As the finest of the grains, wheat fittingly represents the finest of spiritual food, what Swedenborg calls "the good of love and charity" – which is the desire for good that springs from love of the Lord and love of serving others.

From a nutritional standpoint, wheat is packed with complex carbohydrates, a good source of lasting energy – and the desire for good from love of the Lord and love of the neighbor is a good source of lasting spiritual energy. Yet the carbohydrate-rich heart of each grain of wheat is covered by a hull rich with vitamins, protein and fiber, building blocks for the body – much as the desire for good is clothed in ideas of how to put good into action.

(Referencat: Apocalypse Explained 374; Apocalypse Revealed 315; Arcana Coelestia 3941 [1-9], 7605, 9995)

'Forty' represents completeness because 'four' and 'ten' both mean what is complete. Forty is the product of four and ten. Compound numbers have a meaning similar to the simple numbers which compose them, and all numbers in the Word represent spiritual realities.

(Referencat: Arcana Coelestia 9437; Exodus 24:18)