10040. As the flesh of the bullock with its skin and dung was to be burnt with fire without the camp, it can be seen that by its “flesh” was not signified the good of love, but the evil of love, according to what was said of its flesh above (n. 10035), and of the camp just above (n. 10038). But that the eating of the flesh of the sacrifice was allowed, as can be seen from the passages which follow, was because that nation, while in worship, was in the external without the internal (see the places cited in n. 9320, 9380); and the external without the internal is not at all holy, because then there is only gesture of the body and speech of the mouth, and the heart and soul are absent. Nevertheless the external without the internal was called holy, because it represented holy internal things. Holy internal things are all things that belong to love and faith from the Lord to the Lord. As that nation was of this character, they were not allowed to eat blood and fat, because by “blood” was signified the Divine truth which is of faith, and by “fat” the Divine good which is of love, both from the Lord (see above, n. 10033); but they were allowed to eat the flesh of the sacrifice, because it signified what is man’s own (n. 10035), and the own of that nation was to worship external things as holy, and to make no account whatever of internal things; which worship, except as a representative that was holy, was idolatrous (n. 4281, 4311). Moreover, representatively “flesh” is nothing else, seeing that its blood represented Divine truth and its fat Divine good (n. 10033), for in this case the flesh represented something without life and soul, which is called dead, as is the external without the internal, according to these words in Moses:

Thou shalt not eat the blood, for the blood is the soul; thou shalt not eat the soul with the flesh (Deuteronomy 12:23).

[2] Worship is nearly similar with the Gentile people of the Catholic religion, as it is called, namely, external without internal; for it is not granted to the common people to know the internal things of the Word, seeing that they are not allowed to read the Word. For this reason also it has of the Lord’s Divine Providence come to pass that in the Holy Supper the bread is given, which is “the flesh;” and not the wine, which is “the blood;” and yet the blood is what gives life to the flesh, as the wine does to the bread. For as bread without wine does not give nourishment to the body, so neither does the good of love, which is signified by “bread” and by “flesh,” without the truth of faith, which is signified by “wine” and by “blood,” give nourishment to the soul. By the Divine Providence of the Lord it has also come to pass that the priest should drink up the wine, because by this is signified the nourishment of the soul by Divine truth without the good of love, which is a holy external without a holy internal. That this has come to pass by the Divine Providence of the Lord they do not know, because they idolatrously adore external things, and thus do not apprehend internal ones; and therefore if they had acted differently they would have profaned holy things just like the Jews. By drinking wine alone, is also signified alone to know Divine truth, and not the common people, except insofar and in such a way as the priests wish, as also is the case there. (That in the Holy Supper the flesh and the bread denote the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love toward the human race, and the reciprocal love of man to the Lord; and that the blood and the wine denote the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good, thus the truth of faith from the Lord to the Lord, see n. 3464, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 6135, 6377, 6789, 7850, 9127) As regards the flesh of the sacrifices, when it was to be brought forth out of the camp, and burned with fire, see Leviticus 4:11-12, 21; and when and by whom it was to be eaten, Leviticus 6:19 end; 7:6, 15-19 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:7, 17-18, 27; 26:6-7.

6135. There is naught left before my lord besides our body and our ground. That this signifies that the receptacles of good and truth were completely desolated, is evident from the signification of “body,” as being a receptacle of good (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “ground,” as being a receptacle of truth. That “ground” denotes a receptacle of truth is because it receives seeds, and by the seeds that are sown in it are specifically signified those things which are of faith from charity, thus which are of truth from good (see n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373); hence “ground” denotes a receptacle of truth, as may be seen from what has before been said and shown concerning “ground” (n. 566, 1068, 3671). That these receptacles were desolated is signified by there being “naught left before my lord besides.”

[2] In the genuine sense “body” signifies the good which is of love, and “ground” the truth which is of faith; but when the truths and goods of truth which are signified by “silver” and “cattle” are no longer visible on account of the desolation, then by “body” is signified only a receptacle of good, and by “ground” only a receptacle of truth. That in the genuine sense “body” signifies the good which is of love, is because the body, or the whole man which is meant by the “body,” is a receptacle of life from the Lord, thus a receptacle of good; for the good of love makes the life itself in man, because the vital heat, which is love, is the vital heat itself; and unless this heat is in a man, he is a dead thing. Therefore it is that by the “body” in the internal sense is meant the good of love. And even if a man has no heavenly love, but only infernal love, still the inmost of his life is from heavenly love, for this love continually flows in from the Lord and effects in him vital heat in its beginning; but in its progress it is perverted by the man, whence comes infernal love, from which there is an unclean heat.

[3] That in the genuine sense “body” is the good of love, is very evident from the angels, for when they become present, love so pours out of them that you would believe them to be nothing but love, and this from their whole body, which also appears bright and shining from the light which is from the love; for the good of love is like a flame which emits from itself light, which is the truth of faith thence derived. This being the character of the angels in heaven, what must not the Lord Himself be, from whom the angels have everything of love, and whose Divine Love appears as a Sun from which the universal heaven has its light, and all who are therein have their heavenly heat, that is, their love, thus their life. It is the Lord’s Divine Human which so appears, and from which all these things are. From this it is evident what is meant by the Lord’s “body,” namely, the Divine love, in like manner as by His “flesh” (see n. 3813). Moreover the Lord’s very body when glorified, that is, made Divine, is nothing else. What else must we think about the Divine, which is infinite?

[4] From all this it may be known that by the “body” in the Holy Supper nothing else is meant than the Lord’s Divine love toward the universal human race, concerning which it is thus written in the Gospels:

Jesus taking the bread, and blessing, brake and gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19);

“this is My body,” He said of the bread, because by the “bread” also is signified the Divine love (n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 4735, 5915).

[5] The Divine love is also signified by the Lord’s “body” in John:

Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But He spake of the temple of His body (John 2:19, 21).

The “temple of His body” is the Divine truth from the Divine good (that the “temple” is the Lord as to Divine truth, see above, n. 3720). And because His “body” in the supreme sense is the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love, therefore all who are in heaven are said to be “in the Lord’s body.”

[6] That the Lord’s “body” is the Divine good, is evident also from these words in Daniel:

I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz; his body also was like the tarshish, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as torches of fire, and his arms and his feet like the shining of burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude (Daniel 10:5-6);

by the “gold of Uphaz with which the loins were girded,” by the “appearance of lightning which was on his face,” by the “torches of fire which his eyes presented,” and by the “shining of brass which was of his arms and his feet,” are signified the goods of love; that “gold” is the good of love, may be seen above (n. 113, 1551, 1552, 5658), and also “fire” (n. 934, 4906, 5215), and because “fire” so also “lightning;” and that “brass” is the good of love and of charity in the natural (n. 425, 1551); by the “tarshish,” like to which the rest of the body appeared, namely, the middle of the body between the head and the loins, is signified the good of charity and of faith, for the tarshish is a flashing precious stone.