6106. 'And Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father's household with bread' means that from the internal celestial there was a constant influx of good into spiritual good and the Church's truths in the natural, which gave them their life. This is clear from the meaning of 'sustaining with bread' as an influx of good, for 'sustaining' here is a constant inflowing, which gives a person spiritual life, while 'bread' is the good of love, 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, and from the representation of his sons, to whom 'brothers' refers here, as the Church's truths in the natural, both dealt with in 6101; and from the meaning of 'all his father's household' as everything in its entirety which belongs to spiritual good and is derived from that good. From all this it is evident that 'Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father's household with bread' means that there was a constant influx of the good of love from the internal celestial into spiritual good and the Church's truths in the natural, and into everything belonging to spiritual good and derived from it.

4976. 'And ministered to him' means that factual knowledge was assigned to its own good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ministering' as serving by supplying what another has need of, in this case as being assigned to since the subject is natural good to which factual knowledge is to be assigned. 'Ministering' is also used to describe known facts, for in the Word a minister and a servant mean factual knowledge or natural truth because this is subservient to good as its lord. Factual knowledge stands in relation to delight present in the natural man - or what amounts to the same, natural truth stands in relation to its good - in exactly the same way as water does to bread, or drink to food. Water or drink enables bread or food to be dissolved, and once dissolved to be conveyed into the blood, from which it passes into all parts around the body and nourishes them. Without the water or drink the bread or food is not broken down into extremely small particles and carried around the body to fulfill its purpose.

[2] The same applies to factual knowledge in relation to delight, or truth in relation to good. That being so, good longs for and desires truth, and does so because of the purpose such truth can fulfill by ministering to it and serving it. Food and drink also correspond to these. No one in the next life is nourished by any natural food or natural drink, only by spiritual food and spiritual drink, spiritual food being good, and spiritual drink truth. This is why, when bread or food is mentioned in the Word, angels understand spiritual bread or food, which is the good of love and charity; and when water or drink is mentioned they understand spiritual water or drink, which is the truth of faith. From this one may see what the truth of faith without the good of charity is, and also what kind of nourishment the former without the latter is able to supply to the internal man; that is to say, it is like the nourishment supplied by water or drink alone without bread or food. It is well known that a person fed on water or drink alone wastes away and dies.