3132. 'And so it was, when he saw the nose-jewel and the bracelets on his sister's hands' means when it recognized Divine Good and Divine Truth within the power of the affection for truth, meant by 'a sister'. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as recognizing, dealt with in 2150, from the meaning of 'a nose-jewel' as Divine Good, dealt with in 3103, 3104, from the meaning of 'bracelets' as Divine Truth, also dealt with in 3103, 3105, from the meaning of 'hands' as power, dealt with in 878, 3091, and from the meaning of 'a sister' as the affection for truth, dealt with in 2508, 2524, 2556. From these paragraphs it is evident that 'seeing the nose-jewel and the bracelets on his sister's hands' means recognizing Divine Good and Divine Truth within the power of the affection for truth.

[2] The truth of the matter is that Divine Good and Divine Truth joined together within the Lord constitute the Divine marriage itself, from which the heavenly marriage springs, which in a similar way is a marriage of good and truth. From this too conjugial love springs, see 2727-2759. Consequently when a marriage is the subject in the Word the heavenly marriage is meant in the internal sense, which is the marriage of good and truth, and in the highest sense the Divine marriage which exists within the Lord. For this reason nothing else is meant here by the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. The marriage itself exists when good and truth have been joined together, but the betrothal of the two, or the state preceding the marriage, when one is being introduced into the other. But it is the state preceding the betrothal that is described here. In this state, as it is in the power of a [marriageable] girl to become betrothed, and subsequently as a wife to be joined to a husband, so it is in the power of the affection for truth to be introduced into Divine Truth and so to be joined to Divine Good. What is more, in the initial affection for truth and after that in every affection for it, with the Lord, Divine Good itself and Divine Truth itself were inmostly present because Jehovah Himself was present there. This was the source of the power which is the subject here.

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.