10221. 'Half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness' means all forms of truth springing from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'half' as all; and from the meaning of 'a shekel' as truth springing from good. The reason why 'half' means all is that half a shekel consisted of ten gerahs or obols, and 'ten' means all, 4638, and also remnants, 576, 1906, 1988, 2284, which are the truths and forms of good present with a person, stored away by the Lord in the more internal parts of him, 5135, 5342, 5897, 5898, 7560, 7564. The reason why 'a shekel' means truth springing from good is that it was a weight of silver and also of gold, and 'silver' means truth and 'gold' good. But the amount of truth springing from good and of good coming through truth is determined by the number of gerahs or obols to a shekel. The shekel, being essentially a weight, means the amount; and when it is called 'the shekel of holiness' the amount of truth and good is meant, the reason for this being that truth and good are what are called holy because they come from the Lord who alone is Holy. For more about the shekel and the meaning of it, see 2959.

1738. 'And he gave him a tenth of everything' means remnants gained from victory. This is clear from the meaning of 'tenths' as remnants, dealt with already in 576. For what remnants are however, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 661, 1050, where it is shown that they are all the states of love and charity, and all the states of innocence and peace, with which a person is endowed. He is endowed with these states from earliest childhood, though that endowment gradually diminishes as he advances into adult life. But while a person is being regenerated he receives, in addition to those he has already, new remnants, and thus new life; for it is from, or by means of, remnants that a person is enabled to be human. In fact, if devoid of the state of love and charity, and if devoid of the state of innocence - states that instill themselves into all the other states of his life-a person is no longer human, but worse than any wild animal. It is remnants acquired during the conflicts brought about by temptations that are meant in the present verse. These remnants are what the tenths given to Melchizedek by Abram mean. They are also all the celestial things of love which the Lord gathered to Himself through the constant conflicts and victories by means of which He was constantly being united to the Divine Essence until the point was reached when His Human Essence as well had become Love, or the Being (Esse) of life, that is, Jehovah.