1429. The fact that and Abram was a son of seventy-five years means that he did not yet have much divinity can be seen from the symbolism of five as a little and of seventy as holiness. The symbolism of five as a little was illustrated above in §649 and that of seventy (or seven) as holiness in §§395, 433, 716, 881. Since the number seventy is mentioned in connection with the Lord here, it symbolizes divine holiness.

Previous statements and proofs regarding years and numbers (§§482, 487, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813) show that on a deeper level, the numbers counting Abram's years have a different meaning [than the literal one]. The same conclusion is indicated by the fact that the Word contains not so much as a syllable or even a mark that lacks an inner meaning. It would never have been mentioned that Abram was then [a son] of seventy-five years if this had not involved spiritual and heavenly matters, and in fact the event would not have occurred at that particular stage of his life. The presence of a deeper meaning can also be seen from other numbers measuring both years and concrete objects in the Word. ¹

Footnotes:

813. The symbolism of these words as the ending point of the earliest church and of one hundred fifty as an ending point and a starting point is not so susceptible to proof from the Word as the meanings of the simpler numbers, which appear over and over. Still it can be deduced from the fact that the number fifteen, dealt with above at verse 20 [§798], symbolizes what is so meager as to be hardly anything. All that much more so the number one hundred fifty, which is a product of fifteen and ten, since the latter symbolizes remaining traces. Multiplying a small amount — a half, quarter, or tenth, for instance — results in an even smaller product, so small finally as to be almost nothing. ¹ In consequence, it is a conclusion or ending point. The same number appears again in Genesis 8:3 ("the waters receded at the end of one hundred fifty days"), where the meaning is similar.

We need to view the numbers in the Word quite separately from the literal meaning. They are added simply to spin out the thread of the story found in the letter, as stated and shown before [§§482:1, 755:4, 5]. Where seven occurs, for instance, it means holiness, with no reference whatever to the periods of time and the measurements that it usually quantifies. Angels, who perceive the inner meaning of the Word, know nothing of time and measure, let alone what number is specified. Yet when we read the Word, they fully understand it. ² Wherever a number comes up, then, they are unable to form any idea of a number but picture instead the phenomenon that the number symbolizes. So by the number here they understand the ending point of the earliest church, and in verse 3 of the next chapter they understand the starting point of the ancient church, which was the new church.

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