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.

7903. 'Until the twenty-first day of the month' means the end of that holy [state]. This is clear from the meaning of 'the twenty-first day' as a holy state, and also as the end of that state. A holy state is meant because that number is the product of seven and three multiplied together, and 'seven' means what is holy, as also does 'three'. And the end of that state is plainly meant by that twenty-first day because it was the last.