9003. 'He shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and [her] marital rights' means no deprivation of inner life meant by 'food', nor of outer life meant by 'clothing', thus no deprivation of the joining together meant by 'marital rights'. This is clear from the meaning of 'food' as the sustaining of inner life, for in the spiritual sense 'food', both solid and liquid, is cognitions or the knowledge of good and truth, solid food being cognitions of good, 5147, and 'drink' cognitions of truth, 3168, 3772, so that 'food' is the things that nourish a person's spiritual life, 5293, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562; from the meaning of 'clothing' as the sustaining of outer life, for in the spiritual sense 'clothing' or garments are inferior factual knowledge, this knowledge being that which spiritually sustains a person's outer life, 5248, 6918; from the meaning of 'marital rights' as a joining together; and from the meaning of 'not diminishing' as not depriving.

[2] The situation here is that a natural affection joined to a spiritual truth, which is meant by 'a female slave betrothed to a son', unceasingly needs to be sustained with life from the spiritual truth to which it has been joined; if the affection is not sustained from there it perishes. The situation with a person's affection is just the same as with the person himself; if he is not sustained by food he dies. Interiorly furthermore a person is nothing other than affection, one who is good being interiorly an affection for good and consequently for truth, and one who is evil being an affection for evil and consequently for falsity. This is especially evident in a person when he becomes a spirit; the sphere of life which then wells out of him is either one of affection for good or one of affection for evil. Now he is nourished or sustained not with natural food and drink but with spiritual, which for an evil spirit is falsity arising from evil, but for a good spirit is truth springing from good. The nourishment that people's minds receive in the world during their life in the body is nothing other. So it is that all kinds of food - bread, flesh, wine, water and many others - mean in the spiritual sense within the Word the kinds of food that constitute spiritual nourishment.

[3] All this also shows what one is to understand by the Lord's words in Matthew,

Man does not live by bread only but by every word that goes out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4.

Also what one should understand by His words in Luke,

You will eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

And in Matthew,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:29.

The Lord spoke these words after He had instituted the Holy Supper, in which the bread and wine are elements which denote love and faith, in the same way as flesh and blood do. From this it can be clearly seen what the Lord's flesh and blood mean in John 6:49-58, especially in these words there,

My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:55.

In the Word 'flesh' means the good of love, see 3813, 7850, 'blood' the good of faith, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877; and 'bread' and 'wine' have the same meanings, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 6377.

6978. 'And it will become blood on the dry land' means the falsifying of all truth and the consequent deprivation of it in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'blood' as holy truth coming forth from the Lord, and in the contrary sense as truth falsified and rendered profane, dealt with in 4735 (the implications of this have been stated in what comes immediately before this); and from the meaning of 'the dry land' as the natural, dealt with just above in 6976. The meaning of 'blood' as the falsification of truth and the profanation of it is clear in particular in Nahum,

Woe to the city of blood, ¹ all full of lies [and] plunder! Prey will not depart! The noise of a whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel, ² and the neighing horse and the clattering ³ chariot! The mounting horseman, ⁴ and the glitter of the sword, and the lightning-flash of the spear, and the multitude of slain, and the heap of corpses, and no end of bodies - they trip over their bodies - all because of the multitude of whoredoms of a harlot with goodly grace, the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations through her acts of whoredom, and of families through her sorceries. Nahum 3:1-4.

'The city of blood' means teachings that uphold falsity, so that 'blood' means truth that has been falsified and rendered profane. This is evident from the internal sense of every word of the description of the city, not only in the verses that have been quoted but also in those that follow them, since the whole chapter continues with a description of it; for' the city' means doctrinal teachings. 'All full of lies and plunder' means full of falsity and of evil resulting from falsity. 'The noise of the whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel' means the defence of falsity by the use of fallacious ideas. 'The neighing horse and the clattering chariot' means by the use of a perverted power of understanding and of teachings similarly perverted. 'The mounting horseman, the glitter of the sword, the lightning-flash of the spear' means a battle against truth. 'The multitude of slain' means that countless falsities and people under the influence of them result from it. 'The heap of corpses, and no end of bodies' means that countless evils and people governed by them result from it. 'The whoredoms of a harlot' means falsifications themselves which take place; and 'sorceries' has a similar meaning.

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