2165. That 'I will take a piece of bread' means something heavenly or celestial to go with [that something natural] is clear from the meaning of 'bread' as that which is celestial, dealt with already in 276, 680, 681, 1798. The reason 'bread' here means that which is celestial is that bread means all food in general, and so in the internal sense all heavenly or celestial food. What celestial food is has been stated in Volume One, in 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695. That 'bread' means all food in general becomes clear from the following places in the Word: One reads of Joseph telling the man in charge of his house to bring the men, that is, his brothers, into the house, and then to slaughter what needed to be slaughtered and made ready. And after that, when these things had been made ready and the men were to eat them, he said, Set on bread, Genesis 43:16, 31, by which he meant that the table was to be made ready by them. Thus 'bread' stood for all the food that made up the entire meal. Regarding Jethro one reads that Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God, Exodus 18:12. Here also 'bread' stands for all the food that made up the entire meal. And regarding Manoah, in the Book of Judges,

Manoah said to the angel of Jehovah, Let us now detain you, and let us make ready a kid before you. And the angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, If you detain me I will not eat your bread. Judges 13:15-16.

Here 'bread' stands for the kid. When Jonathan ate from the honeycomb the people told him that Saul had commanded the people with an oath, saying,

Cursed be the man who eats bread this day. 1 Samuel 14:27-28.

Here 'bread' stands for all food. Elsewhere, regarding Saul,

When Saul sat down to eat bread he said to Jonathan, Why has not the son of Jesse come either yesterday or today, to bread? 1 Samuel 20:24, 27.

This stands for coming to the table, where there was food of every kind. Regarding David who said to Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son,

You will eat bread at my table always. 2 Samuel 9:7, 10.

Similarly regarding Evil-Merodach who said that Jehoiachin the king of Judah was to eat bread with him always, all the days of his life, 2 Kings 25:29. Regarding Solomon the following is said,

Solomon's bread for each day was thirty cors ¹ of fine flour, sixty cors of meal, ten fatted oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides harts and wild she-goats and roebucks and fatted fowl. 1 Kings 4:22-23.

Here 'bread' plainly stands for all the provisions that are mentioned.

[2] Since then 'bread' means every kind of food in general it consequently means in the internal sense all those things that are called heavenly or celestial foods. This becomes even clearer still from the burnt offerings and sacrifices that were made of lambs, sheep, ² she-goats, kids, he-goats, young bulls, and oxen, which are referred to by the single expression bread offered by fire to Jehovah, as is quite clear from the following places in Moses where the various sacrifices are dealt with and which, it says, the priest was to burn on the altar as the bread offered by fire to Jehovah for an odour of rest, Leviticus 3:11, 16. All those sacrifices and burnt offerings were called such. In the same book,

The sons of Aaron shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, for it is the fire-offerings to Jehovah, the bread of their God, that they offer. You shall sanctify him, for it is the bread of your God that he offers. No man of Aaron's seed who has a blemish in himself shall approach to offer the bread of his God. Leviticus 21:6, 8, 17, 21.

Here also sacrifices and burnt offerings are referred to as 'bread', as they are also in Leviticus 22:25. Elsewhere in the same author,

Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My gift, My bread, for fire-offerings of an odour of rest, you shall take care to offer to Me at their appointed times. Numbers 28:2.

Here also 'bread' stands for all the sacrifices that are mentioned in that chapter. In Malachi,

Offering polluted bread on My altar. Malachi 1:7.

This also has regard to sacrifices. The consecrated parts of the sacrifices which they ate were called 'bread' as well, as is clear from these words in Moses,

The person who has touched anything unclean shall not eat any of the consecrated offerings, but he shall surely bathe his flesh in water, and when the sun has set he will be clean. And afterwards he shall eat of the consecrated offerings, because it is his bread. Leviticus 22:6-7.

[3] Burnt offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Church represented nothing else than the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and of the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church. They also represented the things of the Lord's kingdom or Church as it exists with every individual; and in general they represented all those things that are composed of love and charity, for those things are celestial or of heaven. In addition each type of sacrifice represented some specific thing. In those times all of the sacrifices were called 'bread', and therefore when the sacrifices were abolished and other things serving for external worship took their place, the use of bread and wine was commanded.

[4] From all this it is now clear what is meant by that 'bread', namely that it means all those things which were represented in the sacrifices, and thus in the internal sense means the Lord Himself. And because 'bread' there means the Lord Himself it means love itself towards the whole human race and what belongs to love. It also means man's reciprocal love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. Thus the bread now commanded means all celestial things, and wine accordingly all spiritual things, as the Lord also explicitly teaches in John,

They said, Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of life he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:31-35.

And in the same chapter,

Truly I say to you, He who believes in Me has eternal life. I am the Bread of life. 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 6:47-51.

[5] Now because this 'Bread' is the Lord it exists within the celestial things of love which are the Lord's, for the Lord is the celestial itself, because He is love itself, that is, mercy itself. This being so, 'bread' also means everything celestial, that is, all the love and charity existing with a person, for these are derived from the Lord. People who are devoid of love and charity therefore do not have the Lord within them, and so are not endowed with the forms of good and of happiness which are meant in the internal sense by 'bread'. This external symbol [of love and charity] was commanded because the worship of the majority of the human race is external, and therefore without some external symbol scarcely anything holy would exist among them. Consequently when they lead lives of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, that which is internal exists with them even though they do not know that such love and charity constitute the inner core of worship. Thus in their external worship they are confirmed in the kinds of good which are meant by 'the bread'.

