9600. 'The length of one curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits' means the holiness of the truth derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the length' as good, dealt with in 1613, 8898, 9487; from the meaning of 'curtain' as interior truth of faith, which belongs to the new understanding, dealt with above in 9595; and from the meaning of 'twenty-eight' as the holiness of being joined together. 'Twenty-eight' has this meaning because this number is the product of seven multiplied by four, and 'seven' means that which is holy, 433, 716, 881, 5265, 5268, and 'four' a joining together, 1686, 8877. For multiple numbers are similar in meaning to the simple ones that are their factors, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973. From all this it is evident that 'the length of one curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits' means the holiness of the truth derived from good.

5708. 'Five measures more' means that it was much increased. This is clear from the meaning of 'five' as much, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'measures' as states of truth received from good, dealt with in 3104. As regards 'five', this is a number which can mean little, or else something, or even much. Whatever its specific meaning, this stems from its relationship with the number of which it is a factor, 5291. When it is a factor of ten, much the same as ten, but in a smaller degree, is implied, five being half the number ten. For just as compound numbers have a similar meaning to the simple ones of which they are the product, 5291, 5335, so do divisors have a similar meaning to the compound numbers they divide, as with the relationship of five to ten, also to twenty, as well as to a hundred, a thousand, and so on. 'Ten' means what is full and complete, see 3107, 4638. 'Five measures more' were given to Benjamin than to the rest of his brothers on account of what was meant by this in the spiritual sense. Ten measures could not be given because that amount would have been far too much. The ancients knew from what had been handed down to them from the Most Ancient Church the meanings that certain numbers carried; they therefore used those numbers whenever something cropped up, the meaning of which could be conveyed by those numbers, as is the case with five here. At other times they employed many other numbers, such as three to mean what was complete from start to finish, seven to mean what was holy, or twelve to mean all things in their entirety.