487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

276. That 'eating bread with sweat on the brow' means strong dislike of what is celestial becomes clear from the meaning of 'bread'. Bread is used to mean everything spiritual and celestial, which is the food of angels, and if they were deprived of it they would cease to live, as a person deprived of bread or food ceases to do. That which is celestial and spiritual in heaven also corresponds to bread on earth, and is also represented by bread, as is clear from many places [in the Word]. That the Lord is Bread, because He is the source of everything celestial and spiritual, He Himself teaches in John,

This is the Bread which came down from heaven; anyone who eats this Bread will live forever John 6:58.

This also is why bread and wine are the symbols used in the Holy Supper. This same celestial [or spiritual) was also represented by the manna. That what is celestial and spiritual is the food of angels is clear also from the Lord's own words,

Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4, that is, from the life of the Lord, who is the source of everything celestial and spiritual.

[2] The final generation of the Most Ancient Church which came immediately before the Flood and which is the subject here was so perverse and immersed in sensory and bodily interests that they did not wish to hear what the truth of faith was, nor what the Lord's coming to save them would be. And if these matters were ever mentioned they did not like it at all. This strong dislike is described as 'eating bread with sweat on the brow'. It was similar with the Jews; being people who did not acknowledge heavenly things, and who wished for a purely earthly Messiah, they inevitably found the manna distasteful, since it was a ration of the Lord; and they called it worthless bread. This was why serpents were sent among them, Numbers 21:5-6. Furthermore the heavenly things, which they obtained in adversity, in affliction, and with tears, were called by them the bread of adversity, the bread of affliction, and the bread of tears. ¹ Those things which men obtained but strongly disliked are described in the present verse as 'the bread of the sweat on his brow'.

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