It’s a landmark for a young child to count to 100; it sort of covers all the “ordinary” numbers. One hundred is obviously significant for other groupings: money, measurements, mathematics and even time, with 100 years marking a century.
It makes sense, then, when Swedenborg says that in the Bible, 100 represents “fullness,” or a “state of completion,” or in some instances simply “much.” For instance, people marvel that Abraham had Isaac when he was 100 years old; Swedenborg the number represents the point at which the Lord, when growing up as Jesus, united the human elements of himself with the divine elements and in a sense became “complete.”
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1988 [2]
It is similar with the number ‘ninety-nine’. That this number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man is clear from the meaning of ‘a hundred years’, Abram’s age when Isaac was born to him, for Isaac represents and means the Lord’s Rational Man which was joined to His Internal, that is, to the Divine. In the Word ‘a hundred’ has the same meaning as ten, for that number is the product of ten multiplied by ten, and ‘ten’ means remnants, as shown in Volume One, in 576. For what remnants residing with man are, see 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, and for what remnants residing with the Lord were, 1906. These arcana cannot be explained any further, but anyone can find out for himself once he has acquainted himself with what remnants are – for nowadays what they are is not known – provided it is realized that by remnants residing with the Lord are meant the Divine Goods which He acquired to Himself by His own power, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2636
2636. ‘Abraham was a son a hundred years old’ means a complete state of union. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a hundred’ as that which is complete, dealt with immediately below, and from the meaning of ‘years’ as state, dealt with in 482, 487, 488, 493, 893, here a state of union. What a complete state is of the Lord’s Divine united to His Human, or what amounts to the same, united to the Rational – for the human has its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, 2106, 2194 – is not easy to express in a way that can be understood, though it can nevertheless be illustrated by the things which with man are called a complete state when he is being reformed and regenerated.
[2] It is well known that a person cannot be regenerated except in adult years, for not until then is he able to exercise reason and judgement and in so doing to receive good and truth from the Lord. Before entering that state he is being prepared by the Lord through the implantation of such things as can serve him as the soil for receiving the seeds of truth and good. Implanted thus are many states of innocence and charity, also cognitions of good and truth, and consequently thoughts. This implantation occurs during many years before his regeneration takes place. When a person has been endowed with these things and so has been prepared, his state is now said to be complete, for the things that are interior have been arranged ready to receive. All those things with a person which the Lord grants him prior to regeneration and by means of which he is regenerated are called remnants, which in the Word are meant by the number ten, 576, 1738, 2284, and also by a hundred when the state for regeneration is complete, 1988.
[3] These things that are so with man may serve to illustrate what is meant by a complete state of the Human united to the Divine in the Lord. That is to say, they may illustrate the state when the Lord by His own power – through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories, and through the powers of Divine wisdom and intelligence – gathered to Himself within the Human, that is, within the Rational, so much of the Divine that He was able to unite the Divine itself to the Divine acquired within the Rational. And it was to represent this state that, even though Abraham had spent many years in the land of Canaan, Isaac was not born to him until he was a hundred years old. These are the arcana contained within the number ‘a hundred years’, which was Abraham’s age.
[4] That the number ‘a hundred’ means that which is complete may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
No more will there be from it an infant of days, nor an old man who has not completed his days, for the child will die a son a hundred years old, and the sinner a son a hundred years old will be accursed. Isa. 65:20.
Here ‘a hundred’ clearly stands for that which is complete, for it is said, ‘No more will there be an infant of days, nor an old man who has not completed his days’, and, a child and a sinner will be ‘a hundred years old’, that is, a time when his state is complete.
[5] In Matthew,
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matt. 19:29; Mark 10:29, 30.
Here ‘a hundredfold’ stands for that which is complete, otherwise described as ‘good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over’, in Luke 6:38.
[6] In Luke,
Some seed fell on good ground, and when it had grown up it brought forth fruit a hundredfold. Luke 8:8; Matt. 13:8, 23; Mark 4:20.
Here also ‘a hundred’ stands for that which is complete, a number which would not have been mentioned unless it had had that meaning. A similar meaning exists in the parable about the debtors, where the Lord says that one owed a hundred baths of oil and the other a hundred cors of wheat, Luke 16:5-7. The same applies in other places where a hundred is mentioned. It is similar with a thousand, regarding which number, see 2575.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4400
4400. ‘A hundred kesitahs’ means that which is complete. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a hundred’ as a complete state, dealt with in 2636, and therefore that which is complete. But strictly speaking ‘a hundred’ in the present instance means much, for the subject is making its own the good from interior truths, which are meant by ‘the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem’, 4399. ‘Kesitahs’, which were coins, in the internal sense means truths of this kind, for this word is also derived from another which means truth, Ps. 60:4. The joining of good to those truths will be discussed below in 4402.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9745
9745. ‘A hundred cubits the length’ means complete with good from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a hundred’ as all, much, and what is complete, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘the length’ as good, dealt with in 1613, 9487. The reason why it is good from the Lord is that the good of faith – by which those in the lowest heaven, represented by the court of the dwelling-place, are governed – originates in the Lord. ‘A hundred’ means all, much, and what is complete because it carries the same meanings as ten, a thousand, and ten thousand. As regards these latter numbers, that they have such meanings, see 2575, 3107, 4638, 8715; and as regards a hundred, 2636, 4400.