5147. There was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh' means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'food' as celestial good, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the interior natural, dealt with in 5080, 5095, and also the natural in general, since the interior natural and the exterior natural make one when they correspond. And because food exists to provide nourishment, 'every kind of food for Pharaoh' means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. It is said that this food was in the highest basket, meaning that the inmost degree of the will was full of celestial good. For good from the Lord flows in by way of the inmost degree in a person; and from there it passes degree by degree, so to speak down a flight of steps, to what is more exterior. For in relation to other degrees the inmost one exists in the most perfect state, and can therefore receive good from the Lord directly, in a way the lower ones cannot. If these were to receive good from the Lord directly, they would either obscure it or pervert it, since they are less perfect in comparison with the inmost degree.

[2] As regards the influx of celestial good from the Lord and the reception of it, it should be recognized that the will part of the human mind is the receiver of good and the understanding part is the receiver of truth. The understanding part cannot possibly receive truth so as to make this its own unless at the same time the will part receives good; and vice versa. For one flows as a result into the other and disposes that other to be receptive. All that constitutes the understanding may be compared to forms which are constantly varying, and all that constitutes the will may be compared to the harmonies resulting from those variations. Consequently truths may be compared to variations, and forms of good may be compared to the delights which those variations bring. And this being pre-eminently the case with truths and forms of good it is evident that one cannot exist without the other, as well as that one cannot be brought forth except by means of the other.

[3] The reason 'food' means celestial good is that angels' food consists in nothing else than forms of the good of love and charity, and that these serve to enliven angels and to rejuvenate them. Especially when they are expressed in action or practice do those forms of good cause angels to feel rejuvenated, for they are the desires they have; for it is a well known fact that when a person's desires are expressed in action he feels rejuvenated and enlivened. Those desires also nourish a person's spirit when material food supplies nourishment to his body, as may be recognized from the fact that when no delight is taken in food it is not very nutritious, but when delight is taken in it, it is nutritious. The delight taken in food is what opens the meatus or channels which serve to convey it into the blood, whereas the opposite closes them. Among angels those delights are forms of the good of love and charity, and from this one may deduce that these are spiritual kinds of food which correspond to earthly ones. Also, just as forms of good are meant by different kinds of food, so truths are meant by 'drink'.

[4] In the Word 'food' is mentioned in many places, yet someone unacquainted with the internal sense will inevitably suppose that in those places ordinary food is meant. In fact spiritual food is meant, as in Jeremiah,

All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lamentations 1:11.

In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction from the thunderbolt-hurler will it come. [s not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and joy from the house of our God? The grains have rotted under their clods, the storehouses have been laid waste, the granaries have been destroyed, because the grain has failed. Joel 1:15-17.

In David,

Our storehouses are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks are thousands, and ten thousands in our streets. There is no outcry in our streets. Blessed are the people for whom it is thus. Psalms 144:13-15.

In the same author,

They all look to You, that You may give them their food in due season. You give to them - they gather it up; You open Your hand - they are satisfied with good. Psalms 104:27-28.

[5] In these places celestial and spiritual food is meant in the internal sense when material food is referred to in the sense of the letter. From this one may see how the interior features of the Word and its exterior features correspond to one another, that is, how what belongs inwardly to its spirit and what belongs to its letter do so; so that while man understands those things according to the sense of the letter, the angels present with him understand the same things according to the spiritual sense. The Word has been written in such a way that it may serve not only the human race but heaven also, and for this reason all expressions are used to mean heavenly realities, and every matter described there is representative of these realities. This is so with the Word even to the tiniest jot.

[6] Furthermore the Lord Himself explicitly teaches that good is meant in the spiritual sense by 'food': In John,

Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.

In the same gospel,

My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:55.

'Flesh' means Divine Good, 3813, and 'blood' Divine Truth, 4735. And in the same gospel,

Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. The disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him [anything] to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:33-34.

'Doing the will of the Father and finishing His work' means Divine Good when expressed in actions or practice, which in the genuine sense is 'food', as stated above.

