Behold, a virgin is bearing a son, and will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. Isa 7: 14, 15.

This refers to the Lord, who is Immanuel; and anyone may see that butter is not meant by 'butter', nor honey by 'honey'. But by 'butter' is meant His celestial, and by 'honey' that which is derived from that celestial.

[2] In the same chapter,

And it will be, because of the abundance of milk which they give, that he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isa 7: 22.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom, and to those on earth who are members of the Lord's kingdom. 'Milk' here stands for spiritual good, 'butter' for celestial good, and 'honey' for the happiness derived from this.

[3] In Moses,

Jehovah alone leads him, and there is no foreign god with him. He causes him to ride on the heights of the land, and He feeds [him] with the produce of the fields, and He causes him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock - butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the breed^a of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you will drink unmixed wine. Deut 32: 12-14.

No one is able to understand what all these things mean unless he knows the internal sense of each one. It seems like a pile of expressions such as belong to the oratory employed by the wise men of the world. But yet each expression means that which is celestial and that which is spiritual going with it, and also the blessing and happiness which flow from these, and all of them in a co-ordinated sequence. 'Butter from the herd' is the celestial-natural, 'milk from the flock' the celestial-spiritual of the rational.

[4] As regards 'milk' however, this means, as has been stated, that which is spiritual derived from that which is celestial, that is, the celestial-spiritual. What the celestial-spiritual is, see Volume One, in 1577, 1824, and in various other places. The reason 'milk' means that which is spiritual derived from that which is celestial is that 'water' means that which is spiritual, 680, 739, while milk, because of the fat in it, means the celestial-spiritual; or (what amounts to the same) truth rooted in good; or (also amounting to the same) faith grounded in love or charity; or (yet the same) the understanding part of the good present in the will; or (likewise amounting to the same) the affection for truth that has the affection for good within it; or (still yet the same) the affection for cognitions and facts that springs from the affection that belongs to charity towards the neighbour, such as exists with those who love the neighbour and confirm themselves in this love from the cognitions of faith and also from factual knowledge, which they love because they love the neighbour. All these are the same as the celestial-spiritual, and may be used in reference to any particular matter under discussion.

[5] That the celestial-spiritual is meant is also evident from the Word, as 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? Isa 55: 1, 2.

Here 'wine' stands for the spiritual element of faith, 'milk' for the spiritual element of love. In Moses,

He washes his garment in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. Gen 49: 11, 12.

This is the prophecy of Jacob, who by now was Israel, regarding Judah - 'Judah' being used here to describe the Lord. By 'teeth whiter than milk' is meant the celestial-spiritual which belonged to His Natural.

[6] In Joel,

It will be, on that day, that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will run with milk, and all the streams of Judah will run with water. Joel 3:-18.

Here, where the subject is the Lord's kingdom, 'milk' stands for the celestial-spiritual. Also in the Word the land of Canaan, which represents and means the Lord's kingdom, is called 'a land flowing with milk and honey', as in Num 13: 27; 14: 8; Deut 26: 9, 15; 27: 3; Jer 11: 5; 32: 22; Ezek 20: 6, 15. In these places nothing else is meant by 'milk' than the abundance of celestial-spiritual things, and by 'honey' the abundant happiness derived from these. 'Land' is the celestial part itself of the kingdom from which they come.

[7] As regards 'a young bull' meaning the celestial-natural, this has been shown just above in 2180. The celestial-natural is the same as natural good, that is, good within the natural. Man's natural, like his rational, has its own good and its own truth, for then a marriage of good and truth exists everywhere, as stated above in 2173. The good that belongs to the natural is the delight which is perceived from charity, that is, from the friendship that is the product of charity; and from that delight springs the joy or satisfaction which belongs properly to the body. The truth of the natural consists in that factual knowledge which gives support to that delight. All this shows what the celestial- natural is.

Notes