7356. 'And into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls' means into delights belonging to evil desires. This is clear from the meaning of 'ovens', since they are what bread is baked in, as forms of exterior good (forms of exterior good being those which exist in the natural and are as a general rule called delights; for when forms of interior good, which are offshoots of [heavenly] kinds of love and resulting affections, pass into the natural they are experienced as delights there, and these delights are meant in a good sense by 'ovens') or in the contrary sense, in which 'ovens' is used here, as delights belonging to evil desires, that is, delights springing from hellish kinds of love, which are self-love and love of the world; and from the meaning of 'kneading bowls' too as delights belonging to evil desires in the natural, but even more external ones since kneading bowls are the vessels in which the dough is prepared when bread is made. Another way of saying that reasonings will enter into delights belonging to evil desires is to say that it will be the delight of their life to use reasonings arising from falsities to deceive others and lead them astray. Indeed the evil take very great delight in spreading falsities around, proving that they are well-founded, mocking truths, and especially leading others astray.

[2] The fact that 'an oven' means delight belonging to affections that go with charity and faith, and in the contrary sense delight belonging to evil desires that go with selfish and worldly love, is evident in Hosea,

They are all committing adultery, like an oven heated by a baker; the raiser ¹ ceases from kneading his dough. When like an oven they transform ² their desire (animus) while they lie in wait, their baker being sleepy all night, in the morning it is burning, like a flaming fire. All become hot, like an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings fall. Hosea 7:4, 6-7.

'Oven' stands for delight belonging to evil desires, which are evil people's desires. 'Burning', 'becoming hot', and 'flaming fire' stand for the desires themselves, 'fire being the desire for evil, see 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324 (end). 'They devour their judges; all their kings fall' stands for the fact that they destroy forms of good and truths. Anyone may see that without the internal sense in which such things are meant nobody can know what 'they are all committing adultery, like an oven heated by a baker' is, or 'all become hot, like an oven, and devour their judges', and 'their kings fall'.

[3] 'Oven' is used in the good sense in Isaiah,

The saying of Jehovah, whose hearth is in Zion, and His oven in Jerusalem. Isaiah 31:9.

'Zion' stands for the celestial Church, thus for the good of love, which is the good of this Church, 'Jerusalem' for the spiritual Church, thus for the good of love in this Church, which is the good of charity and consequently of faith, while 'oven' here stands for more internal delight belonging to affections for goodness and truth. 'Oven' has this meaning because the bread which is baked in an oven means the good of celestial and spiritual love, for which meaning of 'bread' see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3775, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915. And as 'oven' receives its meaning from this, the bread called a minchah that was baked for sacrifices in an oven was distinguished from the minchah baked on a griddle, and from the minchah baked in a covered pan, Leviticus 2:4-5, 7. Different forms of the good of love were meant by these varieties of minchah.

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680. The fact that goods and truths are man's real food may be clear to anyone, for the person who is deprived of them has no life within himself, and is a dead man. The food on which the soul of the person feeds who is dead in this sense consists of the delights arising from evils, and of the pleasures gained from falsities. These are the food of death. These delights and pleasures also derive from bodily, worldly, and natural things, which have no life at all within them. Furthermore such a person does not know what spiritual and celestial food is. Every time 'food' or 'bread' is mentioned in the Word he assumes that food for the body is meant. In the words of the Lord's Prayer, 'Give us our daily bread', for example, he thinks purely of nourishment for the body. There are some whose ideas do extend further and who assert that this petition includes all other physical requirements, such as clothing, money, and so on. Indeed they will argue fiercely that no other kind of food is meant, even though they clearly see that the petitions coming before and after it entail purely celestial and spiritual things, and refer to the Lord's kingdom, and possibly know as well that the Lord's Word is celestial and spiritual.

[2] From this and other similar considerations it becomes sufficiently clear just how bodily-minded the man of today is, and that like the Jews, he is unwilling to accept anything stated in the Word except in a very crude and materialistic way. The Lord Himself clearly teaches what His Word means by 'food' and 'bread': He speaks of food in John as follows,

Jesus said, Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man gives you. John 6:27.

And of bread He says in the same gospel,

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread he will live for ever. John 6:49-51, 58.

Even today there are people who, like those who first heard these words, declare,

This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? And some drew back and no longer walked with Him. John 6:60, 66.

To those people the Lord said,

The words which I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

[3] It is similar with water, in that it means the spiritual things of faith: He speaks of water in John as follows,

Jesus said, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks of 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 welling up into eternal life. John 4:13-14.

Even today there are people like the woman to whom the Lord spoke at the spring, who replied,

Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. John 4:15.

[4] In the Word 'food' means nothing other than spiritual and celestial food, which is faith in the Lord and love. This is clear from many places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

The enemy has stretched out his hand over all the desirable things of Jerusalem, because she saw the nations come into her sanctuary, concerning whom You did command, They shall not enter your congregation. All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lamentations 1:10-11.

Here no other bread or food is meant than spiritual, for the subject is the sanctuary. In the same author,

I called to my lovers, they deceived me. My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city, for they sought food for themselves to refresh their soul. Lamentations 1:19.

Here the meaning is similar. In David,

They all look to You to give them their food in due season. You givest to them - they gather it up. You openest Your hand - they are satisfied with good. Psalms 104:27-28.

This in like manner stands for spiritual and celestial food.

[5] In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.

Here 'wine and milk' stands for spiritual and celestial drink. In the same prophet,

A virgin is conceiving and bearing a son, and you will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will He eat that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. It will be that because of the abundance of milk they produce he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isaiah 7:14-15, 22.

Here 'eating honey and butter' means that which is celestial-spiritual, and 'those who are left' stands for remnants, which are referred to in Malachi as well,

Bring all the tithes ¹ to the storehouse that there may be food in My house. Malachi 3:10.

'Tithes' ¹ stands for remnants. Further concerning the meaning of 'food', see 56-58, 276.

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