146. To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the hidden manna, signifies that those who conquer in temptations will have the delight of heavenly love from the Lord's Divine Human. This is evident from the signification of "overcoming," as being those who conquer in temptations (for it is these that are treated of in what is written to the angel of this church, see above, n. 130; from the signification of "giving to eat," as being to be appropriated and to be conjoined by love and charity (See Arcana Coelestia 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513, 5643) and as it is said "of the hidden manna," which means the Lord in respect to His Divine Human, the "eating" of this here signifies the delight of heavenly love, for this is appropriated by the Lord's Divine Human to those who receive Him in love and faith; also from the signification of the "hidden manna," as being the Lord in respect to His Divine Human. That this is "manna" is manifest from the Lord's own words in John:

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. The bread of God is He who cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they are dead. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever. The bread that I will give is My flesh (John 6:31-58).

That it is the Lord Himself who is meant by "manna" and by "bread," He plainly teaches, for He says, "I am the bread of life which came down out of heaven." That it is the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, He also teaches when He says, "The bread that I will give is My flesh."

[2] The Lord taught the same when He instituted the Holy Supper:

Jesus took bread and blessed it, and gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is My body (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19).

"To eat of this bread" is to be conjoined to the Lord by love, for "to eat" signifies to be appropriated and to be conjoined (as above), and love is spiritual conjunction. The same is signified by "eating in the kingdom of God," in Luke:

Blessed is he that eateth bread in the kingdom of God (Luke 14:15).

Ye shall eat and drink at My table in My kingdom (Luke 22:30).

In Matthew:

Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline to eat with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God (Matthew 8:11).

(That by "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," the Lord is meant, see Arcana Coelestia 1893, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6804, 6847) In John:

Work not for the food which perisheth; but for the food which abideth, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

That the "Son of man" is the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, see above, n. 63.

[3] It is called "hidden manna," because the delight of heavenly love, which those receive who are conjoined to the Lord through love, is wholly unknown to those that are in a love not heavenly; and this delight no one is able to receive except he that acknowledges the Lord's Divine Human; for from this the delight proceeds. Because this delight was unknown to the children of Israel in the wilderness, they called it "manna," as appears in Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, I will cause bread to rain from heaven itself for you. And in the morning the dew lay round about the camp. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing; and when they saw it, they said, This is manna? (what is this)? Moses said unto them, this is the bread which Jehovah giveth you to eat. And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna (Exodus 16:3-36).

In the same:

Jehovah fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by all that is uttered by the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3).

This delight, which is meant by "manna," was unknown to the sons of Israel, because they were in corporeal delight more than other nations, and those who are in that delight are altogether incapable of knowing anything of heavenly delight. (That the sons of Israel were such, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248.) The term "delight" is used, and the delight of love is meant, for every delight of life is of love.

[4] As it is the delight of heavenly love that is signified by "eating of the hidden manna," therefore it is called "the bread of the heavens" in David:

Jehovah commanded the skies from above, and opened the doors of the heavens; and He rained down upon them manna for food, and gave them corn of the heavens (Psalms 78:23, 24).

In another place:

Jehovah satisfied them with the bread of the heavens (Psalms 105:40).

It is called the "bread of the heavens," because it rained down from heaven with the dew, but in the spiritual sense it is called the "bread of the heavens" because it flows down from the Lord through the angelic heaven. In that case no other heaven is meant, and no other bread than that which nourishes the soul of man. That it is in this sense that "bread" is to be understood here is evident from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

That He is the manna, or bread, that came down out of heaven (John 6:31-58).

And in Moses:

That Jehovah fed them with manna, that He might make them to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by all that is uttered by the mouth of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 8:3).

"What is uttered by the mouth of Jehovah" is everything that proceeds from the Lord, and this, in a special sense, is Divine truth united with Divine good (See the work on Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 139, 140, 284-290).

[5] This delight is also described by the correspondences in Moses:

The manna appeared like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like cakes made with honey (Exodus 16:31).

And in another place in the same:

They made cakes of it; and the taste of it was as the taste of the juice of oil (Numbers 11:7, 8).

The appearance and taste of the manna was such because "coriander seed, white," signifies truth from a heavenly origin; "cake," the good of heavenly love; "honey" its external delight; "oil" that love itself; and its "juice," from which was the taste, its internal delight: and the "rain with dew," in which the manna was, the influx of Divine truth in which that delight is. (That "seed" signifies truth from a heavenly origin, seeArcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 10248, 10249; that "white" is predicated of that truth, n. 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319; that "cake" signifies the good of heavenly love, n. 7978, 9992, 9993; that "oil" signifies that love itself, n. 886, 3728, 9780, 9954, 10261, 10269; its "juice," therefore, signifies the delight of that love, because the taste is therefrom, and the taste is the delight and pleasantness, see n. 3502, 4791-4805. But more about these matters may be seen in the explanation of chapter 16 of Exodus in The Arcana Coelestia.)

