8351. 'And the people grumbled against Moses' means grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'grumbling' as complaint, the kind made in temptations, thus grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation. The temptations which those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church underwent after they had been delivered from molestations, in addition to the temptations which members of that Church are destined to undergo, are described by the grumblings of the children of Israel in the wilderness. And since spiritual temptations are as a general rule protracted till a person is in despair, 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280, 7147, 7166, 8165, 'grumbling' means complaint because of grief felt in temptations, as in Exodus 16:2-3; 17:3; Numbers 14:27, 29, 36; 16:11. The words 'against Moses' are used because it was a grumbling against what was Divine; for 'Moses' represents Divine Truth, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382.

[2] As regards the temptations which those belonging to the spiritual Church underwent, and the temptations which members of that Church are destined to undergo, it should be recognized that no faith, nor thus any charity, can ever be instilled into those who belong to the spiritual Church except by means of temptations. In temptations a person is involved in conflict against falsity and evil. These - falsity and evil - flow into the external man from the hells, while goodness and truth flow in from the Lord by way of the internal man; and so there arises from a conflict of the internal man with the external that which is called temptation. And in the measure that the external man is brought into a state of obedience to the internal, faith and charity are instilled; for the external or natural level of a person is a receptacle of truth and good from the internal. If the receptacle is not properly adjusted it does not receive anything flowing in from the more internal level but either repels, destroys, or stifles it, as a consequence of which there is no regeneration. So it is that temptation is necessary, in order that a person may undergo regeneration, which is effected through the instillation of faith and charity, and thereby through the formation of a new will and new understanding. This also explains why the term 'militant' is applied to the Lord's Church. See what has been stated and shown already about these matters in 3928, 4249, 4341, 4572, 5356, 6574, 6611, 6657, 7090 (end), 7122, 8159, 8168, 8179, 8273.

6828. 'And he led the flock to the back of the wilderness' means after the temptations they - those guided by the truth that went with simple good - had undergone. This is clear from the meaning of 'the flock' as the Church where those who were guided by the truth that went with simple good were, dealt with immediately above in 6827; and from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a state of temptation. 'A wilderness' can mean that which is sparsely inhabited and cultivated or else that which is totally uninhabited and uncultivated, and so in the spiritual sense means a person who has experienced vastation as regards good and desolation as regards truth. It therefore means a person undergoing temptation, for a person undergoing temptation experiences vastation and desolation. The falsity and evil present in him come out into the open, blotting out and virtually removing the influx of truth and good from the Lord. And the truth that does flow in does not seem to that person to possess the kind of life that can dispel falsities and evils. Furthermore evil spirits are present at this time, injecting a feeling of distress and making him despair of salvation. The fact that 'a wilderness' means a state such as this is clear from very many places in the Word, see 2708; and since 'the wilderness' meant a state of temptation, and the number 'forty' meant its duration, of whatever length, 730, 862, 2272, 1273, the children of Israel were for that reason in the wilderness forty years, and the Lord was for the same reason in the wilderness forty days when He was tempted, Matthew 4:2; Mark 1:13.