276、“必汗流满面才有食物可吃”表示厌恶属天之物，这从“食物”的含义清楚可知。“食物”（bread，经上或译为粮、饼）表示一切属灵和属天之物，也就是天使的食物；若失去这食物，天使将不能存活，就像世人失去了食物一样。在天堂，属天和属灵之物也对应于世上的食物，也由食物来代表，这从圣言中的许多地方明显看出来。主就是“粮”或食物，因为祂是一切属天和属灵之物的源头，祂自己在约翰福音教导了这一点：
这就是从天上降下来的粮，吃这粮的人，将永远活着。（约翰福音6:58）
这也是为何圣餐中所用的饼和酒是象征。这属天之物也由吗哪来代表。属天和属灵之物构成天使的食物，这一点从主自己的话明显看出来：
人活着，不是单靠食物，乃是靠神口里所出的一切话。（马太福音4:4）
也就是说，靠主的生命活着，主是一切属天和属灵之物的源头。
此处论述的主题是紧接着大洪水之前的上古教会的最后一代，他们已经彻底迷失并沉溺于感官和肉体事物，以至于不再愿意听见何为信之真理，何为主，或祂要降临拯救他们。一提到这些话题，他们就厌恶。这种厌恶被描述为“汗流满面才有食物可吃”。犹太人也是如此，因为他们具有这种性质：他们不承认天上事物的存在，只渴望一位世俗的弥赛亚，所以不可避免地对吗哪感到厌恶，因为吗哪是主的一个代表，犹太人称它为“淡薄的食物”。这就是为何火蛇被打发进入他们当中（民数记21:5-6）。此外，他们在艰难、困苦和眼泪中所获得的天上事物被他们称为“艰难之饼”、“困苦之饼”和“眼泪之饼”。在本节经文中，人们怀着厌恶所获得的事物被称为“汗流满面的食物或粮”。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]276. The symbolism of eating bread in the sweat of his face as rejecting what is heavenly can be established by the symbolism of bread. Bread means everything of a spiritual or heavenly character, which is food for the angels. If they were deprived of it, they could not live, any more than a person deprived of bread or food can. The heavenly and spiritual things existing in heaven also correspond to the bread on earth.{*1} Moreover they are represented by bread, as can be seen in many passages.
The Lord is bread because everything heavenly or spiritual comes from him, as he teaches in John:
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. (John 6:58)
In consequence, bread and wine are symbols in the Holy Supper.{*2} This heavenly aspect was represented by the manna as well [Exodus 16:4-31]. The fact that heavenly and spiritual things are angels' food is also clear from the Lord's words:
Humankind shall not live on bread alone but on every word coming out of God's mouth. (Matthew 4:4)
That is, humankind is to live on the Lord's life, the source of every heavenly and spiritual quality.
[2] The final generation of the earliest church — which directly preceded the Flood and is the subject of these verses — was so degenerate and so immersed in what belonged to their senses and their body that they refused to hear about religious truth or about the Lord's nature. Nor did they want to know that he was going to come and save them. At the simple mention of those things they turned their backs. Such rejection is depicted by the eating of bread in the sweat of one's face.
It was similar with the Jews, whose nature was such that they would not acknowledge heavenly things and did not want any other Messiah than a worldly one.{*3} For that reason, they could not help rejecting the manna (which represented the Lord) and calling it worthless bread. This is why snakes were sent among them (Numbers 21:5-6).
What is more, the heavenly things that they benefited from in their distress, in their misery, and in their tears they called the bread of distress, the bread of misery, and the bread of tears [Isaiah 30:20; Deuteronomy 16:3; 1 Kings 22:27; Psalms 80:5]. The things they benefited from even while rejecting them are here called the bread of their face's sweat.
