5201. 'And they fed in the sedge' means instruction. This is clear from the meaning of 'feeding' as receiving instruction, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the sedge', or longer grass that grows near rivers, as facts known to the natural man. Since such factual knowledge is meant by 'grass or 'plant', as is plain from the Word, 'feeding in the sedge' therefore means receiving instruction in factual knowledge, and through this knowledge instruction regarding things that are true and good. For factual knowledge serves as a means. Indeed it is like a mirror in which an image of interior things reveals itself; and this image is like another mirror in which forms of the truth and the good of faith, and therefore things which belong to heaven and are called spiritual, reveal and represent themselves. But being an interior one, this image is seen by none but those who have faith that is rooted in charity. This is what is meant in the genuine sense by 'feeding in the sedge'.

[2] The meaning of 'feeding' as receiving instruction is evident from those places in the Word where one reads the expression, such as in Isaiah,

Then He will give rain for your seed with which you sow the land, and bread of the produce of the land; and there will be fatness and wealthiness. On that day, they will feed your cattle in a broad grassland. Isaiah 30:23.

'Cattle' stands for those in whom goodness and truth are present, 'feeding in a broad grassland' for receiving abundant instruction.

[3] In the same prophet,

I have given You as a covenant of the people - to restore the land; to share out the devastated inheritances; to say to the bound, Go out; to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed along the ways, and on all slopes will their pasture be. Isaiah 49:8-9.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'Feeding along the ways' stands for receiving instruction in truths, 'the ways' being truths, 627, 2333. 'Pasture' stands for the actual instruction. In Jeremiah,

Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the flock of My pasture! Therefore said Jehovah God of Israel against the shepherds feeding My people..... Jeremiah 23:1-2.

'The shepherds' stands for those who give instruction, and 'the flock' for those who receive it, 347, 3795, so that 'feeding' means giving instruction.

[4] It has become customary to refer to those who teach as 'pastors' or 'shepherds' and to those who learn as 'the flock'. For this reason the use of the expression 'feeding' has become commonly accepted when talking about preaching or about instruction given in doctrine or the Word. But when the expression is used in this way it is only a comparison and not, as when it occurs in the Word, one that holds any spiritual meaning within it. The reason 'feeding', when used in the Word, has a spiritual meaning is that when instruction and doctrine based on the Word are being talked about in heaven, that discussion is represented in a visual way in the world of spirits, where spiritual realities make their appearance within natural images. That representation consists of grasslands that are lush with grass, plants, and flowers, and where also there are flocks; and every variation of this scene occurs, as determined by the nature of the discussion that is taking place in heaven regarding instruction and doctrine.

[5] In the same prophet,

I will bring back Israel to his habitation so that he may feed on Carmel and Bashan; and on mount Ephraim and in Gilead his soul will be satisfied. Jeremiah 50:19.

'Feeding on Carmel and Bashan' stands for receiving instruction in forms of the good of faith and charity. In the same prophet,

There has gone out from the daughter of Zion all her majesty; her princes have become like deer, they have not found pasture. Lamentations 1:6. In Ezekiel

I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the loftiness of Israel; and they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will feed upon the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 34:14.

[6] In Hosea,

Now Jehovah will feed them like a sheep in a broad place. Hosea 4:16.

'Feeding in a broad place' stands for giving instruction in truths, for 'a broad place' means truth, see 1613, 3473, 3434, 4482.

In Micah,

You, Bethlehem Ephrath, from you will come forth for Me one who will be Ruler in Israel. He will stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah. Micah 5:2, 4.

In the same prophet,

Guide ¹ your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance which is dwelling alone. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. Micah 7:14.

In Zephaniah,

The remnant of Israel will feed and rest, with none making them afraid. Zephaniah 3:17.

[7] In David,

Jehovah is my Shepherd; He will make me lie down in green pastures; ² He will lead me away to still waters. Psalms 23:1-2.

In the same author,

He made us and not we ourselves, His people and the flock of His pasture; therefore we are His, His people and the flock of His pasture. ³ Psalms 100:3.

In the Book of Revelation,

The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and will guide them to living springs of water. Revelation 7:17.

In John,

I am the door. If anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said to Peter, Feed My lambs; a second time, Feed My sheep; and a third time, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17.

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10109. 'And they shall eat those things containing what has been expiated' means the making of good their own by those who have been purified from evils and consequent falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, dealt with above in 10106; and from the meaning of 'what has been expiated' as that which has been purified from evils and consequent falsities, dealt with in 9506. The words 'purified from evils and consequent falsities' are used because falsities as well as truths exist with those ruled by evil, and also falsities as well as truths exist with those who are governed by good. The falsities present with those ruled by evil are falsities of evil, and the truths present with them are falsified truths, which are dead. But the falsities present with those governed by good are accepted as truths, for those falsities are tempered by the good and put to good and useful purposes, and the truths present with them are the truths of good, which are alive. Regarding both kinds of falsity and truth, see what has been shown in 2243, 2408, 2863, 4736, 4822, 6359, 7272, 7437, 7574, 7577, 8051, 8137, 8138, 8149, 8298, 8311, 8318 (end), 9258, 9298.

