8464. This is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to eat. That this signifies that this is the good which must be appropriated and make their life, in the supreme sense that this is the Lord in you, is evident from the signification of “bread,” as being good celestial and spiritual, and in the supreme sense, as being the Lord (see n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915), here spiritual good, that is, the good of the man of the spiritual church, which is the good of truth (of which just above, n. 8458). As this bread was the manna, it follows that by “the manna” is signified this good; which is also apparent from the description of it in the thirty-first verse:

It was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it like that of a cake in honey;

and likewise from the description of it in Numbers:

The manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance thereof as the appearance of bdellium; they ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes of it: the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil (11:7-8).

From these particulars it is plain that in the spiritual sense “the manna” denotes the good of truth, that is, the good of the spiritual church. Hence also it is called “the grain of the heavens,” in David:

He commanded the skies from above, and opened the doors of the heavens, and made manna to rain down upon them, and gave them the grain of the heavens (Psalms 78:23-24).

(That “grain” denotes the good of truth, see n. 5295, 5410.) “Manna” also denotes the good of truth which is given to those who undergo temptations and conquer, in John:

To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone (Revelation 2:17).

That in the supreme sense “the manna” denotes the Lord in us, is evident from the very words of the Lord in John:

Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and are dead: this is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that one may eat thereof and not die: I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread he shall live eternally (6:49-51, 58).

From all this it is very plain that by “the manna” in the supreme sense is signified the Lord. The reason is that “the manna” denotes the good of truth, and all good is from the Lord, and consequently the Lord is in good, and is the good itself. That this good will be appropriated to them and make their life, is signified by “eating” (n. 3168, 3513, 3596, 4745); for the good which is from the Lord makes the life of heaven with man, and thereafter nourishes and sustains it.

276. That to “eat bread in the sweat of the face” signifies to be averse to what is celestial, is evident from the signification of “bread.” By “bread” is meant everything spiritual and celestial, which is the food of the angels, on the deprivation of which they would cease to live as certainly as men deprived of bread or food. That which is celestial and spiritual in heaven also corresponds to bread on earth, by which moreover they are represented, as is shown by many passages in the Word. That the Lord is “bread” because from Him proceeds whatever is celestial and spiritual, He Himself teaches in John:

This is the bread that cometh down from heaven; he that eateth of this bread shall live to eternity (John 6:58).

Wherefore also bread and wine are the symbols employed in the Holy Supper. This celestial is also represented by the manna. That what is celestial and spiritual constitutes the food of angels, is manifest from the Lord’s words:

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4),

that is, from the life of the Lord, from which comes everything celestial and spiritual.

[2] The last posterity of the Most Ancient Church, which existed immediately before the flood, and is here treated of, had become so thoroughly lost and immersed in sensuous and bodily things, that they were no longer willing to hear what was the truth of faith, what the Lord was, or that He would come and save them; and when such subjects were mentioned they turned away. This aversion is described by “eating bread in the sweat of the face.” So also the Jews, in consequence of their being of such a character that they did not acknowledge the existence of heavenly things, and desired only a worldly Messiah, could not help feeling an aversion for the manna, because it was a representation of the Lord, calling it “vile bread” on which account fiery serpents were sent among them (Numbers 21:5-6). Moreover the heavenly things imparted to them in states of adversity and misery, when they were in tears, were called by them the “bread of adversity” the “bread of misery” and the “bread of tears.” In the passage before us, that which was received with aversion is called the “bread of the sweat of the face.”