4783. 'To comfort him' means to provide explanations based on the sense of the letter of the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'comforting' as calming a turbulence of mind with a hope concerning some thing, dealt with in 3610, in this case a turbulence or mourning over lost good and truth. And because this mourning cannot be subdued except by means of explanations based on the Word, and because reference is being made at this point to Jacob's sons and daughters, who mean those governed by falsities and evils, 4781, 4782, 'comforting' means explanations based on the sense of the letter. For the sense of the letter of the Word contains general ideas which, being like vessels, can be filled with truths or else with falsities and so can be given whatever explanation suits one's own point of view. And because they are general ones they are also obscure compared with other ideas, receiving light from nowhere else than the internal sense. For the internal sense exists in the light of heaven because it is the Word as angels know it, whereas the sense of the letter exists in the light of the world because it is the Word as men know it before they come to the light of heaven received from the Lord, by which light they are then enlightened. From this it is evident that the sense of the letter serves to introduce the simple to the internal sense.

[2] This use of explanations when one is expounding the Word - explanations which are based on the sense of the letter and which fit in with one's own point of view - is quite evident from the fact that all religious ideas, including heretical ones, are substantiated by such explanations. For example, the accepted teaching about faith separated from charity is substantiated by the following words spoken by the Lord,

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.

From these words and other places people deduce that eternal life is acquired through faith alone without works. And once these people have become convinced of this they no longer pay any attention to what the Lord said so many times about love to Him, and about charity and works, 1017, 2373, 3934. Thus they pay no attention to the following in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

If they are told that no one can believe in the Lord except him who has charity, they instantly take refuge in explanations like these: The law has been abolished; people are born in sins and so cannot do good of themselves, and those who do do it cannot do other than claim merit for it. These explanations too they substantiate from the sense of the letter of the Word, for example from what is stated in the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector, Luke 18:10-14, and from other things that are stated. But these statements have an altogether different meaning from the explanations they resort to.

[3] Also, the adherents to faith separated from charity can have no other belief than that everyone is able by grace to be admitted into heaven, no matter what kind of life he has been leading, so that it is not a person's life but his faith that awaits him after death. This too they substantiate from the sense of the letter of the Word. But from the spiritual sense of the Word it is clear that the Lord has mercy on everyone, so that if a person reached heaven by mercy or grace irrespective of whatever life he has led everyone would be saved. The reason the adherents to faith separated from charity believe the way they do is that they have no knowledge at all of what heaven is because they do not know what charity is. If they knew how much peace, joy, and happiness is present within charity they would know what heaven is; but this is entirely hidden from them.

[4] Nor can the adherents to faith separated from charity have any other belief than that they will rise again with the physical body, though not until judgement day. This too they substantiate from many places in the Word, explained according to the sense of the letter. They give no thought at all to what the Lord said - many times in addition to the following - about the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:22-31, or to what He told the robber,

Truly I say to you, Today you will be with Me in paradise. Luke 23:43.

The reason the adherents to faith separated from charity believe the way they do is that if they were told that the body is not going to rise again they would refuse to believe in any resurrection at all, for what the internal man is they neither know nor have any conception of. Indeed no one can know what the internal man is and the internal man's life after death is except him who has charity; for charity is an attribute of the internal man.

[5] The adherents to faith separated from charity can have no other belief than that the works of charity consist solely in giving to the poor and helping the distressed. This belief too they substantiate from the sense of the letter of the Word. But in fact the works of charity consist in each person doing what is right and fair in his employment, from a love of what is right and fair, and of what is good and true.

[6] The adherents to faith separated from charity do not see anything in the Word apart from what substantiates their own accepted teachings, for they have no real insight. Indeed people who are not moved by the affection belonging to charity have merely external sight, or an inferior insight. With this no one can possibly behold higher things, for higher things are seen by him as darkness. Consequently such people see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities, and so by explanations based on the sense of the letter they ruin the good pasture and pollute the pure waters of that sacred spring which is the Word, as accords with the following in Ezekiel,

Is it a small thing to you? You feed off the good pasture and tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures; you drink the water that has settled down ¹ and stir up the rest with your feet. You butt with your horns all the weak [sheep] till you have scattered them abroad. Ezekiel 34:17-18, 21.

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