2966. 'Four hundred shekels of silver' means the price of redemption, as has been shown above in 2959. But what the price of redemption is will now be stated. Redemption is attributable to the Lord alone, and so also is the price of redemption. Yet the latter may also be spoken of in reference to man's receptivity, though with him the price of redemption is determined by the measure of his receptivity. The price of redemption is the Lord's merit and righteousness acquired through the severest temptations by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, doing so by His own power. And through that uniting of them He has saved the human race, especially those who belong to the spiritual Church.

For the Lord's becoming righteousness through the severest temptations, see 1813, 2025-2027.

For the Lord's uniting of the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 1813, 2083.

For His doing this by His own power, 1616, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, 2500, 2523, 2632.

And for His salvation of the human race, especially those who belong to the spiritual Church, through that uniting of both, 2661, 2716.

These are the factors meant by the price of redemption.

[2] As regards the consideration that this price may also be spoken of in reference to man's receptivity, though with him that price is determined by the measure of his receptivity, this may be seen from the truth that it is the Lord's Divine which constitutes the Church with man. For the Church does not hearken to anything except that which is the Lord's own. It is the good of love and charity, and the truth of faith, that constitute that which is called the Church. For it is well known that all good comes from the Lord and that all truth comes from the Lord. Good and truth that come from man are not good and truth. From this it is evident that the price of redemption is with man determined by the measure of his receptivity.

[3] Because among the Jews the Lord's redemption was rated so low as to be scarcely anything at all, it is therefore said in Zechariah,

I said to them, If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; and if not, withhold them. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price I was valued at among them. Zechariah 11:12-13.

And in Matthew,

They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him whom they had bought from the children of Israel, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me. Matthew 27:9-10.

'Thirty' is that which is so little as to be scarcely anything, see 2276. Thus the meaning is that the Jews rated the Lord's merit and redemption as nothing, but among those who believed that all good and all truth came from the Lord, the price of redemption is meant by 'forty' and to a higher degree by 'four hundred'.

2632. 'Abraham circumcised his son Isaac' means purification of the rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'being circumcised' as being purified, dealt with in 2039, and from the representation of 'Isaac' as the Divine Rational, dealt with in 2630.

[2] The Lord's first rational was born in the way it is with others, that is to say, by means of facts and cognitions. This has been stated already where Ishmael, who represents that rational, is the subject. Because it was born, as with others, by means of facts and cognitions, thus by the external way, which is that of the senses, this rational inevitably included many things that were worldly in origin, for it is from those things that the ideas which the rational possesses are acquired. This was even more so the case with the Lord on account of the heredity He had from the mother. It was those worldly things and this heredity which the Lord gradually cast out of His rational until it was such that it was able to receive the Divine, 2624, 2625. At this point the Lord's Divine Rational, represented by 'Isaac', was born, 2630, not indeed by the external way, which is that of the senses - as was the case with the previous rational - but by the internal way from the Divine itself, 2628, 2629. As this was not accomplished all at once but gradually, 1690, 2033, the rational was purified, and constantly so. It is this purification that is meant by 'Abraham circumcised his son, a son eight days old'. That the Lord gradually made His Rational Divine and purified it constantly is clear also in John,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. John 12:28.

'Glorifying' is making Divine, see 1603, 1999.

[3] In the Ancient Church nothing else was represented and meant by circumcision than that a person should be purified from self-love and love of the world, which is also effected gradually and constantly, see 2039, 2046 (end), 2049, 2056, especially when a person has been born anew or regenerated. For at that time the Lord is flowing in by the internal way, that is, through the good that forms part of conscience; and He gradually and constantly separates the things which cling to that person both as a result of hereditary evil and of the evil of his own doing.