5959. 'And ten she-asses carrying grain and bread' means the truth of good and the good of truth, also together with much of a subservient kind. This is clear from the meaning of 'ten' as much, as above in 5958; from the meaning of 'she-asses' as that which is of a subservient kind, as also immediately above in 5958; from the meaning of 'grain' as the good of truth, dealt with in 5295, 5410, in this case the truth of good since it comes from the internal celestial, which is 'Joseph'; and from the meaning of' bread' as the good of that truth, dealt with in 276, 680, 1165, 2177, 3478, 3775, 4111, 4117, 4735, 4976. As regards 'grain' - that here it means the truth of good but elsewhere the good of truth - the situation is this: The meaning is different when an influx from the internal celestial is the subject from when an influx from the internal spiritual is the subject. What flows in from the internal celestial is nothing other than good, which does, it is true, hold truth within it, though that truth is good. But what flows in from the internal spiritual is nothing other than truth, which is called the good of truth once it has been made a matter of life. In this lies the reason why at one point 'grain' means the good of truth, and at another the truth of good - here the truth of good because it flows from the internal celestial, which is 'Joseph'. The reason the female asses carried 'grain and bread' but the male asses 'the good of Egypt' is that the males mean subservient factual knowledge insofar as this has reference to truth, while the females mean the same insofar as it has reference to good. Therefore the burdens carried by the male asses were of a kind appropriate to male asses, and the burdens carried by the female asses of a kind appropriate to female ones. Otherwise there would have been no need to mention that they were 'asses' and 'she-asses', or to say what the former carried and what the latter.

4976. 'And ministered to him' means that factual knowledge was assigned to its own good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ministering' as serving by supplying what another has need of, in this case as being assigned to since the subject is natural good to which factual knowledge is to be assigned. 'Ministering' is also used to describe known facts, for in the Word a minister and a servant mean factual knowledge or natural truth because this is subservient to good as its lord. Factual knowledge stands in relation to delight present in the natural man - or what amounts to the same, natural truth stands in relation to its good - in exactly the same way as water does to bread, or drink to food. Water or drink enables bread or food to be dissolved, and once dissolved to be conveyed into the blood, from which it passes into all parts around the body and nourishes them. Without the water or drink the bread or food is not broken down into extremely small particles and carried around the body to fulfill its purpose.

[2] The same applies to factual knowledge in relation to delight, or truth in relation to good. That being so, good longs for and desires truth, and does so because of the purpose such truth can fulfill by ministering to it and serving it. Food and drink also correspond to these. No one in the next life is nourished by any natural food or natural drink, only by spiritual food and spiritual drink, spiritual food being good, and spiritual drink truth. This is why, when bread or food is mentioned in the Word, angels understand spiritual bread or food, which is the good of love and charity; and when water or drink is mentioned they understand spiritual water or drink, which is the truth of faith. From this one may see what the truth of faith without the good of charity is, and also what kind of nourishment the former without the latter is able to supply to the internal man; that is to say, it is like the nourishment supplied by water or drink alone without bread or food. It is well known that a person fed on water or drink alone wastes away and dies.