4759. 'For twenty pieces of silver' means the value set upon it. This is clear from the meaning of 'twenty' as the good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, which are called remnants, dealt with in 2280, and so as holy good or truth. In this case holy truth is meant because the phrase 'twenty pieces of silver' is used, 'silver' meaning truth, 1551, 2954. The same number also means that which is not holy, for most things in the Word have a contrary meaning also, here truth that is not holy in the case of those who alienated Divine Truth, or 'sold Joseph', 4758, but is holy in the case of those who accepted it or 'bought him'. The meaning here therefore is that which is not holy separated from charity, but which is holy in the case of the Ishmaelites, that is, those in whom simple good is present. These are the things that are meant by the value set upon it. The reason why 'twenty' also means that which is not holy is that 'twenty' means remnants, as stated above. If people do not have any remnants of good and truth within their interior man, only evil and falsity instead, their holiness is not holiness, and depending on the kind of evil and falsity present in them it is either filthiness or else profanity.

[2] This further meaning which 'twenty' has of that which is not holy is clear in Zechariah,

I looked, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me, What do you see? I said to him, I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, its breadth ten cubits. And he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land. Zechariah 5:1-3.

In Haggai,

When one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures from the winevat, there were only twenty; I smote you with blight, and all the work of your hands with mildew. Haggai 2:16-17.

[3] In Ezekiel,

Your food which you eat shall be in weight twenty shekels each day; from time to time shall you eat it; and you shall eat it indeed as a barley-cake. As regards that cake, with human excrement you shall make it in their sight. For thus, Jehovah said, shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations. Ezekiel 4:10, 12-13.

In these places 'twenty' stands for that which is unholy, unclean, and profane. The death in the wilderness of all over twenty years - a prediction recorded in Numbers 14:29; 32:11 - also represented that which was holy in the case of those under that age, and that which was not holy in the case of those over it. For all numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670; and remnants are good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284.

4264. 'Thirty milking camels and their colts; forty young cows and ten young bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals' means things that are subservient, general and specific. This is clear from the meaning of 'camels and their colts', also of 'young cows and young bulls' as well as of 'she-asses and their foals' as things which belong to the natural man. These things have been referred to several times already - 'camels' in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145; 'young bulls' in 1824, 1825, 2180, 2781, 2830; 'she-asses' in 2781; and these things which belong to the natural man, in relation to other things are subservient, see 1486, 3019, 3020, 3167. Consequently things that are subservient, general and specific, are meant by the animals mentioned here. As regards the numbers of the animals being 200 she-goats, 20 he-goats, 200 sheep, 20 rams, 30 camels and their colts, 40 young cows, 10 young bulls, 20 she-asses and 10 foals, these are arcana which cannot be revealed without much explanation and an extensive drawing of inferences. For all numbers used in the Word mean real things, 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252; and what they mean has been shown where they have occurred in previous chapters.

[2] I have sometimes been amazed that when angels' conversing together came down into the world of spirits their conversation revealed itself in various numbers, and also that when numbers have been read in the Word the angels have understood real things. For no numerical value ever penetrates into heaven since numbers belong to measurements both of space and of time, and these belong to the world and to the natural order to which, in the heavens, states and changes of states correspond. The most ancient people, who were celestial and had communication with angels, were aware of what simple numbers and also compound numbers meant. The meanings of these were conveyed from those people to their descendants and to members of the Ancient Church. These are things which find scarcely any acceptance in the member of the Church at the present day who believes that nothing holier is concealed in the Word apart from that which is seen in the letter.