4759. For twenty pieces of silver. That this signifies estimation, is evident from the signification of “twenty,” as being the good and truth stored up by the Lord in the interior man, which are called remains (n. 2280), thus holy good or truth, here holy truth, because it is said “twenty pieces of silver;” for “silver” is truth (n. 1551, 2954). The same number signifies also what is not holy, because most of the expressions used in the Word have also an opposite sense; and here what is not holy in respect to those who alienated Divine truth, or sold Joseph (n. 4758), but what is holy in respect to those who received it, or bought him. Thus it denotes what is not holy in respect to Joseph’s brethren, that is, to those in the church who are in faith separate, but what is holy in respect to the Ishmaelites, that is, to those who are in simple good. These are the things which are meant by estimation.

[2] That “twenty” signifies also what is not holy, is because “twenty” denotes remains, as before said. The holy in those who have no remains of good and truth in their interior man, but instead of them evil and falsity, is not holy, but is either filthy or profane, according to the kind of evil and falsity. That “twenty” denotes also what is not holy, is evident in Zechariah:

I saw and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty ells, and the breadth thereof ten ells. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth (Zech. 5:1-3).

In Haggai:

When one came to the wine-press to draw out fifty out of the wine-press, there were twenty. I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, all the work of your hands (Haggai 2:16-17).

[3] In Ezekiel:

Thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time even in time shalt thou eat it. And thou shalt eat it as a barley cake, and thou shalt make it in their eyes with dung that cometh out of man. For thus, Jehovah said, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations (Ezekiel 4:10, 12-13).

In these passages “twenty” denotes that which is unholy, unclean, and profane. That all who were more than twenty years old should die in the wilderness (Numbers 14:29; 32:11), represented also what is holy in respect to those who were under that number of years, and what is unholy in respect to those who were over it. (That all numbers in the Word signify things, see n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 4264, 4495, 4670; and that remains are good and truth stored up by the Lord in the interior man, n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284)

798. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and covered the mountains. That this signifies that nothing of charity remained; and that “fifteen” signifies so few as to be scarcely any, is evident from the signification of the number “five” (of which above, chapter 6, verse 15), where it was shown that in the style of the Word, or in the internal sense, “five” signifies a few; and since the number “fifteen” is composed of five, signifying a few, and of ten, which signifies remains (as was shown above, chapter 6, verse 3), therefore “fifteen” signifies remains, which with this people were scarcely any. For so many were the persuasions of falsity that they extinguished every good. As for the remains with man, the fact was, as already said, that principles of falsity, and still more, persuasions of falsity, such as were with these antediluvians, had so entirely shut in and hidden away the remains that these could not be brought out, and if brought out they would forthwith have been falsified. For such is the life of persuasions that it not only rejects every truth and absorbs every falsity, but also perverts every truth that comes near.