Just as natural food feeds the natural body, so spiritual food — according to Swedenborg — feeds the spiritual body. And since our spiritual body is the expression of what we love, then spiritual food is what feeds our state of love: It is the desire for good, the delight of being good, the understanding of what it is to be good and the knowledge of all that’s true and leads to what is good. So when food is talked about in the Bible, that’s what it means.
“Food,” of course, is a very general term — there is an essentially endless variety of kinds and forms of food. This makes sense, because our desire to be good can also come in an essentially endless variety of kinds and forms, compounded by the fact that the determination to do any one small good thing produces a whole string of thoughts and ideas that cooperate to put it into action.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4792
- Because food and nourishment correspond to spiritual foodand nourishment, taste consequently corresponds to a perception of and an affection for this food. Spiritual food consists in knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. These are what quicken and also sustain spirits and angels, who desire them and have an appetite for them as men desire and have an appetite for food when they are very hungry. Therefore appetite corresponds to that desire for them. And what is amazing, spirits and angels also grow to maturity on that spiritual food, for those who die as young children do not in the next life look like any but young children, and they are young children too as far as their understanding goes. But as they grow in intelligence and wisdom they cease to look like young children. They now look like those who are coming of age, and at length like adults. I have talked to some who died when they were young children and who looked to me like youths, for by then they had grown in understanding. From this one may see what spiritual food and nourishment are.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1695
- That ‘all their food’ means the power to think what was false is clear from the meaning of ‘food’. What the celestial, spiritual, and natural food are which people enjoy in the next life has been shown already in 56 58, 680, 681. These also correspond to foodfor the body, and therefore they are also represented in the Word by food and are actually called food. The food of evil and hellish spirits however is that which is the reverse of wisdom, intelligence, and true knowledge, namely all falsity; and what is remarkable, evil spirits are also sustained by this food. The reason they are sustained by it is that it is their life. Unless they are given the opportunity to revile the truth, and indeed to blaspheme it, they cannot live.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5147
- There was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh’ means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘food’ as celestial good, dealt with below; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the interior natural, dealt with in 5080, 5095, and also the natural in general, since the interior natural and the exterior natural make one when they correspond. And because food exists to provide nourishment, ‘every kind offood for Pharaoh’ means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. It is said that this food was in the highest basket, meaning that the inmost degree of the will was full of celestial good. For good from the Lord flows in by way of the inmost degree in a person; and from there it passes degree by degree, so to speak down a flight of steps, to what is more exterior. For in relation to other degrees the inmost one exists in the most perfect state, and can therefore receive good from the Lord directly, in a way the lower ones cannot. If these were to receive good from the Lord directly, they would either obscure it or pervert it, since they are less perfect in comparison with the inmost degree.
[2] As regards the influx of celestial good from the Lord and the reception of it, it should be recognized that the will part of the human mind is the receiver of good and the understanding part is the receiver of truth. The understanding part cannot possibly receive truth so as to make this its own unless at the same time the will part receives good; and vice versa. For one flows as a result into the other and disposes that other to be receptive. All that constitutes the understanding may be compared to forms which are constantly varying, and all that constitutes the will may be compared to the harmonies resulting from those variations. Consequently truths may be compared to variations, and forms of good may be compared to the delights which those variations bring. And this being pre-eminently the case with truths and forms of good it is evident that one cannot exist without the other, as well as that one cannot be brought forth except by means of the other.
[3] The reason ‘food’ means celestial good is that angels’ foodconsists in nothing else than forms of the good of love and charity, and that these serve to enliven angels and to rejuvenate them. Especially when they are expressed in action or practice do those forms of good cause angels to feel rejuvenated, for they are the desires they have; for it is a well known fact that when a person’s desires are expressed in action he feels rejuvenated and enlivened. Those desires also nourish a person’s spirit when material foodsupplies nourishment to his body, as may be recognized from the fact that when no delight is taken in food it is not very nutritious, but when delight is taken in it, it is nutritious. The delight taken infood is what opens the meatus or channels which serve to convey it into the blood, whereas the opposite closes them. Among angels those delights are forms of the good of love and charity, and from this one may deduce that these are spiritual kinds of food which correspond to earthly ones. Also, just as forms of good are meant by different kinds of food, so truths are meant by ‘drink’.
