The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.

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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