The word “bread” is used two ways in the Bible. In some cases it means actual bread; in others it stands for food in general.
Looking at food in general, we see it has two main components: fats and carbohydrates to give us energy, and proteins, vitamins and minerals to help our bodies build new tissues and perform functions. Spiritual food, according to Swedenborg, also fills those two needs: If we are willing, the Lord will fill us with a desire to be good – analogous to the energy provided by fats and carbohydrates. The Lord will also give us truth, or an understanding of how to put that desire into effect – analogous to the forms and building materials provided by proteins and vitamins. Food in the Bible, then, represents everything good and true coming to us from the Lord, which is in a higher sense spiritual life and is in the highest sense direct conjunction with the Lord.
Of all foods, though, bread itself is perhaps the most basic and most pure, and is in a form packed with energy. As such it represents the most central of all desires for good: the pure love of the Lord.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 276
That ‘eating bread with sweat on the brow’ means strong dislike of what is celestial becomes clear from the meaning of ‘bread’. Bread is used to mean everything spiritual and celestial, which is the food of angels, and if they were deprived of it they would cease to live, as a person deprived of bread or food ceases to do. That which is celestial and spiritual in heaven also corresponds to bread on earth, and is also represented by bread, as is clear from many places [in the Word]. That the Lord is Bread, because He is the source of everything celestial and spiritual, He Himself teaches in John,
This is the Bread which came down from heaven; anyone who eats this Bread will live forever John 6:58.
This also is why bread and wine are the symbols used in the Holy Supper. This same celestial [or spiritual) was also represented by the manna. That what is celestial and spiritual is the food of angels is clear also from the Lord’s own words,
Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4,
that is, from the life of the Lord, who is the source of everything celestial and spiritual.
[2] The final generation of the Most Ancient Church which came immediately before the Flood and which is the subject here was so perverse and immersed in sensory and bodily interests that they did not wish to hear what the truth of faith was, nor what the Lord’s coming to save them would be. And if these matters were ever mentioned they did not like it at all. This strong dislike is described as ‘eating bread with sweat on the brow’. It was similar with the Jews; being people who did not acknowledge heavenly things, and who wished for a purely earthly Messiah, they inevitably found the manna distasteful, since it was a ration of the Lord; and they called it worthless bread. This was why serpents were sent among them, Num. 21:5, 6. Furthermore the heavenly things, which they obtained in adversity, in affliction, and with tears, were called by them the bread of adversity, the bread of affliction, and the bread of tears.* Those things which men obtained but strongly disliked are described in the present verse as ‘the bread of the sweat on his brow’.
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 the food 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.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2165
That ‘I will take a piece of bread’ means something heavenly or celestial to go with [that something natural] is clear from the meaning of ‘bread’ as that which is celestial, dealt with already in 276, 680, 681, 1798. The reason ‘bread’ here means that which is celestial is that bread means all food in general, and so in the internal sense all heavenly or celestial food. What celestial food is has been stated in Volume One, in 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695. That ‘bread’ means all food in general becomes clear from the following places in the Word: One reads of Joseph telling the man in charge of his house to bring the men, that is, his brothers, into the house, and then to slaughter what needed to be slaughtered and made ready. And after that, when these things had been made ready and the men were to eat them, he said, Set on bread, Gen. 43:16, 31, by which he meant that the table was to be made ready by them. Thus ‘bread’ stood for all the food that made up the entire meal. Regarding Jethro one reads that Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God, Exod. 18:12. Here also ‘bread’ stands for all the food that made up the entire meal. And regarding Manoah, in the Book of Judges,
Manoah said to the angel of Jehovah, Let us now detain you, and let us make ready a kid before you. And the angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, If you detain me I will not eat your bread. Judg. 13:15, 16.
Here ‘bread’ stands for the kid. When Jonathan ate from the honeycomb the people told him that Saul had commanded the people with an oath, saying,
Cursed be the man who eats bread this day. 1 Sam. 14:27, 28.
Here ‘bread’ stands for all food. Elsewhere, regarding Saul,
When Saul sat down to eat bread he said to Jonathan, Why has not the son of Jesse come either yesterday or today, to bread? 1 Sam. 20:24, 27.
This stands for coming to the table, where there was food of every kind. Regarding David who said to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son,
You will eat bread at my table always. 2 Sam. 9:7, 10.
Similarly regarding Evil-Merodach who said that Jehoiachin the king of Judah was to eat bread with him always, all the days of his life, 2 Kings 25:29. Regarding Solomon the following is said,
Solomon’s bread for each day was thirty cors* of fine flour, sixty cors of meal, ten fatted oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides harts and wild she-goats and roebucks and fatted fowl. 1 Kings 4:22, 23.
