9323. And He shall bless thy bread, and thy waters. That this signifies the increase of the good of love and truth of faith, is evident from the signification of “being blessed by Jehovah,” as being to be made fruitful in goods, and multiplied in truths (see n. 2846, 3406, 4981, 6091, 6099, 8939), thus increase in such things as belong to love and faith; from the signification of “bread,” as being the good of love (see n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 6118, 8410); and from the signification of “water,” as being the truth of faith (n. 680, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 6346, 7307, 8568). As “bread” signified all the good of love, and “water” all the truth of faith, in the complex, and as “to be blessed of Jehovah” signifies all increase in these, therefore it was a customary devout wish in the Ancient Churches that Jehovah would “bless the bread and the water;” and it was also a common form of speaking to say “bread and water,” to express all natural food and all natural drink, and to mean thereby all spiritual good and all spiritual truth; for these are what nourish the spiritual life, as bread and water nourish the natural life (see n. 4976).

[2] Such is the signification of “bread and water” in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Behold Jehovah Zebaoth doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the whole staff of bread, and the whole staff of water (Isaiah 3:1);

“the staff of bread” denotes power and life from good; and “the staff of water,” power and life from truth.

In Ezekiel:

Behold, I break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; that they may eat bread by weight, and in disquiet; and drink water by measure, and with amazement; that they may be in want of bread and water, and be desolated a man and his brother, and pine away because of their iniquity (Ezekiel 4:16-17).

That “to be in want of bread and water” denotes to be deprived of the good of love and truth of faith, is very evident; for it is said “that they may be desolated a man and his brother, and pine away because of iniquity.”

[3] In like manner in the same:

They shall eat their bread with disquiet, and drink their water with amazement, that the land may be laid waste from the fullness thereof, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein (Ezekiel 12:19).

Behold the days come that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water; but for hearing the words of Jehovah (Amos 8:11).

The man of God said to Jeroboam, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; for so Jehovah commanded, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that thou camest. But the prophet from Bethel told him that Jehovah had said that he should eat bread with him, and drink water, lying unto him. And he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house and drink water; wherefore he was torn in pieces by a lion (1 Kings 13:8-9, 16-19, 24).

That he “should not eat bread and drink water with Jeroboam” signified that he should abhor the good there, and also the truth, because these had been profaned; for Jeroboam profaned the altar and all the holy things of worship, as is plain from the historical narrative of the Word in that chapter.

[4] The lack of spiritual good and truth was signified by rain not being given for three years and a half during the reign of Ahab, insomuch that bread and water failed; and then Elijah went to a widow in Sarepta and asked from her a little water to drink, and a morsel of bread to eat (1 Kings 17 an. 18); for, as before said, by “bread” was signified all the good of the church, and by “water” all the truth of the church. As at that time such things were represented because the representative of a church existed among them, and because the Word, even the historical Word, was to be written by representatives, therefore the devastation of good and truth was represented by a lack of bread and water. As “bread” signified all the good of love in the complex, the sacrifices were called “bread” (n. 2165); and the Lord also calls Himself “the bread which came down from heaven” (John 6:48, 50-51); for the Lord is the good of love itself.

3813. As regards “flesh,” in the supreme sense it signifies the own of the Lord’s Divine Human, which is Divine good, and in the relative sense it signifies the own of man’s will made alive by the own of the Divine Human, that is, by His Divine good. This own is what is called the heavenly own, which in itself is the Lord’s alone appropriated to those who are in good, and thence in truth. Such an own have the angels who are in the heavens, and men who as to their interiors or as to the spirit are in the Lord’s kingdom. But in the opposite sense, “flesh” signifies the own of man’s will, which in itself is nothing but evil, and not being vivified by the Lord is called “dead,” and thus the man himself is said to be dead.

[2] That in the supreme sense “flesh” is the own of the Lord’s Divine Human, thus His Divine good, is evident from the Lord’s words in John:

Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you; he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day; for My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed; he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51-56, 58).

