Time is an aspect of the physical world, but it is not an aspect of the spiritual world. The same is true of space: There is no space in heaven. This is hard for us to grasp or even visualize, because we live in physical bodies with physical senses that are filled with physical elements existing in time and space. Our minds are schooled and patterned in terms of time and space, and have no reference point to imagine a reality without them. Consider how you think for a second. In your mind you can immediately be in your past or in some speculative future; in your mind you can circle the globe seeing other lands and faraway friends, or even zoom instantly to the most distant stars. Such imaginings are insubstantial, of course, but if we could make them real we would be getting close to what spiritual reality is like. Indeed, the mind is like a spiritual organ, which may be why physicians and philosophers have had such a hard time juxtaposing its functions to those of the brain. What this means in the Bible is that descriptions of time -- hours, days, weeks, months, years and even simply the word "time" itself -- represent spiritual states, and the passing of time represents the change of spiritual states. Again, we can see this a little bit within our minds. If we imagine talking to one friend then talking to another, it feels like going from one place to another, even though we're not moving. The same is true if we picture a moment from childhood and then imagine something in the future; it feels like a movement through time even though it's instantaneous. Changing our state of mind feels like a physical change in space and time. The Bible simply reverses that, with marking points in space and time representing particular states of mind.

6770. Verses 15-19 And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses. And Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he dwelt next to a well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away; and Moses rose up and helped them, and watered their flock. And they came to Reuel their father, and he said, Why have you hastened to come today? And they said, An Egyptian man delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds; and he even drew water for us, and watered the flock.

'And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses' means that having discerned this matter false factual knowledge wished to destroy the truth which the law from God possessed. 'And Moses fled from before Pharaoh' means that it was separated from falsities. 'And dwelt in the land of Midian' means a life led in the Church among those in whom simple good was present. 'And he dwelt next to a well' means an eagerness there for the Word. 'And the priest of Midian had seven daughters' means holy things belonging to that Church. 'And they came and drew water' means that they received instruction in truths from the Word. 'And filled the troughs' means that from there they enriched teachings about charity. 'To water their flock' means to the end that those governed by good might receive instruction from there. 'And the shepherds came and drove them away' means that teachers steeped in evils set themselves against them. 'And Moses rose up and helped them' means aid brought by truths which the law from God possesses. 'And watered their flock' means that those governed by good received instruction from it. 'And they came to Reuel their father' means a joining to the actual good of that Church. 'And he said, Why have you hastened to come today?' means a perception that now it was a certain joining together. 'And they said, An Egyptian man delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds' means because true factual knowledge that was [attached] to the Church prevailed over the power of the teachings that presented falsity arising from evil. 'And he even drew water for us' means that the instruction it gave came from the Word. 'And watered the flock' means those who belonged to the Church there.