4780. 'And mourned over his son many days' means a state, namely one of mourning for lost good and truth. This is clear from the representation of Joseph, to whom 'son' refers here, as Divine Truth, specifically the truths spoken of above in 4776; and from the meaning of 'days' as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3785, in this case a state of great mourning since the expression 'many days' is used.

493. There is no need to pause too long over the consideration that 'days' and 'years mean periods of time and states. Only this need be stated here, that in the world periods of time and measurements to which numbers may be applied are indispensable, for they belong within the ultimate realms of nature. But whenever such application occurs, the numbers of days and years, and also the numbers applied to measurements, mean something which is completely different from periods of time or from measurements, and which is determined by the meaning of the number used, as in the statements about there being six days for work, and the seventh being holy, which are dealt with above; in the statement about a jubilee having to be announced every forty-ninth year and celebrated in the fiftieth; about the tribes of Israel being twelve, the same number as the Lord's Apostles; and about there being seventy elders, the same number as the Lord's disciples. And there are many other examples where the numbers mean some special characteristic completely different from the persons or objects to which they apply. And when completely separated one from the other the states meant by the numbers are then left.