146. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. That this signifies that to those who conquer in temptations will be given the delight of heavenly love from the Divine Human of the Lord is evident from the signification of him that overcometh, as being those who conquer in temptations; for such are treated of in what is written to the angel of this church (as may be seen above, n. 130); also from the signification of I will give to eat, as being to be appropriated and conjoined by love and charity (concerning which see Arcana Coelestia 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513, 5643), and because it is said concerning the hidden manna, by which is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human; by eating thereof, is here signified the delight of heavenly love, for this is appropriated from the Divine Human of the Lord by those who receive Him in love and faith; and from the signification of the hidden manna, as being the Lord as to the Divine Human.

That this is what is meant by manna is evident from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. The bread of God is he who cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead. This is that bread which cometh down from heaven, that he that eateth of it may not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven, if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever. The bread that I will give is my flesh" (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 that came down from heaven." That it is the Lord as to the Divine Human, He also teaches when He says, "The bread which I will give is my flesh."

[2] The Lord taught the same when He instituted the holy supper:

"Jesus took bread, and blessed, and gave it 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 Him by love, for to eat signifies to appropriate and be conjoined, as said above; and love is spiritual conjunction. The same thing is signified by eating in the kingdom of God, in Luke:

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

Again:

"Ye shall eat and drink at my table in the kingdom of God" (22:30).

In Matthew:

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

(That by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is meant the Lord, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1893, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6804, 6847.)

And in John:

"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man will give unto you" (6:27).

[3] (That the Son of man is the Lord as to the Divine Human, may be seen above, n. 63.) The reason why it is called hidden manna is, because the delight of heavenly love, which those receive who are conjoined to the Lord by love is quite unknown to those who are not in heavenly love; and this delight no one can receive but he who acknowledges the Divine Human of the Lord; for it proceeds from this. Because this delight was unknown to the sons of Israel in the desert, they therefore called it manna, as is evident in Moses:

"Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven 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 desert there lay a small round thing; and when they saw it, they said, It is manna (What is this?). Moses said unto them, This is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to eat. And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna" (Exodus 16:3 to the end).

"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 every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live" (Deuteronomy 8:3).

The reason why this delight, which is meant by manna, was unknown to the sons of Israel was, that they were in bodily delight more than other nations; and those who are in this delight cannot know anything at all of heavenly delight. (That the sons of Israel were of such a character may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248.) It is called delight, and by this is meant the delight of love; for all the delight of life is from love.

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

"Jehovah commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of the heavens; and rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them of the corn of the heavens" (Psalm 78:23, 24).

And in another place:

"Jehovah satisfied them with the bread of the heavens" (Psalm 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 this sense, no other heaven is meant, and no other bread than that which nourishes the soul of man. That bread is here meant in this sense is evident from the words of the Lord himself in John, where He says, that

He is the manna or bread which came down from heaven (John 6:31-58).

And in Moses, where it is said

that Jehovah fed them with manna that He might teach that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 8:3).

The utterance of the mouth of Jehovah is everything that proceeds from the Lord, and this, specifically, is Divine truth united with Divine good (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 139, 140, 284-290).

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

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

And in another place:

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

The reason why the manna had such an appearance and taste was, that the white seed of coriander signifies truth from a celestial origin, a cake the good of celestial love, honey its external delight, oil that love itself, and its juice, whence was the taste, its internal delight, and the rain with the dew, in which the manna was, the influx of Divine truth in which that delight is contained. (That seed signifies truth from a heavenly origin, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 10248, 10249: that white is said 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; hence its juice signifies its delight, because the taste is therefrom and the taste is the delight and pleasantness, see n. 3502, 4791-4805. But more may be seen concerning these things in the explanation of chapter 16 of Exodus in Arcana Coelestia.) The reason why the delight of celestial love is signified by eating of the hidden manna, although by the hidden manna the Lord as to the Divine Human is signified, is that it is the same thing whether we say the Divine Human of the Lord, or the Divine love, for the Lord is Divine love itself, and what proceeds from Him is Divine good united to Divine truth; both belong to love, and are also the Lord in heaven. Therefore to eat of Him is to be conjoined to Him, and this is effected by love from Him. (But these things may be better understood from what is said and shown in the work, Heaven and Hell 13-19, 116-125, 126-140; and also in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 210-222 and 307.)

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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