8537. 'And the children of Israel ate the man[na] forty years' means making the good of truth their own in the state involving all temptations. This is clear from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198; from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, dealt with in 3168, 3513(end), 3596, 4745; from the meaning of 'the man[na]' as the good of truth, dealt with in 8464; and from the meaning of 'forty years' as states involving temptations, 'years' meaning states, see 482, 487, 488, 493, 893, and 'forty' meaning temptations, 730, 862, 2272, 2273, 8098.

2272. 'And said, Perhaps forty will be found there' means people who have undergone temptations. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'forty' as temptations, dealt with in Volume One, in 730. How these details follow on in the train of thought is seen from what temptations are. Temptations arise not only so that a person may be confirmed in truths but also so that truths may be joined more closely to goods; for in times of temptation he fights for truths against falsities. And because during temptations he suffers inward distress and suffers torment, the delights of life belonging to evil desires and their attendant pleasures cease to exist. Goods from the Lord flow in, and at the same time evils are regarded as abominable. As a consequence of this new thoughts contrary to those that he had previously now arise. Towards these his mind is then able to be turned, and so it is able to be turned from evils to goods, which are then joined to truths. And because it is through temptations that good becomes joined to truth, and because in the previous verse it was said that those would be saved with whom goods are able to be joined to truths, what occurs in this verse to the effect that goods and truths are able to be joined through temptations therefore follows. This is the sequence of ideas seen by those who know the internal sense.