Positive and negative senses of cannibalistic language in the Word

Today we will cover positive and negative senses of cannibalism in the Word; not obviously to be gross but because the Word mentions both senses frequently. Everyone even superficially familiar with the Gospel knows that believers effectively eat His flesh and drink His blood; which has been amply explained as making His love and excuses to be loving (or divine truth) a part of our spiritual bodies. So we will look first at the Lord's Sermon on Flesh and Blood, where He says:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53).

He continues in the same vein, and He obviously means that we are to make His love and teachings part of ourselves. For:

"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him" (John 6:56).

This familiar language representing a network of knowing love between God and all who worship Him in spirit and truth has simply been expressed using cannibalistic language in the positive sense. Of course, not unsurprisingly, people do have a negative reaction to any and all mentions of cannibalism; it is after all one of the grosser features of life, something you would rather you next door neighbor did not do. 

This makes it even more important to understand why the Word uses such a dark topic to express beautiful realities. We can see that the negative reaction of some people to even using cannibalistic language features in the reaction to this very Sermon on Flesh and Blood:

"60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?

63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

64 But there are some of you that believe not" (John 6:60-64).

In the literal sense, then, these people were offended at His use of disturbing language and the concomitant suggestion that they were to do something disturbing if they accepted it. Of course, the spiritual sense involves not their revulsion against offensive language in a conventional sense but "the spirit that quickeneth", since "the flesh profiteth nothing". He means by this statement that His language involves not literal cannibalism but spiritual cannibalism; such that rejecting His Word involves not believing and not wanting spiritual teachings which lead to eternal life.

We are told that:

"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66).

Again, this would appear to proceed from their being offended at disturbing language of eating someone's flesh and drinking their blood. But the reality is that these people did not want to become better, more loving people; especially if becoming such would entail leaving behind selfish and dark aspects of themselves which they treasured more than the words which lead to eternal life.

We see the equivalent of these people in the Parable of the Sower:

"16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended" (John 4:16-17)>

Notice the language used: "they are offended". It is the same taking of offense as we have seen in the Lord's use of cannibalistic language in the Sermon on Flesh and Blood. The mention of having "no root in themselves" involves their not being loving and willing to become more loving. Without such love of becoming a better, more loving person, someone will not have the strength to overcome in uncomfortable, spiritual combats, temptations in the fire and in the water.

Think of it in parenting terms: if the parent did not love their children, would they work so hard even in jobs that they perhaps hated? The love carries them through, for they have this root in themselves.

We will soon consider some other references to cannibalism, this time in the negative sense -- which we will broaden to include human sacrifice -- but before we do that we should first look at the spiritual meanings of Manasseh and Ephraim. 

These two figures, literally sons of Joseph, comprise another of those didactic pairs of personages whereby the Lord instructs us with polarized characters. We have already looked at Abel, charity, and Cain, the absence of charity or separation of love and truth, for instance; and just like with Abel and Cain, the didactic pair of Manasseh and Ephraim follows the common pattern A : b :: B : A. 

In Cain and Abel's cases, this involves a sort of Yin Yang where Cain's being a murderer is the black half of the circle while Abel's being the victim is the white half of the circle; while the fact that Cain did not kill animals is the white dot in the black expanse, and Abel's sacrifice of animals is the black dot in the white expanse. So we will look at how this applies in the case of Manasseh and Ephraim:

"13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations" (Genesis 48:13-14; 17-19).

Traditionally, the firstborn should receive the greater blessing; hence Joseph's displeasure at Israel's adamant blessing of the second-born before the first-born. Manasseh represents the heart of the Church or the believer; and Ephraim represents the mind of the Church or the believer. So that is why Joseph extended Manasseh towards Israel's right hand, which has to do with the heart; and Ephraim towards Israel's left hand, which has to do with the mind.

This pair of didactic personages has the same meaning as do Esau and Jacob and Zarah and Perez. We will look at these another time, but in all these cases the reason for the firstborn/second-born controversy is basically the same. We read in the Latin Word:

"What was that reason? It was that when a person is being reborn, religious truth (the province of the intellect) seems to come first, and charitable goodness (the province of the will) seems to come second, yet goodness is really first, and unmistakably so when the person has been reborn" (Arcana Coelestia 5354: 13).

This controversy in the Church over whether truth is most important or love is most important is ancient! And the tendency for people to think that truth is more important than love receives narrative expression in Israel's blessing Ephraim with his right hand; in Esau's selling his birthright to Jacob; and in Zarah's coming out second despite Perez being the technical second-born. (Technically, it was mainly just Zarah's hand coming out first, but in the literal sense this counts for being the first-born.)

The reason why Jacob starts out in the ascendancy over Esau, while Esau towards the end comes to have the ascendency over Jacob, involves a narrative representation of how love comes to be seen as the first thing of the Church, which it is. Here we see Paul saying the same thing and placing love above faith:

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

It may seem odd that Ephraim should represent the 'head' part of the Church and the believer, the part concerned with faith, understanding and truth; while Manasseh represents the 'heart' part of the Church and the believer. But as we shall see, nothing else will make any sense when the Lord describes these two figures using cannibalistic language. But before we look at that, let us first look at a couple confirmations of Ephraim's meaning:

"...Ephraim also is the strength of mine head" (Psalms 60:7).

"11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard" (Hosea 7:11-12).

