218. Of Bread.

"Bread," when mentioned in relation to the Lord, signifies the Divine good of the Lord's Divine love, and the reciprocal of the man who eats it (n. 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 9323, 9545). "Bread" involves and signifies all food in general (n. 2165, 6118). "Food" signifies everything that nourishes the spiritual life of man (n. 4976, 5147, 5915, 6277, 8418). Thus "bread" signifies all celestial and spiritual food (n. 276[1-2], 680[1-5], 2165, 2177, 3478, 6118, 8410). Consequently, "everything which proceeds out of the mouth of God," according to the Lord's words (Matt. 4:4; n . 681). "Bread" in general signifies the good of love (n. 2165, 2177, 10686). The same is signified by "wheat," of which bread is made (n. 3941, 7605). "Bread and water," when mentioned in the Word, signify the good of love and the truth of faith (n. 9323). Breaking of bread was a representative of mutual love in the ancient churches (n. 5405). Spiritual food is science, intelligence, and wisdom, thus good and truth, because the former are derived from the latter (n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 8562, 9003). And because they nourish the mind (n. 4459, 5293, 5576, 6277, 8418). Sustenance by food signifies spiritual nourishment, and the influx of good and truth from the Lord (n. 4976, 5915, 6277).

The "bread" on the table in the tabernacle, signified the Divine good of the Lord's Divine love (n. 3478, 9545). The "meal-offerings" of cakes and wafers in the sacrifices, signified worship from the good of love (n. 4581, 10079, 10137). What the various meal-offerings signified in particular (n. 7978, 9992-9994, 10079).

The ancients, when they mentioned bread, meant all food in general (see Gen. 43: 16, 31; Exod. 18:12; Judges 13:15, 16; 1 Sam. 1_Samuel 14:28-29; 20: 24, 27; 2 Sam. 9: 7, 10; 1_Kings 4:22-23; 2 Kings 25:29).

7850. 'And they shall eat the flesh' means enjoyment of what is good. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as enjoyment, dealt with immediately above in 7849; and from the meaning of 'the flesh' as the human proprium made alive by the Lord's Divine Human, thus all the celestial and spiritual good present with a person, dealt with in 3813, 6968. The fact that 'flesh' has this meaning was very well known among the ancients; but at the present day people are so ignorant of it that everyone is amazed when 'flesh' is said to mean such. If one speaks of the proprium as the spiritual entity to which 'flesh' corresponds, people have no understanding of this. If one speaks of it as the symbolic meaning of 'flesh' they do, it is true, understand that, yet their idea is entirely different from that in which the natural object corresponds to the entity it symbolizes; that is to say, they see it as something completely separate. But in actual fact the spiritual or symbolized entity to which it corresponds is linked to it as a person's sight is linked to his eye and his hearing to his ear, and as his thought, which is spiritual, is linked to the form his interiors assume, and through that form to his organs of speech, or as his will, which too is spiritual, is linked to the fibres forming his muscles with which he acts. The same kind of relationship exists with every spiritual entity and its counterpart, that is, with every entity that is symbolized and the natural object that has a correspondence with it.

[2] Who can fail to see that 'flesh' is not used by the Lord to mean flesh or 'blood' to mean blood in John,

Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:53-56.

Few at the present day know that 'flesh' was used to mean the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, which comes from His Divine Human, and 'blood' to mean the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, and also a person's reciprocation. And those who are capable of knowing this have no wish to know it. They have no wish to know it because they have no affection for truth for its own sake, only for the sake of inducements the world offers, and also because people who think on a natural level wish to understand everything on that level.

[3] These matters have been stated in order that people may know what is meant by 'eating flesh' in the Passover supper, and what is consequently meant by it in the Holy Supper, which was instituted at the Passover supper. Regarding the bread and wine, which have the same meaning as flesh and blood, in the Holy Supper, see 2165, 2177, 2187, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915. The fact that 'flesh' is not flesh in the spiritual sense of the Word is, in addition to other places, plainly evident from the following in John,

Come and gather yourselves to the supper of the great God, so that you may eat [the flesh of kings, and] the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great. Revelation 19:17-18.

'The flesh', as it is used here, means varying kinds of good.