3579. And God shall give thee of the dew of heaven. That this signifies from Divine truth, and that “of the fat things of the earth” signifies from Divine good, is evident from the signification of the “dew of heaven,” as being truth (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “fat things,” as being good (n. 353), both Divine in the supreme sense, in which they are predicated of the Lord. With the multiplication of truth and fructification of good the case is this: When the rational flows into the natural, it there presents its good in a general form; through this good it produces truths therein, almost as the life in man builds up fibers, and disposes them into forms according to uses. This good, through these truths disposed into heavenly order, produces further good; and through this good further truths, which are derivations. Such a natural idea may be had of the formation of truth from good, and further of good through truth, whereby again truth is formed; but a spiritual idea cannot be had except by those who are in the other life, for there ideas are formed from the light of heaven, in which is intelligence.

[2] That “dew” signifies truth is evident also from the Word elsewhere, as in Zechariah:

The seed of peace, the vine shall give her fruit and the earth shall give her produce, and the heavens shall give their dew (Zechariah 8:12);

speaking of a new church, where the “vine giving its fruit” denotes the spiritual of the church or the truth of faith, giving good; and the “earth giving its produce,” the celestial of the church or the good of charity, giving truth; these are the “dew which the heavens shall give.”

In Haggai:

Because of Mine house that lieth waste over you the heavens are closed from dew, and the earth is closed from her produce (Haggai 1:9-10); where the “dew of the heavens and the produce of the earth,” which were restrained, have a like signification.

[3] In David:

From the womb of the dawning, thou hast the dew of thy birth (Psalms 110:3); concerning the Lord; the “dew of birth” denoting the celestial of love.

In Moses:

Blessed of Jehovah be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep lying beneath (Deuteronomy 33:13); concerning Joseph; the “precious things of heaven” are spiritual things (n. 3166), which are signified by “dew;” the “deep lying beneath” signifies natural things. Again:

Israel dwelt securely, alone at the fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine, yea his heavens dropped down dew (Deuteronomy 33:28); where also the “dew which the heavens dropped” denotes the spiritual things which are of truth.

[4] In the genuine sense “dew” is the truth of good which is from a state of innocence and peace; for by “morning” or “day-dawn,” when the dew descends, are signified these states (see n. 2333, 2405, 2540, 2780); hence also the manna which was from heaven was with the dew that descended in the morning, as may be seen from Moses:

In the morning the dew was laid round about the camp; and when the laying of the dew withdrew, behold on the faces of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the ground (Exodus 16:13-14). When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it (Numbers 11:9).

As the manna was heavenly bread, in the supreme sense it signified the Lord as to the Divine good; hence with men the celestial of love, for this is from the Divine of the the Lord, (n. 276

680, 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478); the “dew” in which and with which the manna descended, in the supreme sense denotes the Divine truth; and in the relative sense, the spiritual truth with men; “morning” is the state of peace in which these goods are (n. 92, 93, 1726, 2780, 3170).

[5] Inasmuch as “dew” signifies the truth which is from good, or what is the same, the spiritual which is from the celestial, therefore also in the Word spiritual truth is compared to “dew;” for things which signify serve also for comparison with the same thing, as in Isaiah:

Thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in My dwelling-place; like serene heat upon light; like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest (Isaiah 18:4).

In Hosea:

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your holiness is as a cloud of the dawn, and as the dew that falleth in the morning (Hosea 6:4; 13:3).

Again:

I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and shall fix his roots as Lebanon (Hosea 14:5).

In Micah:

The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as drops upon the herb (Micah 5:7).

In David:

Like the goodly oil upon the head that came down upon the border of Aaron’s garments; like the dew of Hermon that cometh down upon the mountains of Zion; for there Jehovah commanded the blessing of life forevermore (Psalms 133:2-3

And in Moses:

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My word shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the grass; and as drops upon the herb (Deuteronomy 32:2); where “dew” denotes the multiplication of truth from good, and the fructification of good through truth; and as the dew is that which every morning renders the field and vineyard fruitful, good itself and truth are signified by “corn and new wine,” concerning which in what follows.

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).