2109. 'A son of thirteen years' means sacred remnants. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'ten' as remnants, dealt with already, in 576, 1988, and from the meaning of 'three' as that which is sacred, dealt with in 720, 901. Consequently the number thirteen, being the sum of ten and three, means sacred remnants. That numbers in the Word mean real things, see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893. What the remnants residing with man are has been stated in 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, 1906.

647. It is bound to seem strange and very far-fetched to everybody that these details have this meaning, that is to say, that the numbers three hundred, fifty, and thirty mean remnants, and in particular that they were few; also that 'length, breadth, and height' means holiness, truth, and good. But in addition to what has been stated and shown above about numbers at verse 3 of this chapter, where a hundred and twenty means the remnants of faith, this matter may also become clear to anybody from the fact that people who possess the internal sense, as good spirits and angels do, are beyond anything earthly, bodily, or purely worldly, and so beyond anything involving numbers and measurements. Yet the Lord enables them to perceive the Word fully, and to do so quite independently from such concepts. This being so, it becomes quite clear that numbers and measurements embody celestial and spiritual things. The latter however are so remote from the sense of the letter that such things cannot possibly be seen. This applies to every single celestial or spiritual thing. From this also anyone may recognize how insane it is to desire to inquire into matters of faith through sensory evidence and factual knowledge and to refuse to believe unless one grasps them by that method.