Footnotes:
{*1} Swedenborg saw the material world as caused by the spiritual world and as therefore reflecting it; that is, physical phenomena and events offer images of — are "responsive to" or "correspond to" — spiritual phenomena and events. As noted by Swedenborg in 4, the primary purpose of this work is to demonstrate that the Bible contains levels of spiritual meaning that can at least in part be discovered by a knowledge of specific correspondential relationships. [GFD, RHK]
{*2} The Holy Supper is the term Swedenborg generally uses for the Christian rite of Communion, or the Eucharist, a sacramental consumption of bread and wine initiated by Jesus Christ on the eve of his Crucifixion (see Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20). [LHC]
{*3} This last phrase echoes John 18:36: "Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.'" [LHC] Swedenborg here reflects a common Christian polemic against Judaism: that it sought political liberation for the Jewish nation rather than collective salvation for humanity. See also the reader's guide, pages 51-55. [RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 276
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:
This is the bread that cometh down from heaven; he that eateth of this bread shall live to eternity (John 6:58). Wherefore also bread and wine are the symbols employed in the Holy Supper. This celestial is also represented by the manna. That what is celestial and spiritual constitutes the food of angels, is manifest from the Lord's words:
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4), that is, from the life of the Lord, from which comes everything celestial and spiritual. [2] The last posterity of the Most Ancient Church, which existed immediately before the flood, and is here treated of, had become so thoroughly lost and immersed in sensuous and bodily things, that they were no longer willing to hear what was the truth of faith, what the Lord was, or that He would come and save them; and when such subjects were mentioned they turned away. This aversion is described by "eating bread in the sweat of the face." So also the Jews, in consequence of their being of such a character that they did not acknowledge the existence of heavenly things, and desired only a worldly Messiah, could not help feeling an aversion for the manna, because it was a representation of the Lord, calling it "vile bread" on which account fiery serpents were sent among them (Num. 21:5, 6). Moreover the heavenly things imparted to them in states of adversity and misery, when they were in tears, were called by them the "bread of adversity" the "bread of misery" and the "bread of tears." In the passage before us, that which was received with aversion is called the "bread of the sweat of the face."
Elliott(1983-1999) 276
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.a Those things which men obtained but strongly disliked are described in the present verse as 'the bread of the sweat on his brow'.
Latin(1748-1756) 276
276. Quod 'edere panem in sudore vultus' significet aversari quod caeleste, constare potest ex significatione 'panis'; per panem intelligitur omne spirituale et caeleste, quod est cibus angelicus, quo si destituerentur, non viverent, sicut si homo destitueretur pane vel cibo: caeleste et spirituale in caelo correspondet etiam pani in terris; etiam illa repraesentantur per panem, ut ex multis constat: quod Dominus sit Panis, quia ab Ipso omne caeleste et spirituale, Ipse docet apud Johannem, Hic Panis est, qui e caelo descendit,... qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aeternum, vi 58. Quare etiam panis et vinum sunt symbola in Sancta Cena: caeleste hoc quoque repraesentatum est per mannam: quod caeleste et spirituale sit cibus angelicus, etiam constat ex verbis Domini, Non ex pane solo vivet homo, sed ab omni verbo egrediente ex ore Dei, Matth. iv 4, hoc est, ex vita Domini, ex qua omne caeleste et spirituale. [2] Ultima posteritas Ecclesiae Antiquissimae quae proxime ante diluvium, de qua hic agitur, tam perdita erat et immersa sensualibus et corporeis ut non audire voluerint quid veritas fidei, quid Dominus, quod venturus et salvaturus eos; cumque nominarentur, aversati sunt; aversatio illa describitur per 'edere panem in sudore vultus'; sicut Judaei, qui quia tales erant ut caelestia non agnoscerent, nec alium Messiam quam mundanum voluerunt, non potuerunt aliter quam aversari mannam, quia repraesentatio erat Domini, et vocare illam panem vilem; quare in eos serpentes missi sunt, Num. xxi 5, 6. Praeterea, caelestia quibus fruebantur in angustia, in miseria, cum lacrimis, vocabantur illis panis angustiae, panis miseriae, panis lacrimae; quibus fruebantur in aversatione, hic vocatur 'panis sudoris vultus.'