[2] In the Word mention is frequently made of forty days, months, and years, and that number there signifies either a complete vastation of the church, or also a full state of temptation. That this state is signified by the numbers forty and forty-two, is evident from the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

Egypt "shall not be inhabited forty years; I will make Egypt a solitude in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and her cities in the midst of the cities that are devastated shall be a solitude forty years; and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and I will scatter them in the lands; at the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples, whither they were dispersed, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt" (xxix. 11-14)

Egypt signifies the church as to truths scientific (vera scientifica) upon which doctrine is founded. Truths scientific at that time were the knowledges (scientiae) of correspondences and representations, upon which the doctrine of their church was founded. But because the Egyptians turned those knowledges into magic, and by that means perverted the church, therefore its vastation, meant by forty years, is described. This, then, is the signification of Egypt not being inhabited forty years, and its cities being a solitude forty years. By Egypt being dispersed among the nations, and scattered in the lands, is signified that evils and falsities would completely take possession of that church and pervert all its scientifics. It is therefore evident that by forty years is signified the state of its complete vastation, or even to its end, when there would be no longer any truth and good remaining. But the beginning of a new church, signified by the end of forty years, is meant by these words, "at the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples whither they were dispersed, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt."

[3] In the same prophet there is a similar signification in the command

"that he should lie on his right side forty days, and lay siege to Jerusalem," which "shall want bread and water, and shall be desolate a man and a brother and waste away for their iniquity" (iv. 6, 7, 17).

The complete vastation of the church is also signified by that number; by Jerusalem is signified the church; by laying siege to it is signified to bring it into distress by evils and falses; by wanting bread and water is signified to be vastated as to the good of love and as to the truth of doctrine; by a man and a brother being desolate, and wasting away for their iniquity, things of a similar kind are signified, for a man and a brother denote truth and charity, and to waste away denotes to die.

[4] The forty days of the flood have a similar signification in Genesis:

"For yet seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy all substance, which I have made, from upon the faces of the earth; and there was rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights"; then "after seven days, he sent out a dove, which did not return unto him " (vii. 4, 12; viii. 6, 13).

The flood signifies the devastation of the old, or Most Ancient church, also a last judgment upon those who were of that church. By the rain of forty days is signified its destruction by the falsities of evil; but the beginning of a new church is signified by the drying up of the earth after those forty days, and by its germinating anew. The dove which he sent out signifies the good of charity, which was the essential of that church. Concerning these things see the Arcana Coelestia, where they are explained.

[5] From this signification of the number forty originated this law in Moses, That the wicked man shall be smitten with forty stripes, and not more, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes" (Deut. xxv. 3). Full punishment as well as vastation is described by forty, for punishment is equally the consummation of evil. And because after punishment reformation succeeds, therefore it is said that he shall not be smitten with more stripes, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes"; for forty signifies the end of evil and also the beginning of good, therefore if more than forty stripes were given, the beginning of good, or reformation, would not be signified.

[6] The vastation of the church with the sons of Jacob by the servitude of four hundred years in Egypt is signified by the words of Jehovah to Abraham,

"Know thou that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land not theirs, where they shall make them serve four hundred years" (Gen. xv. 13).

The signification of four hundred is similar to that of forty, also the signification of a thousand is similar to that of a hundred, of a hundred to that of ten.

[7] The vastation of the church, and also full temptation, are also signified by the sons of Israel remaining forty years in the wilderness, of which it is thus written in the following passages:

"Your sons shall be feeding in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, even until your carcases are consumed in the wilderness" (Numb. xiv. 33, 34):

"He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that did evil in the eyes of Jehovah was consumed" (Numb. xxxii. 13):

"Jehovah hath known thy walking through this great wilderness these forty years, Jehovah thy God was with thee, that thou lackedst nothing" (Deut. ii. 7):

"Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, and to tempt thee; he fed thee with manna to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and that he might do thee good at the last" (Deut. viii. 2, 3, 16):

"Your fathers tempted me, they proved me; forty years I loathed in this generation, and I said, they are a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways" (Psalm xcv. 9, 10):

"I made you to ascend out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite " (Amos ii. 10).

It is evident from what has been stated that by forty years is not only signified the vastation of the church with the sons of Israel, but also a full state of temptation; also that by the end of those years the beginning of a new church is signified. The vastation of the church is described by these words, that they should feed in the wilderness forty years, and bear their whoredoms, until their bodies should be consumed; also by these, until all this a generation, which hath done evil in the eyes of Jehovah, be consumed; also by these, I loathed in this generation, and I said, they are a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. But the temptation which is also signified by forty years is described by these words: Jehovah thy God was with thee through the forty years, that thou lackedst not any thing; also by these, Jehovah hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, and to tempt thee, and he fed thee with manna; also by these, He led thee in the wilderness to tempt thee, and to do thee good at the last. The beginning of the new church, at the end of the forty years, is described by their introduction into the land of Canaan, which took place after those forty years; and is also meant by the words, to do thee good at the last; also by these, I led you in the wilderness forty years to possess the land of the Amorite.

Full temptation is also signified by Moses being upon Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights, during which he neither ate bread nor drank water (Exod. xxiv. 18; xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9, 11, 18, 25); similarly, also, by "Jesus being in the wilderness tempted by the devil, where He fasted forty days" (Matt. iv. 1: 2; Mark i. 13; Luke iv. 1).

[8] From this it is evident that the number forty in the Word signifies complete vastation and consummation, that is, when all the good of the church is vastated, and evil consummated. The same number also signifies full temptation, and at the same time the establishment of the church anew, or reformation. From this the signification of the holy city being trodden under foot by the nations forty and two months is evident. And also in the following in the Apocalypse - that to the beast coming up out of the sea "was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him forty and two months" (xiii 15). Let no one therefore suppose that by forty and two months are meant months, or that any special time is designated by the numbers mentioned here and in the words that follow.