[6] In the Prophets as well 'bread' means the celestial things of love, as in Isaiah 3:1, 7; 30:23; 33:15-16; 55:2; 58:7-8; Lamentations 5:9; Ezekiel 4:16-17; 5:16; 14:13; Amos 4:6; 8:11; Psalms 105:16. Those things are in a similar way meant by 'the loaves of the Presence' on the table, referred to in Leviticus 24:5-9; Exodus 25:30; 40:23; Numbers 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48.

Notes de bas de page:

4495. 'It happened on the third day' means that which is continuous even to the end. This is clear from the meaning of 'the third day' as that which is complete from beginning to end, dealt with in 2788, and so also as that which is continuous. People who suppose that the historical events described in the Word are no more than the facts of earthly history and are holy only because they appear in a sacred book are scarcely able to believe that 'the third day' has that meaning. But, as shown in preceding explanations, it is not only the actual historical narratives that include spiritual and celestial things which are not plainly visible in the letter, but also every word and every number too. The truth of this will in the Lord's Divine mercy be seen far more clearly in the prophetical sections which in the sense of the letter do not hold the mind to the sequence of events in the way that the historical sections do. But anyone who looks carefully into the interior contents of the Word comes to see that the number three, like the number seven, and also the number twelve, holds some arcanum. And if these numbers hold such it follows that every other number in the Word holds the same, for the Word is holy in every part.

[2] Sometimes, when I have been talking to angels, I have seen in front of me what looked like numbers written, as if on a sheet of paper, in broad daylight, and I have realized that the spiritual entities about which the angels spoke pass into numbers like these. From this experience I have also been given to know that each number in the Word contains some arcanum. This may be seen plainly from the following in John,

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. Revelation 21:17.

And elsewhere,

Let him who has intelligence reckon the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, that is, its number is six hundred and sixty-six. Revelation 13:18.

It is evident that the first of these numbers, namely a hundred and forty-four, is the product of twelve times twelve, and that the number six hundred and sixty-six is a product of that involving three or six; but what degree of holiness is implied by them may be seen from the holiness associated with the number twelve, concerning which number see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913; and concerning the holiness associated with the number three, 720, 901, 1825, 2788, 4010.

[3] Because the number three meant that which is complete even to the end, and so an entire period, whether long or short, it was therefore adopted in the representative Church and used whenever such a meaning needed to be conveyed. It is also used in the same way in the Word, in which every detail carries a spiritual meaning, as may be seen from the following places:

They were to go a three days' journey and to offer sacrifice. Exodus 3:18; 5:3.

They were to be ready on the third day, for on the third day Jehovah would come down onto Mount Sinai. Exodus 19:11, 15-16, 18.

Nothing from the flesh of a sacrifice was to be left until the third day. Leviticus 7:16-18; 19:6-7.

The water of separation was to be sprinkled over the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. Numbers 19:11-end.

Those who touched one killed in war were to be cleansed on the third day and on the seventh day. Numbers 31:19-25.

[4] Joshua commanded the people that within three days they would be crossing the Jordan. Joshua 1:11; 3:2.

Jehovah called Samuel three times, and three times Samuel ran to Eli and the third time Eli understood that Jehovah was calling Samuel. 1 Samuel 3:1-8.

Jonathan told David to hide in the field until the third evening. And Jonathan sent to him on the third day from then, and revealed his father's intention. Jonathan at that point fired three arrows to the side of the stone. And after that David bowed down to the ground three times before Jonathan. 1 Samuel 20:5, 12, 19-20, 35-36, 41.

Three things were set before David, of which he was to choose one - either the coming of famine for seven years, or his fleeing before his enemies for three months, or the existence of pestilence in the land for three days. 2 Samuel 24:11-13.

[5] Rehoboam told the assembly of Israel which asked for relief from his father's yoke that they should go away for three days and then return And they came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king said, Return to me on the third day. 1 Kings 12:5, 12.

Elijah stretched himself over the widow's son three times. 1 Kings 17:21.

Elijah told them to pour water over the burnt offering and the wood a third time and they did so a third time. 1 Kings 18:34.

Jonah was in the stomach of the monster for three days and three nights Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:40.

The Lord talked of someone who planted a vineyard and sent servants three times, and after that his son. Mark 12:2, 4-6, Luke 20:12-13.

Of Peter, He said that he was to deny Him three times. Matthew 26:34, John 13:38.

He said to Peter three times, Do you love Me? John 21:15-17.

[6] From these and many other places in the Word it becomes clear that the number three holds an arcanum within it, and that for this reason this number was adopted within the ancient Churches as a meaningful sign. It is evident that it means the entire period of a Church and of things within a Church, whether long or short, and therefore that which is complete and also that which is continuous even to the end, as is plain in Hosea,

Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. Hosea 6:2.