3814. And he dwelt with him a month of days. That this signifies a new state of life, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being life (see n. 1293, 3384, 3613); and from the signification of a “month of days,” as being a new state. (That all “times” denote states, see above, n. 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3404; and therefore so do “years,” “months,” and “days;” but the quality of the states signified is evident from the numbers affixed.) But when a “year,” “month,” or “day” is mentioned in the singular number, it signifies an entire state; thus the end of the preceding and the beginning of the subsequent state, as has been shown above throughout the explications. Here therefore by a “month” is signified the end of the preceding and the beginning of the subsequent state, thus a new state, as also in other parts of the Word. As in Isaiah:

At last it shall come to pass from month to its month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow themselves down before Me, saith Jehovah (Isaiah 66:23).

In John:

He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month (Revelation 22:1-2);

“yielding its fruit every month” signifies a state ever new, in regard to the reception of good, and the practice thence resulting.

[2] In Moses:

Number the sons of Leviticus by their fathers’ house and by their families, every male from a month old and upward thou shalt number them. Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel, from the son of a month and upward, and take the number of their names (Numbers 3:15, 40);

it was because the end of a preceding and the beginning of a subsequent state (that is, a new state), was signified by a “month,” that it was commanded that their numbering should be “from the son of a month and upward.” Again:

If thou seest among the captives a woman beautiful in form, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her to thee to wife, she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall sit in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a month of days, and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt know her; and she shall be unto thee for a wife (Deuteronomy 21:11, 13); where a “month of days” plainly denotes the end of a preceding, and the beginning of a subsequent or new state.

2625. At the appointed time. That this signifies when the rational was such as to receive, is evident from the signification of “time.” There are two things which while man lives in the world appear to be essential, because they are proper to nature, namely, space and time. Hence to live in space and time is to live in the world or in nature. But in the other life these two things are of no consequence. In the world of spirits indeed they do appear to be of some consequence, for the reason that spirits fresh from the body still retain the idea of natural things; yet it is not long before they perceive that there is no space and time there, but state instead; and that in the other life states correspond to spaces and times in nature; to spaces states as to Being [esse], and to times states as to Coming forth [existere]. (In regard to space or place see above, n. 1274, 1379, 1380, 1382)

[2] From this anyone can see what kind of an idea a man may have, while in the world or in nature, respecting the things of the other life and many arcana of faith; namely, that he is not willing to believe them until he apprehends them by means of the things in the world, nay, by sensuous things; for he must needs suppose that if he were to put off the idea of space and time, and still more space and time themselves, he would become absolutely nothing; and thus that he would have nothing left from which he could feel and think, except something confused and incomprehensible; when yet the case is exactly the reverse. Angelic life is of such a nature as to be the wisest and happiest of all.

[3] This is the reason why in the Word “ages” in the internal sense do not signify ages, but states; so that in this verse “old age” does not mean old age. And in the same way the numbers do not signify numbers, but some specific state, as for instance the number a hundred years, concerning which hereafter. From this we can now see that by the “appointed time” is signified the state when the rational was such as to receive.

[4] In regard to the specific matter here treated of, namely, that the Divine rational was and came forth from the unition of the Divine spiritual with the Divine celestial of the Lord, when the days were fulfilled for the human to be put off, and when the rational was such as to receive (all of which is signified in the internal sense by Sarah’s conceiving and bearing to Abraham a son to his old age at the appointed time), be it known that the human begins in the inmost of the rational (see n. 2106, 2194); and that the Lord advanced successively to the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, and of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence (n. 1864, 2033, 2523); and this by His own power (n. 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083), by continual temptations and victories (n. 1737, 1813, 1690), and by continual revelations from His Divine (n. 1616, 2500); and this until at length He had expelled all the maternal human (n. 1414, 1444, 2574); and thus had made His Human Divine in respect to the rational, according to the things contained in this verse. Hence it is manifest what is to be understood by the days being fulfilled for the human to be put off, and by the rational being such as to receive.

[5] Some idea of this may be formed from what takes place in those who are being regenerated. The celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith are not at once implanted in them by the Lord, but successively; and when by means of them the man’s rational has become such that it can receive, then for the first time is he becoming regenerate, for the most part by means of temptations in which he conquers. When these things take place, the days are fulfilled for him to put off the old man, and to put on the new. (Concerning man’s regeneration, see above, n. 677, 679, 711, 848, 986, 1555, 2475)