Arcana Coelestia #488
488. As has been stated, 'days' means states in general, and 'years' states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,
You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezekiel 22:4.
This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so 'days' has reference in this case to such people's state in general, 'years' to that state in particular.
In David,
You will add days to the king's days; and his years as generation after generation! Psalms 61:6.
This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again 'days' and 'years' stand for the state of His kingdom.
In the same author,
I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.
Here 'days of old' is states of the Most Ancient Church, and 'years of long ago' states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,
The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.
This stands for the final times, where 'the day of vengeance' stands for a state of condemnation, and 'the year of the redeemed' for a state of blessedness.
Similarly, in the same prophet,
To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.
Here again 'days' and also 'years' are mentioned and mean states.
In Jeremiah,
Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.
Here 'days' plainly stands for state.
[2] In Joel,
The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1-2, 11.
Here 'day' stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom - a state of individuals in particular and of all in general.
In Zechariah,
I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:9-10.
And elsewhere in Zechariah,
There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zechariah 14:7.
State is clearly meant here, for it is said that 'it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light'.
The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,
Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15.
Here 'a prolonging of days' does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.
[3] In the sense of the letter 'day' cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,
The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezekiel 30:3.
And in Joel,
Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.
Here 'a day of cloud' stands for cloud or falsity, 'a day of the nations' for the nations or wickedness, and 'the day of Jehovah' for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.
Exodus 21
1
"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
2
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
3
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4
If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
5
But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;'
6
then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
7
"If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
8
If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9
If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.
10
If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
11
If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
12
"One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
13
but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen: then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.
14
If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15
"Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
16
"Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17
"Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18
"If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but is confined to bed;
19
if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
20
"If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21
Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.
22
"If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow.
23
But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
24
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25
burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26
"If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27
If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
28
"If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
29
But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
30
If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.
31
Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.
32
If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
33
"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
34
the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
35
"If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
36
Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
