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.

3568. 'And he said, Bring it to me, and I will eat from my son's venison' means a desire to join natural truth to itself by means of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as joining together and making one's own, dealt with in 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513 (end), and from the meaning of 'my son's venison' as truth acquired from good, dealt with in 3309, 3501, 3508. The fact that a desire is meant is self-evident.