10454. 'And Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted' means contemplating and discerning what the interiors of that nation were like. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' as contemplating and discerning, for the subject now is what that nation was like inwardly, thus what their interiors were like; from the representation of 'Joshua' as the truth of the Word contemplating and discerning (he was Moses' minister, and Moses represented the Word, as shown above, so that his minister represents truth, for all truth belongs to the Word, at this point truth that contemplates, examines, and discerns); and from the meaning of 'the noise of the people as they shouted' as what that nation was like inwardly, thus what their interiors were like. In the Word 'noise' or 'voice' means the inner voice, which is thought, consequently what the interiors are like as regards either truth or falsity, for the one or the other gives rise to the thought, see 219, 220, 3563, 7573, 8813, 9926. But 'shouting' means the utterance of sound, whether that of speaking, singing, or crying out, which emanates from thought or the inner voice. So it is that 'hearing the noise of shouting' means discerning what the interiors are like from the sound that indicates it. For the sound, whether that of speaking, singing, or crying out, emanates from inner affection and thought, both of which are present within the sound and are also discerned by those who listen to it and think about it, to see for example whether it is angry, threatening, friendly, gentle, joyful, gloomy, and so on. In the next life such discernment is so sharp that angels can discern what someone's interiors are like from the sound of just one of the words he uses. This then is what 'hearing the noise of the people as they shouted' is used to mean.

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.