137. It says in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made by means of him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind. He was in the world, and the world was made by means of him. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. (John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14)

It is clear that the Lord is the one who is meant by "the Word," since it says that the Word was made flesh. Precisely what is meant by "the Word," though, is not yet known and must therefore be stated. The Word in this passage is the divine truth that is in the Lord and from the Lord, ¹ so here it is also called the light, which is divine truth, as has been shown earlier in this chapter. Now we need to explain the statement that all things were made and created by means of divine truth.

[2] In heaven, it is divine truth that possesses all power, and apart from it there is no power whatever. ² All angels are called "powers" because of divine truth, and are powers to the extent that they are recipients or vessels of it. Through it they prevail over the hells and over all who oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot bear one ray of heavenly light, which is divine truth. Since angels are angels because of their acceptance of divine truth, it follows that all heaven is from this source and no other, since heaven is made up of angels.

[3] People cannot believe that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth if the only concept of truth they have has to do with thought or speech, which have no power in them except to the extent that other people concede it by being obedient. There is an intrinsic power within divine truth, though, power of such nature that by means of it heaven, the world, and everything in them was created.

We can illustrate the fact that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth by two comparisons - by the power of what is true and good in us, and by the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world.

By the power of what is true and good in us: Everything we do, we do out of our discernment and intent. Out of our intent, we act by means of what is good, and out of our discernment by means of what is true. In fact, all the elements of our volition are related to what is good, and all the elements of our discernment are related to what is true. ³ On this basis, then, we set our whole body in motion and a thousand things there rush to do our bidding of their own accord. We can see from this that our whole body is formed for obedience to what is good and true and therefore from what is good and true.

[4] By the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world: Everything that grows in our world - things like trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, fruits, and seeds - arises only by means of the warmth and light of the sun. So we can see what kind of productive power is inherent in that warmth and light. What about the divine light that is divine truth, then, and the divine warmth that is divine good, the source from which heaven comes into being and consequently the world as well, since as we have shown above, it is through heaven that the world comes into being?

This enables us to determine how to understand the statement that all things were made by means of the Word, and that without him nothing was made that was made, and further that the world was made by means of him, namely that this was accomplished by means of divine truth from the Lord. ⁴

This is also why in the book of creation it first mentions light and then the things that arise from light (Genesis 1:3-4). It is also why everything in all heaven and earth has to do with what is good and true and to their union if it is to be anything at all. ⁵

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8395. Exodus 16

1. And they travelled on from Elim, and all the assembly 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 coming out ¹ of the land of Egypt.

2. And all the assembly of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness.

3. And the children of Israel said to them, Would that we had died ² by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by a pot of flesh, eating bread to the full! For you have brought us out to this wilderness, to kill all this congregation with hunger.

4. And Jehovah said to Moses, behold, I am causing it to rain bread from heaven for you; and the people will go out and gather the thing of a day in its day, ³ in order that I may test them [to see] whether they walk in My law or not.

5. And it shall be on the sixth day, that they are to prepare what they have brought in; and it shall be double to what they shall gather day by day.

6. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, At evening you will know that Jehovah has brought you out of the land of Egypt.

7. And in the morning you will see the glory of Jehovah; He hears your grumblings against Jehovah, and what are we, that you grumble against us?

8. And Moses said, Jehovah is giving you flesh to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; Jehovah hears your grumblings which you make against Him. What are we? Your grumblings are not against us, but against Jehovah.

9. And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the assembly of the children of Israel, Come near before Jehovah, for He has heard your grumblings.

10. And so it was, as Aaron was speaking to all the assembly of the children of Israel, that they looked back towards the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud.

11. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

12. I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At evening ⁴ you will eat flesh, and in the morning you will be filled with bread; and you will know that I am Jehovah your God.

13. And it happened in the evening, that the selav ⁵ came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a deposit of dew around the camp.

14. And the deposit of dew went up, and behold, on the face of the wilderness a tiny round thing, tiny like hoar frost on the earth.

15. And the children of Israel saw it and said, a man to his brother, Man ⁶ is it? because they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.

16. This is the thing ⁷ which Jehovah has commanded: Gather from it, each according to the mouth of his eating, an omer a head, [according to] the number of your souls; take it, each for whoever is in his tent.

17. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered it, [each] collecting it for a large number or for a few.

18. And they measured it with an omer, and no large number had more than enough and no few had less; they gathered, each according to the mouth of his eating.

19. And Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it ⁸ until the morning

20. And they did not hear ⁹ Moses, and some did leave part of it ¹⁰ until the morning; and it bred worms and became putrid. And Moses was incensed with them.

21. And they gathered it morning by morning, each according to the mouth of his eating; and the sun grew hot, and it melted.

22. And so it was, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one; and all the princes of the assembly came and told Moses.

23. And he said to them, This is what Jehovah has spoken: [A day of] rest, a holy sabbath to Jehovah shall tomorrow be. Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil; and all that is left over put aside for yourselves to keep until the morning.

24. And they put it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not become putrid, and there was no worm in it.

25. And Moses said, Eat it today, because today is a sabbath to Jehovah, today you will not find it in the field.

26. Six days you shall gather it; and on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none in it.

27. And so it was on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, and did not find.

28. And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?

29. See! Because Jehovah has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day He gives you the bread of two days; rest, each of you in his place, ¹¹ let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.

30. And the people rested on the seventh day.

31. And the house of Israel called its name Man; ¹² and it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like that of a cake with honey.

32. And Moses said, This is the thing ¹³ which Jehovah has commanded: Fill an omer with it to be kept for your generations, in order that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.

33. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar, and put an omerful of man[na] in it, and lay it up before Jehovah, to be kept for your generations.

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

35. And the children of Israel ate the man[na] forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the man[na] until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

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

CONTENTS

The previous chapter dealt with the second temptation of those belonging to the spiritual Church, which arose because truth was perceived to be unpleasant. The present chapter deals in the internal sense with the third temptation, which arises because good is lacking. The lack of bread and flesh, which the children of Israel grumbled about, means a lack of good. Comfort after temptation is meant and described by the manna they received, and by the selav, the manna being spiritual good. The Lord constantly conferred this good on them, and without any care and aid on their part, which is meant by their receiving the manna every day and by the breeding of worms in it if they gathered too much.

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