3104. 'Half a shekel in weight' means the amount needed for the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of 'a shekel', 'half a shekel', and 'weight'. 'A shekel' means the price or valuation of good and truth, and 'half a shekel' a defined amount of it, see 2959. 'Weight' means the state of something as regards good, as will be seen [below]. From these considerations it is evident that 'half a shekel in weight' means and embodies the amount as regards the good which 'a gold nose-jewel' is used to mean - that amount being the quantity of it that was needed for the introduction, as is plain from what comes before and after this point in the story.

[2] That 'weight' is the state of something as regards good is evident from the following places in the Word:

In Ezekiel where the prophet was told to eat food each day twenty shekels in weight, and to drink water in measure the sixth of a hin,

For, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, so that they may eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and with dismay; that they may be in want of bread and water. Ezekiel 4:10-11, 16-17.

This refers to the vastation of good and truth, which is represented by 'the prophet'. A state of good when vastated is meant by their having to eat food and bread 'by weight', and a state of truth when vastated by their having to drink water 'by measure' - 'bread' meaning that which is celestial, and so good, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, and 'water' that which is spiritual, and so truth, 739, 2702, 3058. From this it is evident that 'weight' is used in reference to good, and 'measure' to truth.

[3] In the same prophet,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. Ezekiel 45:10 and following verses.

This refers to the holy land, by which the Lord's kingdom in heaven is meant, as may be recognized from every detail at this point in this prophet, where what are required are not balances, an ephah, and a bath that are just but the goods and truths meant by those weights and measures.

In Isaiah,

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and weighed the heavens in [His] palm, and gathered the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in the scales? Isaiah 40:12.

'Weighing the mountains in a balance and the hills in the scares' stands for the truth that the Lord is the source of the heavenly things of love and charity, and that He alone orders the states of these things. For 'the mountains' and 'the hills' referred to in connection with those weights mean the heavenly things of love, see 795, 796, 1430, 2722.

[4] In Daniel,

The writing on the wall of Belshazzar's palace was, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation: Mene, God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the scales and have been found wanting; Peres, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel 5:25-28.

Here 'mene' or 'He has numbered' has reference to truth, but 'tekel' or 'weighed in the scales' to good. Described in the internal sense is the time when the age is drawing to a close.

720. 'Pairs of each' means that in relation to goods they are unholy. This becomes clear from the meaning of that number. A pair or two means not only a marriage (and when the heavenly marriage is meant it is a holy number); it also has the same meaning as six. That is to say, two relates to three in the same way that the six days of labour do to the seventh or holy day of rest. This is why in the Word 'the third day' takes on the same meaning as 'the seventh', and embodies almost the same, the reason being that the Lord's resurrection took place on the third day. This also is why the Lord's Coming into the world and into glory, and also every coming of the Lord, is described by the third day, as well as by the seventh day. The two days which go before therefore are not holy, but in relation to the third are unholy, as in Hosea,

Come and we will return to Jehovah, for He has wounded and will heal us; He has stricken and will bind us up; He will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. Hosea 6:1-2.

And in Zechariah,

It will be in all the land, said Jehovah, that two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last, and a third will be left in it. And I will lead the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as one refines silver. Zechariah 13:8-9.

And Psalms 12:6 speaks of silver being purest when it has been purified seven times. These quotations show that just as 'sevens of each' did not mean sevens of each but things that are holy, so 'pairs of each' does not mean two of each but those which in relation to the holy are unholy. Accordingly the meaning is not at all that unclean beasts, or man's evil affections, in relation to clean beasts, or goods, were fewer by a ratio of two to seven; for with man evils far outnumber goods.