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Exodus 16

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1 And they went on their way from Elim, and all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they went out of the land of Egypt.

2 And all the children of Israel were crying out against Moses and Aaron in the waste land:

3 And the children of Israel said to them, It would have been better for the Lord to have put us to death in the land of Egypt, where we were seated by the flesh-pots and had bread enough for our needs; for you have taken us out to this waste of sand, to put all this people to death through need of food.

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, See, I will send down bread from heaven for you; and the people will go out every day and get enough for the day's needs; so that I may put them to the test to see if they will keep my laws or not.

5 And on the sixth day they are to make ready what they get in, and it will be twice as much as they get on the other days.

6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, This evening it will be clear to you that it is the Lord who has taken you out of the land of Egypt:

7 And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord; for your angry words against the Lord have come to his ears: and what are we that you are crying out against us?

8 And Moses said, The Lord will give you meat for your food at evening, and in the morning bread in full measure; for your outcry against The Lord has come to his ears: for what are we? your outcry is not against us but against The Lord.

9 And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the people of Israel, Come near before the Lord for he has given ear to your outcry.

10 And while Aaron was talking to the children of Israel, their eyes were turned in the direction of the waste land, and they saw the glory of the Lord shining in the cloud.

11 And the Lord said to Moses,

12 The outcry of the children of Israel has come to my ears: say to them now, At nightfall you will have meat for your food, and in the morning bread in full measure; and you will see that I am the Lord your God.

13 And it came about that in the evening little birds came up and the place was covered with them: and in the morning there was dew all round about the tents.

14 And when the dew was gone, on the face of the earth was a small round thing, like small drops of ice on the earth.

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? for they had no idea what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you for your food.

16 This is what the Lord has said, Let every man take up as much as he has need of; at the rate of one omer for every person, let every man take as much as is needed for his family.

17 And the children of Israel did so, and some took more and some less.

18 And when it was measured, he who had taken up much had nothing over, and he who had little had enough; every man had taken what he was able to make use of.

19 And Moses said to them, Let nothing be kept till the morning.

20 But they gave no attention to Moses, and some of them kept it till the morning and there were worms in it and it had an evil smell: and Moses was angry with them.

21 And they took it up morning by morning, every man as he had need: and when the sun was high it was gone.

22 And on the sixth day they took up twice as much of the bread, two omers for every person: and all the rulers of the people gave Moses word of it.

23 And he said, This is what the Lord has said, Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord: what has to be cooked may be cooked; and what is over, put on one side to be kept till the morning.

24 And they kept it till the morning as Moses had said: and no smell came from it, and it had no worms.

25 And Moses said, Make your meal today of what you have, for this day is a Sabbath to the Lord: today you will not get any in the fields.

26 For six days you will get it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.

27 But still on the seventh day some of the people went out to get it, and there was not any.

28 And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you go against my orders and my laws?

29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, he gives you on the sixth day bread enough for two days; let every man keep where he is; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30 So the people took their rest on the seventh day.

31 And this bread was named manna by Israel: it was white, like a grain seed, and its taste was like cakes made with honey.

32 And Moses said, This is the order which the Lord has given: Let one omer of it be kept for future generations, so that they may see the bread which I gave you for your food in the waste land, when I took you out from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put one omer of manna in it, and put it away before the Lord, to be kept for future generations.

34 So Aaron put it away in front of the holy chest to be kept, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

35 And the children of Israel had manna for their food for forty years, till they came to a land with people in it, till they came to the edge of the land of Canaan.

36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

   

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Seven

  

Seven, as in Revelation 15:1, signifies everything in an universal sense. The number 'seven' was considered holy, as is well known, because of the six days of creation, and the seventh, which is the celestial self, where peace, rest, and the Sabbath is. The number seven occurs so frequently in the rites of the Jewish church and is held holy everywhere.

So times were divided into seven, longer and shorter intervals, and were called weeks, like the great intervals of times till the coming of the Messiah, in Daniel 9:24-25. The time of seven years is called 'a week' by Laban and Jacob, as in Genesis 29:27-28. So wherever the number seven occurs, it is considered holy and sacred, as in Psalm 119:164, and in Isaiah 30:26.

As the periods of a person's regeneration are distinguished into six, prior to the seventh, or the celestial self, so the times of vastation are also distinguished, until nothing celestial is left. This was represented by the many captivities of the Jews, and by the last Babylonian captivity, which lasted seven decades, or seventy years. This was also represented by Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel 4:16, 22, 29. It also refers to the vastation of the end times, in Revelation 15:1, 7-8. They should 'tread the holy city under foot, forty and two months, or six times seven,' as in Revelation 11:2 and Revelation 5:1. So the severity and increments of punishment were expressed by the number seven, as in Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28 and Psalm 79:12.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 5, 7-8, 15; Arcana Coelestia 395; Daniel 9, 9:24, 9:25; Psalms 119)


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Apocalypse Explained # 15

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15. And keep the things which are written therein, signifies from the love of truth. This is evident from the signification of "observing" and "keeping," as being to perceive, to will, and to do according thereto, here according to the doctrine of heaven; and from the signification of "the things which are written therein," as being, from the love of truth, or from the delight of that love; for what is done from love is done from delight; delight is from no other source. This is signified by "the things which are written therein," because the things contained in the doctrine of heaven are written on the heart, and thus on the life, of those here described; and things written on the heart and life are written on the love; for "heart" in the Word signifies love (Arcana Coelestia 7542, 9050, 10336). The love of truth is meant, because these things are said of the doctrine of heaven, and the doctrine of heaven is from truths. In the Word frequent mention is made of observing and keeping the precepts, the commandments, the words, and the law: and by observing and keeping is there signified to understand, to will, and to do, as in Matthew:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you (Matthew 28:20);

in Luke:

Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it (Luke 11:28);

in John:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if anyone keep My word he shall never see death (John 8:51);

in the same:

If any one love Me he will keep My word: He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words (John 14:15, 23-24);

and in the same:

If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love. Ye are My friends if ye do the things which I command you (John 15:10, 14).

To do is to will, and to will is to do; because in deeds the will is everything.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.