9146. 'Or standing grain, or a field' means the truth and good of faith in the process of being conceived. This is clear from the meaning of 'grain' as the truth of faith, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a field' as the Church in respect of good, thus the Church's good, dealt with above in 9139. The reason why 'grain' means the truth of faith is that grain crops, such as wheat and barley, and bread made from them, mean the Church's forms of good, 3941, 7602. The Church's forms of good are those of charity towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. These forms of good are the being and soul of faith; for they are what cause faith to be faith and give it life. The reason why 'standing grain' is the truth of faith in the process of being conceived is that it has not yet been gathered into stacks or stored away in barns. Therefore when grain is standing or still shooting up it is the truth of faith in the process of being conceived.

[2] Much the same is meant by 'standing grain' in Hosea,

Israel has made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know. Their silver and their gold they have made into idols. Because they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. He does not have any standing grain; the ears will yield no flour. If they do yield it, aliens will swallow it up. Hosea 8:4, 7.

This refers to the Church's truths and forms of the good of faith when they have been reduced to nothing by hollow and false ideas. The fact that these things are the subject is evident from the train of thought, but what is actually being said about them is evident only from the internal sense. For in this sense 'a king' is used to mean the Church's truth of faith in its entirety, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148, and 'princes' to mean primary truths, 1482, 2089, 5044; and from all this one may see what is meant by the words 'Israel has made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know', 'Israel' being the Church, 4286, 6426, 6637. By 'silver' is meant in the internal sense the truth of good, and in the contrary sense the falsity of evil, 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 8932, by 'gold' is meant good, and in the contrary sense evil, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, and by 'idols' is meant worship consisting of falsities and evils, 8941; and from all this one may see what is meant by 'their silver and their gold they have made into idols'. 'The wind' which they sow means senseless ideas; 'the whirlwind' which they will reap means the resulting turmoil in the Church; 'the standing grain' which he does not have any of means the truth of faith in the process of being conceived; 'the ears' which will yield no flour means sterility; and 'aliens' who will swallow it up means falsities that will consume it.

3942. 'And found dudaim in the field' means the essentials of conjugial love that are present within the truth and good of charity and love. This is clear from the meaning of 'dudaim' as the essentials of conjugial love, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, and therefore the truth of faith and the good of charity since these constitute the Church, dealt with in 368, 2971, 3196, 3310, 3500, 3508, 3766. Translators do not know what dudaim were. They all think that they were fruits or flowers and each translator uses a name that fits in with his particular ideas of what dudaim were. But knowledge of what kind of fruit or flower they were is unimportant. All that one needs to know is that among the ancients who belonged to the Church all fruits and flowers had spiritual meanings, for the ancients knew that the whole natural order was a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, 3483. They knew that all things in its three kingdoms were representative, and that every individual thing, and so also every particular kind of fruit or flower, represented some specific thing in the spiritual world. As regards 'dudaim' meaning for them the conjugial element present in good and in truth, this may be seen from the train of thought in the internal sense here, and also from the derivation of that word in the original language. For dudaim is derived from the word dudim which means loves and being joined together by means of these. This origin of the word dudaim, meaning the conjugial element, is evident from the following,

In the morning we will get up to the vineyards, we will see if the vine has flowered and produced the grape, if the pomegranates have brought forth flowers. There will I give you my loves (dudim). The dudaim have given a fragrance. Cant. 7:12-13.

This quotation shows what dudaim were.

[2] As regards the book in which these verses appear, called the Song of Songs, it does not belong among the books called Moses and the Prophets because it does not have an internal sense. But it is written in the ancient style, and is full both of things with spiritual meanings that were gathered together from the books of the Ancient Church, and also of many things which in the Ancient Church meant celestial and spiritual love, especially conjugial love. The fact that it is a book of this nature is also evident from the consideration that, unlike the books known as Moses and the Prophets, the sense of the letter presents many things which are quite improper. But because the kind of things that have heavenly and conjugial love as their real meaning are massed together there, this book is therefore seen to have some mystical meaning.

[3] From the meaning of 'dudaim' one may now see that the reference to Reuben finding dudaim in the field means the conjugial element which is present within the truth and good of love and charity, that is, that which enables the two to become joined together is meant. For nothing else is meant in the spiritual sense by the conjugial element than such truth as can be joined to good, and such good as can be joined to truth. This joining together of good and truth is also the origin of all conjugial love, 2728, 2729, 3132. Consequently genuine conjugial love does not exist except within good and truth, and so at the same time within the heavenly marriage.