8. The second state is when a distinction is made between the things that are the Lord's and those that are man's own. Those which are the Lord's are called in the Word 'remnants', and here they are chiefly the cognitions of faith which a person has learned since he was a small child. These are stored away and do not come out into the open until he reaches this state. Nowadays this state rarely occurs without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow, which lead to the inactivity and so to speak the death of bodily and worldly concerns - the things which are man's own. In this way what belongs to the external man is segregated from what belongs to the internal. Within the internal are the remnants, stored away by the Lord until this time and for this purpose.

4745. 'And they sat down to eat bread' means making evil that was a product of falsity their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, dealt with in 3168, 3513 (end), 3596; 3832; and from the meaning of 'bread' as the good of love, dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, as well as all food in general, 2165. Here however 'bread' means the opposite of that good, namely evil, for it is well known that those who eat bread in the Holy Supper in an unworthy manner do not make good but evil their own. From this it is evident that in the contrary sense 'eating bread' means making evil their own. It was a practice among the ancients to eat together when they reached an important decision that was endorsed by everyone else. By eating together they were indicating that they approved the decision and so had made it their own, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power, ¹ have been among you and have shed blood. Men of intrigue have been among you, [ready] to shed blood, and have eaten on the mountains. Ezekiel 22:6, 9.

What is more, it should be recognized that generally evil has two sources, the first being life and the second doctrine. That which has its origin in false doctrine is called evil that is a product of falsity; and it is this kind of evil that is meant here.

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