From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #56

Study this Passage

  
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56. Verse 29 And God said, Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face 1 of the whole earth, and every tree in which there is fruit, the tree producing seed will be for you for food. A celestial man takes delight in none but celestial things, and because these suit his life they are called celestial food. A spiritual man takes delight in spiritual things, and because they suit his life they are called spiritual food. The same applies to a natural man and natural things, and because they suit his life they too are called food, and are chiefly facts. Here, since the subject is the spiritual man, his spiritual food is described by representatives, that is to say, spiritual food is represented by 'the plant yielding seed' and by 'the tree in which there is fruit', which in general are called 'the tree producing seed'. His natural food is described in the next verse.

Footnotes:

1. literally, the faces

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Commentary

 

Face of the ground

  

In Genesis 8:8, this signifies what people in the church have in them, the word ground being used because this is a person's first stage in becoming a church.Later, the face of the ground being dried up in Genesis 8:13 signifies regeneration when falsities no longer appeared.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 898, Genesis 13)