10253. 'Five hundred [shekels]' means what is complete. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'five hundred' as what is complete. The reason why 'five hundred' has this meaning is that this number is the product of five multiplied by ten tens, or fives times a hundred; and 'five' means much, as do 'ten' and 'a hundred', and therefore 'five hundred' means what is complete.

'Five' means much, see 5708, 5956, 9102, as likewise does 'ten', 3107, 4638, and also 'a hundred', 4400, 6582, 6594.

All numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see in the places referred to in 9488.

Compound numbers have a similar meaning to the simple ones that give rise to them through multiplication, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973.

[2] The fact that numbers mean spiritual realities is perfectly clear in Ezekiel, where the house of God, together with everything there inside and outside, and also the new earth or land, are measured and are described by numbers pertaining to measure, in Chapters 40-48. By the new land there the Church should be understood, and by the house of God its holiness. The same is so in John, in the Book of Revelation, where also a new Jerusalem is described by the numbers where measurements are given, by which too a new Church should be understood. Unless the numbers had meant spiritual realities all those measurements would have been pointless.

[3] 'Five hundred' means the whole from one end to the other, thus what is complete. This is clear from those chapters in Ezekiel,

He measured outside the house (or the temple), to the east quarter five hundred rods round about, to the north quarter five hundred rods round about, to the south quarter five hundred rods, and to the west quarter ¹ five hundred rods. Its wall round about, the length was five hundred rods, and the breadth five hundred rods, to distinguish between the holy and the profane. Ezekiel 42:15-20.

From these words it is evident that 'five hundred' means the whole in its entirety, or everything holy from one end to the other, thus what is complete; for it says that the wall, which - according to this account of its length and breadth - formed a square, served to distinguish the holy from the profane.

[4] 'Five hundred' also means much, while a tenth of that number or fifty means some. This is clear from the Lord's words addressed to Simon, in Luke,

Jesus said, There were two debtors who had a certain creditor. One owed five hundred denarii, but the other fifty. When they did not have [anything with which] to repay, he forgave them both. Which of the two loves him more? Simon answered, The one to whom he forgave more. Jesus said, So have the many sins of the woman been forgiven, because she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, [that person] loves little. Luke 7:41-end.

The reason why the Lord used those numbers was that they meant much and some; for He spoke from a Divine [perspective], thus used words carrying a spiritual meaning, in accord with correspondences. The same is so everywhere else, as when He spoke about the virgins, of whom - He said - there were ten, and that five were wise and five were foolish. He spoke of ten because that number means all, that is to say, all who belong to the Church, and of five because this number means some, see 4637, 4638.

Notes de bas de page:

6559. 'And will fully return to us all the evil with which we repaid him' means that a punishment as merited is therefore impending. This is clear from the meaning of 'returning the evil with which they repaid him' as a punishment as merited; for the return of evil that is done to someone is the punishment that is duly merited. What the returning of evil is, or what the nature of punishments in the spiritual world is, must be stated because it will show what the internal sense is of the words under consideration here. If in the world of spirits evil spirits do anything evil that exceeds the evil they assimilated by the life they led in the world, those who administer punishment become present in an instant and chastise those spirits in exact accord with the degree of their transgression. For the rule in the next life is that no one should become more evil than he had been in the world. Those who suffer punishment have no knowledge at all of how the ones who administer such punishment know that the evil they do exceeds what they assimilated in the world. But they are told that the nature of order in the next life is such that evil itself carries its own punishment, so that the evil that is committed is completely bound up with the evil inflicted as punishment, that is, within the evil itself lies its own punishment. It is therefore in keeping with order that those who repay with punishment should be instantly present.

[2] This is what happens when evil spirits in the world of spirits perform evil. But in their own hell one spirit chastises another in accord with the evil they assimilated by their actions in the world; for they take that evil with them into the next life. From all this it may now be seen how one is to understand the statement that a punishment as merited is therefore impending, meant by 'will fully return to us all the evil with which we repaid him'.

But as for good spirits, if by chance they utter what is evil or do what is evil, they are not punished but are pardoned and also freed from blame; for it is not their intention to utter what is evil or to do what is evil. And they know that such evil words and deeds were aroused in them by hell and for that reason were not their own fault. This fact can also be recognized from their action against that evil and subsequent grief.