5340. 'And he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases. This is clear from the meaning of 'gathering' here as preserving (for it says that he gathered it and laid it up in the cities, in the midst of them, which means that he stored it in the interior parts and thereby preserved it; for it was put to use in the years of famine); from the meaning of 'the food' as everything by which the internal man is nourished, namely good and truth, as may be recognized from the correspondence of earthly food which nourishes the external man with spiritual food which nourishes the internal man. Here therefore truth linked to good is meant, because this is what is preserved and stored away in a person's interior parts. 'Seven years' means the initial phases, when truths become multiplied, 5339. From all this it is evident that 'he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases.

[2] The expression 'the preservation of truth linked to good' is used, but because few are aware of what truth linked to good is, let alone of how and when truth becomes linked to good, let something therefore be said about this. Truth comes to be joined to good when a person finds joy in doing good to his neighbour for truth and goodness' own sake, and not for any selfish or worldly reason. When that affection moves a person the truths he hears or reads or thinks about become joined to good; and this can usually be seen in an affection for truth which has that end in view.

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.