832. [verse 18] 'That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of rulers of thousands, and the flesh of strong men, and the flesh of horses and of those sitting upon them, and the flesh [of all] freemen and bondmen, both small and great' signifies the appropriation of goods from the Lord by means of the truths of the Word and the doctrine derived thence, in every sense, degree and kind. Just above (n. 831) it treats of conjunction with the Lord by means of the Word; here it treats of the appropriation of goods from Himself by means of the truths of the Word. By 'to eat' is signified appropriation (n. 89); by 'the flesh' that they should eat are signified the goods of the Word and of the Church therefrom; and by 'kings', 'rulers of thousands', 'strong men', 'horses', 'those sitting upon them', 'freemen and bondsmen lesser and greater' are signified truths in every sense, degree and kind. By 'kings' are signified those who are in truths of the Church out of the Word, and abstractly the truths of the Church out of the Word (n. 20, 483). By 'rulers of thousands' are signified those who are in cognitions of good and truth, and abstractly those cognitions (n. 337). By 'strong men' are signified those who are in erudition out of doctrine derived from the Word, and abstractly the erudition therefrom (n. 337). By 'horses' are signified the understanding of the Word, and by those sitting upon horses are signified those who are in wisdom out of the understanding of the Word, and abstractly the wisdom thence derived (n. 298, 820). By 'freemen and bondmen are signified those who know from themselves and those who know from others (n. 337, 604). By 'small and great' are signified those who are in a lesser and a greater degree (n. 527, 810). It is plain from these things that by 'they should eat the flesh of those' is signified the appropriation of goods from the Lord by means of the truths of the Word and the doctrine thence derived in every sense, degree and kind. [2] It is to be known that no mats has any spiritual good from the Lord except by means of truths out of the Word: for the truths of the Word are in the light of heaven and the goods are in the heat of that light, and therefore unless the understanding is in the light of heaven by means of the Word, the will cannot come into the heat of heaven. Love and charity cannot be formed except by means of truths out of the Word; a man cannot be reformed except by means of truths thence derived. The Church itself with a mats is formed by means of them, but not by those truths in the understanding only but by a life in accordance with them. The truths thus enter into the will and become goods. In this way the outward form (facies) of truths is turned into the outward form of good; for that which is of the will and thus of love is called good, and everything that is of the will or love is also of the man's life. From these considerations it can be seen that the appropriation of good by means of truths in every sense, degree and kind by means of the Word from the Lord is understood here by 'to eat the flesh' of those who are named. Who cannot see that flesh is not understood here by 'the flesh'? Who can be so insane as to believe that the Lord calls and assembles all to the great Supper in order to give them to eat the flesh of kings, of rulers of thousands, of strong men, of horses, of those sitting thereon, of freemen and bondmen, small and great? Who cannot see that in these things there is a spiritual sense, and that without that sense no one knows what the things signify? Who ventures to deny that the Word in its bosons is spiritual? Would it not be more than material if those things were understood in accordance with the sense of the letter and not in accordance with the spiritual sense? [2] Similar to those things are these in Ezekiel:-