6174. Seventeen years. That this signifies the state therein, is evident from the signification of "seventeen," as being from beginning to end, or from the beginning to what is new (n. 755, 4670); and from the signification of "years," as being states (n. 487, 488, 493, 893). Thus here by the "seventeen years which Jacob lived in Egypt" is signified the beginning of a state of spiritual life in the natural among memory-knowledges even to its end. (That all numbers in the Word are significative of things, see n. 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265.)
