2187. And they did eat. That this signifies communication in this manner, is evident from the signification of “eating,” as being to be communicated and to be conjoined; as is also evident from the Word. The fact that Aaron, his sons, the Levites, and also the people, ate the hallowed things of the sacrifices in the holy place, signified nothing else than communication, conjunction, and appropriation, as above said at the explication of the passage from Leviticus 6:9-10 (see n. 2177), for it was celestial and spiritual food that was signified by the hallowed things which they ate, consequently the appropriation of it. The hallowed things were the parts of the sacrifices which were not burned upon the altar, and were eaten either by the priests, or by the people that made the offering; as is evident from many passages where the sacrifices are treated of (what should be eaten by the priests, Exodus 29:32-33; Leviticus 6:9, 16, 18, 26; 7:6, 15-16, 18; 8:31; 10:12-13; Numbers 18:9-11; what should be eaten by the people, Leviticus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:27; 27:7; and elsewhere; and that the unclean should not eat of them, Leviticus 7:19-21; 22:4-7). These feastings were made in a holy place near the altar, either at the door, or in the court of the tabernacle, and they signified nothing else than the communication, conjunction, and appropriation of celestial goods; for by them were represented celestial foods (concerning which food see n. 56-58, 680-681, 1480, 1695), and they were all called “bread,” the signification of which may be seen above (n. 2165). The like was represented by Aaron and his sons eating the showbread or “bread of faces,” in a holy place (Leviticus 24:9).

[2] The law given for the Nazirite-that in the days of his Naziriteship he should not eat of anything from the grape, whence wine is made, from the seeds even to the skin (Numbers 6:4)—was because the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such that he is not willing even to mention spiritual things (as may be seen in Part First,n. 202, 337, 880, 1647); and as wine and the grape, and also whatever is from the grape, signified what is spiritual, it was therefore forbidden the Nazirite to eat of them; that is, to have communication with them, to conjoin himself with them, and to appropriate them to himself.

[3] The like is meant by “eating” 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? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and your soul shall be deliciated in fatness (Isaiah 55:1-2).

As also in John:

To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).

The “tree of life” is the celestial itself, and in the supreme sense is the Lord Himself, because from Him is all the celestial, that is, all love and charity. Thus to “eat of the tree of life” is the same as to eat the Lord, and to eat the Lord is to be gifted with love and charity, and thus with those things which are of heavenly life. This the Lord Himself says in John:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread, he shall live to eternity; he that eateth Me shall live by Me (John 6:51, 57).

But they said, This is a hard saying. And Jesus said, The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life (John 6:60, 63).

[4] Hence it is manifest what is meant by eating in the Holy Supper (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20); namely, to have communication, to be conjoined, and to appropriate to oneself. Hence also it is clear what is meant by the Lord’s saying that:

Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 8:11),

not that they are to eat with them in the kingdom of God, but that they will enjoy the celestial goods which are signified by “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” namely, the celestial things of love; not only the inmost, which are “Abraham,” but also the lower that are intermediate, as are those of the rational, which are “Isaac;” and the still lower, which are the celestial natural, such as are in the first heaven, and which are meant by “Jacob.” Such is the internal sense of these words. (That these things are meant by “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” may be seen in n. 1893, and wherever else they are treated of.) For whether we speak of enjoying those celestial things, or of enjoying the Lord, who is represented by those men, it is the same thing; for all those things are from the Lord, and the Lord is the all in all of them.

880. And he stayed yet other seven days. That this signifies the beginning of a second state of regeneration, may be evident from the fact that the time is thus described which intervenes between the first state (described in the eighth and ninth verses (Genesis 8:8-9) and this second state (described here in the tenth and eleventh (Genesis 8:10-11). In order to maintain the historic connection, this intervening time is expressed by his “staying.” How the case is with the second state of regeneration may be seen in some degree from what has been said and shown about the first state, which was that the truths of faith could not yet take root, because falsities hindered. The truths of faith are first rooted when man begins to acknowledge and believe, and they are not rooted before. What man hears from the Word and holds in memory, is only the sowing; the rooting does by no means begin until the man accepts and receives the good of charity. All the truth of faith is rooted by the good of faith, that is, by the good of charity. This is as with seed that is cast into the ground while it is still winter and the ground is cold; there indeed it lies, but does not take root. But as soon as the heat of the sun warms the earth in the time of early spring, the seed begins first to push its root within itself, and afterwards to send it forth into the ground. The case is the same with spiritual seed that is being implanted: this is never rooted until the good of charity as it were warms it; then for the first time it pushes its root within itself, and afterwards sends it forth.

[2] There are three things in man which concur and unite together, namely, the Natural, the Spiritual, and the Celestial. His natural never receives any life except from the spiritual, and the spiritual never except from the celestial, and the celestial from the Lord alone, who is life itself. But in order that a still fuller idea may be gained: the natural is the receptacle that receives the spiritual, or is the vessel into which the spiritual is poured; and the spiritual is the receptacle which receives, or is the vessel into which is poured, the celestial. Thus, through things celestial, life comes from the Lord. Such is the influx. The celestial is all the good of faith; in the spiritual man it is the good of charity. The spiritual is truth, which never becomes the truth of faith unless there is in it the good of faith, that is, the good of charity, in which there is life itself from the Lord. That a yet clearer idea may be gained: man’s natural is what does the Work of Charity, by hand or by mouth, and thus by the organs of the body; but this work in itself is dead, and does not live except from the spiritual that is in it; and the spiritual does not live except from the celestial, which lives from the Lord. From this the work is said to be good, since there is nothing good except from the Lord.

[3] This being the case, it must be evident to everyone that in every work of charity the work itself is nothing but a material affair, and that the work is living is attributable to the truth of faith that is in it; and further that neither is the truth of faith anything but an inanimate affair, and that the truth of faith is living is attributable to the good of faith; moreover that the good of faith is not living except from the Lord only, who is Good itself and Life itself. This shows why the celestial angels are unwilling to hear about faith, and are still more unwilling to hear about work (see n. 202). For the celestial angels ascribe to love both the faith and the work, making faith to be from love, and making even the work of faith to be from love, so that with them both the work and the faith vanish, and there remains nothing but love and its derivative good, and within their love is the Lord. In consequence of having ideas so heavenly these angels are distinct from those angels who are called spiritual, their very thought (together with the speech that is derived from this thought) being much more incomprehensible than are the thought and the speech of the spiritual angels.