[4] In the Word ‘food’ is mentioned in many places, yet someone unacquainted with the internal sense will inevitably suppose that in those places ordinary food is meant. In fact spiritual food is meant, as in Jeremiah,
All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lam. 1:11.
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. Isa. 55:1.
In Joel,
The day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction from the thunderbolt-hurler will it come. [s not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and joy from the house of our God? The grains have rotted under their clods, the storehouses have been laid waste, the granaries have been destroyed, because the grain has failed. Joel 1:15-17.
In David,
Our storehouses are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks are thousands, and ten thousands in our streets. There is no outcry in our streets. Blessed are the people for whom it is thus. Ps. 144:13-15.
In the same author,
They all look to You, that You may give them their food in due season. You give to them – they gather it up; You open Your hand – they are satisfied with good. Ps. 104:27, 28.
[5] In these places celestial and spiritual food is meant in the internal sense when material food is referred to in the sense of the letter. From this one may see how the interior features of the Word and its exterior features correspond to one another, that is, how what belongs inwardly to its spirit and what belongs to its letter do so; so that while man understands those things according to the sense of the letter, the angels present with him understand the same things according to the spiritual sense. The Word has been written in such a way that it may serve not only the human race but heaven also, and for this reason all expressions are used to mean heavenly realities, and every matter described there is representative of these realities. This is so with the Word even to the tiniest jot.
[6] Furthermore the Lord Himself explicitly teaches that good is meant in the spiritual sense by ‘food’: In John,
Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.
In the same gospel,
My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:55.
‘Flesh’ means Divine Good, 3813, and ‘blood’ Divine Truth, 4735. And in the same gospel,
Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. The disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him [anything] to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:33-34.
‘Doing the will of the Father and finishing His work’ means Divine Good when expressed in actions or practice, which in the genuine sense is ‘food’, as stated above.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5293
- ‘And let them gather all the food’ means all things that have a useful purpose. This is clear from the meaning of ‘gathering’ as drawing together and preserving; and from the meaning of ‘food’ as things which have a useful purpose. In the internal sense ‘food’ means, strictly speaking, those things which nourish a person’s soul, that is, which nourish him when his bodily life is ended. For when this is ended his soul or spirit is living, and he no longer needs material food as he did in the world; but he does need spiritual food, which consists in everything that has a useful purpose and everything leading to this. That which leads to what has a useful purpose is knowing what goodness and truth are; and that which has such a purpose is the desire to realize these in actions. These are the things with which angels are nourished and which are therefore called spiritual and celestial foods. A person’s mind – the place within him where his will and understanding, that is, his intentions or ends in view, reside – is nourished by no other kind of food, even while he lives in the body. Material food does not extend as far as that; it extends only to his bodily parts, which are sustained by that material food to the end that the mind may be sustained by food for the mind while the body is sustained by foodfor the body, that is, to the end that there may be a healthy mind in a healthy body.
[2] The reason ‘food’ in the spiritual sense means everything that has a useful purpose is that a person’s entire knowledge, his entire understanding and wisdom, and so his entire will must have a useful purpose as its end in view. Consequently as is the nature of the purpose he has in view, so is the nature of his life. The truth that ‘food’ in the spiritual sense means everything with a useful purpose is evident from the following words spoken by the Lord,
Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. The disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him anything to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. John 4:32-34.
And elsewhere,
Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On Him the Father – God – has set His seal. John 6:27.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 680
- The fact that goods and truths are man’s real food may be clear to anyone, for the person who is deprived of them has no life within himself, and is a dead man. The food on which the soul of the person feeds who is dead in this sense consists of the delights arising from evils, and of the pleasures gained from falsities. These are the food of death. These delights and pleasures also derive from bodily, worldly, and natural things, which have no life at all within them. Furthermore such a person does not know what spiritual and celestial food is. Every time ‘food’ or ‘bread’ is mentioned in the Word he assumes that food for the body is meant. In the words of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Give us our daily bread’, for example, he thinks purely of nourishment for the body. There are some whose ideas do extend further and who assert that this petition includes all other physical requirements, such as clothing, money, and so on. Indeed they will argue fiercely that no other kind of food is meant, even though they clearly see that the petitions coming before and after it entail purely celestial and spiritual things, and refer to the Lord’s kingdom, and possibly know as well that the Lord’s Word is celestial and spiritual.
