3364. And there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. That this signifies a lack of the knowledges of faith, is evident from the signification of “famine,” as being a lack of knowledges (n. 1460). That it is a lack of the knowledges of faith, is evident from what presently follows, that is, from the representation of Abimelech, and from the signification of “Gerar,” as being that which is of faith. The “famine” in the days of Abraham, mentioned in the twelfth chapter (verse 10), and explained above (n. 1460), denoted a lack of the knowledges which are of the natural man; but the “famine” here spoken of denotes a lack of the knowledges which are of the rational man; and therefore it is said that “there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham.” In the internal sense the subject here treated of is the Lord, in that from His Divine are all the doctrinal things of faith; for there is no doctrinal thing, nor the smallest part of one, that is not from the Lord, because the Lord is doctrine itself. Hence it is that the Lord is called the “Word,” because the “Word” is doctrine; but as everything that is in the Lord is Divine, and the Divine cannot be comprehended by any created being, therefore insofar as they appear before created beings, the doctrinal things that are from the Lord are not truths purely Divine, but are appearances of truth; nevertheless within such appearances there are truths Divine; and because they have these truths within them, the appearances also are called truths; and these are now treated of in this chapter.

1460. There was a famine in the land. That this signifies a scarcity of knowledges as yet with the Lord when a child, is evident from what has been already said. During childhood the knowledges in a man never come from that which is interior, but from the objects of the senses, especially from the hearing. For, as before said, there are in the external man receiving vessels, called the things of the memory, and these are formed by means of knowledges-as everybody may know-the internal man flowing in and helping; consequently knowledges are learned and are implanted in the memory in accordance with the influx of the internal man. Thus also was it with the Lord when He was a child-for He was born as are other men and was instructed as are other men-but with Him the interiors were celestial, which adapted the vessels for the reception of the knowledges, and in such a way that the knowledges should afterwards become vessels to receive the Divine. The interiors with Him were Divine, from Jehovah His Father; the exteriors were human, from Mary His mother. Hence it may be seen that with the Lord, equally as with other men, there was in His external man, during His childhood, a scarcity of knowledges.

[2] That “famine” signifies a scarcity of knowledges, is evident from the Word in other places, as in Isaiah:

They do not look into the work of Jehovah, and see not the doing of His hands. Therefore My people go into captivity because they have no knowledge [cognitio], and their glory are mortals of famine, and their multitude are parched with thirst (Isaiah 5:12-13);

“mortals of famine” denote a scarcity of the knowledges of celestial things; a “multitude parched with thirst,” a scarcity of the knowledges of spiritual things.

In Jeremiah:

They have lied against Jehovah, and have said, It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine; and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them (Jeremiah 5:12-13);

“sword and famine” denote the deprivation of the knowledges of truth and of good; “the prophets” are those who teach, in whom the word is not. That “to be consumed by the sword and famine,” is to be deprived of the knowledges of truth and of good; and that vastation is denoted, by “the sword” as to spiritual things, and by “famine” as to celestial things, is evident in various places in the Word (as Jeremiah 14:13-16, 18; Lamentations 4:9).

[3] So too in Ezekiel:

And I will increase famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread; and I will send upon you famine, and the evil wild beast; and they shall bereave thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee (Ezekiel 5:16-17);

“famine” denotes the deprivation of the knowledges of celestial things, or of the knowledges of good, whence come falsities and evils.

In David:

And He called for a famine upon the land, He broke the whole staff of bread (Psalms 105:16);

“to break the staff of bread,” signifies to be deprived of heavenly food; for the life of good spirits and angels is sustained by no other food than the knowledges of good and truth, and the goods and truths themselves, whence comes the signification of “famine” and of “bread,” in the internal sense. Again:

He hath satisfied the longing soul, and hath filled the hungry soul with good (Psalms 107:9);

denoting those who desire knowledges.

In Jeremiah:

Lift up thy hands for the soul of thy young children, who faint for hunger at the head of all the streets (Lamentations 2:19);

“hunger” denotes the lack of knowledges; “the streets,” truths.

In Ezekiel:

They shall dwell confidently, and none to make afraid. ¹ And I will raise up for them a plant for a name, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land (Ezekiel 34:28-29),

denoting that they shall no longer be made destitute of the knowledges of good and truth.

[4] In John:

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore (Revelation 7:16); concerning the Lord’s kingdom, where there is an abundance of all celestial knowledges and goods, which is “not to hunger;” and of spiritual knowledges and truths, which is “not to thirst.” In like manner spoke the Lord in John:

I am the Bread of life he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst (John 6:35).

And in Luke:

Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled (Luke 6:21).

And again:

He hath filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53); where celestial goods and their knowledges are treated of. That “famine” signifies a scarcity of knowledges, is plainly said in Amos:

Behold, the days are coming, that I will send a famine upon the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for waters, but of hearing the words of Jehovah (Amos 8:11-12).

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