4581. 'And he poured out a drink-offering onto it' means the Divine Good of Truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a drink-offering' as the Divine Good of Truth, dealt with below. But first one must say what the good of truth is. The good of truth is that which elsewhere has been called the good of faith, which is love towards the neighbour, or charity. There are two universal kinds of good, the first being that which is called the good of faith, the second that which is referred to as the good of love. The good of faith is the kind of good meant by 'a drink-offering', and the good of love the kind meant by 'oil'. The good of love exists with those whom the Lord brings to what is good by an internal way, while the good of faith exists with those He brings to it by an external way. The good of love exists with members of the celestial Church, and likewise with angels of the inmost or third heaven, but the good of faith with members of the spiritual Church, and likewise with angels of the middle or second heaven. Consequently the first kind of good is called celestial good, whereas the second kind is called spiritual good. The difference between the two is, on the one hand, willing what is good out of a will for good and, on the other, willing what is good out of an understanding of it. The second kind of good therefore - spiritual good or the good of faith, which is the good of truth - is meant by 'a drink-offering'; but the first - celestial good or the good of love - is meant in the internal sense by 'oil'.

[2] Nobody, it is true, can see that such things as these were meant by 'oil' and 'a drink-offering' unless he does so from the internal sense. Yet anyone may see that things of a holy nature were represented by them, for unless those holy things were represented by them what else would pouring out a drink-offering or pouring oil onto a stone pillar be but some ridiculous and idolatrous action? It is like the coronation of a king. What else would the ceremonies performed on that occasion be if they did not mean and imply things of a holy nature - placing the crown on his head; anointing him with oil from a horn, on his forehead and on his wrists; placing a sceptre in his hand, as well as a sword and keys; investing him with a purple robe, and then seating him on a silver throne; and after that, his riding in his regalia on a horse, and later still his being served at table by men of distinction, besides many other ceremonies? Unless these represented things of a holy nature and were themselves holy by virtue of their correspondence with the things of heaven and consequently of the Church, they would be no more than the kind of games that young children play, though on a grander scale, or else like plays that are performed on the stage.

[3] But all those ceremonies trace their origin back to most ancient times when ceremonies were holy by virtue of their representation of things that were holy and of their correspondence with holy things in heaven and consequently in the Church. Even today they are considered holy, though not because people know their spiritual representation and correspondence but through the interpretation so to speak they put on symbols in common use. If however people did know what the crown, oil, horn, sceptre, sword, keys, purple robe, silver throne, riding on a white horse, and eating while men of distinction act as the servers, all represented and to what holy thing each corresponded, they would conceive of those things in an even holier way. But they do not know, and surprisingly do not wish to know; indeed that lack of knowledge is so great that the representatives and the meaningful signs included within such ceremonies and within every part of the Word have been obliterated from people's minds at the present day.

[4] The fact that 'a drink-offering' means the good of truth, or spiritual good, may be seen from the sacrifices in which drink-offerings were used. When sacrifices were offered they were made either from the herd or from the flock, and they were representative of internal worship of the Lord, 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519. To these the minchah and the drink-offering were added. The minchah, which consisted of fine flour mixed with oil, meant celestial good, or what amounted to the same, the good of love - 'the oil' meaning love to the Lord and 'the fine flour' charity towards the neighbour. But the drink-offering, which consisted of wine, meant spiritual good, or what amounted to the same, the good of faith. Both these therefore, the minchah and the drink-offering, have the same meaning as the bread and wine in the Holy Supper.

[5] The addition of a minchah and a drink-offering to a burnt offering or to a sacrifice is clear in Moses,

You shall offer two lambs in their first year, each day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the second you shall offer between the evenings; and a tenth of fine flour mixed with beaten oil, a quarter of a hin, and a drink-offering of a quarter of a hin of wine, for the first lamb; and so also for the second lamb. Exodus 29:38-41.

In the same author,

You shall offer on the day when you wave the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest a lamb without blemish in its first year as a burnt offering to Jehovah, its minchah being two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, and its drink-offering wine, a quarter of a hin. Leviticus 23:12-13, 18.

In the same author,

On the day when the days of Naziriteship are completed he is to offer his gift to Jehovah, sacrifices and also a basket of unleavened [loaves] of fine flour, cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, together with their minchah and their drink-offerings. Numbers 6:13-17.

In the same author,

Upon the burnt offering they shall offer a minchah of a tenth [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil, and wine as the drink-offering, a quarter of a hin - in one way upon the burnt offering of a ram, and in another upon that of a bull. Numbers 15:3-11.

In the same author,

With the continual burnt offering you shall offer a drink-offering, a quarter of a hin for a lamb; in the holy place pour out a drink-offering of wine to Jehovah. Numbers 28:6-7.