Here ‘bread’ plainly stands for all the provisions that are mentioned.
[2] Since then ‘bread’ means every kind of food in general it consequently means in the internal sense all those things that are called heavenly or celestial foods. This becomes even clearer still from the burnt offerings and sacrifices that were made of lambs, sheep,** she-goats, kids, he-goats, young bulls, and oxen, which are referred to by the single expression bread offered by fire to Jehovah, as is quite clear from the following places in Moses where the various sacrifices are dealt with and which, it says, the priest was to burn on the altar as the bread offered by fire to Jehovah for an odour of rest, Lev. 3:11, 16. All those sacrifices and burnt offerings were called such. In the same book,
The sons of Aaron shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, for it is the fire-offerings to Jehovah, the bread of their God, that they offer. You shall sanctify him, for it is the bread of your God that he offers. No man of Aaron’s seed who has a blemish in himself shall approach to offer the bread of his God. Lev. 21:6, 8, 17, 21.
Here also sacrifices and burnt offerings are referred to as ‘bread’, as they are also in Lev. 22:25. Elsewhere in the same author,
Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My gift, My bread, for fire-offerings of an odour of rest, you shall take care to offer to Me at their appointed times. Num. 28:2.
Here also ‘bread’ stands for all the sacrifices that are mentioned in that chapter. In Malachi,
Offering polluted bread on My altar. Mal. 1:7.
This also has regard to sacrifices. The consecrated parts of the sacrifices which they ate were called ‘bread’ as well, as is clear from these words in Moses,
The person who has touched anything unclean shall not eat any of the consecrated offerings, but he shall surely bathe his flesh in water, and when the sun has set he will be clean. And afterwards he shall eat of the consecrated offerings, because it is his bread. Lev. 22:6, 7.
[3] Burnt offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Church represented nothing else than the heavenly things of the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church. They also represented the things of the Lord’s kingdom or Church as it exists with every individual; and in general they represented all those things that are composed of love and charity, for those things are celestial or of heaven. In addition each type of sacrifice represented some specific thing. In those times all of the sacrifices were called ‘bread’, and therefore when the sacrifices were abolished and other things serving for external worship took their place, the use of bread and wine was commanded.
[4] From all this it is now clear what is meant by that ‘bread’, namely that it means all those things which were represented in the sacrifices, and thus in the internal sense means the Lord Himself. And because ‘bread’ there means the Lord Himself it means love itself towards the whole human race and what belongs to love. It also means man’s reciprocal love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. Thus the bread now commanded means all celestial things, and wine accordingly all spiritual things, as the Lord also explicitly teaches in John,
They said, Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of life he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:31-35.
And in the same chapter,
Truly I say to you, He who believes in Me has eternal life. I am the Bread of life. 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 6:47-51.
[5] Now because this ‘Bread’ is the Lord it exists within the celestial things of love which are the Lord’s, for the Lord is the celestial itself, because He is love itself, that is, mercy itself. This being so, ‘bread’ also means everything celestial, that is, all the love and charity existing with a person, for these are derived from the Lord. People who are devoid of love and charity therefore do not have the Lord within them, and so are not endowed with the forms of good and of happiness which are meant in the internal sense by ‘bread’. This external symbol [of love and charity] was commanded because the worship of the majority of the human race is external, and therefore without some external symbol scarcely anything holy would exist among them. Consequently when they lead lives of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, that which is internal exists with them even though they do not know that such love and charity constitute the inner core of worship. Thus in their external worship they are confirmed in the kinds of good which are meant by ‘the bread’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3332
‘Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil pottage’ means that the good of life was given the good of truth and the good of doctrine. This is clear from the representation of ‘Esau’ as the good of life, dealt with in 3300, 3322; from the meaning of ‘bread’ as in general the good of love – both celestial and spiritual good – dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, 2177, and so also the good of truth, this being spiritual good; and from the meaning of ‘lentil pottage’ as the good of doctrine, for ‘pottage’ or soup means the massing together of matters of doctrine, 3316, but ‘lentils’ the good that exists essentially in these. Jacob’s giving them to Esau means in the internal sense that those goods come through the doctrine of truth, which Jacob represents, 3305.
