As the finest of the grains, wheat fittingly represents the finest of spiritual food, what Swedenborg calls "the good of love and charity" – which is the desire for good that springs from love of the Lord and love of serving others.

From a nutritional standpoint, wheat is packed with complex carbohydrates, a good source of lasting energy – and the desire for good from love of the Lord and love of the neighbor is a good source of lasting spiritual energy. Yet the carbohydrate-rich heart of each grain of wheat is covered by a hull rich with vitamins, protein and fiber, building blocks for the body – much as the desire for good is clothed in ideas of how to put good into action.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 374; Apocalypse Revealed 315; Arcana Coelestia 3941 [1-9], 7605, 9995)

3866. From the internal sense of the words that Leah uttered concerning Reuben when he was born, namely 'Jehovah has seen my affliction, for now my husband will love me', one may recognize which attribute of the Church is meant by Reuben or the tribe named after Reuben, namely that which is the first stage of regeneration, or that which comes first when a person becomes the Church; and that that which comes first is the truth of doctrine by means of which he is able to arrive at the good of life.