Further references to minchahs and drink-offerings in the different kinds of sacrifices are continued in Numbers 28:7-end; 29:1-end.

[6] The meaning that 'minchah and drink-offering' had may be seen in addition from the considerations that love and faith constitute the whole of worship, and that in the Holy Supper 'the bread' - described in the quotations above as fine flour mixed with oil - and 'the wine' mean love and faith, and so the whole of worship, dealt with in 1798, 2165, 2177, 2187, 2343, 2359, 3464, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217.

[7] But when people fell away from the genuine representative kind of worship of the Lord and turned to other gods and poured out drink-offerings to these, 'drink-offerings' came to mean things that were the reverse of charity and faith, namely the evils and falsities that go with the love of the world; as in Isaiah,

You inflamed yourselves among the gods under every green tree. You have also poured out a drink-offering to them, you have brought a minchah. Isaiah 57:5-6.

'Inflaming oneself among the gods' stands for cravings for falsity - 'gods' meaning falsities, 4402 (end), 4544. 'Under every green tree' stands for the trust in all falsities which leads to those cravings, 2722, 4552. 'Pouring out a drink-offering to them' and 'bringing a minchah' stand for the worship of those falsities. In the same prophet,

You who forsake Jehovah, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Gad, and fill a drink-offering for Meni. Isaiah 65:11.

In Jeremiah,

The sons gather pieces of wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods. Jeremiah 7:18.

[8] In the same prophet,

We will surely do every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we did, we and our fathers, and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 44:17-19.

'The queen of heaven' stands for all falsities, for 'the hosts of heaven' in the genuine sense means truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, and so in the same way do 'king' and 'queen'. 'Queen' accordingly stands for all [falsities] and 'pouring out drink-offerings to her' means worshipping them.

[9] In the same prophet,

The Chaldeans will burn the city, and the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods. Jeremiah 32:29.

'The Chaldeans' stands for people whose worship involves falsity. 'Burning the city' stands for destroying and laying waste those whose doctrines teach falsity. Upon the roofs of the houses burning incense to Baal' stands for the worship of what is evil, 'pouring out drink-offerings to other gods' for the worship of what is false.

[10] In Hosea,

They will not dwell in Jehovah's land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean. They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah. Hosea 9:3-4.

'Not dwelling in Jehovah's land' stands for not abiding in the good of love. 'Ephraim will return to Egypt' stands for the Church when its understanding will come to be no more than factual and sensory knowledge. 'In Assyria they will eat what is unclean' stands for impure and profane desires that are the product of reasoning. 'They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah' stands for no worship based on truth.

[11] In Moses,

It will be said, Where are their gods, the rock in which they trusted, who ate the fat of the sacrifices, [who] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help them! Deuteronomy 32:37-38.

'Gods' stands for falsities, as above. 'Who ate the fat of the sacrifices' stands for their destruction of the good belonging to worship, '[who] drank the wine of their drink-offering' for their destruction of the truth belonging to it. A reference to 'drink-offerings of blood' also occurs in David,

They will multiply their pains; they have hastened to another, lest I pour out their drink-offerings of blood, and take up their names upon My lips. Psalms 16:4.

By these 'drink-offerings' are meant profanations of truth, for in this case 'blood' means violence done to charity, 374, 1005, and profanation, 1003.

9995. 'Of fine wheat flour you shall make them' means truth which springs from Divine Good, of which those [celestial kinds of good] consist. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine flour' as truth, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'wheat' as the good of love, dealt with in 3941, and so in the highest sense as Divine Good; and from the meaning of 'making them' as the requirement that those kinds of celestial good, meant by unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers, must consist of that truth. The situation in all this is that all the truths and forms of good that exist in heaven have their origin in Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. This Divine Truth as received by angels in the celestial kingdom is called celestial good, but as received in the spiritual kingdom by angels there it is called spiritual good; for no matter how often Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is called Truth it is still good. The reason for referring to it as Truth is that it appears in heaven, before angels' outward sight there, as light; for the light there is Divine Truth, but the heat within that light, which is the good of love, causes it to be good. The situation is similar with people in this world. When the truth of faith emanates from the good of charity, as happens when a person has been regenerated, truth appears as good, which is also as a consequence called spiritual good since the inner being of truth is good, and truth is the outward form of good.