[2] From this and other similar considerations it becomes sufficiently clear just how bodily-minded the man of today is, and that like the Jews, he is unwilling to accept anything stated in the Word except in a very crude and materialistic way. The Lord Himself clearly teaches what His Word means by ‘food’ and ‘bread’: He speaks of food in John as follows,
Jesus said, Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for thefood which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man gives you. John 6:27.
And of bread He says in the same gospel,
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread he will live for ever. John 6:49-51, 58.
Even today there are people who, like those who first heard these words, declare,
This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? And some drew back and no longer walked with Him. John 6:60, 66.
To those people the Lord said,
The words which I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.
[3] It is similar with water, in that it means the spiritual things of faith: He speaks of water in John as follows,
Jesus said, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. John 4:13, 14.
Even today there are people like the woman to whom the Lord spoke at the spring, who replied,
Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. John 4:15.
[4] In the Word ‘food’ means nothing other than spiritual and celestial food, which is faith in the Lord and love. This is clear from many places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,
The enemy has stretched out his hand over all the desirable things of Jerusalem, because she saw the nations come into her sanctuary, concerning whom You did command, They shall not enter your congregation. All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lam. 1:10, 11.
Here no other bread or food is meant than spiritual, for the subject is the sanctuary. In the same author,
I called to my lovers, they deceived me. My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city, for they sought food for themselves to refresh their soul. Lam. 1:19.
Here the meaning is similar. In David,
They all look to You to give them their food in due season. You givest to them – they gather it up. You openest Your hand – they are satisfied with good. Ps. 104:27, 28.
This in like manner stands for spiritual and celestial food.
[5] 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. Isa. 55:1.
Here ‘wine and milk’ stands for spiritual and celestial drink. In the same prophet,
A virgin is conceiving and bearing a son, and you will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will He eat that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. It will be that because of the abundance of milk they produce he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isa. 7:14, 15, 22.
Here ‘eating honey and butter’ means that which is celestial-spiritual, and ‘those who are left’ stands for remnants, which are referred to in Malachi as well,
Bring all the tithes* to the storehouse that there may be food in My house. Mal. 3:10.
‘Tithes’* stands for remnants. Further concerning the meaning of ‘food’, see 56-58, 276.
* or tenths
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9003
- ‘He shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and [[her] marital rights’ means no deprivation of inner life meant by ‘food’, nor of outer life meant by ‘clothing’, thus no deprivation of the joining together meant by ‘marital rights’. This is clear from the meaning of ‘food’ as the sustaining of inner life, for in the spiritual sense ‘food’, both solid and liquid, is cognitions or the knowledge of good and truth, solid food being cognitions of good, 5147, and ‘drink’ cognitions of truth, 3168, 3772, so that ‘food’ is the things that nourish a person’s spiritual life, 5293, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562; from the meaning of ‘clothing’ as the sustaining of outer life, for in the spiritual sense ‘clothing’ or garments are inferior factual knowledge, this knowledge being that which spiritually sustains a person’s outer life, 5248, 6918; from the meaning of ‘marital rights’ as a joining together; and from the meaning of ‘not diminishing’ as not depriving.
[2] The situation here is that a natural affection joined to a spiritual truth, which is meant by ‘a female slave betrothed to a son’, unceasingly needs to be sustained with life from the spiritual truth to which it has been joined; if the affection is not sustained from there it perishes. The situation with a person’s affection is just the same as with the person himself; if he is not sustained by foodhe dies. Interiorly furthermore a person is nothing other than affection, one who is good being interiorly an affection for good and consequently for truth, and one who is evil being an affection for evil and consequently for falsity. This is especially evident in a person when he becomes a spirit; the sphere of life which then wells out of him is either one of affection for good or one of affection for evil. Now he is nourished or sustained not with natural food and drink but with spiritual, which for an evil spirit is falsity arising from evil, but for a good spirit is truth springing from good. The nourishment that people’s minds receive in the world during their life in the body is nothing other. So it is that all kinds of food – bread, flesh, wine, water and many others – mean in the spiritual sense within the Word the kinds of food that constitute spiritual nourishment.
