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Exodus 16

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1 Så brød de op fra Elim, og hele Israeliternes Menighed kom til Sins Ørken, der ligger mellem Elim og Sinaj, på den femtende Dag i den anden Måned efter deres Udvandring af Ægypten.

2 Men hele Israeliternes Menighed knurrede mod Moses og Aron i Ørkenen,

3 og Israeliterne sagde til dem: "Var vi dog blot døde for HE ENs Hånd i Ægypten, hvor vi sad ved Kødgryderne og kunde spise os mætte i Brød! Thi I har ført os ud i denne Ørken for at lade hele denne Forsamling af Sult."

4 Da sagde HE EN til Moses: "Se, jeg vil lade Brød regne ned fra Himmelen til eder, og Folket skal ud og hver Dag samle så meget, som de daglig behøver, for at jeg kan prøve dem, om de vil følge min Lov eller ej.

5 Og når de på den sjette Ugedag tilbereder, hvad de har bragt hjem, så skal det være dobbelt så meget, som de samler de andre Dage."

6 Og Moses og Aron sagde til alle Israeliterne: "I Aften skal I kende, at det er HE EN, som har ført eder ud af Ægypten,

7 og i Morgen skal I skue HE ENs Herlighed, thi han har hørt eders Knurren mod HE EN; thi hvad er vel vi, at I knurrer mod os!"

8 Og Moses tilføjede: "Det skal ske, når HE EN i Aften giver eder Kød at spise og i Morgen Brød at mætte eder med; thi HE EN har hørt, hvorledes I knurrer mod ham; thi hvad er vi? Thi det er ikke os, I knurrer imod, men HE EN."

9 Derpå sagde Moses til Aron: "Sig til hele Israeliternes Menighed: Træd frem for HE ENs Åsyn, thi han har hørt eders Knurren!"

10 Og da Aron sagde det til hele Israeliternes Menighed, vendte de sig mod Ørkenen, og se, HE ENs Herlighed viste sig i Skyen.

11 Da talede HE EN til Moses og sagde:

12 "Jeg har hørt Israeliternes Knurren; sig til dem: Ved Aftenstid skal I få Kød at spise, og i Morgen tidlig skal I få Brød at mætte eder med, og I skal kende, at jeg er HE EN eders Gud."

13 Da det nu blev Aften, kom en Sværm Vagtler flyvende og faldt i et tykt Lag over Lejren; og næste Morgen lå Duggen tæt rundt om Lejren,

14 og da Duggen svandt, var Ørkenen dækket med noget fint, skælagtigt noget, noget fint der lignede im på Jorden.

15 Da Israeliterne så det, spurgte de hverandre: "Hvad er det?" Thi de vidste ikke, hvad det var; men Moses sagde til dem: "Det er det Brød, HE EN har givet eder til Føde!

16 Og således har HE EN påbudt: I skal samle deraf, enhver så meget som han har behov, en Omer for hvert Hoved; I skal tage deraf i Forhold til Antallet af eders Husfolk, enhver skal tage deraf til dem, der er i hans Telt!"

17 Israeliterne gjorde nu således, og de samlede, nogle mere og andre mindre;

18 og da de målte det med Omeren, havde den, der havde meget, ikke for meget, og den, der havde lidt, ikke for lidt, enhver havde samlet, hvad han behøvede til Føde.

19 Derpå sagde Moses til dem: "Ingen må gemme noget deraf til næste Morgen!"

20 Dog adlød de ikke Moses, og nogle af dem gemte noget deraf til næste Morgen; men da var det fuldt af Orme og lugtede. Da blev Moses vred på dem.

21 Således samlede de nu hver Morgen, enhver så meget som han havde behov. Men når Solen begyndte at brænde, smeltede det.

22 På den sjette Ugedag havde de samlet dobbelt så meget Brød, to Omer for hver Person. Og alle Menighedens Øverster kom og sagde det til Moses;

23 men han sagde til dem: "Det er netop, som HE EN har sagt. I Morgen er det Hviledag, en hellig Sabbat for HE EN. Bag, hvad I vil bage, og kog, hvad I vil koge, men læg det tiloversblevne til Side for at gemme det til i Morgen!"

24 De lagde det da til Side til næste Dag, som Moses havde befalet, og det kom ikke til at lugte, og der gik ikke Orm deri.

25 Derpå sagde Moses: "Det skal I spise i Dag, thi i Dag er det Sabbat for HE EN; i Dag finder I intet ude på Marken.

26 I seks bage skal I samle det, men på den syvende Dag, på Sabbaten, er der intet at finde."

27 Alligevel var der nogle blandt Folket, der gik ud på den syvende Dag for at samle; men de fandt intet.

28 Da sagde HE EN til Moses: "Hvor længe vil I vægre eder ved at holde mine Bud og Love?

29 Betænk dog, at HE EN har givet eder Sabbaten! Derfor giver han eder på den sjette Dag Brød til to Dage. Enhver af eder skal blive, hvor han er, og ingen må forlade sin Bolig på den syvende Dag!"

30 Da hvilede Folket på den syvende Dag.

31 Men Israeliterne kaldte det Manna; det lignede hvide Korianderfrø og smagte som Honningkager.

32 Moses sagde fremdeles: "Således har HE EN påbudt: En Omer fuld deraf skal gemmes til eders Efterkommere, for at de kan se det Brød, jeg gav eder at spise i Ørkenen, da jeg førte eder ud af Ægypten!"

33 Og Moses sagde til Aron: "Tag en Krukke, kom en Omer Manna deri og stil den foran HE ENs Åsyn for at gemmes til eders Efterkommere!"

