900. The symbolism of the second month as all the stages that precede rebirth can be seen from the symbolism of two in the Word. Two symbolizes the same thing as six, which is the fighting and hard work that come before rebirth. So here it means all the stages we go through before becoming regenerate.

The longest and shortest intervals in the Word are generally split in three or in seven and are called days, weeks, months, years, or "ages." ¹ Three and seven are holy; two and six, being just one less, are not holy but relatively profane, as shown before (§720).

Three and seven also mean something sacrosanct, each because of its connection with the Last Judgment, predicted as coming on the third or else the seventh day. ² Every person — both collectively and individually — has a last judgment when the Lord comes. There was a last judgment when the Lord came into the world. There will be a last judgment when he enters into his glory. There is a last judgment when he comes individually to each person. There is also a last judgment for each person who dies. This last judgment is the third day and the seventh day, which is holy for those who have lived good lives but unholy for those who have lived evil lives. Consequently, a third day and a seventh is predicted for those judged worthy of death and for those judged worthy of life, so that the numbers symbolize what is unholy for those with a verdict of death but what is holy for those with a verdict of life.

Two and six, the numbers just before three and seven, bear a relationship to them and symbolize in general every preceding stage. This is the meaning of the numbers two and six, and the meaning adapts to the subject at hand and to whatever the subject applies to, which the numbers describe.

All of this will become clearer from the discussion of the number twenty-seven in the next section.

Footnotes:

396. The meaning of Jehovah put a mark on Cain, that no one should strike him, as the fact that the Lord singled faith out in a special way in order to preserve it is established by the symbolism of a mark and of putting a mark on anyone as singling something out. In Ezekiel, for example:

Jehovah said, "Pass through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and you are to make a mark [that is, make a designation] ¹ on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and sighing over all the abominations." (Ezekiel 9:4)

Marking their foreheads does not mean setting a mark or line on their foreheads but distinguishing them from others. Likewise in John:

... that they should harm the people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads. (Revelation 9:4)

Having a mark also stands for being singled out.

[2] The same author uses [a different word] ² for a mark when he speaks of "putting a mark on their hand and on their foreheads" [Revelation 14:9]. The people of the Jewish religion represented the fact of this symbolism by the binding of the first and most important commandment onto their hand and forehead, as described in Moses:

Listen, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your powers. And you shall bind these [words] as a sign on your hand; and let them be as brow pieces between your eyes. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 8; 11:13, 18)

This represented the fact that they singled out the commandment concerning love above all the other commandments, which shows what the placement of marks on their hand and forehead symbolizes.

[3] In Isaiah:

[The time] to gather all nations and tongues is coming, and they will come and see my glory; and I will put a mark on them. (Isaiah 66:18-19)

And in David:

Turn to face me and have mercy on me; give your strength to your servant, and save the child of your serving maid. Make with me a mark of goodness, and let those who hate me see and be ashamed. (Psalms 86:16-17)

All this now establishes what a mark is. No one should suppose that any mark was actually placed on an individual named Cain, because the inner meaning of the Word involves themes completely different from those on the literal plane.

Footnotes: