When we eat, our bodies break down the food and get from it both energy and materials for building and repairing the body. The process is similar on a symbolic level in the Bible. Food represents the desire for good and the insight that comes from that desire for good – goodness and understanding that come from the Lord. But to put them to use we have to take them in and make them our own – which is spiritual eating.

3734. 'And will give me bread to eat' means even to the point of being joined to Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'bread' as all celestial and spiritual good, which comes from the Lord, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself as regards Divine Good, dealt with in 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, and from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated, being made one's own, and being joined to, dealt with in 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513 (end), 3596.