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.

2165. I will take a piece of bread. That this signifies something celestial adjoined, is evident from the signification of “bread,” as being what is celestial (explained before, n. 276, 680-681, 1798). That “bread” signifies what is celestial, is because “bread” means all food in general, and thus in the internal sense all celestial food. What celestial food is, has been stated in Part First (n. 56-58, 680-681, 1480, 1695). That “bread” means all food in general, is evident from the following passages of the Word. We read of Joseph that:

He said to him who was over his house, that he should bring the men-his brethren-home, and should slay what was to be slain, and should make ready; and afterwards, when they had made ready, and were to eat, he said, Set on bread (Genesis 43:16, 31);

meaning that they should make ready the table; “bread” thus denoting all kinds of food. We read concerning Jethro that,

Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God (Exodus 18:12),

where also “bread” denotes all kinds of food. Concerning Manoah, in the Book of Judges:

Manoah said unto the Angel of Jehovah, Let us I pray detain thee, and let us make ready before thee a kid of the goats. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread (Judg. 13:15-16),

where “bread” denotes a kid of the goats. When Jonathan ate of the honeycomb, they told him that Saul had adjured the people, saying:

Cursed be the man that shall eat bread this day (1 Samuel 14:27-28),

where “bread” denotes all food. Again, concerning Saul:

When Saul sat down to eat bread, he said unto Jonathan, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to bread either yesterday or today? (1 Samuel 20:24, 27),

meaning to the table, where were all kinds of food. We read concerning David that he said to Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan:

Thou shalt eat bread on my table continually (2 Samuel 9:7, 10).

So too concerning Evil-merodach, who said that,

Jehoiachin king of Judah should eat bread before him continually, all the days of his life (2 Kings 25:29).

Concerning Solomon also:

Solomon’s bread for each day was thirty cors of fine flour, and sixty cors of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides the hart and the wild she-goat, and the antelope, and fatted fowl (1 Kings 4:22-23),

where “bread” plainly denotes all of these things.

[2] Now as “bread” means all kinds of food in general, it therefore signifies in the internal sense all those things which are called celestial foods, as may be still more evident from the burnt-offerings and sacrifices that were made of lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, he-goats, heifers, and oxen, which were called in one word the “bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah,” as is clearly evident from the following passages in Moses, where the various sacrifices are treated of, of which it is said that,

The priest should burn them upon the altar, the bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah, for an odor of rest (Leviticus 3:11, 16),

all those sacrifices and burnt-offerings being so called. Again:

The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, neither shall they profane the name of their God; because the offerings to Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer. Thou shalt sanctify him, because he offereth the bread of thy God. A man of the seed of Aaron in whom there shall be a blemish, shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God (Leviticus 21:6, 8, 17, 21),

where also sacrifices and burnt-offerings are the “bread.” The same is true of Leviticus 22:25. Again:

Command the sons of Israel, and say unto them, My oblation, My bread for offerings made by fire, of an odor of rest, shall ye observe, to offer unto Me at their appointed time (Numbers 28:2).

Here also “bread” denotes all the sacrifices which are there enumerated.

In Malachi:

Offering polluted bread upon Mine altar (Malachi 1:7),

where also the sacrifices are spoken of. The hallowed things of the sacrifices, which they ate, were also called “bread,” as is evident from these words in Moses:

He that toucheth an unclean thing shall not eat of the hallowed things, but he shall wash his flesh in water, and when the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterwards he shall eat of the hallowed things, because this is his bread (Leviticus 22:6-7).

[3] The burnt-offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Church represented nothing else than the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth (that is, in the church), also of the Lord’s kingdom or church with each person, and in general all those things which are of love and charity, for these are things celestial; and each kind of sacrifice represented something special and peculiar. All these were at that time called BREAD, and therefore when sacrifices were abolished, and other things succeeded in their place for external worship, it was commanded that bread and wine should be made use of.

[4] From all this we may now see what the “bread” [in the Holy Supper] signifies, namely, all the things represented by the sacrifices, thus in the internal sense the Lord Himself. And because the “bread” signifies the Lord Himself, it signifies love itself toward the universal human race, and what belongs to love; as also man’s reciprocal love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. The “bread” thus signifies all celestial things, and in the same way the “wine” signifies all spiritual things, as the Lord also teaches in plain words in John. They said,

Our fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. They said unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst (John 6:31-35).

Verily I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and are dead; this is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that one may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread, he shall live to eternity (John 6:47-51).

[5] Now because the “bread” is the Lord, it belongs to the celestial things which are of love, which are the Lord’s; for the Lord is the celestial itself, because He is love itself, that is, mercy itself; and because this is so, “bread” means all the celestial, that is, all the love and charity with man, for these are from the Lord; and therefore they who are not in love and charity have not the Lord with them, and thus are not gifted with the good and happy things that in the internal sense are signified by “bread.” This outward symbol was commanded because the greatest part of the human race are in external worship, and therefore without some outward symbol there would be scarcely anything holy with them. And therefore when they live in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, they nevertheless have appertaining to them what is internal, although they do not know that this love and charity is the veriest internal of worship. Thus in their external worship they are confirmed in the goods which are signified by the “bread.”

[6] In the Prophets also the celestial things of love are signified by “bread” (as in Isaiah 3:1, 7; 30:23; 33:15-16; 55:2; 58:7-8; Lam. 5:9; Ezekiel 4:16-17; 5:16; 14:13; Amos 4:6; 8:11; Psalms 105:16), in like manner by the “bread of faces” upon the table (mentioned Leviticus 24:5-9; Exodus 25:30; 40:23; Numbers 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48).