10107. And the bread that is in the basket. That this signifies the appropriation of celestial good from the Lord, is evident from the signification of “eating,” here bread, as being appropriation (as just above, n. 10106); from the signification of “bread,” as being the good of love and charity (n. 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 9323, 9545); and from the signification of a “basket,” as being the external sensuous (n. 9996). From this it is plain that by “eating the bread that was in the basket” is signified the appropriation of good from the Lord in externals. The breads which were in the basket were unleavened breads, unleavened cakes, and unleavened wafers, and by these are signified goods purified, both internal and external (n. 9992-9994). When therefore “bread in the basket” is spoken of, there are signified all these goods in the external sensuous, and the external sensuous is the ultimate of man’s life, containing all the interior things together in itself. (That the external sensuous is the ultimate of man’s life, see n. 5077, 5081, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5767, 6183, 6311, 6313, 6318, 6564, 7645, 9212, 9216, 9730, 9996; and that, being the ultimate, it contains all the interior things, see n. 6451, 6465, 9216, 9828, 9836, 10044)

3735. And raiment to put on. That this signifies conjunction with Divine truth, is evident from the signification of “raiment,” as being truth (n. 1073, 2576), in the present case Divine truth, because the Lord is treated of; and from the signification of “putting on,” as being to be appropriated and conjoined. The nature of the internal sense of the Word may be seen from these and all other such significatives, namely, that when bread and raiment are treated of in the sense of the letter, and also when the matter in question is expressed historically, as here—“if God will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,” the angels who are with the man at the time think not at all of bread, but of the good of love, and in the supreme sense of the Lord’s Divine good; neither do they think of raiment, but of truth, and in the supreme sense of the Lord’s Divine truth. Such things as are in the sense of the letter are to them merely objective representatives for thinking concerning things heavenly and Divine; for such things are the vessels which are in the ultimate of order.

[2] Thus when in a holy state a man thinks of bread, as for instance of the bread in the Holy Supper, or of the “daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer, then the thought which the man has about bread serves the angels who are with him as an objective representative for thinking about the good of love which is from the Lord; for the angels apprehend nothing of man’s thought about bread, but instead of this have thought concerning good, for such is the correspondence. In like manner when in a holy state a man thinks about raiment, the thought of the angels is about truth; and so it is with everything else in the Word. This shows what is the nature of the conjunction of heaven and earth by the Word, namely, that a man who reads the Word in a holy manner is by such correspondence conjoined closely with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, even although the man thinks only of those things in the Word which are in the sense of its letter. The holiness itself then present with the man comes from an influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections, such as angels have.

[3] That there might be such an influx and the consequent conjunction of man with the Lord the Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord, in connection with which it is expressly said that the bread and wine are the Lord; for the Lord’s “body” signifies His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man such as is that of the celestial angels; and the “blood” in like manner signifies His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, but such as is that of the spiritual angels. From this it is manifest how much of the Divine there is in everything of the Word, notwithstanding man’s ignorance as to what it is and what its quality. Yet those who when in the world have been in the life of good, after death come into the knowledges and perceptions of all these things; for then they put off earthly and worldly things, and put on heavenly ones; and in like manner are in a spiritual and celestial idea like that of the angels.