2674. 'And he took bread and a flask of water' means good and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'bread' as that which is celestial, or good, dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, and from the meaning of 'water' as that which is spiritual, or truth, dealt with in 28, 680, 739. The expression 'a flask of water' is used because it is a very small amount of truth that people are granted to begin with, that is to say, as much as they are able to receive at that time - that capacity to receive being meant by the words 'he put them on her shoulder', 2676. Anyone may see that these historical details embody arcana from the fact that Abraham, who was rich in flocks and herds, also in silver and gold, sent away his servant-girl who had borne his son, and the boy Ishmael whom he loved much, with no more than some bread and some water in a flask. He could also foresee that they would die once they had used these up, which would indeed have happened if the angel had not come to their aid. What is more, these details regarding the bread and the flask of water, and their being placed on her shoulder, are not really important enough to be mentioned. But this incident did in fact take place, and it has been recorded because these details embody and mean the first state of those who are becoming spiritual, to whom to begin with some good and some truth, and indeed only a small amount, are supplied; and after that their water comes to an end, at which point they receive help from the Lord.

705. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Here the subject in particular is the Flood, which means not only the temptations that the member of the Church called Noah had to undergo before he could be regenerated, but also the desolation of those who were incapable of being regenerated. In the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such.

TEMPTATIONS

In Isaiah,

For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great compassion I will regather you. In a deluge of wrath I hid My face ¹ from you for a moment, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, for this is the waters of Noah to Me, to whom I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Thus have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and rebuke you. O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Isaiah 54:7, 9, 11.

This refers to the Church that is to be regenerated, and to temptations which are called 'the waters of Noah'.

[2] Besides this the Lord Himself calls temptations 'a deluge', in Luke,

Jesus said, Every one who comes to Me, and hears My words and does them, is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep, and laid the foundations upon rock; and when a deluge came, a stream broke against that house but was not strong enough to move it because it had been founded upon the rock. Luke 6:47-48.

The fact that 'a deluge' here is used to mean temptations may be clear to anyone.

DESOLATIONS

In Isaiah,

The Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Asshur and all his glory; and it is rising over all its channels, and will go over all its banks, and it will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck. Isaiah 8:7-8.

Here 'the king of Asshur' stands for the delusions, false assumptions, and reasonings based on these, which desolate a person and which desolated the people before the Flood.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 47:2-3.

This refers to the Philistines who represent people who adopt false assumptions and from them engage in reasonings about spiritual matters, which reasonings overwhelm a person as they did the people before the Flood.

The reason why in the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such, is that there is a similarity between the two, it being evil spirits who flow in with their persuasions and false assumptions which dwell with them and who activate the things of a like nature in man. With someone who is being regenerated they are temptations, but with someone who is not they are desolations.

脚注: