3104. Of half a shekel weight. That this signifies sufficient for initiation, is evident from the signification of a “shekel,” a “half shekel,” and “weight.” That a “shekel” is the price or estimation of good and truth, and that a “half shekel” is the determination of its quantity, may be seen above (n. 2959). That “weight” signifies the state of a thing as to good will be seen presently; and thus it is evident that “of half a shekel weight” signifies and involves the quantity in respect to the good meant by the jewel of gold. That it is for initiation, follows from what precedes and follows.

[2] That “weight” is the state of a thing as to good, is evident from the following passages of the Word.

In Ezekiel:

The prophet was to eat food by weight, twenty shekels a day; and was to drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; for behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment, that they may want bread and water (Ezekiel 4:10-11, 16-17).

Here the vastation of good and of truth is treated of, a representation of which was made by the prophet. The state of vastated good is signified by their “eating food and bread by weight;” and the state of vastated truth by their “drinking water by measure” (that “bread” is the celestial, and thus is good, may be seen above, n (276). 27 6, 680, 1165, 2177; also that “water” is the spiritual, and thus is truth, n. 739, 2702, 3058); hence it is evident that “weight” is predicated of good, and “measure” of truth.

[3] Again:

There shall be balances of justice, and an ephah of justice, and a bath of justice (Ezekiel 45:10, etc.).

This is said of the holy land, by which is signified the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, as may be known from the several particulars there mentioned by the prophet; where there will be no balances, ephah, and bath, but goods and truths which are signified by these weights and measures.

In Isaiah:

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and hath made ready the heavens with the palm of his hand, and hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12).

To “weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,” denotes that from the Lord are the celestial things of love and charity, and that He alone disposes their states. (That “mountains and hills,” concerning which such weights are predicated, are the celestial things of love, may be seen above, n. 795, 796, 1430, 2722.)

[4] In Daniel:

The writing upon the wall of the palace of Belshazzar was, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation: Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; Tekel, thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting; Peres, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Mede and the Persian (Daniel 5:25-28); where mene or “hath numbered,” is predicated of truth; while tekel or “weighed in the balances” is predicated of good; in the internal sense consummation is treated of.

2959. Land of four hundred shekels of silver. That this signifies the price of redemption by means of truth, is evident from the signification of “four hundred shekels” (concerning which presently); and from the signification of “silver” as being truth (see n. 1551, 2048, 2937). That “four hundred shekels” signifies the price of redemption, is because “four hundred” signifies vastation; and “shekel” signifies the price. What vastation is may be seen above (n. 2455, 2682, 2694, 2699, 2701, 2704), namely, that it is twofold; of one kind when a church altogether perishes, that is, when there is no longer any charity or faith, and when it is said to be “devastated” or laid waste;” and of the other kind when they who are of the church are reduced to a state of ignorance, and also of temptation, in order that the evils and falsities with them may be separated and as it were dispersed. They who emerge from this kind of vastation are they who are specifically called the redeemed, for they are then instructed in the goods and truths of faith, and are reformed and regenerated by the Lord (concerning whom see the passages cited). Now whereas “four hundred” when predicated of time, as “four hundred years,” signifies the duration and state of vastation, so when predicated of shekels it signifies the price of redemption; and when mention is made of silver at the same time, there is signified the price of redemption by means of truth.

[2] That “four hundred years” signifies the duration and state of vastation, may also be seen from what was said to Abram:

Jehovah said unto Abram, Knowing thou shalt know that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years (Genesis 15:13); where it seems that by “four hundred years” is meant the stay of the sons of Israel in Egypt. But that their stay in Egypt is not what is signified, but something else which is not manifest to anyone except from the internal sense, is evident from the fact that the stay of the sons of Israel in Egypt was but half of that time; as is clearly evident from the generations from Jacob to Moses; for from Jacob came Levi; from Levi, Kohath; from Kohath, Amram; and from Amram, Aaron and Moses (Exodus 6:16-20). Leviticus and his son Kohath came with Jacob into Egypt (Genesis 46:11); Moses was of the second generation after this, and he was eighty years old when he spoke to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7); from all which it is evident that from the coming of Jacob into Egypt to the going forth of his sons was about two hundred and fifteen years.

