7356. And into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs. That this signifies into the delights of cupidities is evident from the signification of "ovens" as being exterior goods, because in them the bread is made ready, and exterior goods are those which are in the natural, and are commonly called delights; for when the interior goods which are of the loves and their affections flow into the natural, they are felt there as delights. These are signified by "ovens" in a good sense; but in the opposite sense, as here, by "ovens" are signified the delights of cupidities, that is, delights from the loves of hell, which are the loves of self and of the world. And from the signification of "kneading-troughs" as being also the delights of cupidities in the natural, but still more external, because kneading-troughs are vessels in which dough is prepared for bread. By reasonings entering into the delights of cupidities is meant that it would be the delight of their life to reason from falsities, and thus to deceive and seduce others. It is moreover one of the chief delights of the evil to spread falsities, to confirm them, to deride truths, and especially to seduce others. [2] That an "oven" denotes the delight of the affections which are of charity and faith, and in the opposite sense the delight of the cupidities which are of the love of self and the love of the world, is plain in Hosea:
They are all adulterers; they are as an oven heated by the baker; the stirrer ceaseth from kneading his dough; when they turn their mind like an oven in their lying in wait; their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as flames of fire. They were all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all the kings thereof fall (Hos. 7:4, 6-7);
"an oven" denotes the delights of the cupidities which are of evils; "burning," "being hot," "flames of fire," denote the cupidities themselves. (That "fire" denotes the yearning of evil, see n. 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324e.) "They devour their judges, all their kings fall" denotes that goods and truths perish. Everyone can see that without an internal sense such as this, it cannot be known what is here meant by "all the adulterers are as an oven heated by the baker, all grow hot as an oven, they devour the judges, and their kings fall." [3] "Oven" is used in a good sense in Isaiah:
The saying of Jehovah whose hearth is in Zion, and His oven in Jerusalem (Isa. 31:9);
where "Zion" denotes the celestial church, thus the good of love which is of this church; "Jerusalem," the spiritual church, thus the good of this love, which is the good of charity and of the derivative faith. In this passage "oven" denotes the interior delight of the affections of good and truth; and this because the bread which is baked in an oven signifies the good of celestial and spiritual love (that "bread" signifies this, see n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915). And as the signification of an "oven" comes from this, therefore the bread which was prepared in an oven for the sacrifices, and was called a "meat-offering," was distinguished from the meat-offering that was prepared in a pan, and from the meat-offering that was prepared in a cooking pot (see Lev. 2:4-5, 7); it was varieties of the good of love that were hereby signified.
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