57. 'The plant yielding seed' is every truth that looks towards a use. 'The tree in which there is fruit' is the good that accompanies faith. 'Fruit' is what the Lord gives to the celestial man, while 'seed', the source of the fruit, is what He gives to the spiritual man. This is why it is said that 'the tree producing seed will be for you for food'. That celestial food is called 'fruit from a tree' is clear from the next chapter where the subject is the celestial man. Here let just that be mentioned which the Lord spoke through Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food. Its leaf will not fall nor its fruit fail. It is re-born monthly, for its waters flow out from the Sanctuary, and its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for medicine. Ezekiel 47:12.

'Waters from the Sanctuary' means the life and mercy of the Lord, who is the Sanctuary; 'fruit' means wisdom, which is food for them; 'leaf' is intelligence, which is given them for a use, which is called 'medicine'. Spiritual food however is called 'a plant', as stated through David,

[Jehovah is] my Shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me ¹ lie down in green pastures. ² Psalms 23:1-2.

Footnotes:

8980. 'His woman shall go out with him' means a state of truth together with delight joined to it, also after conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' - out of servitude - as a state after conflict, 8975; and from the meaning of 'woman' as conjoined delight, dealt with immediately above in 8979. From these places it is evident who exactly were represented here by 'male slaves', namely those imbued with faith composed of the teachings of their Church and not with the complementary good but with delight that is an imitation of that good. Their servitude with their master means their state before they can be introduced into heaven, whereas their going out from servitude means their state when they are received into heaven. But since they are imbued only with faith composed of the teachings of their Church and not with the complementary good, thus not with the truth of good, which is the faith of charity, they cannot be allowed any further into heaven than the entrance there. For those in the entrance to heaven are in contact with those in heaven through the truth of faith, and with those outside heaven through the delight joined to that truth. They serve just like the layers of skin or membranes that clothe the body, which through the sense of touch are in contact with the world and through the nervous system are in contact with the life of the soul present in the body. So it is that those in the entrance to heaven, who are represented by 'Hebrew slaves', are called skin spirits in the Grand Man, regarding whom see 5552-5559. But there are many genera and species of such spirits, just as there are of layers of skin or membranes in the body. There are those which cover the whole body; there are those which cover interior parts in general, such as the peritoneum, pleura, or pericardium; and there are those which serve specifically to cover the individual organs there. They are all relatively a body of servants.