10222. 'A shekel is twenty obols' means all the components of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'twenty' likewise as all, and as remnants of good, and also what is holy. For its meaning as all and consequently what is complete, see 9641; remnants of good, 2280; and what is holy, 4759, 7842, 7903. For when 'twenty' has regard to the Lord it means His Proprium, which is Holiness itself, 4176. From all this it is evident why a shekel should consist of twenty gerahs or obols and why it was called the shekel of holiness, as it is in the present verse and elsewhere, such as Leviticus 27:3; Numbers 3:47, 50; 7:13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61, 67, 73; 18:16. The fact that a shekel was a weight both of silver and of gold, see Genesis 24:22; Exodus 38:24; Ezekiel 4:10; 45:12.

7842. 'Until the fourteenth of the month' means leading up to a holy state. This is clear from the meaning of 'the fourteenth day' as a holy state. 'Day' means a state, see above in 7831, while 'fourteen' has the same meaning as seven, and 'seven' means what is holy, see 395, 433, 716, 881, 5265, 5268. For multiple numbers have meanings similar to those of their factors, 5291, 5335, 5708. This explains why the Passover had to begin on the fourteenth day of the month, continue for seven days, and end on the twenty-first day, which too means what is holy, because that number is the product of three multiplied by seven. That was why there had to be a holy convocation on the first day of the Passover, and a holy convocation on the twenty-first day [of the month], verse 16.