7966. 'And the people carried their dough before the yeast was added' means the first state of truth from good, in which there is no falsity at all. This is clear from the meaning of 'dough' as truth from good, for 'meal' and 'fine flour' mean truth, 'dough' that is made from them means the good of truth, and 'bread' that is made out of the dough means the good of love; and when 'bread' means the good of love the other things - 'dough' and 'meal' - mean forms of good and truth in their proper order (for the meaning of 'bread' as the good of love, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4117, 4735, 4976, 5915); and from the meaning of 'before the yeast was added' as that in which there is no falsity at all. For the meaning of 'yeast' as falsity, see above in 7906.

[2] This is plainly their first state, that is to say, when they were delivered, since it says that the people carried the dough; they were doing so when they went out. Their second state however is described in verse 39 below, where it says that they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened cakes since no yeast had been added, meaning that from the truth of good further good was produced that had no evil at all in it. These are the two states in which those belonging to the spiritual Church, when governed by good, are maintained by the Lord. In the first state good present in the will is the standpoint from which they see and contemplate truth; in the second good and truth now wedded together are the source from which they produce truths, which through the willing and doing of them become further forms of good, and so on repeatedly. Such are the direct products and further developments of truth among those who belong to the spiritual Church. In the spiritual world this whole process is portrayed in a representative manner, as a tree with leaves and fruit. The leaves portray truths, the fruit forms of the good of truth, and the seeds forms of good itself from which everything else springs.

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.