4843. To Tamar his daughter-in-law. That this signifies a church representative of spiritual and celestial things, which is called “daughter-in-law” from truth, is evident from the representation of Tamar, as being a church representative of spiritual and celestial things, of which above (n. 4831); and from the signification of a “daughter-in-law” as being the spiritual or truth of the church. That a “daughter-in-law” has this meaning in the internal sense is because all things belonging to marriage, and all who were born from marriage, represented such things as are of the heavenly marriage (see n. 4837), and consequently which are of good and truth; for these are of the heavenly marriage. From this it is that in the Word a husband signifies good, and a wife truth; and also that sons and daughters signify the truths and goods that are from them. Hence a daughter-in-law, being the wife of a son now become a husband, signifies the truth of the church conjoined with good and so on. But in regard to those who are of the celestial church these significations are different from what they are in regard to those who are of the spiritual church; for in the spiritual church the husband is called “man,” and signifies truth; and the wife is called “woman,” and signifies good (see n. 4823).

[2] That by a “daughter-in-law” in the internal sense of the Word is signified the truth of the church adjoined to its good, consequently in the opposite sense the falsity of the church adjoined to its evil, is also evident from the passages in the Word in which “daughter-in-law” is mentioned-as in Hosea:

They sacrifice upon the heads of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oak, and the poplar, and the terebinth, because the shadow thereof is good; therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Shall not I visit upon your daughters because they commit whoredom, and upon your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery? (Hos. 4:13-14); where the subject treated of is the worship of evil and falsity, the worship of evil being signified by “sacrificing upon the heads of the mountains,” and the worship of falsity by “burning incense upon the hills.” A life of evil is signified by the “daughters committing whoredom,” and the doctrine of falsity from which is a life of evil is signified by the “daughters-in-law committing adultery.” That in the Word adulteries and whoredoms signify adulterations of good and falsifications of truth may be seen above (n. 2466, 2729, 3399); and therefore “daughters-in-law” here denote affections of falsity.

[3] In Micah:

The great one speaketh the perversity of his soul; and he wresteth it. Their good one is as a thorn; the upright, as a bramble. The son lightly esteemeth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s foes are they of his household (Micah 7:3-4, 6); where the subject treated of is the falsity from evil in which the church is in the last time, when vastated, and in the proximate sense that in which the Jewish Church was. The “daughter rising up against her mother,” signifies that the affection of evil is opposed to truth; and the “daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,” that the affection of falsity is opposed to good.

[4] As the case is similar with the man who is in temptations-for in these there is a combat of evil against truth and of falsity against good, spiritual temptations being nothing else than vastations of the falsity and evil in a man-therefore temptations or spiritual combats are described by the Lord in almost the same words, in Matthew:

Jesus said, Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth; I am not come to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be they of his household (Matthew 10:34-36).

The like words quoted just above from the prophet signified the vastation of the church, but here they signify the temptations of those who are of the church, because as already said temptations are nothing else than vastations, or removals, of falsity and evil; and for this reason both temptations and vastations are also signified and described by inundations of water and by floods (n. 705, 739, 756, 907). Here also therefore the “daughter being at variance against her mother” denotes the affection of evil opposed to truth, and the “daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,” the affection of falsity opposed to good; and because in the man who is in temptation evils and falsities are within or are his, they are said to be of his household—“a man’s foes shall be they of his household.” That temptations are what are thus described is plain from the Lord’s saying that He came not to send peace upon the earth, but a sword, for by a “sword” is signified truth combating, and in the opposite sense falsity combating (n. 2799, 4499), when yet He came to give peace (John 14:27; 16:33). That it is temptations which are so described is evident from what follows in that chapter: “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.”

[5] So also in Luke:

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, Nay; but division; for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Luke 12:51-53);

from these sayings also it is plain that by “father,” “mother,” “son,” “daughter,” “daughter-in-law,” and “mother-in-law” are signified those things which are from the heavenly marriage, namely, goods and truths in their order, and also their opposites; as likewise in Mark:

Jesus said, There is no man that has left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, for My sake and the gospel’s, but he shall receive a hundred-fold in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29-30);

one unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word will suppose that nothing more than house, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, and fields are signified by these words here; but it is such things as appertain to man, his own, which he must forsake; and the spiritual and celestial things that are of the Lord which he must receive in their place, and this by means of temptations, which are meant by “persecutions.” Everyone can see that if he forsake a mother he will not receive mothers; in like manner neither brethren, sisters, etc.

2177. That the “meal of fine flour” denotes the spiritual and the celestial which were then with the Lord, and that “cakes” denote the same when both are conjoined, is very evident from the sacrifices of the Representative Church, and from the meat-offering then made use of, which consisted of fine flour mingled with oil and made into cakes. The chief part of representative worship consisted in burnt-offerings and sacrifices. What these represented has already been stated, where bread is treated of (n. 2165), namely, the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and of the Lord’s kingdom on the earth (that is, in the church), and also those of the Lord’s kingdom or church with each person; and in general all the things of love and charity, because these are celestial. All these offerings and sacrifices were at that time called “bread,” and to them was adjoined the meat-offering also, which, as already said, consisted of fine flour mingled with oil, to which frankincense was likewise added, as well as a libation of wine.

[2] What these represented is also evident, namely, similar things as the sacrifices, but in a less degree, thus the things which are of the spiritual church, and likewise those of the external church. Everyone can see that such things would never have been commanded unless they had represented Divine things, and also that each one represents something special and peculiar, for unless they had represented Divine things, they would not have differed from similar things in use among the Gentiles, among whom also there were sacrifices—meat-offerings, libations, frankincense, perpetual fires, and many other things, derived to them from the Ancient Church, and especially from the Hebrew Church. But as internal things (that is, the Divine things that were represented) were separated from these Gentile rites, they were merely idolatrous, as also they became with the Jews, who for this reason fell into all kinds of idolatry. From what has been said everyone can see that there were heavenly arcana in every rite, especially in the sacrifices and all their particulars.