[2] These words and those that follow in this final verse describe progress made in regard to truth and good. They describe the situation with the spiritual man while being regenerated, that is to say, how he first learns matters of doctrine concerning truth; how next he is stirred by an affection for them, which is the good of doctrine; how after that, through insight into the matters of doctrine, he is stirred by an affection for the truths which they hold within them, which is the good of truth; and how at length he desires to live according to them, which is the good of life. Thus while undergoing regeneration the spiritual man advances from the doctrine of truth towards the good of life. But once he has reached that point the order is reversed – that good is the point from which he sees the good of truth, the latter the point from which he sees the good of doctrine, and this good in turn the point from which he sees matters of doctrine concerning truth. From these considerations it may be known how, from being sensory-minded, a person becomes spiritual, and what he is like when he has become spiritual.
[3] Those varieties of good, that is to say, the good of life, the good of truth, and the good of doctrine, are all distinct from one another, as becomes clear to those who weigh the matter up. The good of life is that which issues from the will, the good of truth that which issues from the understanding, while the good of doctrine is that which issues from knowledge. Doctrinal teaching is such that it includes all three. It is clear that ‘lentils’ means the good of doctrine from the fact that wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt are such things as are meant by bread, though with specific differences. The fact that ‘bread’ in general means good is evident from what has been stated and shown in 276, 680, 2165, 2177; and so specific kinds of good are meant by the grains and beans that have been mentioned – nobler kinds of good by wheat and barley, but less noble by beans and lentils, as also becomes evident from these words in Ezekiel,
You, take for yourself wheat and barley, and beans and lentils, and millet and spelt, and put them into a single vessel, and make them into bread for yourself. Ezek 4:9, 12, 13.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4217
(W) hen the word ‘bread’ is used in the Word the angels do not call to mind material bread but spiritual bread, and so instead of bread perceive the Lord who, as He Himself teaches in John 6:33, 35, is the Bread of life. And because they perceive the Lord they perceive the things which derive from Him, and therefore His love towards the whole human race. In so doing they perceive at the same time man’s reciprocal love to the Lord, for these two kinds of love are knit together within one idea occupying their thought and affection.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6118
‘Saying, Give us bread’ means a plea for the sustainment of spiritual life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘giving’, when it has reference to ‘bread’, as sustaining; and from the meaning of ‘bread’ as spiritual life. In a specific sense ‘bread’ means the good of love and charity; but in a general sense it means spiritual life, for in this case bread is used to mean all food, as shown in 2165. When used to mean all food in general, it is spiritual life; for in the spiritual sense food in general is all the good of love and all the truth of faith. These two are what compose spiritual life.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7978
‘And they baked the dough which they brought out of Egypt – unleavened cakes’ means that from the truth of good further good was produced that had no falsity at all in it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘baking’ – when used in reference to the truth of good, meant by ‘the dough’ – as producing; from the meaning of ‘the dough’ as the truth of good, dealt with above in 7966; and from the meaning of ‘unleavened cakes’ as forms of good that have no falsity at all in them, since ‘unleavened’ means without falsity, see 2342, 7906. This is the second state of truth from good that they passed through when they were delivered, see above in 7966, 7972. The reason why ‘cakes’ means forms of good is that they are cakes of bread, and ‘bread’ in the internal sense is the good of love, dealt with in 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915. But bread in the form of cakes is distinguished from bread in general, in that bread in the form of cakes means the good of love towards the neighbour, which is spiritual good, while bread in general means the good of love to the Lord, which is celestial good. Such spiritual good was meant by ‘the minchah’ which was offered and burned with the sacrifice on the altar; for ‘the minchah’ was baked into cakes and into wafers, as is made clear in Exod. 29:2, 3, 23, 24, 32; Lev. 2:2 and following verses; 6:20, 21; Num. 6:15, 19; 15:18-21.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8410
‘Eating bread to the full!’ means that in that situation they enjoyed the good of lower pleasures, as much as they wished to have. This is clear from the meaning of ‘eating’ as making one’s own, dealt with in 3168, 3513 (end), 3596, 4745, and also as enjoyment, 7849; from the meaning of ‘bread’ as the good of heavenly life, and in the contrary sense the good of natural life separated from heavenly, thus the good of lower pleasures (in the spiritual sense ‘bread’ means the chief thing that nourishes the soul and maintains its spiritual life, that chief thing being the good of dove, as heaven’s life demonstrates, which consists wholly of that good. But in the contrary sense ‘bread’ is used to mean the chief thing that nourishes those in hell and sustains their life, that chief thing being the evil of self-love and love of the world, as hell’s life demonstrates, which consists wholly in that evil. To those in hell that evil is good, for to them nothing is more delightful or sweeter; and it is this that is meant here by the good of lower pleasures); and from the meaning of ‘to the full’ as, as much as they wished to have, since the will is what is filled with good if people are good, or with evil if they are evil.