7978. 'And they baked the dough which they brought out of Egypt - unleavened cakes' means that from the truth of good further good was produced that had no falsity at all in it. This is clear from the meaning of 'baking' - when used in reference to the truth of good, meant by 'the dough' - as producing; from the meaning of 'the dough' as the truth of good, dealt with above in 7966; and from the meaning of 'unleavened cakes' as forms of good that have no falsity at all in them, since 'unleavened' means without falsity, see 2342, 7906. This is the second state of truth from good that they passed through when they were delivered, see above in 7966, 7972. The reason why 'cakes' means forms of good is that they are cakes of bread, and 'bread' in the internal sense is the good of love, dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915. But bread in the form of cakes is distinguished from bread in general, in that bread in the form of cakes means the good of love towards the neighbour, which is spiritual good, while bread in general means the good of love to the Lord, which is celestial good. Such spiritual good was meant by 'the minchah' which was offered and burned with the sacrifice on the altar; for 'the minchah' was baked into cakes and into wafers, as is made clear in Exodus 29:2-3, 23-24, 32; Leviticus 2:2 and following verses; 6:20-21; Numbers 6:15, 19; 15:18-21.

[2] Something similar was meant by 'the twelve loaves of the presence which too were baked into cakes, described in Moses as follows,

You shall take fine flour and bake it into twelve cakes; two-tenths [of an ephah] shall there be in one cake. And you shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the clean table before Jehovah. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, and it shall be loaves of bread serving as a memorial, a fire-offering to Jehovah. Leviticus 24:5-9.

From these instructions it becomes clear that 'the loaves' meant what was holy, for such instructions would never have been issued but for that reason. And since they meant what was holy they were also called in verse 9 of the same chapter 'holiness of holinesses.' ¹ But these loaves meant the good of celestial love, and their being baked into cakes meant forms of the good of spiritual love. From these verses and from those in the references given above it becomes clear that something similar is meant by the bread in the Holy Supper.

Бележки под линия:

3459. 'And swore, a man to his brother' means confirmation with those who do the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'swearing' or of 'an oath' as confirmation, dealt with in 2842, 3037, 3375, and from the meaning of 'a man to his brother' as the good of truth, or what amounts to the same, one who is governed by that truth - 'man' meaning truth, see 265, 749, 1007, 3134, 3309, and 'brother' good, 2360. For what the good of truth is, see 3295, 3332. This good occurs with those represented here by Abimelech or by the Philistines, of whom Abimelech was the king, that is to say, those who make faith the essential thing of the Church and rank it above charity. No other good exists with such persons than the good of truth. Indeed they extract and draw out of the Word nothing else than references to faith and so to truth. They hardly notice references to good and so to life, and as a consequence they become more firmly convinced by matters of doctrine concerning faith and not by any concerning charity. When they do perform a good action it is one prescribed by matters of doctrine concerning faith. Good prescribed by these is called the good of truth.

[2] The Lord does indeed join Himself to those with whom this good exists, but not in the same way as He does to those who do the good of charity, for love and charity constitute spiritual conjunction, but not so faith except through love and charity. It is for this reason that the words used are not 'they made a covenant with Isaac' but 'they swore, a man to his brother'; for 'a covenant' has reference to good, which is the good of love and charity, whereas 'an oath' has reference to truth, which is the truth of faith, 3375. Also 'dwelling together' meant by 'a feast', 3456, is used in reference to those who do the good of truth. From people such as these in the next life I have been given to know that they have been separated from those who do the good of charity; for the latter are joined more nearly to the Lord than the former, since the former's good is so to speak hard and inflexible, and not communicable, and so is not in heaven but on the threshold of heaven.