8468. 'An omer a head' means the amount for each individual. This is clear from the meaning of 'an omer' as the sufficient amount, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a head' as for each person. The reason why 'an omer' means the sufficient amount is that it was the tenth part of an ephah, as is evident from the final verse of the present chapter; and 'ten' means what is complete, 3107, so that 'a tenth part' means the sufficient amount, at this point for each individual, meant by 'a head'. 'An omer' is mentioned in the present chapter alone; the term used elsewhere is 'a homer', which was a measure that held ten ephahs, and therefore meant what was complete, as in Hosea,

I acquired an adulterous woman for fifteen [shekels] of silver, and a homer of barley and half a homer of barley. Hosea 3:2.

Here 'an adulterous woman' is used to mean the house of Israel, in the spiritual sense the Church there. Her being acquired for the full price is meant by 'fifteen [shekels] of silver' and 'a homer of barley' - 'fifteen [shekels] of silver' having reference to truth and 'a homer of barley' to good.

[2] In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, so that a tenth of a homer is offered for a bath, and a tenth of a homer for an ephah; your measure shall be after the homer. This is the offering which you shall offer: A sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, ... from the barley. And the fixed portion of oil, the bath for oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezekiel 45:10-11, 13-14.

This refers to a new earth or land and new temple, meaning the Lord's spiritual kingdom. Anyone may see that there will be no homer, ephah, bath, or cor there, and no wheat, barley, or oil either. From this it is clear that these objects mean the kinds of things that belong to that spiritual kingdom, which things, it is evident, are spiritual realities, that is, they are connected with either the good of charity or the truth of faith. 'Homer' has reference to good because it is a measure of wheat or barley, and so does 'ephah'; but 'bath' has reference to truth because it is a measure of wine. Yet being also a measure of oil, by which the good of love is meant, it says that a bath shall be the same part of a homer as an ephah is, which means in the spiritual sense that everything there will have a connection with good, and also that truth there will be good. It will also exist in full measure, for 'a homer' means what is complete.

[3] In Isaiah,

Many houses will be a ruination, large and beautiful ones, so that there is no inhabitant; for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and the sowing of a homer will yield an ephah. Isaiah 5:9-10.

Here 'ten acres' stands for complete and also for much, and so does 'a homer'; but 'a bath' and 'an ephah' stand for little. For when 'ten' means much, 'a tenth part' means little. In Moses,

If a man sanctifies to Jehovah part of a field of his possession, your valuation shall be according to its sowing; the sowing of a homer of barley [shall be valued] at fifty shekels of silver. Leviticus 27:16.

Here 'the sowing of a homer' and also 'fifty shekels' stand for the full or complete valuation. Since 'a homer' means what is complete, ten homers means at Numbers 11:32 what is in excess and superfluous.

8539. 'They ate the man[na] until they came to the border of the land of Canaan' means that they went on making good from truth their own, until they reached the region of heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the man[na]' as the good of truth; from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, as just above in 8537; and from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as heaven, as above in 8538, so that 'the border of the land of Canaan' is the entrance to heaven, or the region where heaven begins. From all these meanings it is evident that 'they ate the man[na] until they came to the border of the land of Canaan' means that they were making the good of truth their own until they reached the region of heaven.

[2] The nature of all this is evident from what has been stated already about the acquisition of good through truth. It has been stated that before regeneration all good is obtained by means of truth, but that after regeneration a person is led by the Lord by means of good; also that the former state is meant by the six days which come before the seventh, and that the latter state is meant by the seventh day or the sabbath. From this it is also evident that the former state was represented by the travels of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years, and that the latter state was represented by their being led into the land of Canaan. For the situation is this: A person is outside heaven all the time that his actions spring from truth and not from good. But then he enters heaven when they do spring from good; for they now spring from the Lord and are in keeping with the order of heaven. He does not attain this order, nor does he therefore enter heaven where order exists and which is order until he has been prepared, which happens when he is brought to good by means of truth. Regarding these two states, see what has been shown above in 7923, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516.