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Exodus 16

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1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.

2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

3 And the children of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full: for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

4 Then said the LORD to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, At evening, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: And what are we, that ye murmur against us?

8 And Moses said, This shall be when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: And what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

9 And Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings.

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked towards the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; Speak to them, saying, At evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

13 And it came to pass, that at evening the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay around the host.

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground:

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating: an omer for every man according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them who are in his tents.

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

18 And when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack: they gathered every man according to his eating.

19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

20 Notwithstanding, they hearkened not to Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became offensive; and Moses was wroth with them.

21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun became hot, it melted.

22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And he said to them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and boil that ye will boil; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses ordered: and it did not putrefy, neither was there any worm therein.

25 And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath to the LORD; to-day ye will not find it in the field.

26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there will be none.

27 And it came to pass, that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, and they found none.

28 And the LORD said to Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna: and it was like coriander-seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

32 And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commanded, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited: they ate manna, until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

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

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8568

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8568. 'And the people thirsted there for water' means an increase in the desire for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'thirsting' as craving and desiring, and as having reference to truth just as 'hungering' has reference to good; and from the meaning of 'water' as the truth of faith, dealt with above in 8562. The fact that 'thirsting' is craving and desiring - desiring truth, meant by 'water' - is plainly evident from a large number of places in the Word, such as in Amos,

Behold, the days are going to come, in which I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. And they will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; and they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it. On that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst. Amos 8:11-13.

The desire to know the truth is described here by 'thirsting'. The desire for truth is meant by 'I will not send a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah' and by 'they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah'. The lack of truth and a resulting deprivation of spiritual life is described by 'on that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst', 'the beautiful virgins' being those with affections for good, and 'the young men' those with affections for truth.

[2] In Isaiah,

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy [and] eat! Come and buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.

'Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters' plainly stands for one desiring the truths of faith. 'Buying wine and milk without price' stands for acquiring from the Lord, thus for nothing, the good and truth of faith. For the meaning of 'the waters' as the truth of faith, see above in 8562; for 'wine' as the good of faith, 6377; and also 'milk', 2184. Anyone may see that 'going to the waters and buying wine and milk' is not used to mean the acquisition of wine and milk, but the kinds of things that belong to heaven and the Church.

[3] The like occurs in John,

To him who thirsts I will give from the spring of the water of life for nothing. Revelation 21:6.

'The spring of the water of life' stands for the truth and good of faith. 'The thirsting one' stands for one desiring them from affection for them, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. John 4:13-14.

'Water' here plainly stands for the truth of faith obtained from the Word, and so from the Lord; and 'not thirsting' stands for his being never again in want of truth.

[4] Something similar appears elsewhere in John,

Jesus said, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:35.

And in the same gospel,

Jesus cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. John 7:37-38.

'Thirsting stands for desiring truth, 'drinking for receiving instruction, and 'rivers of living water' for Divine Truth that flows from the Lord alone.

[5] In Isaiah,

To the thirsty bring water, O inhabitants of the land of Tema; meet with his bread the fugitive. Isaiah 21:14.

'To the thirsty bring water' stands for giving instruction in truths to one desiring them, and so refreshing the life of his soul. In the same prophet,

The fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against Jehovah; to empty the soul of the hungry one, and to cause the drink of the thirsting one to fail. Isaiah 32:6.

'The hungry one' stands for one desiring good, and 'one thirsting for drink' for one desiring truth.

[6] In the same prophet,

The poor and the needy are seeking water, but there is none; their tongue is parched with thirst. I will open streams on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into wellsprings of water. Isaiah 41:17-18.

It is perfectly clear to anyone that 'seeking water' is seeking truth, that

'being parched with thirst' is being deprived of spiritual life owing to the lack of truth, and that 'streams, springs, a pool, and wellsprings of water' are the truths of faith in which they are to receive instruction.

In the same prophet,

Say, Jehovah has redeemed His servant Jacob. At that time they will not thirst; in waste places He will lead them. He will make water flow for them from the rock; and He will cleave the rock so that water flows out. Isaiah 48:20-21.

'They will not thirst' stands for their having no lack of truths; here 'water' plainly stands for the truths of faith.

[7] In the same prophet,

They will not hunger, nor will they thirst, nor will heat or the sun strike them; for the One having mercy on them will lead them, so that also by the wellsprings of water He will lead them. Isaiah 49:10.

'They will not hunger' stands for their having no lack of good, 'they will not thirst' for their having no lack of truth. 'Wellsprings of water' stands for cognitions of truth out of the Word.

[8] Something similar occurs in Moses,

Jehovah was leading you through a great and frightening wilderness, with serpents, fiery snakes, and scorpions, and dry places where there was no water; and He brought water for you out of the rock of the crag. Deuteronomy 8:15.

In Isaiah,

Behold, your God will come. At that time waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the plain of the wilderness; and the dry place will become a pool and the thirsty ground wellsprings of water. Isaiah 35:4, 6-7.

'Waters in the wilderness which will break forth', 'streams', 'a pool', and

'wellsprings of water' plainly stand for the truths of faith and cognitions of those truths, which would be received from the Lord when He came into the world.

[9] In David,

O God, [You are] my God; in the morning I seek You. My soul thirsts for You; my flesh in a dry land longs for You, and I am weary without water. Psalms 63:1.

Here 'thirsting' has reference to truth, and 'I am weary without water' stands for the fact that there are no truths. 'Thirst' stands for a lack of truth and the resulting deprivation of spiritual life in Isaiah,

Therefore My people will go into exile because they have no knowledge, and their honourable men will be famished, 1 and their multitude parched with thirst. Isaiah 5:13.

In the same prophet,

I make the rivers into a desert; their fish become putrid because there is no water, and they will die of thirst. Isaiah 50:2.

[10] From all this one may now see what is meant in the present chapter by there was no water for the people to drink, verse 1; by their saying, Give us water and let us drink, verse 2; by the people thirsted there for water, verse 3; and by the declaration that water would come out of the rock, verse 6. All of this makes it clear that their grumbling because of the lack of water means temptation arising from a lack of truth. For when a person enters temptation because of a lack of truth he is gripped by an intense desire for it, and at the same time by despair of eternal salvation on account of this. These feelings are responsible for the grief at that time and for the complaining.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, their glory will be men (homo) of famine

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.