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.

3379. 'And I will give to your seed all these lands' means derivative Churches. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as truths, and so those who possess truths and are consequently called 'the sons of the kingdom', dealt with above in 3373, and from the meaning of 'lands' as rational concepts which, when enlightened from the Divine, are appearances of truth, also dealt with above, in 3368, and so those with rational concepts enlightened from the Divine, or what amounts to the same, those who dwell in heavenly light. Since none but those who are in the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, that is, in heaven, and those who are in the Lord's kingdom on earth, that is, in Churches, dwell in that heavenly light, it is evident that 'these lands' means Churches. For Churches are not Churches on account of their being called such and of their confessing the Lord's name, but on account of the good and truth of faith that exist in them. Good and truth of faith themselves are what make a Church, indeed they are the Church, for present within the good and truth of faith there is the Lord, and where the Lord is, there is the Church also.