3942. 'And found dudaim in the field' means the essentials of conjugial love that are present within the truth and good of charity and love. This is clear from the meaning of 'dudaim' as the essentials of conjugial love, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, and therefore the truth of faith and the good of charity since these constitute the Church, dealt with in 368, 2971, 3196, 3310, 3500, 3508, 3766. Translators do not know what dudaim were. They all think that they were fruits or flowers and each translator uses a name that fits in with his particular ideas of what dudaim were. But knowledge of what kind of fruit or flower they were is unimportant. All that one needs to know is that among the ancients who belonged to the Church all fruits and flowers had spiritual meanings, for the ancients knew that the whole natural order was a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, 3483. They knew that all things in its three kingdoms were representative, and that every individual thing, and so also every particular kind of fruit or flower, represented some specific thing in the spiritual world. As regards 'dudaim' meaning for them the conjugial element present in good and in truth, this may be seen from the train of thought in the internal sense here, and also from the derivation of that word in the original language. For dudaim is derived from the word dudim which means loves and being joined together by means of these. This origin of the word dudaim, meaning the conjugial element, is evident from the following,

In the morning we will get up to the vineyards, we will see if the vine has flowered and produced the grape, if the pomegranates have brought forth flowers. There will I give you my loves (dudim). The dudaim have given a fragrance. Cant. 7:12-13.

This quotation shows what dudaim were.

[2] As regards the book in which these verses appear, called the Song of Songs, it does not belong among the books called Moses and the Prophets because it does not have an internal sense. But it is written in the ancient style, and is full both of things with spiritual meanings that were gathered together from the books of the Ancient Church, and also of many things which in the Ancient Church meant celestial and spiritual love, especially conjugial love. The fact that it is a book of this nature is also evident from the consideration that, unlike the books known as Moses and the Prophets, the sense of the letter presents many things which are quite improper. But because the kind of things that have heavenly and conjugial love as their real meaning are massed together there, this book is therefore seen to have some mystical meaning.

[3] From the meaning of 'dudaim' one may now see that the reference to Reuben finding dudaim in the field means the conjugial element which is present within the truth and good of love and charity, that is, that which enables the two to become joined together is meant. For nothing else is meant in the spiritual sense by the conjugial element than such truth as can be joined to good, and such good as can be joined to truth. This joining together of good and truth is also the origin of all conjugial love, 2728, 2729, 3132. Consequently genuine conjugial love does not exist except within good and truth, and so at the same time within the heavenly marriage.

368. 'A field' means doctrine, and so everything constituting doctrine concerning faith and charity. This is clear from the Word. In Jeremiah,

O My mountain in the field, I will give for spoil your resources, all your treasures. Jeremiah 17:3.

Here 'field' stands for doctrine, 'resources and treasures' for the spiritual riches of faith, that is, the things that constitute the doctrine of faith. In the same prophet,

Surely the snow of Lebanon will not leave the rock of My field? Jeremiah 18:14.

In reference to Zion it is said, in Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12, that 'it will be ploughed up like a field' when the doctrine of faith does not exist. In Ezekiel,

He took from the seed of the land and planted it in a seed field. Ezekiel 17:5.

This refers to the Church and her faith, for doctrine is called 'a field' because of the seed it has in it. In the same prophet,

And let all the trees of the field know that I, Jehovah, will bring low the high tree. Ezekiel 17:24.

In Joel,

The field has been laid waste, the ground has been mourning because the corn has been laid waste, the new wine has failed, the oil has fallen off. Farmers have been put to shame, the harvest of the field has perished, all the trees of the field have withered. Joel 1:10-12.

Here 'field' stands for doctrine, 'trees' for cognitions, 'farmers' for people who cultivate them. In David,

The field will be exultant and everything in it; then all the trees of the wood will sing. Psalms 96:12.

Here it cannot be a field that is exultant nor trees of the wood that sing, but things residing with man, namely cognitions of faith. In Jeremiah,

How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? Jeremiah 12:4.

Here similarly it cannot be the land nor the grass of the field that mourns but something with man that has been laid waste. Similarly in Isaiah,

The mountains and hills will resound before you with song, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12.

The Lord too, when foretelling the close of the age, also calls the doctrine of faith 'a field',

Two will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left. Matthew 24:40; Luke 17:36.

'Field' is used to mean the doctrine of faith, false doctrine as well as true, as in the present verse in Genesis. Because 'field' means doctrine anyone receiving any seed of faith, whether the individual, the Church, or the world, is called a field.