3580. And a multitude of corn. That this signifies the derivative natural good, and that “new wine” signifies the derivative natural truth, is evident from the signification of “corn,” as being good; and from the signification of “new wine,” as being truth; which when predicated of the natural signify natural good and truth, and then “bread and wine” are predicated of the rational. (That “bread” is celestial good, see above, n. 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478; and that “wine” is what is spiritual, thus truth from good, n. 1071, 1798.)

[2] That “corn and new wine” have this signification, may be seen also from the following passages in the Word.

In Haggai:

The heavens are closed from dew, and the earth is closed from her produce. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine; and upon that which the ground bringeth forth (Haggai 1:10-11); where “drought” denotes a lack of dew and of rain, thus a lack of truth derived from any good; “drought upon the corn” is a lack of good and “drought upon the new wine” is a lack of truth.

In Moses:

Israel shall dwell securely, alone at the fountain of Jacob in a land of corn and new wine; yea, his heavens shall drop down dew (Deuteronomy 33:28);

“alone” denotes those who are not infested by evils and falsities (n. 139, 471); a “land of corn and new wine” denotes the good and truth of the church.

[3] In Hosea:

I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall bud forth as the lily, and shall fix his roots as Lebanon; his branches shall go forth, and his honor shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon; they that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall vivify the corn, and blossom as the vine; his memory shall be as the wine of Lebanon (Hos. 14:5-7); where “corn” denotes spiritual good and wine,” spiritual truth.

In Isaiah:

The curse shall devour the earth. The new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish, all the glad of heart shall sigh (Isaiah 24:6-7); where the vastation of the spiritual church is treated of; the “new wine mourning” denotes that truth shall cease.

[4] In Jeremiah:

Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob. And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together unto the goodness of Jehovah, to the corn and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the sons of the flock and of the herd (Jeremiah 31:11-12).

The “corn and new wine” denote good and the derivative truth; “oil,” the good from which they come, and which is from them; “the sons of the flock and of the herd,” the truth which thus comes therefrom; and as these things have such a signification, they are called “the goodness of Jehovah.”

[5] In Hosea:

She did not know that I gave her the corn, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold which they made for Baal. Therefore will I return and take away My corn and My new wine in their appointed season, and I will pluck away My wool and My flax (Hos. 2:8-9); where the church perverted is treated of; and it is manifest that by “corn” is not meant corn; nor by “new wine,” new wine; neither by “oil,” “silver,” “gold,” “wool,” and “flax,” are such things meant, but those which are spiritual; that is, those of good and truth.

[6] In like manner where a new church is treated of, in the same Prophet:

I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will hearken to the heavens; and these shall hearken to the earth; and the earth shall hearken to the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and these shall hearken to Jezreel (Hos. 2:20-22); where “Jezreel” denotes a new church.

In Joel:

Awake ye drunkards and weep, and howl all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth (Joel 1:5, 10).

[7] Again:

Rejoice ye sons of Zion, and be glad in Jehovah your God; for He hath given you the early rain for righteousness; and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the early rain and the latter rain in the first. And the floors shall be filled with pure corn, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil (Joel 2:23-24).

Again in the same Prophet:

And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall go forth out of the house of Jehovah (Joel 3:18); where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of; and by “sweet wine,” by “milk,” and by “waters,” are signified spiritual things whose abundance is thus described.

[8] In Zechariah:

Jehovah their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people. For how great is His goodness! and how great is His beauty! corn shall make the young men to flourish, and new wine the virgins (Zech. 9:16-17).

In David:

Thou dost visit the earth, and delightest in it; Thou greatly enrichest it; the stream of God is full of waters; Thou preparest them corn; the meadows are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing (Psalms 65:9, 13).

From all this we can see what is signified by “corn and new wine.”

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).