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.

2033. 'You shall keep My covenant' means an even closer union. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as union and conjunction, dealt with already at verses 2, 4, 7, and in Volume One, in 665, 666, 1023, 1038. The further reference here to the covenant which has been mentioned so many times already denotes a closer union. In the historical sense which has to do with Abraham, nothing else may be said than that he was to keep the covenant; but in the internal sense, in which the Lord is the subject, the historical aspects disappear and things take their place which have to do with being united more closely. The union of the Lord's Human Essence with His Divine Essence was not accomplished all at once but gradually throughout the whole course of His life from early childhood to the end of His life in the world. Thus He was ascending continuously towards glorification, that is, towards union, which is what is stated in John,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:28.

See what has appeared already in 1690, 1864.