[3] As regards the meat-offering, the nature of it and how it was to be prepared into cakes, is described in a whole chapter in Moses (Leviticus 2; also in Numbers 15, and elsewhere). The law of the meat-offering is described in Leviticus in these words:

Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually, it shall not go out. And this is the law of the meat-offering: the sons of Aaron shall bring it before Jehovah to the faces of the altar; and he shall take therefrom his handful of the fine flour of the meat-offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat-offering, and shall burn it upon the altar, an odor of rest, for a memorial unto Jehovah; and the residue thereof Aaron and his sons shall eat; unleavened shall they be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting shall they eat it. It shall not be baked leavened; I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is a holy of holies (Leviticus 6:13-17).

[4] The fire which must be kept burning upon the altar continually, represented the love, that is, the mercy of the Lord, perpetual and eternal. That in the Word “fire” signifies love, see n. 934; hence “offerings made by fire for an odor of rest” signify the Lord’s pleasure in the things which are of love and charity. (That “odor” denotes what is well-pleasing, that is, what is grateful, see n. 925, 1519.) Their “taking a handful” represented that they should love with all the strength, or with all the soul; for the hand, or the palm of the hand, signifies power (as shown n. 878), from which “handful” also signifies power. The fine flour, with the oil and the frankincense, represented all things of charity-the fine flour the spiritual, and the oil the celestial of charity, the frankincense what was in this manner grateful. (That fine flour represents what is spiritual, is evident from what has just been said, and from what follows; that oil represents what is celestial, or the good of charity, may be seen above, n. 886; and also that frankincense, from its odor, represents what is grateful and acceptable, n. 925.)

[5] Its being “unleavened,” or not fermented, signifies that it should be sincere, and thus from a sincere heart, and free from uncleanness. That Aaron and his sons should eat the residue, represented man’s reciprocality and his appropriation, thus conjunction through love and charity; on which account it was commanded that they should eat it in a holy place. Hence it is called a “holy of holies.” These were the things that were represented by the meat-offering; and the representatives themselves were so perceived in heaven; and when the man of the church so apprehended them, he was then in an idea similar to the perception of the angels, thus he was in the Lord’s kingdom itself in the heavens although he was on earth.

[6] The meat-offering is further treated of, as regards what it ought to be in connection with each kind of sacrifice, and how it should be baked into cakes, also what kind should be offered by those who were being cleansed, and what on other occasions; to mention and explain all of which would be too tedious; but concerning all these matters see Exodus 29:39-41; Leviticus 5:11-13; 6:14-23; 10:12-13; 23:10-13, 23:16-17; Numbers 5:15, etc.; 6:15-17, 19-20, 7:1-89, in several places; 28:5, 7, 9, 12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 37.

[7] Fine flour made into cakes in general represented the same as bread, namely, the celestial of love, and meal the spiritual of it, as is evident from the passages cited above. The “breads” [or loaves] that were called the “bread of faces,” or the “show bread” [panis propositionis], were made of fine flour, which was prepared in cakes and placed upon the table, for a perpetual representation of the love, that is, the mercy, of the Lord toward the universal human race, and the reciprocality of man. Concerning these loaves we read as follows in Moses:

Thou shalt take fine flour and shalt bake it into twelve cakes; of two tenths shall one cake be; and thou shalt set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the clean table, before Jehovah; and thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, and it shall be to the breads for a memorial, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. On every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually, from the sons of Israel in a covenant of eternity. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is a holy of holies unto him, of the offerings made by fire unto Jehovah by a statute of eternity (Leviticus 24:5-9).

Every particular in this description and all the smallest details represented the holy of love and of charity, the “fine flour” the same as the “meal of fine flour,” namely, the celestial and its spiritual, and the “cake” the two conjoined.

[8] Hence it is evident what is the holiness of the Word to those who are in heavenly ideas, nay, what holiness there was in this very representative rite, on account of which it is called a holiness of holinesses; and on the contrary, how void of holiness it is to those who suppose that there is nothing heavenly in these things, and who abide solely in the externals; as do they who perceive the meal here merely as meal, the fine flour as fine flour, and the cake as a cake, and who suppose these things to have been stated without each particular involving something of the Divine. These do in like manner as do those who think the bread and wine of the Holy Supper to be nothing but a certain rite, containing nothing holy within; whereas there is such holiness that human minds are by that Supper conjoined with heavenly minds, when from internal affection they are thinking that the bread and wine signify the Lord’s love and the reciprocality of man, and are thus in holiness from interior thought and feeling.

[9] The like was involved in that the sons of Israel on their coming into the land of Canaan were to offer a cake of the first of their dough, as a heave-offering unto Jehovah (Numbers 15:20). That such things are signified is also evident in the Prophets, from which we may at present adduce only this from Ezekiel:

Thou wast decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was fine linen and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, honey, and oil, and thou wast become beautiful very exceedingly, and thou wast prospered unto a kingdom (Ezekiel 16:13); where the subject treated of is Jerusalem, by which is signified the church, that was so decked in its earliest time-that is, the Ancient Church-and which is described by the garments and other ornaments; as also its affections of truth and good by the fine flour, honey, and oil. Everyone can see that all these things have a very different meaning in the internal sense from that in the sense of the letter. And so have these words which Abraham said to Sarah: “Make ready quickly three measures of the meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes.” (That “three” signifies holy things has been shown before, n. 720, 901)