That here “flesh” is the own of the Lord’s Divine Human, thus the Divine good, is very evident; and this is what in the Holy Supper is called the “body.” That in the Holy Supper the “body” or “flesh” signifies the Divine good; and the “blood” the Divine truth, may be seen above (n. 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3735); and because “bread and wine” signify the same as “flesh and blood,” namely, “bread,” the Lord’s Divine good, and “wine,” His Divine truth, therefore the latter were enjoined instead of the former. This is the reason why the Lord said, “I am the living bread; the bread which I shall give is My flesh; he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him; this is the bread which came down from heaven.” (That “to eat” signifies to be communicated, to be conjoined, and to be appropriated, see above, n. 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513, 3596)

[3] The same was represented in the Jewish Church by the ordinance that Aaron, his sons, and they who sacrificed, and others who were clean, might eat the flesh of the sacrifices, and that this was holy (Exodus 12:7-9; 29:30-34; Leviticus 7:15-21; 8:31; Deuteronomy 12:27; 16:4). If therefore an unclean person ate of that flesh, he was to be cut off from his people (Leviticus 7:21). (That these sacrifices were called “bread,” may be seen above, n. 2165.) That “flesh” was called the “flesh of holiness” (Jeremiah 11:15; Haggai 2:12), and the “flesh of the offering which was on the tables in the Lord’s kingdom,” see Ezekiel 40:43, where the new temple is described, by which there is evidently signified the worship of the Lord in His kingdom.

[4] That in the relative sense “flesh” signifies the own of man’s will made alive by the Lord’s Divine good, is evident also from the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit in the midst of you; and I will remove the heart of stone out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26); where the “heart of stone out of their flesh” denotes the will and the own not vivified; and the “heart of flesh,” the will and the own vivified. (That the “heart” is a representative of the good of the will, may be seen above, n. 2930, 3313, 3635) In David:

O God Thou art my God; in the morning I seek Thee; my-soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry land; and I am weary without waters (Psalms 63:1).

Again:

My soul longeth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for joy unto the living God (Psalms 84:2).

[5] In Job:

I have known my Redeemer, He liveth, and at the last He shall rise upon the dust; and afterwards these things shall be encompassed with my skin, and from my flesh I shall see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold; and not another (Job 19:25-27);

to be “encompassed with skin” denotes with the natural, such as man has with him after death (n. 3539); “from the flesh to see God” denotes the own vivified; therefore he says, “whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” As it was known to the ancient ¹ churches that flesh signified man’s own, and as the book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church (see n. 3540), he therefore spoke concerning these things from what is significative, as concerning many other things, in accordance with the custom of that time; so that those who deduce from this passage that the dead body itself shall be collected from the four winds, and shall rise again, are not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word. They who know the internal sense, know that they shall come into the other life with a body, but a purer one; for in the other life there are purer bodies; for they see each other, converse together, and enjoy every sense as in the present body, but in a more exquisite degree. The body which man carries about here on earth is for uses on earth, and therefore consists of bones and flesh; and the body which the spirit carries about in the other life is designed for uses in that life, and does not consist of bones and flesh, but of things which correspond to them (n. 3726).

[6] That in the opposite sense “flesh” signifies the own of man’s will, which in itself is nothing but evil, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (Isaiah 9:20).

I will feed their oppressors with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with new wine (Isaiah 49:26).

In Jeremiah:

I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his companion (Jeremiah 19:9).

In Zechariah:

Let those who are left eat everyone the flesh of another (Zech. 11:9).

In Moses:

I will chastise you seven ² times for your sins; and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat (Leviticus 26:28-29).

The own of man’s will, that is, the nature of man, is thus described, for this is nothing else than evil and the derivative falsity; thus is hatred against truths and goods, which is signified by “eating the flesh of his arm, the flesh of sons and daughters, and the flesh of a companion.”

[7] In John:

I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all both free and bond, both small and great (Revelation 19:17-18Ezekiel 39:17-20).

That here by the “flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty men, of horses and of those that sit upon them, of all, both free and bond,” are not signified such things as these, must be evident to everyone; thus that by “flesh” are signified other things which have hitherto been unknown. That evils which are from falsities, and evils from which are falsities, both from the own of man’s will, are signified, is manifest from the several expressions.

[8] As in the internal sense the falsity which results from the own of man’s understanding is “blood”; and as the evil which results from the own of his will is “flesh,” therefore the Lord speaks as follows concerning the man who is to be regenerated:

As many as received, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

Hence it is that by “flesh” in general is meant every man (see n. 574, 1050); for whether you say man, or man’s own, it is the same thing.

[9] That by “flesh” in the supreme sense is signified the Lord’s Divine Human is manifest from the passage above quoted, and also from this in John:

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we held His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14).

From this “flesh” all flesh is vivified, that is to say, every man is vivified from the Lord’s Divine Human by the appropriation of His love, which appropriation is signified by “eating the flesh of the Son of man” (John 6:51-58), and by “eating the bread” in the Holy Supper; for the “bread” is the “body” or “flesh” (Matthew 26:26-27).

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