10686. 'He did not eat bread and he did not drink water' means during which the good of love and the truth of faith do not become a person's own. This is clear from the meaning of 'bread' as the good of love, dealt with in 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 8410, 9545; from the meaning of 'water' as the truth of faith, dealt with in the places referred to in 10238 (in the Word 'bread' and 'water' are used in general to mean all forms of good and truth, see 9323); from the meaning of 'eating' as having good joined to one and making it one's own, dealt with in 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513(end), 3596, 4745, 5643, 8001; and from the meaning of 'drinking' as receiving truth and making it one's own, dealt with in 3069, 3089, 3168, 8562. The implications of all this are that a person does not make forms of the good of love or the truths of faith his own during temptations but after them; for, as long as temptations last the evils and falsities of evil that reside with a person are stirred up on one side, and the forms of good and the truths of good on the other. As a result of this he experiences a state of turmoil. During this state the internal level is being opened up. But after the temptations have come to an end he experiences peace and calm, and in this state the Lord introduces forms of good and truths of good onto the internal level that has now been opened up. From all this it is evident what should be understood by the good of love and truth of faith not being made a person's own as long as temptations last, meant by the statement that for forty days and forty nights Moses did not eat bread and did not drink water.

2187. 'And they ate' means communication in this manner. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated, and also being joined together, as is also evident from the Word. The injunction that Aaron, and his sons the Levites, and also the people were to eat the consecrated elements of the sacrifices in a holy place meant nothing other than the communication, conjunction, and making one's own, as stated above in 2177, at the point where Leviticus 6:16-17, is referred to. For it was celestial and spiritual food that was meant by the consecrated elements, and thus making that food their own by eating those elements. These consecrated elements were those parts of the sacrifices which were not burned on the altar but were eaten either by the priests or by the people who brought the offering, as becomes clear from very many places where the sacrifices are the subject. The consecrated elements that were to be eaten by the priests are referred to in Exodus 29:32-33; Leviticus 6:16, 26; 7:6, 15-16, 18; 8:31; 10:12-13; Numbers 18:9-11; and those to be eaten by the people, in Leviticus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:27; 27:7; and elsewhere. And that those who were unclean were not to eat of them is referred to in Leviticus 7:19-21; 22:4-7. These ritual feasts took place in a holy place near the altar, either at the gate or in the court outside the tent. And they meant nothing else than the communication, conjunction, and making of celestial goods one's own, for those feasts represented celestial food. For what celestial food is, see 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695. And all those consecrated elements were called 'bread', for the meaning of which see above in 2165. Something similar was represented by Aaron and his sons eating the loaves of the presence, or the shewbread, in a holy place, Leviticus 24:9.

[2] The reason for the law given to the Nazirite that during the days of his Naziriteship he was forbidden to eat anything that is produced from the grape - from which wine is made - from pips even to skin, Numbers 6:4, is that the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such as is not willing even to mention spiritual things, see Volume One, in 202, 337, 880 (end), 1647. And because 'wine' and 'the grape', and also whatever came from the grape, meant that which is spiritual, the Nazirite was therefore forbidden to eat of them, that is, to have any communication with spiritual things, to join himself to them, or to make them his own.

[3] Something similar is meant by 'eating' in Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:1-2.

And also what is said in John,

To him who conquers I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the middle of the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7.

'The tree of life' is the celestial itself, and in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself since He is the source of everything celestial, that is, of all love and charity. Thus 'eating from the tree of life' is the same as feeding on the Lord; and 'feeding on the Lord' is being endowed with love and charity, thus with those things that belong to heavenly life, as the Lord Himself declares in John,

I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. He who feeds on Me will live through Me. John 6:51, 57. But they said, This is a hard saying. Jesus said however, The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:60, 63.

From this it is evident what is meant by 'eating' in the Holy Supper, Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20 - having communication, being joined together, and making one's own.

[4] From this it is also plain what is meant by the Lord's statement that

Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Matthew 8:11.

The Lord did not mean that they were going to feast with these three in the kingdom of God but that they were to enjoy the celestial goods meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is to say, they were to enjoy the inmost celestial goods of love, meant by -Abraham'; also a lower type of goods, which are intermediate, as those are which belong to the rational, meant by 'Isaac'; and a still lower type of goods which are celestial-natural, such as occur in the first heaven, meant by 'Jacob'. These are the things which constitute the internal sense of these words. That such things are meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, see 1893, and wherever else they are the subject. For whether one speaks of enjoying those celestial things, or whether one speaks of enjoying the Lord, whom they represent, it amounts to the same since the Lord is the source of all those things, and the Lord is their All in all.