And in Ezekiel:—
There shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a painful thorn from all that are round about them (xxviii. 24).
274. That to "eat the herb of the field" (that is, wild food) denotes to live like a wild animal, is evident from what is said of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel:—
They shall drive thee from man, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee (iv. 25).
And in Isaiah:—
Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and from the days of old have I formed it; now have I brought it to pass, and it shall be to lay waste bulwarks, fenced cities, in heaps; and their inhabitants, short of hand, were dismayed and put to shame; they were made the grass of the field, and the green (olus) of the herb, the grass of the house-tops, and a field parched before (coram) the standing corn (xxxvii. 26, 27).
Here it is explained what is signified by the "grass of the field," the "green of the herb," the "grass on the house-tops," and a "field parched;" for the subject here treated of is the time before the flood, which is meant by "long ago," and the "days of old."
275. Verse 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. By "eating bread in the sweat of the face," is signified to be averse to what is celestial; to "return to the ground from whence he was taken," is to relapse into the external man, such as he was before regeneration; and "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," signifies that he is condemned and infernal.
276. That to "eat bread in the sweat of the face" signifies to be averse to what is celestial, is evident from the signification of "bread." By "bread" is meant everything spiritual and celestial, which is the food of the angels, on the deprivation of which they would cease to live as certainly as men deprived of bread or food. That which is celestial and spiritual in heaven also corresponds to bread on earth, by which moreover they are represented, as is shown by many passages in the Word. That the Lord is "bread," because from Him proceeds whatever is celestial and spiritual, He Himself teaches in John:—