[2] Since 'eating the holy things containing what has been expiated' means the making of good their own by those who have been purified from evils and consequent falsities, anyone unclean was strictly forbidden to eat of those things; for uncleanness means defilement by evils and consequent falsities. For the situation is that as long as a person is steeped in evils and consequent falsities good cannot by any means be made his own. This is because evil comes up from hell and good comes down from heaven, and where hell is heaven cannot be, since they are diametrically opposed to each other. Therefore to make a place for heaven - that is, for good from heaven - hell, that is, evil from hell, must be removed. From this it may be seen that good cannot by any means be made a person's own as long as he is ruled by evil. By making good his own the implanting of good in the will should be understood, for good cannot be said to have been made a person's own until it becomes part of his will. A person's will is the actual person, and his understanding also, to the extent that it derives from the will. For what is part of the will forms part of the person's love and consequently his life, since what a person wills he loves and calls good, and also when it is done by him it is felt to be such. The situation is different with those things which are part of the understanding but not at the same time part of the will. It should also be recognized that when a person is said to make good his own, no more should be understood than his ability to receive good from the Lord, an ability he is endowed with through regeneration. Consequently good as it exists with a person is not that person's; rather it is the Lord's with him. And he is maintained in it to the extent that he allows himself to be withheld from evils. The impossibility for good to become a person's own, that is, for it to be transmitted to him, as long as he is ruled by evil was the reason for the prohibition which prevented one who was unclean from eating the flesh and the bread of a sacrifice; for that eating represented making good one's own, as stated above.

[3] Those who were unclean were forbidden on pain of death to eat from holy offerings, as is clear in Moses,

Everyone who is clean shall eat flesh. The soul who eats the flesh of sacrifices while uncleanness is on him shall be cut off from his people. The soul who touches anything unclean - the uncleanness of a human being or an unclean beast or any unclean creeping thing whatever - and eats of the flesh of the eucharistic sacrifice shall be cut off from [his] people. Leviticus 7:19-21.

All those outward kinds of uncleanness represented inward kinds, which are a person's evils; and they are evils present in his will, having been made his own by the life he actually leads.

[4] This matter is described further elsewhere in Moses,

Any man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper or suffers a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he has been made clean. Whoever has touched anything made unclean by a corpse ¹ , [or any] man who has had an emission of semen ² , or [any] man who has touched any creeping thing by which he is defiled, or [has touched] a person by whom any one is defiled, as to all his uncleanness - the soul who has touched that thing shall be unclean until evening and not eat of the holy things. But when he has washed his flesh with water, and the sun has gone down, he shall be clean; and afterwards he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his bread. No outsider shall eat what is holy; a stranger staying with a priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat what is holy. If the priest buys a soul - a buying with his silver - [that soul] may eat of it, and one who is born in his house; these shall eat of his bread. When a priest's daughter has married a man, an outsider, she shall not eat of the heave offering of holy things. But if the priest's daughter has been made a widow or divorced and has no seed, and has indeed returned to her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's bread. Leviticus 22:1-16.

All these rules, it is plainly evident, serve to mean more internal considerations, that is, they imply the transmission of holy things to those in a receptive state of mind, who then make those things their own. The rule that no outsider could eat the holy things meant, not those who do not acknowledge the Lord within the Church, thus not those with whom none of the Church's truth and good exists. The rule that no stranger or hired servant could eat them meant, neither those with whom natural good exists devoid of the good of faith, nor those who do good for the sake of reward. The rule that those bought with silver and those born in the house could eat them meant, those who have been converted, and those with whom the Church's truth and good exists as the result of faith and love. The rule that a priest's daughter married to a man who was an outsider could not eat them meant that the good which had not been wedded to the Church's truths [but to something other] could not make the holy things of the Church its own. The rule however that a widow or a divorcee who had no seed could eat them meant that good can be made one's own after the removal of things which do not belong to the Church, provided that no notions have been hatched or born out of that union that have become an integral part of one's faith. The fact that such considerations are meant is evident from the internal sense of these specific rules.

[5] But hereditary evils do not prevent anyone from making good his own. This consideration too is described in Moses,

No man of the seed of Aaron in whom there is a blemish shall approach to offer the bread of God - no man who is blind, lame, mutilated, or [has a limb] too long; none who has a broken foot or hand, is a hunchback, is bruised, has a defect in his eye, has scabs, has warts, or has a crushed testicle. He shall not approach to offer the bread of his God; but he shall eat the bread of God from among the most holy and the holy things. Leviticus 21:17-23.

These defects, as has been stated, serve to mean hereditary evils, some specific evil being meant by each particular defect. The reason why these men should not offer bread or approach the altar as priests was that if they did so the people would catch sight of those imperfections or ills, and in what was caught sight of some representation would take shape, none of which would happen if those defects remained hidden. For although a priest, Levite, or the people were unclean inwardly, they were nevertheless called clean and also thought to be sanctified, provided that outwardly they were washed and looked clean.

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