2261. If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city. That this signifies if truths are full of goods, is evident from the signification of “fifty,” as being what is full, and from the signification of “the midst of the city,” as being within truth, or in truth (as explained above, n. 2252, where the same words occur). It may be supposed that a man cannot but be saved if truths are full of goods. But be it known that there are very few truths with man, and that if there are any, they have no life unless there are goods in them; and that if there are goods in them, he is saved, but from Mercy. For, as before said, the truths with man are very few; and the goods which are in them have their quality in accordance with the truths, and the man’s life.

[2] Regarded in themselves, truths do not give life. It is goods that give life. Truths are only recipients of life, that is, of good. And therefore no one can ever say that he can be saved by truths (or as the common expression is, by faith alone), unless there is good in the truths which are of faith, and this good that must be in the truths must be the good of charity; hence faith itself, in the internal sense, is nothing else than charity (as shown above, n. 2231). As regards people’s saying that the acknowledgment of truth is the faith that saves, be it known that with those who live in things contrary to charity, there cannot possibly be any acknowledgment but only persuasion, to which there has been adjoined the life of the love of self or of the world; thus in the acknowledgment they refer to there is not the life of faith, which is that of charity. The worst men of all-from the love of self or the world, that is, for the sake of being eminent above others in what is called intelligence and wisdom, and thus of winning honors, reputation, and gains-can learn the truths of faith, and confirm them by many things; but still with them these truths are dead.

[3] The life of truth, and thus of faith, is solely from the Lord, who is life itself. The Lord’s life is mercy, which is that of love toward the universal human race. In the Lord’s life those can in no wise have part who although they profess the truths of faith despise others in comparison with themselves, and who, when their life of the love of self and of the world is touched, hold the neighbor in hatred, and take delight in his loss of wealth, of honor, of reputation, and of life. But the case with the truths of faith is that by means of them man is regenerated, for they are the veriest vessels recipient of good. Such therefore as are the truths, and such as are the goods in the truths, and such as is their conjunction and the consequent capability of being perfected in the other life, such is the state of blessedness and happiness after death.

2252. Peradventure there be fifty righteous in the midst of the city. That this signifies that the truths may possibly be full of goods, is evident from the signification of “fifty,” as being what is full; from the signification of “righteous” as being good (see n. 612, 2235); from that of the “midst,” as being what is within (n. 1074); and from that of “city,” as being truth (n. 402). Thus “fifty righteous in the midst of the city,” means in the internal sense that truths may possibly be full of goods within. That there is this meaning in these words cannot be seen from the letter, for the historicals of the literal sense lead the mind in quite a different direction, that is, to different thoughts; and yet that these words are so perceived by those who are in the internal sense, I know of a certainty. The numbers themselves also, as here “fifty,” and in what follows “forty-five,” “forty,” “thirty,” “twenty,” and “ten,” are by no means perceived as numbers by those who are in the internal sense, but as real things or states (as is shown, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 2075).

[2] For the ancients marked the states of their church-in one way-by numbers; and the nature of their computation in so doing is evident from the signification of the numbers in the places just referred to. They had the signification of numbers from the representatives which exist in the world of spirits, where, when anything appears as numbered, it does not signify anything that is determined by the numbers, but the thing or state itself; as is evident from the things that have been adduced (n. 2129, 2130, also n. 2089) concerning “twelve,” as meaning all the things of faith. It is similar with the numbers which now follow. This shows what is the nature of the Word in the internal sense.

[3] That “fifty” signifies what is full, comes from its following next after the product of seven into seven, or forty-nine, so that it is the impletion of this number, on which account there was in the Representative Church the festival of the Seven Sabbaths on the fiftieth day, and the Jubilee in the fiftieth year. As regards the festival of the seven sabbaths we read in Moses:

Ye shall count unto you from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven entire sabbaths shall there be, even unto the morrow of the seventh sabbath shall ye count fifty days, and ye shall offer a new offering unto Jehovah (Leviticus 23:15).

And concerning the Jubilee:

Thou shalt count for thee seven sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, and they shall be to thee seven sabbaths of years, nine and forty years, and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty in the land to all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you (Leviticus 25:8, 10),

which shows that the fiftieth is what is full in relation to sabbaths.

[4] Moreover, wherever “fifty” is mentioned in the Word, it signifies what is full; as when it is said that:

The Levites were numbered from a son of thirty years and upward, even unto a son of fifty years (Numbers 4:23, 34, 35, 39, 43, 47; 8:25);

meaning the full or final state of discharging the ministry.

That a man lying with a damsel, a virgin, shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she should be to him for a wife, nor could he put her away (Deuteronomy 22:29),

which denotes a full fine and full restitution.

David’s giving to Araunah for the threshing-floor where he built the altar to Jehovah, fifty shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24)

denotes a full price and a full purchase.

Absalom’s preparing for himself a chariot and horses, and having fifty men running before him (2 Samuel 15:1),

and in like manner:

Adonijah’s having chariots and horsemen, and fifty men running before him (1 Kings 1:5),

denotes full excellence and greatness. For they had from the ancients certain representative and significative numbers, which they observed, and which were also commanded in their rites; but most of them did not know what they signified.

[5] And in the same way, as “fifty” signifies what is full, and as this number was also representative-already said-the same thing is signified by it in the Lord’s parable of the steward, who said to him that owed the oil:

How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, a hundred baths of oil. And he said unto him, take thy bond, and sit down quickly, and write fifty (Luke 16:6);

“fifty” denoting full payment. As fifty is a number, it indeed appears to involve nothing beyond the number; whereas in the internal sense what is full is everywhere meant by it, as in Haggai:

One came to the wine-press to draw out fifty out of the wine-press; there were twenty (Haggai 2:16),

that is, instead of fullness there was not much. “Fifty” could not have been mentioned here in the Prophet unless it had been significative.