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Deuteronomy 8

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1 All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.

3 He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that m not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

4 Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year,

5 That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up.

6 That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.

7 For the Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out:

8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and oliveyards grow: a land of oil and honey.

9 Where without any want thou shalt eat thy bread, and enjoy abundance of all things: where the stones are iron, and out of its hills are dug mines of brass:

10 That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayst bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee.

11 Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them,

13 And shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things,

14 Thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

15 And was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas, and no waters at all: who brought forth streams out of the hardest rock,

16 And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

17 Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

18 But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

19 But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

20 As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5576

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5576. 'And the famine grew more serious' means the desolation resulting from the dearth of spiritual things. This is clear from the meaning of 'the famine' as an absence of cognitions of goodness and truth, dealt with in 3364, 5277, 5279, 5181, 5300, and the consequent desolation, 5360, 5376, 5415. And because desolation can arise from a shortage and consequent dearth of spiritual realities, 'the famine' has this meaning too. A famine in the spiritual world or heaven is not a hunger for [bodily] food, for angels do not feed on material food, which is the food for that body which a person carries around in the world. Rather it is a hunger for the kind of food that nourishes their minds, and this, which is called spiritual food, consists in understanding what is true and in having a wise discernment of what is good. And what is amazing, angels are nourished with this food.

[2] This has been made clear to me by the fact that after young children, who have died as young children, have been furnished in heaven with truths that are the constituents of intelligence and with forms of good that are the essence of wisdom, they no longer look like young children but adults, increasingly so as goodness and truth increase with them. The nourishment of angels by spiritual food has also been made clear to me by the fact that they have a constant desire for those things that are the constituents of intelligence and wisdom. At their eveningtime, that is, when they pass through a state in which they lack what they desire, that state compared with other states holds no happiness for them. In that state there is nothing that they hunger and long for more than a new dawning of morning light upon them and their return to the life filled with happiness that comes with intelligence and wisdom.

[3] It may also be seen by anyone who stops to reflect on the matter that understanding what is true and desiring what is good constitute spiritual food. If someone who is enjoying material food that serves to nourish the body is at the same time in a cheerful state of mind and is engaged in conversation about the kinds of things that accord with that state of mind, the material food for the body becomes all the more nourishing. This is an indication of the existence of a correspondence between spiritual food, which feeds the soul, and material food, which feeds the body. The same is clear in addition from the experience of someone who has the desire to furnish his mind with ideas that constitute knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. If he is denied these he begins to feel sad and distressed, and like somebody in time of famine he has the desire to return to his spiritual food and so to the nourishment of his soul.

[4] It may also be seen from the Word that spiritual food is what nourishes the soul in the way material food nourishes the body, as in Moses,

Man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4.

In general 'utterance of the mouth of Jehovah' is the Divine Truth which goes forth from the Lord, and so is every truth contained in wisdom; specifically it is the Word, the foundation and source of ideas constituting wisdom. And in John,

Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:17.

This 'food' is clearly the truth that is contained in wisdom and that goes forth from the Lord.

[5] From this one may also recognize what is meant by these words of the Lord recorded in the same chapter,

My flesh is truly food, and My blood truly is drink. John 6:55.

That is to say, 'the Lord's flesh' is Divine Good, 3813, and 'His blood' Divine Truth, 4735. For now that the Lord has made His Human completely Divine, His 'flesh' is nothing else than Divine Good, and His 'blood' nothing else than Divine Truth. One has to understand that in the Divine there is nothing material; therefore in the highest sense, that is, where it has reference to the Lord, 'food' is the Good of Divine Love directed towards the salvation of the human race. This food is also the kind that is meant by the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:32, 34.

'Doing the will of Him who sent Me, and finishing His work' is saving the human race; and the Divine attribute which motivates this is Divine Love.

From all this one may now see what is meant in the spiritual sense by 'the famine'.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.