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 7680; and from the meaning of 'the sixth' as the end of a state. The reason why 'the sixth day' means the end of a state is that 'seven days' or 'a week' means a whole period or complete state, 2044, 3845, 6508, and therefore the day before the seventh, which is 'the sixth', means the end of that state, while the day after, which is 'the eighth', means the beginning of the same state, 2044, 8400.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.