Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Discussion:
This verse shows that the Lord will comfort us in times of temptation, with the bread representing the desire for what is good flowing into us -- a desire that can keep us going spiritually just as natural bread keeps the natural body going. But there is also a further temptation within it: Can we accept that blessing and use it -- can we simply follow the Lord -- or will we use our own thoughts to turn it to our own ends?
Passages from Swedenborg:
Arcana Coelestia n 8414 (Elliott)
Verses 4-5 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, 1 in order that I may test them [to sea] whether they walk in My law or not. 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.
'And Jehovah said to Moses' means comfort from the Lord. 'Behold, I am causing it to rain bread from heaven for you' means that heavenly good will flow in. 'And the people will go out' means the consequent life. 'And gather the thing of a day in its day' means continually, in proportion to need. 'In order that I may test them' means that from this it will be discovered ... 'Whether they walk in My law or not' means, whether they can lead a life of truth and good. 'And it shall be on the sixth day' means at the end of each state. 'That they are to prepare what they have brought in' means setting in order forms of good that have been assimilated. 'And it shall be double to what they shall gather day by day' means that they are to be joined together.
8415. 'And Jehovah said to Moses' means comfort from the Lord. This is clear from what follows these words; for the things Jehovah said have to do with comfort after temptation. Regarding comfort after temptations, see 8367, 8370.
8416. 'Behold, I am causing it to rain bread from heaven for you' means that heavenly good will flow in. This is clear from the meaning of 'raining' as a blessing, dealt with in 2445, the reason why 'raining' means a blessing being that as rain comes down from heaven or the sky and causes the land to be productive, so Divine Goodness and Truth come down from heaven to a person and cause him to be blessed, from which it is evident that 'raining' in the proximate sense means flowing in (for all good from the Divine flows in); and from the meaning of 'bread' as heavenly good, dealt with below.
8417. 'And the people will go out' means the consequent life. This is clear from the meaning of 'going' as living or life, dealt with in 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605; and 'going out' here, that is, going to collect the manna, has a similar meaning. Regarding the meaning of 'going' as life, see also 8420.
8418. 'And gather the thing of a day in its day' means continually, in proportion to need. This is clear from the meaning of 'gathering' as receiving, for when 'raining' means flowing in - that is to say, good from the Divine flowing in - 'gathering' means receiving, because the one activity goes with the other; from the meaning of 'the thing' as the object to which it refers, in this instance the bread or manna from heaven; and from the meaning of 'a day in its day' as continually, in proportion to need. Continually is meant because they received the manna daily (for the meaning of 'daily' is continually, see 2838); and in proportion to need is meant because they were to gather as much each day as they were going to need and no more, which for each person was an omer.
8419. 'In order that I may test them' means that from this it will be discovered ... This is clear from the meaning of 'testing' here as discovering, for the words here are followed by 'whether they walk in My law or not'.
8420. 'Whether they walk in My law or not' means, whether they can lead a life of truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'walking' as living, dealt with in 519, 1794; and from the meaning of 'law' as the Word, dealt with in 2606, 3382, 6752. And since the Word is meant, so is Divine Truth, 7463, and thus also teachings about what is good and true, so that 'walking in the law of Jehovah' means leading a life of truth and good as teachings about them demand. Everyone knows that 'walking in the law' means living as the law demands, for the expression is part of everyday language. From this it may be seen that [the activity] 'walking' means living, and also that the actual word 'walking', like so many other words, carries the very meaning it possesses in the spiritual sense. This is attributable solely to the influx of the spiritual world into ideas composing thought, and then into words; for without that influx would anyone ever talk of walking instead of living - of walking in the law, in the statutes, in the commandments, or in the fear of God? The same applies to 'going', that it means living, referred to just above in 8417, and also to travelling, advancing, and sojourning. The reason why these words mean living is that the spiritual world is not one of spatial dimensions but of states of life instead, 2625, 2684, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381.
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Exodus 16: 1-18
Exodus 16:1 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 Aaron in the wilderness:
3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and 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 the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day 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 the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:
7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?
8 And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.
9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord: 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 the Lord appeared in the cloud.
11 And the Lord 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 the Lord your God.
13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.
16 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.
17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.
18 And when they did mete 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.