34 Og Aron gjorde, som HE EN havde pålagt Moses, og han stillede den foran Vidnesbyrdet for at gemmes.

35 Og Israeliterne spiste Manna i fyrretyve År, indtil de kom til beboede Egne; de spiste Manna, indtil de kom til Grænsen af Kana'ans Land.

36 En Omer er Tiendedelen af en Efa.

   


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Apocalypse Explained # 146

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146. To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the hidden manna, signifies that those who conquer in temptations will have the delight of heavenly love from the Lord's Divine Human. This is evident from the signification of "overcoming," as being those who conquer in temptations (for it is these that are treated of in what is written to the angel of this church, see above, n. 130; from the signification of "giving to eat," as being to be appropriated and to be conjoined by love and charity (See Arcana Coelestia 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513, 5643) and as it is said "of the hidden manna," which means the Lord in respect to His Divine Human, the "eating" of this here signifies the delight of heavenly love, for this is appropriated by the Lord's Divine Human to those who receive Him in love and faith; also from the signification of the "hidden manna," as being the Lord in respect to His Divine Human. That this is "manna" is manifest from the Lord's own words in John:

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. The bread of God is He who cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they are dead. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever. The bread that I will give is My flesh (John 6:31-58).

That it is the Lord Himself who is meant by "manna" and by "bread," He plainly teaches, for He says, "I am the bread of life which came down out of heaven." That it is the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, He also teaches when He says, "The bread that I will give is My flesh."

[2] The Lord taught the same when He instituted the Holy Supper:

Jesus took bread and blessed it, and gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is My body (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19).

"To eat of this bread" is to be conjoined to the Lord by love, for "to eat" signifies to be appropriated and to be conjoined (as above), and love is spiritual conjunction. The same is signified by "eating in the kingdom of God," in Luke:

Blessed is he that eateth bread in the kingdom of God (Luke 14:15).

Ye shall eat and drink at My table in My kingdom (Luke 22:30).

In Matthew:

Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline to eat with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God (Matthew 8:11).

(That by "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," the Lord is meant, see Arcana Coelestia 1893, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6804, 6847) In John:

Work not for the food which perisheth; but for the food which abideth, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

That the "Son of man" is the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, see above, n. 63.

[3] It is called "hidden manna," because the delight of heavenly love, which those receive who are conjoined to the Lord through love, is wholly unknown to those that are in a love not heavenly; and this delight no one is able to receive except he that acknowledges the Lord's Divine Human; for from this the delight proceeds. Because this delight was unknown to the children of Israel in the wilderness, they called it "manna," as appears in Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, I will cause bread to rain from heaven itself for you. And in the morning the dew lay round about the camp. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing; and when they saw it, they said, This is manna? (what is this)? Moses said unto them, this is the bread which Jehovah giveth you to eat. And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna (Exodus 16:3-36).

In the same:

Jehovah fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by all that is uttered by the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3).

This delight, which is meant by "manna," was unknown to the sons of Israel, because they were in corporeal delight more than other nations, and those who are in that delight are altogether incapable of knowing anything of heavenly delight. (That the sons of Israel were such, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248.) The term "delight" is used, and the delight of love is meant, for every delight of life is of love.

[4] As it is the delight of heavenly love that is signified by "eating of the hidden manna," therefore it is called "the bread of the heavens" in David:

Jehovah commanded the skies from above, and opened the doors of the heavens; and He rained down upon them manna for food, and gave them corn of the heavens (Psalms 78:23, 24).

In another place:

Jehovah satisfied them with the bread of the heavens (Psalms 105:40).

It is called the "bread of the heavens," because it rained down from heaven with the dew, but in the spiritual sense it is called the "bread of the heavens" because it flows down from the Lord through the angelic heaven. In that case no other heaven is meant, and no other bread than that which nourishes the soul of man. That it is in this sense that "bread" is to be understood here is evident from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

That He is the manna, or bread, that came down out of heaven (John 6:31-58).

And in Moses:

That Jehovah fed them with manna, that He might make them to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by all that is uttered by the mouth of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 8:3).

"What is uttered by the mouth of Jehovah" is everything that proceeds from the Lord, and this, in a special sense, is Divine truth united with Divine good (See the work on Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 139, 140, 284-290).

[5] This delight is also described by the correspondences in Moses:

The manna appeared like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like cakes made with honey (Exodus 16:31).

And in another place in the same:

They made cakes of it; and the taste of it was as the taste of the juice of oil (Numbers 11:7, 8).

The appearance and taste of the manna was such because "coriander seed, white," signifies truth from a heavenly origin; "cake," the good of heavenly love; "honey" its external delight; "oil" that love itself; and its "juice," from which was the taste, its internal delight: and the "rain with dew," in which the manna was, the influx of Divine truth in which that delight is. (That "seed" signifies truth from a heavenly origin, seeArcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 10248, 10249; that "white" is predicated of that truth, n. 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319; that "cake" signifies the good of heavenly love, n. 7978, 9992, 9993; that "oil" signifies that love itself, n. 886, 3728, 9780, 9954, 10261, 10269; its "juice," therefore, signifies the delight of that love, because the taste is therefrom, and the taste is the delight and pleasantness, see n. 3502, 4791-4805. But more about these matters may be seen in the explanation of chapter 16 of Exodus in The Arcana Coelestia.)

[6] The delight of heavenly love is signified by "eating of the hidden manna," when yet by "the hidden manna" the Lord in respect to the Divine Human is signified, because it is the same whether you say the Lord's Divine Human, or the Divine Love, for the Lord is Divine Love itself, and what proceeds from Him is Divine good united to Divine truth; both are of love, and are also the Lord in heaven; consequently "to eat of Him" is to be conjoined to Him, and this by love from Him. (But these things may be better understood from what is said and shown in the work on Heaven and Hell 13-19, 116-125, 126-140; also in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 210-222, 307)

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