'A shekel' signifies the price or estimation of good and truth, and 'half a shekel' signifies the determination of the quantity thereof.

(Izinkomba: Arcana Coelestia 3104)

1296. ‘Eia, façamos tijolos’; que signifique os falsos que eles forjam para si, vê-se pela significação do ‘tijolo’. Na Palavra, a ‘pedra’ significa o vero; daí o ‘tijolo’, porque é fabricado pelo homem, significa o falso; com efeito, o tijolo é uma pedra feita artificialmente. Que o tijolo signifique isto, pode-se ver também por estas passagens em Isaías:

“Estendi as minhas mãos todo o dia para o povo refratário, que caminha o caminho não bom após os seus pensamentos, ...sacrificando em jardins e queimando perfumes sobre tijolos” (Isaías 65:2, 3);

‘queimar perfumes sobre tijolos’ em razão de ter um culto oriundo de coisas fictícias e falsas; por isso é que se diz “que caminha após os seus pensamentos”. No mesmo:

“[...] Por causa da altivez e soberba do coração de Efraim e do habitante da Samaria, que diziam: Os tijolos caíram, e com pedra talhada edificaremos [...]” (Isaías 9:9, 10).

‘Efraim’ está no lugar do inteligente, o que caiu na perversidade, o que chama de veros os falsos ou então faz os falsos, ou tijolos; a ‘pedra talhada’ está em lugar da coisa fictícia. Em Naum:

“Águas do sítio tira para ti, fortifica os teus baluartes, entra na lama e pisa o barro, conserta o forno de tijolo; ali o fogo comer-te-á, e cortar-te-á a espada [...]” (Naum 3:14, 15);

aí, ‘pisar o barro’ em razão dos falsos; ‘consertar o forno de tijolos’ em razão do culto que dali provém; o ‘fogo’ é a pena das cobiças; a ‘espada’ é a pena das falsidades. Em Ezequiel:

“Toma contigo o tijolo e o põe diante de ti, e esculpa sobre ele a cidade de Jerusalém” (Ezequiel 4:1);

aí se ordenou que o profeta sitiasse a cidade, profético no qual há envolto que o culto fora falsificado. Que o ‘tijolo’ signifique o falso, pode-se ainda ver pela significação da ‘pedra’, que é o vero, do qual em breve se falará nas coisas que seguem.

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.