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.

576. That the number ten means remnants, just as tenths do, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Many houses will be a desolation, large and beautiful ones, without inhabitant, for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and a homer of seed will yield an ephah. Isaiah 5:9-10.

This refers to the vastation of spiritual and celestial things. 'Ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath' stands for remnants of spiritual things being so few, while 'a homer of seed will yield an ephah' stands for remnants of celestial things being so few. In the same prophet,

And there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; and yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be however an uprooting. Isaiah 6:12-13.

'The midst of the land' stands for the internal man, 'a tenth part' for such a small quantity of remnants. In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, the bath containing a tenth of a homer; and the ephah a tenth of a homer, the measure for it shall be after the homer. And the fixed portion of oil, of the bath of oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezekiel 45:10-11, 14.

The quantities mentioned here relate to holy things, which are Jehovah's. They mean different kinds of holy things. 'Ten' here means remnants of celestial things and so of spiritual things. For what are the specific numerical quantities mentioned in this and in previous chapters of this prophet where the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Temple are the subject, and in other prophets, and also in the various rites of the Jewish Church, if they do not contain sacred arcana?

[2] In Amos,

She has fallen, no more to rise, the virgin of Israel. Thus said the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes forth a thousand will have remnants of a hundred, and that which goes forth a hundred will have remnants of ten to the house of Israel. Amos 5:2-3.

The word 'remnants' is used here, of which only a fraction will remain, for this is only a tenth part, or the remnants of remnants. In the same prophet,

I hate the pride of Jacob and his palaces, and I will shut up the city and all that is in it. And it will be that if ten men will have remained in one house, they will die. Amos 6:8-9.

'Ten' stands for remnants that are not likely to remain. In Moses,

The Ammonite and the Moabite shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah; even the tenth generation belonging to them shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah forever. Deuteronomy 23:3.

'The Ammonite and the Moabite' stands for the profanation of the celestial and the spiritual things of faith, the remnants of which have been dealt with already.

[3] From this it is clear that 'tenths' represents remnants, of which Malachi speaks as follows,

Bring all the tithes ¹ to the treasure-house, that there may be plunder in My house, and let them put Me to the test in this matter whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you. Malachi 3:10.

'That there may be plunder in My house stands for remnants in the internal man, which are likened to 'plunder' because they are implanted, so to speak, by stealth among so many evils and falsities; and by way of such remnants comes every blessing. The fact that the whole of a person's charity comes to him by way of the remnants that are in the internal man was also represented in the Jewish Church by the requirement that once they had paid their tithes, ¹ they were then to give to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, Deuteronomy 26:12 and following verses.

[4] Since remnants are the Lord' s alone, tenths are therefore called 'Holiness to Jehovah', and are spoken of in Moses as follows,

All the tithes ¹ of the land - of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree - are Jehovah's; they are Holiness to Jehovah. All tithes ¹ of the herd and of the flock, every tenth one that passes under the (herdsman's) staff shall be Holiness to Jehovah. Leviticus 27:30, 32.

Since the Decalogue consisted of Ten Commandments, or Ten Words, and Jehovah wrote them on tablets, Deuteronomy 10:4, remnants are meant; and the fact that they were written by the hand of Jehovah means that such remnants are the Lord's alone. Their presence in the internal man was represented by the tablets.

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