1345. Verse 16 And Eber lived thirty-four years, and he begot Peleg. 'Eber lived thirty-four years' means the beginning of the fourth state of this Church, 'Eber' here, as previously, being the worship in general of this Church. 'And he begot Peleg' means a derivative from it, 'Peleg' being a nation so named from him as its forefather which means external worship.

[1345a] That 'Peleg' here means external worship follows from the sequence of derivations of worship, and so from his derivation. In verse 25 of the previous chapter where it is said that 'in his days the land was divided', this name had a different meaning, for the reason that there he and his brother Joktan together represented that Church.

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.