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.

Mga talababa:

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.

Mga talababa: