562. 'Wherein she might be nourished a the and times and half a the away from the face of the serpent signifies that on account of the craftiness of those leading astray provision that it may come among many is made with circumspection until it increases to its full stature. By 'to be nourished', when said of the New Church, is signified provision being made that it may come among many, as above (n. 547). By 'a time and times and half a time' is signified to the end and the beginning, thus while it is increasing from a few to many even to its full stature, as also above (n. 547). By 'the face of the serpent' is signified the craftiness of those leading astray, by 'the face' craftiness, and by 'the serpent' those leading astray. That those leading astray are signified by the serpent is plain from these words in this chapter:-
The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old who is leading the whole of the world astray (verse 9),
and elsewhere:-
He arrested the dragon, the serpent of old, and cast him into the deep, that he should lead the nations astray no more Rev. xx 2, 3.
A similar thing is understood here as by the serpent that led Eve and Adam astray, of which it is said:-
And the serpent became flare cunning than every wild beast of the field, and the woman said to Jehovah, The serpent has led me astray Gen. iii 1, 13.
[2] By 'face' in the Word is signified that which in the case of man is interior, Because the face is an image of his mind (animus) formed for correspondence; consequently by 'the face of the serpent' is signified anger, hatred and cunning. By 'a time, times and half a time' is signified the same here as by 'a thousand two hundred and sixty days' (verse 6) where these [words are]:-
And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place made ready by God, where they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and sixty days;
which may be seen expounded above (n. 547). The like as is also signified by 'three days and a half' (Rev. xi 9, 11); again by 'three years and six months, when there was a famine' (Luke iv 25); and the like also in the case of Daniel, by 'a fixed time of fixed times and a half, when they are going to finish scattering the hand of the people of holiness' (Dan. xii 7).
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