487. The symbolism of days as those times and states in general was shown in the first chapter [§23], where the days of creation symbolize nothing else.

It is very common for the Word to call all units of time "days." ¹ In this verse the practice is quite obvious, as it also is in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, and 31 below. The general states at those times accordingly are symbolized by days as well. When years are mentioned in conjunction with days, the time spans represented by those years symbolize the nature of the states then; in other words, they symbolize the specific states.

[2] The earliest people had particular numbers they used for symbolizing various aspects of the church: three, seven, ten, twelve, and additional ones that they compounded out of these and others. This allowed them to sum up the states of the church. As a result, these numbers contain hidden wisdom that would require a long explanation. It was a way of evaluating different states in the church.

The same phenomenon occurs at many other places in the Word, especially in the prophets. In the rites of the Jewish religion there are also numbers for both timing and measurement in connection with sacrifices, minhas, ² oblations, and other acts of worship; and everywhere those numbers occur they symbolize holiness in the thing they are applied to.

What these numbers specifically involve, then — the eight hundred in this verse, the nine hundred thirty in the next, and so on for the numbers of years in the following verses — is more than I can ever convey. They all come down to changes in the state of religion among those people, seen in relation to their general state.

Later on, by the Lord's divine mercy, I will need to tell what the simple numbers up to twelve symbolize. ³ Unless this is known first, the symbolism of their products cannot be grasped.

Footnotes:

575. The days of humankind will be one hundred twenty years means that they ought to have traces of faith left. In verses 3, 4 of the last chapter I said that days and years symbolize those times and states [§§482, 487-488], and that the earliest people used different combinations of numbers to symbolize the state of the church and changes in that state [§487:2]. But their method of calculating numbers for the affairs of their church is part of the knowledge that has been lost.

Likewise in the present verse the number of years comes up, and no one can have any idea what the numbers mean without knowing what significance lies hidden in the individual numbers from one to twelve and beyond. It is obvious that they involve some other, hidden meaning, since a life span of 120 years is inconsistent with earlier verses. People in later times did not live a mere 120 years either, as can be seen from those living after the Flood. Chapter 11 says of Shem that he lived 500 years after fathering Arpachshad, that Arpachshad lived 403 years after fathering Shelah, that Shelah also lived 403 years after fathering Eber, and that Eber lived 430 years after fathering Peleg. Chapter 9, verse 28, says that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood. And so on.

What the number 120 involves can be seen only from its factors, ten and twelve. To be specific, it symbolizes remaining traces of faith. In the Word the number ten — and tenths or tithes as well — symbolizes and represents a remnant preserved by the Lord in the inner self, the remnant being holy because it belongs to the Lord alone. The number twelve symbolizes faith, or all aspects of faith taken as a whole. The number compounded out of these symbolizes a remnant of faith.

1286. The fact that a language, [a lip, or speech] is doctrine can be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Isaiah:

The seraphs shouted, "Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah Sabaoth!" The prophet said, "Alas for me! I have been cut off — since I am a man unclean of lips and am living in the middle of a people unclean of lips — because my eyes have seen the king, Jehovah Sabaoth." And one of the seraphs flew to me, touched my mouth, and said, "Look, now, this one has touched you on your lips, and your wickedness is subsiding, and your sin is being atoned for." (Isaiah 6:3, 5-6, 7)

The lips stand for our inner capacities and so for inward worship, which gives rise to reverence, a fact represented here in the prophet. As anyone can see, the touching of his lips, and the consequent subsiding of his wickedness and atonement for his sin, was a representation of deeper attributes. These attributes — which are facets of charity and of the doctrine of charity — are symbolized by the lips.

[2] In the same author:

Jehovah will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the spirit ¹ of his lips he will kill the ungodly person. (Isaiah 11:4)

The inner sense contains the idea not that Jehovah will strike anyone with the rod of his mouth or kill an ungodly person with the spirit of his lips but that the ungodly do this to themselves. The spirit of the lips is doctrine, and with ungodly people the doctrine is false. In the same author:

[I am] the one who creates the produce of the lips: ² peace; peace to one who is far off and to one who is near. And I heal that person. (Isaiah 57:19)

The produce of the lips stands for doctrine.

[3] In Ezekiel:

Child of humankind, come; go to the house of Israel, and you are to speak my words to them. Not to a people deep of speech and heavy of tongue are you sent [but] to the house of Israel; not to numerous peoples deep of speech and heavy of tongue, whose words you would not hear. If I sent you to these, would they not listen to you? And the house of Israel does not want to listen to you, because they do not want to listen to me. For the whole house of Israel has an obstinate forehead, and they are hard of heart. (Ezekiel 3:4, 5, 6, 7)

The people deep of speech stand for the surrounding nations, which had charity, even though their doctrine was wrong. As a result, they are described as listening. Those who have no charity, though, are said to have an obstinate forehead and hard heart.

[4] In Zephaniah:

I will turn toward a people of transparent speech, so that they may all call on the name of Jehovah, to serve him with a single shoulder. (Zephaniah 3:9)

The transparent speech plainly stands for doctrine. In Malachi:

The law of truth was in his mouth, and perversion was not found on his lips. For the priest's lips will protect knowledge, and people will seek the law from his mouth, since he is the angel of Jehovah Sabaoth. (Malachi 2:6-7)

This describes Levi, who represents the Lord. The lips stand for doctrine based on charity. In David:

... who say, "By our tongue we will prevail; our lips will stand by us." (Psalms 12:4)

The lips stand for falsity. In the same author:

My soul will be filled, as with grease and fat, ³ and my mouth will give praise with lips of song. (Psalms 63:5)

In Isaiah:

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to Jehovah Sabaoth. (Isaiah 19:18)

A language stands for doctrine.

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