3814. And he dwelt with him a month of days. That this signifies a new state of life, is evident from the signification of "dwelling," as being life (see n. 1293, 3384, 3613); and from the signification of a "month of days," as being a new state. (That all "times" denote states, see above, n. 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3404; and therefore so do "years," "months," and "days;" but the quality of the states signified is evident from the numbers affixed.) But when a "year," "month," or "day" is mentioned in the singular number, it signifies an entire state; thus the end of the preceding and the beginning of the subsequent state, as has been shown above throughout the explications. Here therefore by a "month" is signified the end of the preceding and the beginning of the subsequent state, thus a new state, as also in other parts of the Word. As in Isaiah:
At last it shall come to pass from month to its month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow themselves down before Me, saith Jehovah (Isa. 66:23). In John:
He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month (Rev. 22:1-2);
"yielding its fruit every month" signifies a state ever new, in regard to the reception of good, and the practice thence resulting. [2] In Moses:
Number the sons of Levi by their fathers' house and by their families, every male from a month old and upward thou shalt number them. Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel, from the son of a month and upward, and take the number of their names (Num. 3:15, 40);
it was because the end of a preceding and the beginning of a subsequent state (that is, a new state), was signified by a "month," that it was commanded that their numbering should be "from the son of a month and upward." Again:
If thou seest among the captives a woman beautiful in form, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her to thee to wife, she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall sit in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a month of days, and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt know her; and she shall be unto thee for a wife (Deut. 21:11, 13);
where a "month of days" plainly denotes the end of a preceding, and the beginning of a subsequent or new state.
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