[3] All this also shows what one is to understand by the Lord’s words in Matthew,
Man does not live by bread only but by every word that goes out of the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4.
Also what one should understand by His words in Luke,
You will eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.
And in Matthew,
I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. Matt. 26:29.
The Lord spoke these words after He had instituted the Holy Supper, in which the bread and wine are elements which denote love and faith, in the same way as flesh and blood do. From this it can be clearly seen what the Lord’s flesh and blood mean in John 6:49-58, especially in these words there,
My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:55.
In the Word ‘flesh’ means the good of love, see 3813, 7850, ‘blood’ the good of faith, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877; and ‘bread’ and ‘wine’ have the same meanings, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 6377.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5576
- ‘And the famine grew more serious’ means the desolation resulting from the dearth of spiritual things. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the famine’ as an absence of cognitions of goodness and truth, dealt with in 3364, 5277, 5279, 5181, 5300, and the consequent desolation, 5360, 5376, 5415. And because desolation can arise from a shortage and consequent dearth of spiritual realities, ‘the famine’ has this meaning too. A famine in the spiritual world or heaven is not a hunger for [bodily] food, for angels do not feed on material food, which is the food for that body which a person carries around in the world. Rather it is a hunger for the kind of food that nourishes their minds, and this, which is called spiritual food, consists in understanding what is true and in having a wise discernment of what is good. And what is amazing, angels are nourished with this food.
[2] This has been made clear to me by the fact that after young children, who have died as young children, have been furnished in heaven with truths that are the constituents of intelligence and with forms of good that are the essence of wisdom, they no longer look like young children but adults, increasingly so as goodness and truth increase with them. The nourishment of angels by spiritualfood has also been made clear to me by the fact that they have a constant desire for those things that are the constituents of intelligence and wisdom. At their eveningtime, that is, when they pass through a state in which they lack what they desire, that state compared with other states holds no happiness for them. In that state there is nothing that they hunger and long for more than a new dawning of morning light upon them and their return to the life filled with happiness that comes with intelligence and wisdom.
[3] It may also be seen by anyone who stops to reflect on the matter that understanding what is true and desiring what is good constitute spiritual food. If someone who is enjoying material foodthat serves to nourish the body is at the same time in a cheerful state of mind and is engaged in conversation about the kinds of things that accord with that state of mind, the material food for the body becomes all the more nourishing. This is an indication of the existence of a correspondence between spiritual food, which feeds the soul, and material food, which feeds the body. The same is clear in addition from the experience of someone who has the desire to furnish his mind with ideas that constitute knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. If he is denied these he begins to feel sad and distressed, and like somebody in time of famine he has the desire to return to his spiritual food and so to the nourishment of his soul.
[4] It may also be seen from the Word that spiritual food is what nourishes the soul in the way material food nourishes the body, as in Moses,
Man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4.
In general ‘utterance of the mouth of Jehovah’ is the Divine Truth which goes forth from the Lord, and so is every truth contained in wisdom; specifically it is the Word, the foundation and source of ideas constituting wisdom. And in John,
Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:17.
This ‘food’ is clearly the truth that is contained in wisdom and that goes forth from the Lord.
[5] From this one may also recognize what is meant by these words of the Lord recorded in the same chapter,
My flesh is truly food, and My blood truly is drink. John 6:55.
That is to say, ‘the Lord’s flesh’ is Divine Good, 3813, and ‘His blood’ Divine Truth, 4735. For now that the Lord has made His Human completely Divine, His ‘flesh’ is nothing else than Divine Good, and His ‘blood’ nothing else than Divine Truth. One has to understand that in the Divine there is nothing material; therefore in the highest sense, that is, where it has reference to the Lord, ‘food’ is the Good of Divine Love directed towards the salvation of the human race. This food is also the kind that is meant by the Lord’s words in John,
Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:32, 34.
‘Doing the will of Him who sent Me, and finishing His work’ is saving the human race; and the Divine attribute which motivates this is Divine Love.
From all this one may now see what is meant in the spiritual sense by ‘the famine’.