9052. Tooth for tooth. That this signifies if anything in the exterior intellectual, is evident from the signification of “a tooth,” as being the exterior intellectual, and therefore natural truth, for this makes the life of this understanding. That “the teeth” have this signification is because they grind like a mill, and thus prepare, the food which is to nourish the body; here the food which is to nourish the soul. The food which nourishes the soul is intelligence and wisdom. This is first received, ground, and prepared by means of the knowledges of truth and good in the natural. (That it is intelligence and wisdom which is called “spiritual and celestial food,” see n. 56-58, 680, 1480, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003.) From this it is plain whence it is that “the teeth” signify the exterior understanding. What the exterior understanding is can be seen from what was shown just above (n. 9051) concerning the interior understanding.

[2] That “the teeth” signify natural truth, which belongs to the exterior understanding, and in the opposite sense the falsity which destroys this truth, is evident from the following passages in the Word. That they signify natural truth, in Moses:

His eyes shall be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk (Genesis 49:12).

Here also both “eyes” and “teeth” are mentioned together. The subject treated of is Judah, by whom is meant the Lord as to the Divine celestial (n. 6363); “the eyes” signify the Divine intellectual of the the Lord, (n. 6379); and “the teeth,” His Divine natural (n. 6380), thus also the Divine truth in the natural.

[3] In Amos:

I have given you emptiness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places (Amos. 4:6).

“Emptiness of teeth” denotes scarcity of truth; and “lack of bread,” scarcity of good. From all this it is evident what is meant by the “gnashing of teeth” among those who are in hell (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30; Luke 13:28), namely, the collision of falsities with the truths of faith. For as before said, “the teeth,” in the opposite sense, signify the falsity which destroys truth; as in David:

Arise, O Jehovah; save me, O my God; for Thou wilt smite all mine enemies on the jaw; Thou wilt break the teeth of the wicked (Psalms 3:7).

“To break the teeth of the wicked” denotes to break the falsities by which they destroy truths. In the same:

As to my soul I lie in the midst of lions, their teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword (Psalms 57:4).

“The teeth of lions” denote the falsities that destroy truths; “lions,” falsities from evil in their power (n. 6367, 6369).

[4] In the same:

Destroy their teeth, O God, in their mouth; turn aside the grinders of the young lions (Psalms 58:6).

In Joel:

A nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the grinders of a great lion. He hath reduced My vine to a waste; and My fig-tree into froth (Joel 1:6-7).

“Teeth” and “grinders” denote the falsities that destroy the truths of the church; a “vine” denotes the spiritual church (n. 1069, 5113, 6376); and a “fig-tree” its natural good (n. 217, 4231, 5113). That “teeth” have this signification is plain also from the fact that they are attributed to a nation which will lay waste.

In John:

The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions (John 9:7-8).

“Locusts” denote those who are in external falsities (n. 7643), from which it is also evident that “teeth” denote falsities that destroy truths.

2184. That “butter” is the celestial of the rational; that “milk” is the derivative spiritual; and that a “son of an ox” is the corresponding natural, is evident from the signification of “butter,” of “milk,” and of a “son of an ox.” As regards butter, it signifies in the Word what is celestial, and this from its fatness. (That fat denotes what is celestial was shown in Part First,n. 353; and that “oil,” because fat, is the celestial itself, n. 886) That “butter” also is the celestial, is evident in Isaiah:

Behold, a virgin beareth a son, and shall call His name Immanuel, Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse what is evil, and choose what is good (Isaiah 7:14-15),

where the Lord (who is “Immanuel”) is treated of; and anyone can see that butter is not signified by “butter,” nor honey by “honey;” but that by “butter” is signified His celestial, and by “honey” that which is from the celestial.

[2] In the same:

And it shall come to pass, for the multitude of the making of milk He shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land (Isaiah 7:22),

where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of, and those on earth who are in the Lord’s kingdom. “Milk” here denotes spiritual good, “butter” celestial good, and “honey” the derivative happiness.

[3] In Moses:

Jehovah alone leadeth him, and there is no strange god with him. He maketh him to ride upon the high places of the earth, and to eat the produce of the fields, and He maketh him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flint of the rock; butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with the fat of lambs, and of rams the sons of Bashan, and of he-goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat; and of the blood of the grape shalt thou drink unmixed wine [merum] (Deuteronomy 32:12-14).

No one can understand what these things denote unless he knows the internal sense of each one. It appears like a heap of expressions such as are used by the eloquent among the wise ones of the world, and yet every expression signifies the celestial and its spiritual, and also the derivative blessedness and happiness, and all these in a well-ordered series. “Butter of the herd” is the celestial natural, “milk of the flock” is the celestial-spiritual of the rational.

[4] But as regards milk, as before said, this signifies the spiritual from the celestial, that is, the celestial-spiritual. (What the celestial-spiritual is may be seen in Part First,n. 1577, 1824, and occasionally elsewhere.) That “milk” is the spiritual which is from the celestial, comes from the fact that “water” signifies what is spiritual (n. 680, 739); but “milk,” as there is fat in it, signifies the celestial-spiritual, or what is the same, the truth of good; or what is the same, the faith of love or of charity; or what is also the same, the intellectual of the good of the will; and again the same, the affection of truth in which there is inwardly the affection of good; and yet again the same, the affection of knowledges [cognitiones et scientiae] from the affection of charity toward the neighbor, such as exists with those who love the neighbor, and confirm themselves in this love from the knowledges of faith, and also from memory-knowledges, which they love on this account. All these things are the same as the celestial-spiritual, and are predicated according to the subject treated of.

[5] That this is signified, is evident also from the Word, as in Isaiah:

Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy, and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without silver, and without price. Wherefore do ye weigh silver for that which is not bread? (Isaiah 55:1-2),

where “wine” denotes the spiritual which is of faith, and “milk” the spiritual which is of love.

In Moses:

He hath washed his garment in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes; his eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk (Genesis 49:11-12),

which is the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, concerning Judah; and by Judah the Lord is here described, and by his “teeth being whiter than milk,” is signified the celestial-spiritual that pertained to His natural.

[6] In Joel:

It shall be in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters (Joel 3:18),

speaking of the Lord’s kingdom; “milk” denotes the celestial-spiritual. In the Word the land of Canaan also (by which the Lord’s kingdom is represented and signified) is called a “land flowing with milk and honey” (as in Numbers 13:27; 14:8; Deuteronomy 26:9, 15; 27:3; Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6, 15), and in these passages nothing else is meant by “milk” than an abundance of celestial-spiritual things, and by “honey” an abundance of the derivative happinesses; the “land” is the celestial itself of the kingdom, from which those things come.

[7] As regards the “son of an ox,” it was shown just above that thereby is signified the celestial natural (n. 2180), the celestial natural being the same as natural good, or good in the natural. The natural of man, like his rational, has its good and its truth; for there is everywhere the marriage of good and truth (as said above, n. 2173). The good of the natural is the delight which is perceived from charity, or from the friendship which is of charity; from which delight there comes forth a pleasure which is properly of the body. The truth of the natural is the memory-knowledge [scientificum] which favors that delight. Hence it is evident what the celestial natural is.