[3] It is still further evident that by “four hundred” in the Word something else is signified than what is meant by the number itself in the historic sense, from its being said:

The dwelling of the sons of Israel which they dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; and it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, in the selfsame day it came to pass that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:40-41);

when nevertheless the stay of the sons of Israel there was but half that number of years; but it was four hundred and thirty years counting from Abraham’s entrance into Egypt; and therefore it was so said for the sake of the internal sense that lies concealed in the words. In the internal sense, by the sojourning of the sons of Jacob in Egypt is represented and signified the vastation of the church; the state and duration of which is described by the number “four hundred and thirty years”; by “thirty” the state of vastation of Jacob’s sons, that it was none at all, because they were such that they could not be reformed by any state of vastation (concerning the signification of the number thirty, see n. 2276); and by “four hundred years,” the general state of vastation of those who were of the church.

[4] Therefore they who go forth from this vastation are they who are called the “redeemed” as is also plain from the words spoken to Moses:

Wherefore say unto the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments (Exodus 6:6).

Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of servants, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:8; 13:5).

Thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, but Jehovah thy God redeemed thee (Deuteronomy 15:15; 24:18).

In Samuel:

Thy people whom thou hast redeemed to thee out of Egypt (2 Samuel 7:23).

Because those who emerge from the state of vastation are called the “redeemed,” therefore by “four hundred shekels” is signified the price of redemption.

[5] That a “shekel” signifies the price or estimation is evident from the following passages in the Word; in Moses:

And all thy estimation shall be in the shekel of the holiness (Leviticus 27:25).

And in another place:

When a soul hath committed a trespass, and sinned in error from the holy things of Jehovah, he shall bring his guilt offering to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation, in silver of shekels, after the shekel of holiness (Leviticus 5:15).

From these passages it is plain that by a “shekel” is signified the price or estimation. It is said the “shekel of holiness,” because the price or estimation has regard to truth and good from the Lord; and truth and good from the Lord are the holy itself in the church. For this reason it is called the “shekel of holiness” in other places also (as in Exodus 30:24; Leviticus 27:3; Numbers 3:47, 50; 7:13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61, 67, 73; 18:16).

[6] That the “shekel” denotes the price of what is holy, is clearly evident in Ezekiel, where the Holy Land and the Holy City are treated of. It is there said of the shekel:

The shekel shall there be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh [pound] (Ezekiel 45:12).

That here by “shekel,” and by “pound,” and by the numbers, are signified holy things, that is, good and truth, anyone can see; for the Holy Land, and the Holy City in it (or the New Jerusalem there treated of) is no other than the kingdom of the Lord, where neither shekel nor gerah nor pound, nor the counting by them, but the number itself, from its signification in the internal sense, determines the estimation or the price of what is good and what is true.

[7] In Moses:

They shall give every man an expiation for his soul lest there should be a plague, half a shekel, after the shekel of holiness: the shekel is twenty gerahs and the half shekel for a therumah [an oblation] to Jehovah (Exodus 30:12-13); where ten gerahs, which are the “half shekel,” denote the remains which are from the Lord. (Remains are goods and truths stored up with man, and these are signified by “ten,” as may be seen above, n. 576, 1738, 1906, 2284; and also that remains are goods and truths from the Lord stored up with man, n. 1906, 2284). These therefore are called an “oblation to Jehovah,” and it is said that by them there shall be an expiation for the soul. The reason why it is so often said that the shekel was twenty gerahs (as in the passages quoted, and also in Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; 18:16, and elsewhere) is that the “shekel which is twenty gerahs” signifies the estimation of the good of remains (that “twenty” signifies the good of remains may be seen above, n. 2280). On this account the shekel was likewise a weight, according to which the value both of gold and of silver was estimated (see Genesis 24:22; Exodus 38:24; Ezekiel 4:10; 45:12); the value of gold, because “gold” signifies good (n. 113, 1551, 1552); and of silver, because “silver” signifies truth (n. 1551, 2048). From all this it is now plain that by “land of four hundred shekels of silver” is signified the price of redemption by means of truth. It is called “land” because the subject is the spiritual church, which is reformed and regenerated by means of truth from the the Lord, (n. 2954). (That by “land” is signified the church, may be seen above, n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 at the end.)