680. The fact that goods and truths are man's real food may be clear to anyone, for the person who is deprived of them has no life within himself, and is a dead man. The food on which the soul of the person feeds who is dead in this sense consists of the delights arising from evils, and of the pleasures gained from falsities. These are the food of death. These delights and pleasures also derive from bodily, worldly, and natural things, which have no life at all within them. Furthermore such a person does not know what spiritual and celestial food is. Every time 'food' or 'bread' is mentioned in the Word he assumes that food for the body is meant. In the words of the Lord's Prayer, 'Give us our daily bread', for example, he thinks purely of nourishment for the body. There are some whose ideas do extend further and who assert that this petition includes all other physical requirements, such as clothing, money, and so on. Indeed they will argue fiercely that no other kind of food is meant, even though they clearly see that the petitions coming before and after it entail purely celestial and spiritual things, and refer to the Lord's kingdom, and possibly know as well that the Lord's Word is celestial and spiritual.

[2] From this and other similar considerations it becomes sufficiently clear just how bodily-minded the man of today is, and that like the Jews, he is unwilling to accept anything stated in the Word except in a very crude and materialistic way. The Lord Himself clearly teaches what His Word means by 'food' and 'bread': He speaks of food in John as follows,

Jesus said, Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man gives you. John 6:27.

And of bread He says in the same gospel,

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread he will live for ever. John 6:49-51, 58.

Even today there are people who, like those who first heard these words, declare,

This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? And some drew back and no longer walked with Him. John 6:60, 66.

To those people the Lord said,

The words which I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

[3] It is similar with water, in that it means the spiritual things of faith: He speaks of water in John as follows,

Jesus said, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. John 4:13-14.

Even today there are people like the woman to whom the Lord spoke at the spring, who replied,

Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. John 4:15.

[4] In the Word 'food' means nothing other than spiritual and celestial food, which is faith in the Lord and love. This is clear from many places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

The enemy has stretched out his hand over all the desirable things of Jerusalem, because she saw the nations come into her sanctuary, concerning whom You did command, They shall not enter your congregation. All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lamentations 1:10-11.

Here no other bread or food is meant than spiritual, for the subject is the sanctuary. In the same author,

I called to my lovers, they deceived me. My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city, for they sought food for themselves to refresh their soul. Lamentations 1:19.

Here the meaning is similar. In David,

They all look to You to give them their food in due season. You givest to them - they gather it up. You openest Your hand - they are satisfied with good. Psalms 104:27-28.

This in like manner stands for spiritual and celestial food.

[5] In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.

Here 'wine and milk' stands for spiritual and celestial drink. In the same prophet,

A virgin is conceiving and bearing a son, and you will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will He eat that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. It will be that because of the abundance of milk they produce he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isaiah 7:14-15, 22.

Here 'eating honey and butter' means that which is celestial-spiritual, and 'those who are left' stands for remnants, which are referred to in Malachi as well,

Bring all the tithes ¹ to the storehouse that there may be food in My house. Malachi 3:10.

'Tithes' ¹ stands for remnants. Further concerning the meaning of 'food', see 56-58, 276.

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6015. 'In the carts which Pharaoh sent to carry him' means the matters of doctrine obtained from the Church's factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the carts' as matters of doctrine, dealt with in 5945; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the Church's factual knowledge in general. For 'Egypt' means the Church's factual knowledge, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, and therefore the king of that land means such knowledge in general, as he does elsewhere in the Word, though in the majority of places perverted factual knowledge is meant by Egypt and so also by Pharaoh. The representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge in general is evident in Isaiah,

The princes of Zoan are foolish, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh; counsel has become brutish. How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old? Isaiah 19:11.

Here 'Pharaoh' stands for the Church's factual knowledge in general, which was why he was called 'a son of the wise' and 'a son of the kings of old'. 'The wise' and 'the kings of old' stand for the truths that the Ancient Church possessed. But that factual knowledge made nonsensical is meant, for it says 'The princes of Zoan have become foolish; counsel has become brutish'.

[2] In the same prophet,

They depart to go down to Egypt but have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will become shame for you, and trust in the shadow of Egypt ignominy. Isaiah 30:2-3.

'Strengthening themselves in the strength of Egypt, and trusting in the shadow of Egypt' stands for relying in matters of faith on factual knowledge and having no belief in any spiritual truth unless it is what factual knowledge and sensory evidence so declare. But that is a perversion of order. The truths of faith must occupy first place, and supporting factual knowledge must take second place; for if the latter occupy first place, no belief in any truth whatever exists.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, said, Behold, I am making a visitation upon Amen in No, and upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, and upon its gods, and upon its kings - especially upon Pharaoh and those trusting in him. Jeremiah 46:25.