[6] The delight of heavenly love is signified by "eating of the hidden manna," when yet by "the hidden manna" the Lord in respect to the Divine Human is signified, because it is the same whether you say the Lord's Divine Human, or the Divine Love, for the Lord is Divine Love itself, and what proceeds from Him is Divine good united to Divine truth; both are of love, and are also the Lord in heaven; consequently "to eat of Him" is to be conjoined to Him, and this by love from Him. (But these things may be better understood from what is said and shown in the work on Heaven and Hell 13-19, 116-125, 126-140; also in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 210-222, 307)

539. And there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, signifies dense falsities therefrom out of the evils of earthly and corporeal loves. This is evident from the signification of "smoke," as being the falsity of evil (of which presently); from the signification of "the pit of the abyss," as being the hell where those are who have falsified the Word (respecting which see above, n. 537; and from the signification of "a great furnace," as being the evils of earthly and corporeal loves out of which such falsities break forth (of which in the following article). "Smoke" signifies the falsity of evil, because it proceeds from fire, and "fire" signifies the loves of self and the world and thence all evils; consequently the hells that are in falsities from the evils of those loves, and still more the hells where those are who have falsified the Word by adapting it to favor those loves, appear in a fire like that of a great furnace, from which a dense smoke mingled with fire goes up. I have also seen those hells, and it was evident that it was the loves with those who were in them that presented the appearance of such a fire, and the falsities flowing forth from those loves that presented the appearance of the fiery smoke. But there is no such appearance to those who are therein, for they are in these loves and in the falsities therefrom, their life is in them, and it is by these that they are tormented in many ways, and not by such fire and smoke as are in our natural world. (This can be seen better in the chapter in the work on Heaven and Hell 566-575, which treats of Infernal Fire and the Gnashing of Teeth.)

[2] That "smoke" signifies the dense falsity that flows forth from evil can be seen from the following passages. In Moses:

Abraham looked upon the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon all the faces of the land of the plain, and he saw, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:28).

"Sodom and Gomorrah" in the spiritual sense mean those who are altogether in the loves of self; therefore the smoke that Abraham saw rising from their land after the burning, signifies the dense falsity pertaining to those who are altogether in the love of self; for those who love themselves supremely are in the thickest darkness in respect to things spiritual and celestial, for they are merely natural and sensual, and are wholly separated from heaven; and then they not only deny Divine things, but they think out falsities by which to destroy them. These falsities are what are signified by the "smoke" seen rising from Sodom and Gomorrah.

[3] In the same:

And the sun went down, and there was dense darkness, and behold a furnace of smoke, and a torch of fire that passed through between those pieces (Genesis 15:17).

This was said of Abraham's posterity from Jacob, as can be seen from what precedes in that chapter; "the sun went down" signifies the last time, when consummation takes place; "and there was dense darkness" signifies when evil takes the place of good and falsity the place of truth; "behold a furnace of smoke" signifies the densest falsity from evils; "a torch of fire" signifies the heat of cupidities; "it passed through between the pieces" signifies that these separated them from the Lord. (But this may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 1858-1862.)

[4] In the same:

Moses made the people to go forth from the camp to meet God; and they stood in the lower parts of the mount. And Mount Sinai smoked, the whole of it, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked exceedingly (Exodus 19:17, 18);

And all the people saw the voices and the torches, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and the people saw, and they were moved and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die (Exodus 20:18, 19).

This represented the quality of that people; for Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appears to everyone according to his quality; to those who are in truths from good He appears as a serene light, but to those who are in falsities from evil as smoke from fire. And because that people was in earthly and corporeal loves, and in falsities of evil therefrom, the Lord appeared to them from Mount Sinai as a devouring fire, and as the smoke of a furnace. (That the sons of Jacob were such has been shown in many places in the Arcana Coelestia, as may be seen from what is brought together in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248; and that the Lord appears to everyone according to his quality, as a vivifying and recreating fire to those who are in good, and as a consuming fire to those who are in evil, see Arcana Coelestia 934, 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551; what the other particulars in the passages cited signify may be seen in the same work where the book of Exodus is explained.)

[5] "Smoke and fire" have a like signification in David:

Because He was wroth there went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured, coals burned from Him; He bowed heaven also and came down; and gross darkness was under His feet (Psalms 18:7-9; 2 Samuel 22:8, 9).

This does not mean that smoke and a devouring fire went up from Jehovah, for there is no anger in Him; but it is so said because the Lord so appears to those who are in falsities and evils, for they regard Him from their falsities and evils.

[6] The like is signified by the following in the same:

He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He toucheth the mountains and they smoke (Psalms 104:32).

In the same:

Bow Thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke (Psalms 144:5).

In Isaiah:

Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou whole Philistia art dissolved; for from the north cometh a smoke (14 Isaiah 14:31).

"Gate" signifies truth introducing into the church, "city" doctrine, "Philistia" faith; therefore "Howl, O gate, cry, O city, thou whole Philistia art dissolved," signifies the vastation of the church in respect to the truth of doctrine, and thence in respect to faith. The "north" signifies the hell where and from which are the falsities of doctrine and the falsities of faith, and "smoke" such falsities; therefore "from the north cometh smoke" signifies devastating falsity out of the hells.

[7] In Nahum:

Behold, I will burn her chariot with smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions (Nahum 2:13).

This, too, treats of the devastation of the church; and "to burn a chariot with smoke" signifies to pervert all truths of doctrine into falsities, "smoke" meaning falsities, and "chariot" doctrine; and "the sword shall devour thy young lions" signifies that falsities will destroy the chief truths of the church, "young lions" meaning the chief and protecting truths of the church, and "sword" meaning falsity destroying truth.

[8] In Joel:

I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth; blood and fire and columns of smoke (Joel 2:30).

This is said of the Last Judgment; and "blood, fire, and columns of smoke," signify the truth of the Word falsified, its good adulterated, and mere falsities resulting therefrom, "blood" meaning the truth of the Word falsified, "fire" its good adulterated, and "columns of smoke" mere and dense falsities therefrom.

[9] In David:

The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of Jehovah as the glory of lambs shall be consumed, in smoke shall they be consumed (Psalms 37:20).

"The wicked and the enemies of Jehovah shall be consumed in smoke" signifies that they shall be destroyed by the falsities of evil; those are called "wicked" who are in falsities, and "enemies" who are in evils, and "smoke" means the falsity of evil.

[10] In the same:

As smoke is driven away Thou wilt drive away; as wax melteth before the fire the wicked shall perish before God (Psalms 68:2).

The destruction of the wicked is compared to smoke driven away by the wind, and to wax that melts before the fire, because "smoke" signifies falsities, and "fire" evils.

[11] In Isaiah:

The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment (Isaiah 51:6).

"Smoke" here signifies falsity, by which those who were in the former heaven would be destroyed; and "the garment waxing old" signifies truth destroyed by the falsities of evil. Comparison is made with smoke vanishing away, and with a garment waxing old, because comparisons in the Word are also correspondences, and in like manner significative.

[12] In Hosea:

They sin more and more, and make them a molten image of their silver, idols in their understanding, all of it the work of the artificers; therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the dew falling early and going away, it is driven by a whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and like smoke out of a chimney (Hosea 13:2, 3).

This describes the doctrinals that are from self-intelligence, in which are the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil. Such doctrinals are signified by "molten images of silver," and by "idols;" their "silver" signifies what is from self-intelligence, and the "work of the artificers" that intelligence; it is therefore added "in their understanding they have made them idols, all of it the work of the artificers." That such doctrinals, being falsities, would pass away, is signified by "they shall pass away like smoke out of a chimney." It is also said "as a morning cloud, and as the dew falling early, and as [chaff] out of the threshing-floor," because the church in its beginning is like a morning cloud, like dew falling early, and like corn in the threshing-floor, by which are signified the truths of good and the goods of truths, which nevertheless successively pass away and are changed into the falsities of evil and into the evils of falsity.

[13] "Smoke" also signifies falsity in other passages in Revelation, as in the following:

Out of the mouth of the horses went forth fire and smoke and brimstone; and by these was the third part of men slain, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone (Revelation 9:17, 18).

The smoke of their torment goeth up unto the ages of the ages (Revelation 14:11).

And again:

The smoke of Babylon goeth up unto the ages of the ages (Revelation 19:3).

[14] Because "fire" signifies love in both senses, both celestial love and infernal love, and therefore "smoke" signifies that which flows forth from love-falsity, which is from infernal love, and truth, which is from heavenly love-therefore "smoke" signifies in a good sense holy truth. This is what "smoke from the fire of the incense-offerings" signifies, as may be seen above (n. 494), as also in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Jehovah will create over every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and over her convocations, a cloud by day and a smoke and the brightness of a flame of fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a veiling (Isaiah 4:5).

(This may be seen explained above, n. 294, 504.) In the same:

The posts of the thresholds were moved at the voice of the crying seraphim, and the house was filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:4).

In Revelation:

The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power (Revelation 15:8).

And again:

The smoke of the incense-offerings with the prayers of the saints ascended out of the angel's hand before God (Revelation 8:4).