圣经文本

 

Exodus第16章

学习

   

1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness:

3 and the children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

4 Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

5 And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that Jehovah hath brought you out from the land of Egypt;

7 and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of Jehovah; for that he heareth your murmurings against Jehovah: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

8 And Moses said, [This shall be], when Jehovah shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that Jehovah heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah.

9 And Moses said unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before Jehovah; for he hath heard your murmurings.

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud.

11 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God.

13 And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp.

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground.

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? For they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them, It is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to eat.

16 This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.

17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.

18 And when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

19 And Moses said unto them, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moses was wroth with them.

21 And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And he said unto them, This is that which Jehovah hath spoken, Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto Jehovah: bake that which ye will bake, and boil that which ye will boil; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not become foul, neither was there any worm therein.

25 And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath unto Jehovah: to-day ye shall not find it in the field.

26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

27 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none.

28 And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

29 See, for that Jehovah hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers [made] with honey.

32 And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before Jehovah, to be kept throughout your generations.

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

35 And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

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

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#8487

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

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.

脚注:

1. Here Swedenborg follows Sebastian Schmidt; in other places Swedenborg has the bread of affliction.

  
/10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.