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.

10614. 'And Jehovah descended in the cloud and stood with him there' means the outward form that the Word takes, in which the Divine is present. This is clear from the meaning of 'the cloud' as the literal and so the outward sense of the Word, dealt with in the Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343(end), 6752, 8106, 8781, 9430, 10574; and from the meaning of 'standing with Moses there', when it refers to what Jehovah did, as the Divine present within it. The reason why Jehovah appeared to Moses in the cloud is that in the present chapter Moses represents the outward form taken by the Word that is receptive of what is inward, see above in 10607; for the Lord appears to everyone in a way suited to the kind of person he is, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551.

[2] Something brief must be stated here to explain what an outward form receptive of that which is inward is, and what an outward form unreceptive of that which is inward is. Within the Word there is an outward sense, there is an inward sense, and there is an inmost sense. The nature of the Word in its outward sense is as it is seen to be in the literal statements. This sense is natural because it is suited to what people in the world can grasp, for people here think on a natural level. The Word in its inward sense however is spiritual because it is suited to the understanding of angels in the Lord's spiritual kingdom; for the angels there think on a spiritual level. But the Word in its inmost sense is celestial because it is suited to the perception of angels in the Lord's celestial kingdom; for the angels there think on a level above the spiritual. Since the Word is like this it follows that one exists within another in the same order - the inmost within the inward, and the inward within the outward. As a result of this all things are connected together, and influx takes place in conformity with that connection; and they also derive their ongoing existence one from another. From all this it is evident that the inner things exist in order within what is outward in much the same way as what is prior exists within what is posterior, sequentially, or as the end exists within the cause and the cause within the effect, or - in the case of the human being - as the will exists within thought and thought within speech.

[3] When therefore the character of a person is such that in his own mind he sees the holiness within the external things of the Word, the Church, and worship, then in his case the outward form taken by these contains that which is inward; for that holiness comes from an inward source since it originates in heaven. This outward form is the one that Moses represents. But when the character of a person is such that he sees none of the holiness within the external things of the Word, the Church, and worship, then in his case the outward form is separated from what is inward, as it was with the Israelite nation, see 10396 (end).