The first citation is evident enough. The strength of our heads involves the mental part of our lives as believers. As for that silly dove without heart, birds in the Word generally involve spiritual ideas. But if a bird is silly, then we have a situation where the ideas or the understanding are portrayed as spiritually foolish. The whole point of the Word is for us to apply it to becoming more loving of God and the neighbor and ultimately better people. But if our intellectual understanding of the Word does not get applied to that end, which is foolish, than Ephraim or the mind is "a silly dove without heart". 

We will not go into especial detail about Egypt and Assyria at this time except to note that Egypt represents the knowing faculty of the Church and the believer; while Assyria represents the reasoning faculty of the same. Both can be used in positive or negative senses, per the usual procedure. Here, the mentions of Egypt and Assyria involve spiritually perverse uses of knowledge and reasoning which do not support our growing in love of God and the neighbor but rather undercut it.

Ephraim, here used by the Lord in a collective sense, will be brought down "as the fowls of Heaven"; because these spiritual falsehoods and perverse reasonings will fail to profit those who subscribe to them.

We now have a sufficient basis to look at Ephraim and Manasseh when the Lord uses cannibalistic language to describe them:

"Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

The land is burned up,

And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;

No man shall spare his brother.

20 And he shall [f]snatch on the right hand

And be hungry;

He shall devour on the left hand

And not be satisfied;

Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.

21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;

Together they shall be against Judah" (Isaiah 9:19-21).

We have already covered wrath, which here represents the error part of the sin and error combination; it is not God who is wrathful but people who are spiritually mistaken due to their willful falsification of His Word, which has dire consequences that the sinful and error-mired see not as their fault but as the wrath of God.

Because of sin and error among the members of the Jewish Church or any Church that is losing its love and its way and becoming in the course of time a whore, "the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire".

We see language indicative of the love of people in the Church going cold, just like the cooling love spoken of by the Lord in the Olivet Discourse:

"Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matthew 24:12).

The language indicative of cooling love is obvious enough! "No man shall spare his brother"...

Now, as we have seen the Word will frequently refer to brothers, like Moses and Aaron or here Ephraim and Manasseh, in order to emphasize that faith and love, or truth and charity, are brothers! So if no man shall spare his brother, this involves the marriage between love and wisdom breaking down utterly.

It is said that the people of the Church will "snatch on the right hand and be hungry" because we eat the good of love, and the right pertains to that love; but to go hungry indicates not receiving love from God. And to "devour on the left hand and not be satisfied" involves not having any divine truth. We need love on the right and divine truth on the left or there is no marriage of love and wisdom with the Lord in us and we in the Lord!

Because the perverted conscience can destroy the mind, and the perverted mind can destroy the conscience, the Lord therefore uses extreme language of Manasseh devouring Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh. It is really very simple: some of the thoughts in our heads facilitate growing in love while others either do not help or actively undercut this growth. Meantime, some of the feelings in our hearts facilitate growing in understanding of love while others either do not or undercut this growth. Judah represents love to the Lord, so both Ephraim and Manasseh are said to turn against Judah. 

We will close by taking a brief look at what it means to sacrifice and or devour sons and daughters in the Word. Literally, people in ancient times were actually doing this. A parent would offer their own child to be essentially burned alive and eaten so as to propitiate an evil deity. Of course, spiritually the evil deity propitiated is love of self and the world. When the Word refer to the sacrifice or devouring of sons, daughters, judges, and what have you, this involves the destruction of the goods and truths of the Church by sins and errors; not so much the literal sacrifice and devouring of one's children, or the literal devouring of judges.

So sacrificing daughters and sons means approximately the same thing as the mountains and the hills melting or someone's being burnt up root and branch: the death of love and truth in the Church becoming a whore, or the death of these facets in the individual believer. We can therefore now see why God uses such extreme language to refer to what, for Him, is a very big deal: the death of love and wisdom in a group of people referring to themselves as His Church! Eskimos are proverbially said to have many words for snow. Well, God has many words for marriages of love and wisdom and adulteries of sin and error and chiastic structures in which your will and understanding have their being. Do not ever make the mistake of mocking the language of the Word. It is the most intricate document on this Earth.

May the Lord confirm these things for you, which as usual you should also check against what you know of compassion and sense. For it is good for you to understand these things properly, with the Lord confirming you in them; otherwise, it would just be blind faith in someone, and that is not what the New Church wants or what God wants.

After all, the Psalmist says: "Sing ye praises with understanding"! Be it so, amen. Enjoy your Fridays and weekends, using the gifts of God responsibly. 

One more thing: we are approaching Halloween, so I invite you to reflect on the way the vast majority of monsters humans fear either eat you or drink you. That is, spiritually we fear what can destroy our hearts and destroy our minds; and ultimately what can destroy not just our bodies but our souls...

Appendix:

"They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me" (Hosea 7:7).

"Gather from round about to my sacrifice, the great sacrifice that I am making for you upon the mountains of Israel; that you may eat the flesh and drink the blood. You will eat the flesh of strong men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat from my sacrifice until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk. And you will be sated at my table with horse and chariot, with the strong man and every man of war. Thus shall I set my glory among the nations, Ezekiel 39:17-21.

Anyone can see that in those passages flesh does not mean flesh, neither does blood mean blood, but the spiritual and celestial things corresponding to them. What otherwise would be the meaning - unless they were meaningless and extraordinary expressions - of eating the flesh of kings, captains, strong men, horses and them that sat on them, of being sated at the table with horse, chariot, a strong man and every man of war? Or of drinking the blood of the princes of the earth, and drinking blood until one is drunk? It is perfectly clear that these things are said about the Lord's Holy Supper, for the feast 2 of the great God, and also the great sacrifice, are mentioned" (True Christian Religion 705).