Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10259

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10259. 'Five hundred' means that which is complete. This is clear from what has been shown above in 10253. The reason why five hundred [shekels] of myyrh, 'according to the shekel of holiness', were taken, and five hundred of cassia, but only two hundred and fifty of sweet-smelling cinnamon and of sweet-smelling calamus, was that 'myrrh' was a sign of truth on the level of the senses, which is truth last and lowest in sequence, and 'cassia' a sign of truth that emanates directly from good, which is inmost truth, whereas 'sweet-smelling cinnamon' and 'sweet-smelling calamus' were signs of the inner levels of truth that are in between. Of the last and of the inmost there must be a complete amount, but of those in between a corresponding amount, for those in between must exist in a relationship in which they correspond to the first and the last.


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