10356. 'Surely you shall keep My sabbaths' means thought which is holy and goes on unceasingly regarding the union of Divinity itself to the Lord's Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'sabbaths' in the highest sense as the union of Divinity itself to the Divine Human within the Lord, and in the relative sense as the joining of the Lord's Divine Human to heaven and also the joining of heaven to the Church, and in general - with those who constitute the Church, or with whom the Church exists - as the joining together of goodness and truth (regarding that union and these joinings together, that they are meant by 'sabbaths', see 8495, 8510, 8890, 8893, 9274); and from the meaning of 'surely (or altogether) keeping' as thinking about something in a holy way and unceasingly, for when the word 'keeping' has regard to the realities that were represented in that Church, thinking about the realities that were represented, keeping them in mind, and cherishing them in a holy way, are meant. For representatives were outward things which embodied inner realities and which for this reason provided people with the opportunity to think about inner realities. This explains why 'keeping Jehovah's sabbaths' means thinking in a holy manner and constantly about the Lord and the union of Divinity itself to His Divine Human, about the joining of the Lord's Divine Human to heaven and the joining of heaven to the Church, and about the joining together of goodness and truth within the person belonging to the Church. Since these are the actual essential realities of the Church - for without the acknowledgement of these and belief in them the Church is not the Church - statements about the sabbath, by which those realities are meant, is talked about last, and again and again furthermore to the end of the chapter.

8510. 'That some of the people went out to gather, and did not find' means that they wished to acquire it, but none was given. This is clear from the explanation above in 8505. The explanation there shows what actions springing from the truth of faith are and what those springing from the good of charity are. That is to say, it shows that a person whose actions spring from the truth of faith does not as yet have the order of heaven present in himself, whereas one whose actions spring from the good of charity does have it. For, according to order, when the Lord leads a person He does so through his will, consequently through good since this belongs properly to the will. In that case his understanding is subservient, and so is truth since this belongs properly to the understanding. When this state exists it is the sabbath, for then there is rest for the Lord; and the state comes into being once good has been joined to truth. That this state is the Lord's rest may be recognized from the statement that after six days of creation and labour Jehovah or the Lord rested on the seventh day from all His work, Genesis 2:2. This state is heaven's state, which explains why heaven itself is called the sabbath, and that in heaven the sabbath is perpetual. For the creation story in Genesis 1 serves to mean the new creation, which is regeneration, and the six days in the story serves to mean temptations and conflicts, see the explanations at Genesis 1, 2.