[2] From all this it may become clear why a person finds it so hard to distinguish between thinking and willing, for when he wills something he says that he thinks it, and often when he thinks something that he wills it. Yet they are as distinct and separate as truth and good are; for the inner being of thought is the will and the outward form of the will is thought, just as the inner being of truth is good and the outward form of good is truth, as stated immediately above. Since a person finds it so hard to distinguish one from the other he does not know what the inner being of his life is, or that good constitutes it, not truth except insofar as it springs from good. Good belongs to the will, and the will consists in what a person loves, so that truth does not become the being of a person's life until he loves it; and when the person loves it he does it. Truth however belongs to the understanding, whose function is thinking; and when he thinks it he is able to speak about it. Also it is possible to understand the truth and think it without willing or doing it; but then it does not become the person's own, part of his life, because it does not have within itself the inner being of his life. Knowing nothing about any of this a person consequently ascribes salvation wholly to faith and scarcely at all to charity, when in fact faith receives its inner being of life from charity, even as truth receives it from good.

[3] Furthermore all good with a person is given form by truth, for good flows in from the Lord by an inward path, while truth enters by an outward path. They then marry in the internal man, though in one way in the case of a spiritual person or angel and in another in the case of a celestial person or angel. With a spiritual person or angel the marriage takes place in the understanding part of the mind, but in a celestial person or angel in the will part. The outward path by which truth enters lies through hearing and sight into the understanding, but the inward path by which good flows in from the Lord lies through what is inmost in the person into the will. On this subject see what has been shown in the places referred to in 9596. From all this it is evident that the celestial kinds of good meant by unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers, come into being through Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and that this is what should be understood by 'of fine wheat flour you shall make them'. This goes to explain why minchahs, though varying in how they were made, all consisted of fine flour mixed with oil, see Leviticus 2:1-16; 6:20-23; Numbers 7:13ff; 15:2-15; 28:11-15.

[4] The fact that 'fine flour', and also 'flour', mean truth that springs from good is clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,

You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; therefore you became extremely beautiful. Ezekiel 16:13.

These things are said of Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant in that chapter in Ezekiel. 'Fine flour' means that Church's truth which springs from good, 'honey' its delight, 'oil' the good of love, and 'eating' making it one's own. The words 'you became beautiful' are consequently used, for spiritual beauty comes as a result of truths and forms of good.

[5] In Hosea,

He does not have any standing grain; the ears will yield no flour. [If] by chance they do yield it, aliens will swallow it up. Hosea 8:7.

'Standing grain' means the truth of faith springing from good, in the process of being conceived, 9146, 'the ears will yield no flour' sterility because there is no truth springing from good, and 'aliens' who 'will swallow it up' falsities arising from evil that will consume it.

[6] In 1 Kings 17:12-15 the Sidonian woman in Zarephath told Elijah that she had nothing to make a cake with except a handful of flour in a jar and a tiny amount of oil in a flask. So Elijah told her that she should make a cake for him first, and that 'the jar of flour will not be used up, nor will the flask of oil fail', which was indeed what happened. Here 'flour' means the Church's truth, and 'oil' its good; for the woman in Sidon represents a Church that is in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, while Elijah the Prophet represents the Lord in respect of the Word. From this it is evident what this miracle has to do with, for all the miracles described in the Word have to do with things such as belong to the Church, 7337, 8364, 9086. From this it is evident what is meant by 'the jar of flour will not be used up, nor will the flask of oil fail' if from the little she had she made a cake for Elijah first and for her son after that. For the meaning of 'the woman' as the Church, see 252, 253; for that of 'Sidon' as cognitions of truth and good, 1201; and for that of 'Elijah' as the Lord in respect of the Word, 2762, 5247 (end).

[7] In Isaiah,

O daughter of Babel, take a mill, and grind flour. Isaiah 47:1-2.

'Daughter of Babel' stands for those within the Church who are outwardly holy but inwardly unholy. 'Grinding flour' stands for choosing matters from the literal sense of the Word such as serve to strengthen the evils of self-love and love of the world. For any such evil is unholy, 'grinding' describes choosing, and also explaining in support of those kinds of love, while 'flour' means truth that serves, see 4335.

[8] From all this it is evident what 'grinding' means and therefore what something 'ground up' means, as in Jeremiah,

Princes have been hung up by their hands, the faces of the old men have not been honoured; the young men have been led away to grind at the mill. Lamentations 5:12-13.

In Moses,

Moses took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it up till it became fine powder ¹ . Then he sprinkled it over the face of the water and made the children of Israel drink it. Exodus 32:20; Deuteronomy 9:21.

And in Matthew,

At that time two will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left behind. Two women grinding; one will be taken, the other will be left behind. Matthew 24:40-41.

From these places it is evident what 'grinding' means, namely this: In a good sense it means choosing truths from the Word and explaining them in such a way that they are made to serve what is good, and in a bad sense in such a way that they are made to serve what is bad, see 7780. And from this it is also clear what something 'ground up' means, consequently what 'flour' and 'fine flour' mean.

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