Here also 'Pharaoh' stands for factual knowledge in general. 'Those trusting in him' stands for people who rely on factual knowledge but do not rely on the Word, that is, on the Lord in the Word. Such a reliance leads to a complete perversion in the things people are taught to believe, which in turn leads to falsity and also to the refusal to accept that what is Divine and heavenly is anything at all. These people in particular are all too ready to say, Let me see these things with my own eyes; or, Produce the facts to prove the truth of it, and then I will believe it. But even if they did see them or such proof was produced they would not believe, because an unaccepting attitude of mind governs everything.

[4] In the same prophet,

Against Pharaoh. ¹ Behold, waters rising out of the north which will become a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it, so that men cry out and every inhabitant of the land wails because of the sound of the beat of the hoofs of the horses his mighty ones and the noise of his chariot, the rumble of its wheels. Jeremiah 47:1-3.

It is plain from every detail stated here regarding Pharaoh that 'Pharaoh' is factual knowledge in general, existing in this instance in a perverted state of order, which destroys the truths of faith. 'A deluging stream' is factual knowledge destroying an understanding of truth, and so is knowledge that lays waste. 'They will deluge the land and all that fills it' is the entire Church. 'The city and those who dwell in it' is the truth the Church possesses, and the good this truth leads to. 'The beat of the hoofs of the horses' is the lowest kind of factual knowledge gained directly from sensory impressions. 'The noise of his chariot' is false teaching derived from that knowledge. 'The rumble of its wheels' is sensory impressions and the false notions going with them that advance themselves.

[5] In Ezekiel,

The Lord Jehovih said, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster who is lying in the midst of his rivers, who has said, The river is mine and I have made myself. Therefore I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales. Ezekiel 29:2-4.

Here also 'Pharaoh' stands for factual knowledge in general, which in a similar way is evident from each detail that is stated regarding him.

[6] In the same prophet,

Raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt. You are like monsters in the seas, and you have come forth with your rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet; you have stirred up their rivers. When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights [in the heavens] I will darken over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:1, 3, 7-8.

The details of this description, like many more in the Prophets, cannot be understood by anyone, it is evident, without the internal sense. No one can understand what is meant when it says that Pharaoh is like monsters in the seas, has come forth with ² his rivers, and has troubled the waters with his feet. Nor can anyone know what is meant when it says that the heavens will be covered above him, the stars will be darkened, and all the bright lights will be darkened; also that the sun will be covered with a cloud, the moon will not give its light, and darkness will be put over his land. But the internal sense shows what all these details mean; it shows that factual knowledge perverts the truths of the Church if a person uses it to enter the mysteries of faith without believing anything unless factual knowledge, indeed sensory evidence, causes him to see it. This is the internal sense of this description, as the explanation of each separate detail shows.

[7] Pharaoh is called 'king of Egypt' by virtue of the truth factual knowledge holds within it. For factual knowledge is truth as it exists in the natural, and 'king' is truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044; also, much the same is meant by the king of a people as by the people themselves, 4789, so that much the same is meant by 'Pharaoh' as by 'Egypt', but the same thing in general. ('Egypt' has been shown many times to mean factual knowledge.) Pharaoh is compared to 'monsters in the seas' because 'a monster' or 'a sea monster' means general sources of facts, 42, While 'seas' means gatherings together of them, 28. Then it is said that he has come forth with his rivers because ideas displaying intelligence are meant by 'rivers', 108, 109, 2702, 3051, but here ideas displaying insanity since they flow from sensory impressions and factual knowledge, 5196. After this it is said that he troubled the waters with his feet and stirred up their rivers because 'waters' means spiritual truths, 680, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, and 'feet' things belonging to the natural, 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, so that 'troubling the waters with one's feet' is defiling and perverting the truths of faith by means of factual knowledge which the natural possesses. And 'stirring up their rivers' is doing the same to intelligence.

[8] Finally it is said that when he is blotted out the heavens will be covered, because 'the heavens' means a person's interiors, since these are his heavens. They are 'closed' when factual knowledge holds sway over the truths of faith, that is, when the natural holds sway over the spiritual. When this is the situation the cognitions or knowledge of truth and good perish, meant by 'I will darken the stars of the heavens, and all the bright lights'; for 'the stars' are those cognitions, see 2495, 2849, 4697, and 'the lights' are forms of good and truth, 30-38. The inability of the good of love to flow in any longer at that time is meant by 'I will cover the sun with a cloud', and the inability of the good of faith to flow in by 'the moon will not give its light' - 'the sun' being the good of love, and 'the moon the good of faith, see 1519, 1530, 2120, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696. The occupation therefore of the natural mind by falsities alone is meant by 'I will put darkness over your land' - 'darkness' being falsities, 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531, and 'Pharaoh's land' or 'the land of Egypt' being the natural mind, 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5701. From all this one may now see what the meaning is within the details of this prophecy. Since 'Pharaoh' means factual knowledge in general he also means the natural in general, 5799.

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