2455. That 'she became a pillar of salt' means that all good accompanying truth was vastated becomes clear from the meaning of 'a pillar' and from the meaning of 'salt'. In the original language the word used for a pillar means something standing still, not however that used for a pillar which was erected either for worship, or as a sign or for a witness. Consequently 'the pillar of salt' mentioned here means that it - the truth meant by Lot's wife - stood as something vastated, 2454. Truth is said to be vastated when it no longer has any good within it - vastation itself being meant by 'salt'.

[2] As most things in the Word have two meanings, namely the genuine and the contrary to this, so also does 'salt'. In the genuine sense it means the affection for truth, in the contrary sense the vastation of the affection for truth, that is, of the good within truth. That 'salt' means the affection for truth, see Exodus 30:35; Leviticus 2:13; Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:49-50; Luke 14:34-35. That it also means the vastation of the affection for truth, that is, of the good within truth, is clear from the following places: In Moses,

The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim. Deuteronomy 29:23.

Here 'brimstone' is the vastation of good, and 'salt' the vastation of truth. That vastation is the meaning is evident from each detail.

[3] In Zephaniah,

Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a desolation for ever. Zephaniah 2:9.

Here 'a place abandoned to the nettle' stands for vastated good, 'a salt pit' for vastated truth; for 'a place abandoned to the nettle' refers to Sodom, which has been shown to mean evil or vastated good, and 'a salt pit' to Gomorrah, which has been shown to mean falsity or vastated truth. That vastation is the meaning is evident from its being called 'a desolation for ever'. In Jeremiah,

He who makes flesh his arm will be like a bare shrub in the solitary place and will not see when good comes; and he will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. Jeremiah 17:5-6.

Here 'a parched land' stands for vastated goods, 'a salt land' for vastated truths.

[4] In David,

Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and outgoings of waters into a dryness, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the wickedness of those inhabiting it. Psalms 107:33-34.

'A fruitful land into a salty waste' stands for the vastation of the good within truth. In Ezekiel,

Its swamps and its marshes are not healed, they will be given up to salt. Ezekiel 47:11.

'Given up to salt' stands for being utterly vastated as regards truth. Because 'salt' meant vastation and 'cities' matters of doctrine concerning truth, as shown in 402, 2268, 2428, 2451, cities that had been destroyed were in former times sown with salt to prevent their being rebuilt, Judges 9:45. The description at this point is of the fourth state of the Church represented by 'Lot', a state in which all truth has been vastated as regards good.

2276. 'Perhaps thirty will be found [there]' means some existence of conflict. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'thirty'. The reason 'thirty' means some existence of conflict, thus a small amount of conflict, is that this number is the product of 'five', meaning that which is small, times 'six', meaning toil or conflict, as shown in Volume One, in 649, 720, 737, 900, 1709.

[2] Hence also that number, wherever one reads it in the Word, means something relatively small, as in Zechariah,

I said to them, If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; and if not, withhold them. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price I was valued at among them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of Jehovah, to the potter. Zechariah 11:12-13.

This stands for how small a value those people placed on the Lord's merit, and on redemption and salvation from Him. 'The poster' stands for reformation and regeneration.

[3] This explains the reference to the same thirty pieces of silver in Matthew,

They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him whom they had bought from the children of Israel, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me. Matthew 27:9-10.

From these words it is quite clear that 'thirty' here stands for the small price set on him. A slave, who was not considered to be worth much, was valued at thirty shekels, as is clear in Moses,

If the ox gores a slave or a servant-girl, the owner shall give to his master thirty shekels of silver; and the ox shall be stoned. Exodus 21:32.

How little a slave was considered to be worth is clear from verses 20-21, of that same chapter. In the internal sense 'a slave' stands for toil.

[4] The reason Levites were called upon for ministerial duty - which is described as one 'coming to perform military service and to do the work in the tent [of meeting] - from thirty up to fifty years of age', Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43, was that 'thirty' means those who were beginners, thus those who as yet could perform little of what was meant in the spiritual sense by 'military service'.

[5] There are other places in the Word besides these where 'thirty' is mentioned, such as in the requirement that with a young bull a minchah of three tenths [of fine flour] was to be offered by them, Numbers 15:9. Such was required because the sacrifice of an ox represented natural good, as shown above in 2180, and natural good is small in comparison with spiritual good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a ram, and smaller still in comparison with celestial good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a lamb, with which sacrifices a different number of tenths to the minchah were required, as is clear in verses 4-6 of that chapter, and also in Numbers 28:12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15. These differing numbers of tenths, or proportions, would never have been commanded if they had not embodied heavenly arcana within them.

[6] 'Thirty' again stands for that which is small in Mark,

The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. One bore thirty-fold, and another sixty, and another a hundred. Mark 4:8.

'Thirty' stands for a small yield and for that which has laboured to only a small extent. Those numbers would not have been specified unless they had embodied the things meant by them.