8403. 'And all the assembly of the children of Israel grumbled' means grief and [therefore] complaint on account of the severity of the temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'grumbling' as grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation, and complaint, dealt with in 8351, 'the assembly of the children of Israel' being those who belong to the spiritual Church, as above in 8398. The subject here is a third temptation, which arises because there is a lack of delight and good. This temptation follows the previous one in the series, which arose because there was a lack of truth.

[2] People uninformed about human regeneration suppose that a person can be regenerated without temptation, and some that he has been regenerated after he has undergone a single temptation. But let it be known that no one can be regenerated without temptation, and that he suffers very many temptations, following one after another. The reason for this is that regeneration takes place to the end that the life of the old man may die and a new, heavenly life may be instilled. From this one may recognize that conflict is altogether inevitable; for the life of the old man stands its ground and refuses to be snuffed out, and the life of the new man cannot enter except where the life of the old has been snuffed out. From this it is evident that fierce conflict takes place between mutually hostile sides, since each is fighting for its life.

[3] Anyone thinking with enlightened reason can see and perceive from all this that a person cannot be regenerated without conflict, that is, without spiritual temptation, and also that a person is not regenerated by undergoing a single temptation, only by undergoing very many of them. For there are numerous kinds of evil that have formed the delight of the former life, that is, have constituted the old life. All those evils cannot be subdued on one occasion and all together. They cling stubbornly to the person, for they become deeply rooted in his forebears going back many centuries and are for that reason innate in him. They have also been made stronger since early childhood by the evils of his own doing. All these evils are diametrically opposed to the heavenly good that is to be instilled and that must constitute the new life.

5288. 'And set him over the land of Egypt' means which will set in order all that is in the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting over something' as appointing one who will set in order, thus as setting in order; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind, as above in 5276, 5278, 5279. The pronoun 'him' used here refers to a man with intelligence and wisdom, by whom truth and good are meant. From this it is evident that the words used here mean that truth and good will set in order all that exists in the natural it is indeed good and truth which set every single thing in order in the natural mind, for when good and truth flow in, they do so from within and in that way place every single thing in its proper position.

[2] The person who does not know about the nature of the human power of thought, or who does not know about the human ability to look at things, see what they are, analyse them, form conclusions regarding them, and finally transmit them to the will and through the will into action, will see nothing wondrous in any of this. Such a person imagines that all this happens naturally he is totally unaware of the fact that every single thought flows in from the Lord by way of heaven, and that but for that inflow from the Lord a person cannot have any thought at all, and also that as that inflow is diminished, so is his thought. Nor therefore does that person know that good flowing in from the Lord by way of heaven sets all things in order, shaping them into an image of heaven, so far as the person allows this to happen. Nor consequently does he know that such inflowing thought possesses the heavenly form. The heavenly form is the form in which the communities of heaven exist set in their proper order, a form that accords with the one which good and truth going forth from the Lord produce.