3107. 'Ten [shekels] of gold in weight' means the full amount involved in the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of 'ten', like a hundred, as a complete state, dealt with in 1988, 2636, from the meaning of 'gold' which here is a type of currency whose weight is used to indicate value, and from the meaning of 'weight' as the state of something as regards good, dealt with above in 3104. From this it is evident that 'ten [shekels] of gold in weight' means a complete state of what is being valued as regards good. The fact that the full amount involved in the introduction is meant is clear from the details in this chapter which deals with the introduction or betrothing.

In most places in the Word, "ten" represents "all," or in some cases "many" or "much." The Ten Commandments represent all the guidance we get from the Lord in life; the ten horns on the beast of Revelation represent all power of falsity; the ten virgins with lamps in Matthew 25 represent all people of the church.

Yet in other places, ten, or especially a "tenth," signifies representing remnants, or tiny scraps of goodness preserved for the future. These can be the remnants of a church -- a few good people that can be built up into a new church. Or they can be tiny subconscious memories of love and joy which the Lord stores in each of us in early childhood, feelings He can use later to draw us toward a life of goodness and affection.

These two meanings seem nearly opposite, but they're actually not. Love is whole and indivisible, so that the tiniest feeling buried inside someone contains all the elements of the love it can become. In a similar way, a remnant of a church that has preserved that church's knowledge has everything it needs to grow into a new church. In a sense, then, those remnants are indeed "all," they're just a version of "all" that is still in a state of potential.