Arcana Coelestia #487
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.
Heaven and Hell #188
188. The angels who constitute the Lord's heavenly kingdom live for the most part in loftier places that look like mountains above the ground. The angels who constitute the Lord's spiritual kingdom live in less lofty places that look like hills, while the angels who live in the lowest regions of heaven live in places that look like rocky cliffs. These things also stem from correspondences, since the deeper things correspond to higher ones and the more outward to lower ones. 1 This is why mountains in the Word mean heavenly love, hills mean spiritual love, and rocks mean faith. 2
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the Word, more inward things are expressed by "higher," and higher things mean more inward ones: 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325."High" means inner, and also heaven: 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599, 8153.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] In heaven, one can see mountains, hills, rocks, valleys, and plains just as we can in this world: 10608. Angels who are in the good of love live on mountains, angels in the good of charity on hills, and angels in the good of faith on cliffs: 10438. Therefore mountains in the Word mean the good of love: 795, 4210, 6435, 8327, 8758, 10438, 10608. Hills mean the good of charity: 6435, 10438. Rocks mean the good and truth of faith: 8581, 10580. The stone from which rocks are made also means the truth of faith: 114, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8608 [8609?], 10376. This is why mountains mean heaven: 8327, 8805, 9420; and why a mountaintop means the highest heaven: 9422, 9434, 10608. Therefore the early people held their holy worship on mountains: 796, 2722.
