9526. Verses 23-30 And you shall make a table of shittim wood; two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold; and you shall make for it a rim of gold round about. And you shall make for it a rail of a hand's breadth round about; and you shall make a rim of gold for its rail round about. And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and you shall put the rings on the four corners which are on its four feet. The rings shall be close to the rail, as houses for the poles to carry the table. And you shall make the poles from shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with them. And you shall make its dishes, and its cups, and its small dishes, and its small brushes, with which it shall be covered; from pure gold you shall make them. And you shall put on the table the bread of faces, towards My faces unceasingly. ¹

'And you shall make a table' means a receptacle of heavenly blessings that belong to the good of love. 'Of shittim wood' means out of mercy. 'Two cubits shall be its length' means all so far as the joining to good is concerned. 'And a cubit its breadth' means somewhat so far as the joining to truth is concerned. 'And a cubit and a half its height' means what is complete so far as degrees are concerned. 'And you shall overlay it with pure gold' means a representative sign of that good out of mercy. 'And you shall make for it a rim of gold round about' means the sphere of good emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. 'And you shall make for it a rail of a hand's breadth round about' means the joining there to truth from the Divine. 'And you shall make a rim of gold for its rail round about' means the border of the sphere of Divine Good. 'And you shall make for it four rings of gold' means the outermost receptacle of the heavenly marriage, which is that of Divine Good to Divine Truth. 'And you shall put the rings on its four corners' means the resulting firmness. 'Which are on its four feet' means in the natural sphere. 'The rings shall be close to the rail, as houses for the poles' means the power from this. 'To carry the table' means in order to bring into being and keep in being. 'And you shall make the poles from shittim wood' means the power that truth derived from good possesses. 'And overlay them with gold' means a representative sign of good. 'And the table shall be carried with them' means being thereby held firmly in being. 'And you shall make its dishes, its cups, and its small dishes, and its small brushes, with which it shall be covered' means cognitions of celestial good and truth. 'From pure gold you shall make them' means that they are derived from good. 'And you shall put on the table the bread of faces' means the Lord there in respect of celestial good. 'Towards My faces unceasingly' means the Lord's presence thereby with peace and heavenly joy flowing from His mercy.

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5915. 'And I will sustain you there' means a constant influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial. This is clear from the meaning of 'sustaining', when spoken by Joseph, who represents the internal celestial, as an influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial. In the internal sense 'sustainment' is nothing else than the influx of goodness and truth from the Lord by way of heaven. This is how angels are sustained, and it is how a person's soul, that is, his internal man, is sustained. This sustainment is what the sustaining of the external man by means of food and drink corresponds to; and for this reason good is meant by 'food' and truth by 'drink'. The nature of this correspondence is also such that when a person is eating food the angels present with him think of goodness and truth; and, what is amazing, their ideas vary according to the different kinds of food that he eats. When therefore in the Holy Supper a person receives bread and wine the angels present with him think about the good of love and the good of faith, 3464, 3735, for the reason that 'bread' corresponds to the good of love and 'wine' to the good of faith. And because they correspond to them they also carry the same meanings in the Word.

[2] The fact that a person's soul, that is, his internal man, is sustained by spiritual food and drink, which are goodness and truth, is clear from the Lord's words in Moses,

Man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4.

'Utterance of the mouth of Jehovah' is goodness and truth that go forth from Him. In John,

Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.

In the same gospel,

The disciples asked Jesus, saying, Master, eat. He said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know. John 4:31-32.

And regarding drink, in the same gospel,

Jesus said, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow out from within him. ¹ John 7:37-38.

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