3069. 'And I will drink' means instruction from them in truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'drinking' as receiving instruction. References to 'drinking' occur in various places in the Word, and whenever the subject is the goods and truths of faith, instruction in these and reception of them is meant, as in Isaiah,

The new wine will mourn, the vine will languish, all the merry-hearted will sigh; they will not drink wine with singing, strong drink will be bitter to those drinking it. Isaiah 24:7, 9.

'Not drinking wine with singing' stands for not receiving instruction from the affection for truth and not receiving any consequent delight. 'Strong drink being bitter to those drinking it' stands for repugnance. In the same prophet,

It will be as when a thirsting man dreams, and behold, he is drinking; and he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and the soul is craving. Isaiah 29:8.

'Thirsting' stands for desiring instruction, 'drinking' for receiving it, but in things that are valueless.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Our waters we drink for silver, our timbers come for a price. Lamentations 5:4.

'Drinking waters for silver' stands for receiving instruction but not for nothing, and also attributing truth to oneself. Truth is a free gift and so does not come from oneself but from the Lord, as these words in Isaiah declare,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy! Isaiah 55:1.

And in John,

Jesus said, If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. John 7:37-38.

Here 'drinking' means being given instruction and accepting it. In Luke,

They will say, We ate in Your presence and we drank, and You taught in our streets. But the Lord will say, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:26-27.

Here 'eating and drinking in the Lord's presence' stands for giving instruction in, and proclaiming, the good and truth of faith, doing so from cognitions drawn from the Word, which is meant by 'You taught in our streets'. But because they did it for selfish reasons - for the sake of personal honour and gain, thus not out of any affection for good and truth, and so possessed cognitions of truth and yet led evil lives - it is said, 'I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity!'

[3] In the same gospel, where Jesus was talking to the disciples,

That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

It is evident to anyone that in the Lord's kingdom they do not eat and drink, and that no table is there, thus that something different is meant by 'eating and drinking at the Lord's table in His kingdom', that is to say, enjoying a perception of good and truth. So also with what the Lord says in Matthew,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it [new] with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:28, 29.

'Drinking' stands for giving living instruction in truths and imparting a perception of good and truth. That which the Lord said -

Do not be anxious for your soul, what you are going to eat or what you are going to drink, nor for your body, what you are going to put on. Matthew 6:25, 31; Luke 12:29 - is indicative of spiritual things, that so far as all things of faith are concerned, goodness and truth are imparted by the Lord. In John,

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks from the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up into eternal life. John 4:7-14. 'Drinking' clearly stands for being given instruction in goods and truths, and the acceptance of them.

10416. 'And rose up to play' means the resulting desire of their interiors to celebrate, and concord. This is clear from the meaning of 'playing' as the desire of a person's interiors to celebrate, for play is the outcome of that desire, being a bodily activity brought about by gladness of mind; and all desire for celebration and all gladness of mind come from the delights belonging to the loves that govern a person. The reason why concord as well is meant is that every desire to celebrate has concord residing inwardly within it; for if any disagreement or disapproval enters in, that desire perishes. The desire to celebrate resides inwardly in a person's feeling of freedom, and all feeling of freedom comes as a result of love, when nothing exists to frustrate it.

[2] Since outward things are used in the Word to describe inward ones, times of play and dancing are used to describe those of joy and gladness present in a person inwardly, as in the following places: In Jeremiah,

The city will be built upon its mound. Then there will come out of these thanksgiving (confessio) and the voice of those who are playing ¹ . Jeremiah 30:18-19.

In the same prophet,

Again I will build you, that you may be built, O virgin of Israel! Again you will adorn your timbrels ² , and will go forth in the dance of those who are playing ¹ . Their life ³ will become like a watered garden, and they will not sorrow any more. And the virgin will rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together. I will turn their mourning into joy. Jeremiah 31:4, 12-13.

In Zechariah,

The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Zechariah 8:5.

In David,

Praise the name of Jehovah with timbrel and dance. Psalms 149:3; 150:4.

In the same author,

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. Psalms 30:11.

In Jeremiah,

The joy of our heart has ceased, our dance has been turned into mourning. Lamentations 5:15.

[3] Since times of play and dancing were the signs of feelings of joy and gladness inwardly present and springing from love, Miriam and the women went out, with timbrels after the Egyptians had been drowned in the Sea Suph and started dancing, Exodus 15:20. For the same reason, when the ark was being brought up from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David, David leapt and danced before Jehovah, 2 Samuel 6:12, 16.

[4] The fact that inner things are presented and described in the Word by means of outward ones is clear from the following words in David,

You have made the sea, great and wide on both hands ⁴ - there the ships sail, the Leviathan whom You have formed to play in it. Psalms 104:25-26.

Anyone without knowledge of the fact that the spiritual sense exists within each detail of the Word knows nothing else here than that 'the sea' and 'ships' are used to mean sea and ships, 'the Leviathan' to mean the monsters there, and 'playing' to mean their swimming around together there. Such things however are not what constitute the Word, every jot of which is Divine; but when the spiritual matters meant by those things are understood instead, it becomes Divine. In the internal sense 'the sea' is a gathering together of factual knowledge of truths, thus it is that which constitutes what is external with a person and in the Church; 'ships' are cognitions or knowledge and matters of doctrine drawn from the Word; 'the Leviathan' is factual knowledge in general; and 'playing' is the delight derived from those things.

'The sea' is a gathering together of factual truths, see 28, 2850, 8184, 9340.

'Ships' are cognitions and matters of doctrine drawn from the Word, 1977, 6385.

'The Leviathan' is factual knowledge in general, 7293.

Thus 'playing' is the delight and the desire to celebrate derived from those things, which occurs when known facts add strength to spiritual matters and accord with them.

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