8487. 'And the sun grew hot, and it melted' means its disappearance gradually as craving increased. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sun growing hot' as craving that is increasing, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'melting' as disappearing. The reason why 'the sun grew hot' means craving that was increasing is that 'the sun' in a good sense means heavenly love. It means this because the Lord is the Sun in the next life, the heat which comes from it being the good of love, and the light the truth of faith. (For more about that Sun - that it is the Lord and that heavenly love comes from it - see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 4696, 5084, 5047, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 7270.) Therefore 'the sun' in the contrary sense means self-love and love of the world, and the heat from the sun or its 'growing hot' in that sense means craving.

[2] The nature of the occurrence described here - that the good of truth, meant by 'the manna', disappeared gradually as craving increased, meant by its melting when the sun grew hot - must be explained briefly. The good of truth or spiritual good is indeed imparted to a member of the spiritual Church undergoing regeneration; but that good kills off every delight belonging to self-love and love of the world that has constituted his life previously, since they are contrary to each other. This being so, pure good of truth cannot remain for long with that person, but is modified by the Lord by means of the delights belonging to the two loves constituting his life previously. For if that good were not modified in this way it would hold no delight for him and so would be loathsome. This is what heavenly good is like initially with those undergoing regeneration. To the extent therefore that the delights of self-love and love of the world rise up, the good of heavenly love disappears, since, as has been stated, they are contrary to that good. So the reverse also occurs.

[3] This explains why in heaven there are changes of states, to which changes of times and seasons in the world correspond, 8426, and why such changes return those who are there to the delights that go with natural pleasures. For without such change of states the good of heavenly love would become so to speak dry and worthless. It is different when it is modified by natural delights, at once or in stages. This is why at first, when the children of Israel were given the man[na] every morning they were also given the selav in the evening; for 'the selav' means natural delight, and also the delight that goes with craving, 8452.

[4] But it should be recognized that the cravings to which those in heaven return when their evening comes are not cravings that are contrary to heavenly good, but ones that are to some extent in accord with it. For there are the delights of conferring benefits rather lavishly and getting some glory out of doing so, delights however which hold goodwill and the desire to serve others. Then there are the delights of opulence in home decor and personal dress, and very many other delights like these. Such delights are not ones that destroy the good of heavenly love, though they do nevertheless eclipse it. But eventually - depending on the degree the person's regeneration reaches - they become the lowest levels of heavenly good. At this point they are no longer spoken of as cravings but as delights. The fact that the good of heavenly love unless modified by such delights becomes so to speak dry, and after that is loathed as being so to speak worthless, is meant by the reaction of the children of Israel who, when they were no longer given the selav, called the manna dry food and worthless food. Their doing so is referred to in Moses as follows,

The rabble who were in the midst [of the people] had a strong craving, and so the children of Israel also wept repeatedly and said, Who will feed us with flesh? But now our soul is dry; there is nothing at all except the man[na] for our eyes [to look] at. Numbers 11:4, 6.

In the same author,

The people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you caused us to come up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor water; now our soul loathes this most worthless bread. Numbers 21:5.

And elsewhere in the same author,

Jehovah afflicted you, and caused you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor your fathers knew, in order that He might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but that man lives by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. Deuteronomy 8:3.

[5] 'Manna' is similar in meaning to 'unleavened bread', which means good pure and free from falsities, 8058. That bread is for a similar reason called the bread of misery, ¹ Deuteronomy 16:3.

From all this one may now see how to understand the disappearance of the good of truth gradually as craving increased, meant by the melting of the man[na] when the sun grew hot.

Poznámky pod čarou:

8452. 'That the selav came up' means natural delight through which good was imparted. This is clear from the meaning of 'the selav' as natural delight. The reason why 'the selav' means natural delight is that it was a bird of the sea, and 'a bird of the sea' means the natural, while its 'flesh' which was desired means delight, dealt with above in 8431. And the reason why it means that good was imparted through it is that it was given in the evening. For when in the next life the state corresponding to evening arrives good spirits, and also angels, are taken back to the state of natural affections that moved them when they were in the world. Consequently they are taken back to the delights belonging to their natural man. This is done in order that good may thereby be imparted, that is, in order that they may thereby be made more perfect, 8426. All people are made more perfect by the implantation of faith and charity in their external or natural man. Unless they are implanted there no goodness or truth can flow in from the internal or spiritual man, that is, from the Lord by way of the internal man, because they are not accepted. And if that goodness and truth are not accepted the influx of them is halted and perishes, indeed the internal man is also closed. From this it is evident that the natural must be perfectly adjusted to act as a receiver; this is done through delights, for forms of good as they exist with the natural man are called delights, since they are feelings.

[2] 'The selav' means natural delight because, as has been stated, it was a bird of the sea; for it is said in Numbers 11:31 to have been cut off from the sea - A wind set out from Jehovah, and it cut off ¹ the selav from the sea, and sent them down over the camp - and a bird of the sea and its flesh mean natural delight, and in the contrary sense the delight that goes with craving. The latter kind of delight is meant by 'selav' in the following verses in Moses,

The rabble who were in the midst of the people had a strong craving, and wished to have flesh. They said, Now our soul is dry; and there is nothing at all except the man[na] for our eyes [to look] at. A wind set out from Jehovah, and it cut off the selav from the sea, and sent them down over the camp. The people rose up that whole day, and the whole night, and the whole of the next day, and gathered the selav. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers, which they spread out for themselves all around the camp. The flesh was still between their teeth, before it could be swallowed, when Jehovah's anger flared up against the people, and Jehovah struck the people with an extremely great plague. So he called the name of that place The Graves of Craving, because there they buried the people having the craving. Numbers 11:4-6, 31-34.

Here 'the selav' stands for the delight that goes with craving. It is called the delight that goes with craving when the delight belonging to any bodily or worldly love becomes dominant and takes possession of the whole person, to such an extent that the good and truth of faith residing with him are annihilated. This is the kind of delight that is being described, for the people were struck by a great plague. But natural delight, meant in the present chapter by 'the selav' which was given to the people in the evening, is not the delight that goes with craving; it is the natural or external man's delight complementing the spiritual or internal man's good. This delight holds spiritual good within itself; but the delight that goes with craving, spoken of in Numbers 11, holds hellish evil within itself. Both are called delight, and also both are experienced as delight. But the difference between them could not be greater, for the one holds heaven within itself and the other holds hell. Also the one becomes heaven to the person when he sheds his external, and the other becomes hell to him.

[3] They are like two women who both seem to outward appearances to have lovely faces and to lead beautiful lives, but inwardly are completely different from each other That is to say, the one is chaste and wholesome, the other immoral and revolting, so that the spirit of the one is with angels, the spirit of the other with devils. But their true natures are not visible except when the external is rolled away and the internal is revealed. These things have been said in order that people may know what natural delight is that has good within it, meant by 'the selav' in the present chapter, and what natural delight is that has evil within it, meant by 'the selav' in Numbers 11.

Poznámky pod čarou: