664. Verse 11. And after the three days and a half, signifies when it is finished, thus the end of the old church and the beginning of the New Church. This is evident from the signification of "the three days and a half," as being fullness and completion as to the end of the old church, when there is the beginning of the New Church (See above, n. 658). It is said "after the three days and a half" because in the Word "days" signify states, here the last state of the church; for in the Word all times, as "hours," "days," "weeks," "months," "years," "ages," signify states, as here the last state of the church, when there is no longer any good of love or truth of faith left. Because "days" signify states, and the establishment of the Most Ancient Church is treated of in the first chapter of Genesis, and it becomes established successively from one state to another, it is there said:

That there was evening and there was morning the first day, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth days, even to the seventh, when it was finished (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2);

and the "days" there do not mean days, but the successive states of the regeneration of men at that time, and the consequent establishment of the church with them. So also elsewhere in the Word.

8049. 'Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves' means that especially should they call to mind that state which was theirs when they were delivered from spiritual captivity by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'remember' as that they should call to mind; from the meaning of 'day' as state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 5672, 5962, 7680; from the meaning of 'coming out' as being delivered, for the exodus of the children of Israel means the deliverance by the Lord of those belonging to the spiritual Church, regarding which deliverance see 6854, 6914, 7091 (end), 7828, 7932, 8018; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' and 'the house of slaves' as spiritual captivity. For 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' mean those in the next life who molested spiritual people by means of falsities, 7097, 7107, 7110, 7126, 7142, 7220, 7228, 7317, and therefore 'the land of Egypt' means molestation, 7278. Molestation by means of falsities is nothing else than spiritual captivity, for when people suffer molestation they are held captive so to speak in falsities from which they constantly strive to be delivered. This also explains why they are called in the Word 'the bound in the pit', 6854. That spiritual captivity is what is also meant by 'the house of slaves (or servants)'. 'Slavery' (or service) means being under attack from falsities, which is molestation, see 7120, 7129.