10373. 'For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth' means the state of conflict and labour while the Church is being established. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days', when the subject is the establishment of the Church and a person's regeneration, as the state of conflict against evils and falsities, thus the state which comes before and is preparatory to the joining together of goodness and truth, dealt with above in 10366, 10367; and from the meaning of 'heaven and earth' as the Church.

[2] In the Word 'creating heaven and earth' is not used to mean what happened when the sky above and this planet were first created, but the establishment of the Church and the regeneration of a person there, 'heaven' being used to mean his internal and 'earth' his external. The fact that this kind of creation is what should be understood is clear from places in the Word in which the verb 'create' is used, as in David,

A people who will be created will praise Jah. Psalms 102:18.

In the same author,

You send forth [Your] spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. Psalms 104:30.

In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, I am your Creator, O Jacob; I am He who formed you, O Israel. For I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are Mine. Every one who is called by My name - I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, and also I have made him. Isaiah 43:1, 7.

And in other places. The expressions 'creating', 'forming', and 'making' are used, and elsewhere 'Creator', 'He who forms', and 'Maker'. 'Creating' means bringing something into being that did not exist before, 'forming' means giving it specific quality, and 'making' means carrying into effect. 'Creating and making a new heaven and a new earth' means establishing a new Church, its internal and its external, as in Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1 - see 1733, 1850, 2117 (end), 2118 (end), 3355, 4535. 'Earth' in the Word means the Church, 9325. And also 'the creation of heaven and earth' in the first chapter of Genesis means the establishment of the Most Ancient Church, 8891, 9942.

3104. 'Half a shekel in weight' means the amount needed for the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of 'a shekel', 'half a shekel', and 'weight'. 'A shekel' means the price or valuation of good and truth, and 'half a shekel' a defined amount of it, see 2959. 'Weight' means the state of something as regards good, as will be seen [below]. From these considerations it is evident that 'half a shekel in weight' means and embodies the amount as regards the good which 'a gold nose-jewel' is used to mean - that amount being the quantity of it that was needed for the introduction, as is plain from what comes before and after this point in the story.

[2] That 'weight' is the state of something as regards good is evident from the following places in the Word:

In Ezekiel where the prophet was told to eat food each day twenty shekels in weight, and to drink water in measure the sixth of a hin,

For, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, so that they may eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and with dismay; that they may be in want of bread and water. Ezekiel 4:10-11, 16-17.

This refers to the vastation of good and truth, which is represented by 'the prophet'. A state of good when vastated is meant by their having to eat food and bread 'by weight', and a state of truth when vastated by their having to drink water 'by measure' - 'bread' meaning that which is celestial, and so good, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, and 'water' that which is spiritual, and so truth, 739, 2702, 3058. From this it is evident that 'weight' is used in reference to good, and 'measure' to truth.

[3] In the same prophet,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. Ezekiel 45:10 and following verses.

This refers to the holy land, by which the Lord's kingdom in heaven is meant, as may be recognized from every detail at this point in this prophet, where what are required are not balances, an ephah, and a bath that are just but the goods and truths meant by those weights and measures.

In Isaiah,

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and weighed the heavens in [His] palm, and gathered the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in the scales? Isaiah 40:12.

'Weighing the mountains in a balance and the hills in the scares' stands for the truth that the Lord is the source of the heavenly things of love and charity, and that He alone orders the states of these things. For 'the mountains' and 'the hills' referred to in connection with those weights mean the heavenly things of love, see 795, 796, 1430, 2722.

[4] In Daniel,

The writing on the wall of Belshazzar's palace was, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation: Mene, God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the scales and have been found wanting; Peres, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel 5:25-28.

Here 'mene' or 'He has numbered' has reference to truth, but 'tekel' or 'weighed in the scales' to good. Described in the internal sense is the time when the age is drawing to a close.