2276. Peradventure thirty shall be found. That this signifies somewhat of combat, is evident from the signification of the number thirty. That “thirty” signifies somewhat of combat, thus but a little of combat, comes from the fact that this number is compounded by the multiplication of five (by which is signified some little), and six (by which is signified labor or combat, as was shown in Part First,n. 649, 720, 737, 900, 1709).

[2] Hence also this number, wherever read in the Word, signifies something that is relatively little; as in Zechariah:

I said unto them, If it be good in your eyes, give me my hire; and if not, forbear; and they weighed my hire, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price ¹ whereat I was valued by them; and I took the thirty silver pieces, and cast it to the potter in the house of Jehovah (Zech. 11:12-13);

denoting that they valued so little the Lord’s merit, and redemption and salvation by Him. The “potter” denotes reformation and regeneration.

[3] Hence the same thirty silver pieces are spoken of in Matthew:

They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him whom they had bought from the sons of Israel, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me (Matthew 27:9-10);

from which it is plainly evident that “thirty” here denotes the price of what is but little valued. The valuation of a servant who was held as being of little account, was thirty shekels; as is evident in Moses:

If the ox gore a manservant, or a maidservant, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver; and the ox shall be stoned (Exodus 21:32).

Of how little account a servant was held, is evident in the same chapter (verses 20-21). In the internal sense a “servant” denotes labor.

[4] That the Levites were taken for the work of the ministerial office—which is described by the expression “one coming to exercise warfare, and to do the work in the tent”—from a “son of thirty years to one of fifty” (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43), was because “thirty” signified those who were being initiated, and who therefore could as yet exercise but little warfare as understood in the spiritual sense.

[5] So in other passages where “thirty” is named in the Word; as that they should offer “upon a son of an ox a meat-offering of three tenths” (Numbers 15:9); which was because the sacrifice of an ox represented natural good (as shown above, n. 2180); and natural good is but little in comparison with spiritual good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a ram; and still less in comparison with celestial good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a lamb; in connection with which there was another rate of tenths for the meat-offering, as is evident in the same chapter, verses 4 to 6; also Numbers 28:12, 13, 20, 21, 28, 29; 29:3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 15; which rates of tenths, or which proportions, would never have been commanded, unless they had involved heavenly arcana.

In Mark also “thirty” denotes a little:

The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit growing up and increasing, and brought forth, one thirty, and another sixty, and another a hundred (Mark 4:8),

where “thirty” denotes a small growth, and that which has labored but little. These numbers would not have been marked out for use, unless they had contained within them the things which they signify.

Footnotes:

720. That “pairs” signify things relatively profane, is evident from the signification of the number “two.” A “pair” or “two” not only signifies marriage (and is, when predicated of the heavenly marriage, a holy number), but it also signifies the same as “six.” That is to say, as the six days of labor are related to the seventh day of rest, or the holy day, so is the number “two” related to “three;” and therefore the third day in the Word is taken for the seventh, and involves almost the same, on account of the Lord’s resurrection on the third day. And hence the Lord’s coming into the world, and in glory, and every coming of the Lord, is described equally by the “seventh” and by the “third” day. For this reason the two days that precede are not holy, but relatively are profane. Thus in Hosea:

Come and let us return unto Jehovah, for He hath wounded, and He will heal us; He hath smitten and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him (Hosea 6:1-2).

And in Zechariah:

It shall come to pass in all the land, saith Jehovah, that two parts therein shall be cut off and die, and the third shall be left therein; and I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined (Zechariah 13:8-9).

And that silver was most pure when purified seven times appears in Psalms 12:6; from all of which it is plain that as “seven” does not signify seven, but things that are holy, so by “pairs” are signified not pairs, but things relatively profane; and therefore the meaning is not that the unclean beasts, or evil affections, in comparison with the clean beasts, or good affections, were few in the proportion of two to seven, for the evils in man are far more numerous than the goods.