487. 'Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the 'days of creation' have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called 'a day', as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by 'days' as well. And when 'years' is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church - for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers - and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

5411. 'And Benjamin, Joseph's brother' means the spiritual of the celestial, which is the intermediary. This is clear from the representation of 'Benjamin' as the spiritual of the celestial, dealt with in 4592, where it may also be seen that the spiritual of the celestial is the intermediary. In general it should be recognized that what is internal cannot have any communication with what is external, or conversely what is external with what is internal, unless an intermediary exists. Consequently truth from the Divine, which is 'Joseph', cannot have any communication with the truths that exist as a general whole within the natural, which are 'the sons of Jacob', unless the intermediary that is represented by 'Benjamin' and is called the spiritual of the celestial is present. And to be the intermediary it must partake of both, of both the internal and the external. The reason an intermediary is needed is that the internal and the external are utterly distinct from each other, so distinct that they can be separated from each other, just as a person's external or lowest part, which is his body, can be separated when it dies from his internal part, which is his spirit. The external is dead when the intermediary is severed from it but living when the intermediary is in place; also, the amount and the nature of the life that the external possesses depends on the amount and nature of the life that the intermediary present within it possesses. Because Jacob's sons did not have Benjamin, who is the intermediary, with them, Joseph could not therefore reveal who he was to his brothers. He consequently spoke hard words to them, calling them spies and placing them in custody, as a consequence of which they did not recognize him as Joseph.

[2] But the essential nature of this intermediary represented by 'Benjamin' and called the spiritual of the celestial defies any description that is intelligible. For not even any rough ideas exist about the celestial of the spiritual, which is 'Joseph', or about the truths of the Church existing merely as known facts, which are 'the sons of Jacob', and therefore no rough ideas exist either about the spiritual of the celestial, which is 'Benjamin'. But in the light of heaven the nature of this intermediary is seen as if in broad daylight. Its essential nature is revealed by the use of indescribable representatives seen in the light of heaven, which light at the same time holds perception within it. For the light of heaven is essentially intelligence flowing from the Divine which enables every single thing represented in the light of heaven to be perceived. The same is not so with the light of the world, for that light does not hold any intelligence at all within it; yet the understanding is formed by means of it - by means of the inflowing light of heaven into it, and at the same time by means of the inflowing of the power of perception which the light of heaven contains within itself. This being so, a person dwells in the light of heaven insofar as intelligence exists with him, while intelligence exists with him insofar as the truths of faith do so, and the truths of faith exist with him insofar as the good of love does so. Consequently a person dwells in the light of heaven insofar as the good of love exists with him.