8714. 'Rulers of fifties' means first and foremost truths that are intermediary. This is clear from the meaning of 'rulers' as first and foremost truths, as above in 8712, 8713; and from the meaning of 'fifties' as intermediary truths, that is to say, those which lie between truths springing from good that reside in the second degree and those that reside in the third, meant by 'rulers of hundreds' and 'rulers of tens'. The reason why 'fifties' are intermediary truths is that 'fifty' means either much or something, just as 'five' does (for the meaning of 'five' as much, see 5708, 5956, and for its meaning something, 4638, 5291), and therefore when fifty is mentioned between a hundred and ten, intermediaries are meant. Intermediary truths are those which extend towards one part from another, that is, exist between those in a prior degree and those in a posterior degree, in order to link such degrees together.

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.