Eat
When we eat, our bodies break down the food and get from it both energy and materials for building and repairing the body. The process is similar on a symbolic level in the Bible. Food represents the desire for good and the insight that comes from that desire for good – goodness and understanding that come from the Lord. But to put them to use we have to take them in and make them our own – which is spiritual eating.
Arcana Coelestia # 119
119. That 'Asshur' means the rational mind, that is, a person's rational, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,
Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in its branches, and a forest shade, and of a great height, and its top among thick boughs. The waters caused it to grow, the depth of the water; made it tall, a river leading round about the place of its plantings. Ezekiel 31:3-4.
The rational is called 'a cedar in Lebanon'. 'The top among thick boughs' means facts in the memory, this being an apt description of them.
This is clearer still in Isaiah,
On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt and Egypt into Asshur, and the Egyptians will serve Asshur. 1 On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isaiah 19:23-25.
Here and in many other places 'Egypt' means knowledge, 'Asshur' reason, and 'Israel' intelligence.
Фусноте:
1. The Hebrew, of this text in Isaiah may be read in two different ways - serve Asshur or serve with Asshur. Most English versions of Isaiah prefer the second of these.
