Spiritual Meaning of EXODUS 16:19-20
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AC 8476. Verses 19, 20. And Moses said unto them, Let no one make a residue of it till the morning. And they heard not unto Moses; and men made a residue of it until morning and if bred worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them. "And Moses said unto them," signifies exhortation; "Let no one make a residue of it till the morning," signifies that they should not be solicitous about acquiring it from themselves; "and they heard not unto Moses," signifies no faith and thence no obedience; "and men made a residue of it until the morning," signifies the abuse of good Divine, in that they desired to acquire it from themselves; "and it bred worms,’ signifies that consequently it became filthy; "and stank," signifies consequently infernal; "and Moses was angry with them," signifies that consequently they turned away truth Divine from themselves.

AC 8477. And Moses said unto them. That this signifies exhortation, is evident from the signification of "saying," as involving what follows, here exhortation that they should not make a residue of it till the morning. "Saying" involves also exhortation, (n. 7090, 8178).

AC 8478. Let no one make a residue of it till the morning. That this signifies that they should not be solicitous about acquiring it from themselves, is evident from the fact that the manna was to be given every morning, and that worms would be bred in that which was left over, by which is signified that the Lord daily provides necessaries, and that therefore they ought not to be solicitous about acquiring them from themselves. This also is meant by the "daily bread" in the Lord‘s Prayer, and likewise by the Lord’s words in Matthew:--

[4] Be it known that the Divine Providence is universal, that is, in things the most minute; and that they who are in the stream of Providence are all the time carried along toward everything that is happy, whatever may be the appearance of the means; and that those are in the stream of Providence who put their trust in the Divine and attribute all things to Him; and that those are not in the stream of Providence who trust in themselves alone and attribute all things to themselves, because they are in the opposite, for they take away providence from the Divine, and claim it for themselves. Be it known also that in so far as anyone is in the stream of Providence, so far he is in a state of peace; also that in so far as anyone is in a state of peace from the good of faith, so far he is in the Divine Providence. These alone know and believe that the Divine Providence of the Lord is in everything both in general and in particular, nay, is in the most minute things of all (n. 1919, 4329, 5122, 5894, 6058, 6481-6486, 6490, 7004, 7007), and that the Divine Providence regards what is eternal (n. 6491).

[5] But they who are in the opposite are scarcely willing to hear Providence mentioned, for they ascribe everything to their own sagacity; and what they do not ascribe to this they ascribe to fortune or chance; some to fate, which they do not educe from the Divine, but from nature. They call those simple who do not attribute all things to themselves or to nature. From all this again it can be seen what is the quality of those who have care for the morrow, and what the quality of those who have no care for the morrow.

AC 8479. And they heard not unto Moses. That this signifies no faith and thence no obedience, is evident from the signification of "to hear," as being to perceive, to have faith, and to obey (n. 5017, 7216, 8361).

AC 8480. And men made a residue of it until the morning. That this signifies the abuse of good Divine, in that they desired to acquire it from themselves, is evident from the signification of "making a residue of it until the morning," as being to be solicitous about the acquisition of good of themselves (n. 8478), and consequently the abuse of good Divine. It is termed "abuse," when there arises what is alike in ultimates, but from a contrary origin. Good arises from contrary origin, when it does so from man, and not from the Lord; for the Lord is good itself, consequently He is the source of all good. The good which is from Him has in it what is Divine; thus it is good from its inmost and first being; whereas the good which is from man is not good, because from himself man is nothing but evil; consequently the good which is from him is in its first essence evil, although in the outward form it may appear like good. The case herein is like that of flowers painted upon a tablet, as compared with the flowers that grow in a garden. These flowers are beautiful from their inmosts; for the more interiorly they are opened, the more beautiful they are; whereas the flowers painted on a tablet are beautiful only in the outward form, and as to the inward one are nothing but mud and a mixture of earthy particles lying in confusion, as the Lord also teaches when He says of the lilies of the field that "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Matt. 6:29).

[2] Such is the case with the good that is from man in comparison with the good that is from the Lord. A man cannot know that these goods are so different from each other, because he judges from outward things; but the angels well perceive whence comes the good with a man, and consequently what is the nature of it. The angels who are with a man are in good from the Lord, and as it were dwell therein; but they cannot be in the good that is from a man; they remove themselves from it as far as they can, because inmostly it is evil. Good from the Lord has heaven in it, for this good is the form of heaven in an image, and in its inmost it stores up the Lord Himself, because in all the good that proceeds from the Lord there is a semblance of Himself, and consequently a semblance of heaven; whereas in the good that is from a man there is a semblance of the man, and as from himself a man is nothing but evil, there is a semblance of hell in it. So great is the difference between good from the Lord, and good from man.

[3] Good from the Lord is with those who love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as themselves; but good from man is With those who love themselves above all things and despise the neighbor in comparison with themselves. These are they who have care for the morrow, because they trust in themselves; but the former are they who have no care for the morrow, because they trust in the Lord (n. 8478). They who trust in the Lord continually receive good from Him; for whatsoever happens to them, whether it appears to be prosperous or not prosperous, is still good, because it conduces as a means to their eternal happiness. But they who trust in themselves are continually drawing evil upon themselves; for whatever happens to them, even if it appears to be prosperous and happy, is nevertheless evil, and consequently conduces as a means to their eternal unhappiness. These are the things which are signified by the command that they should make no residue of the manna till the morning, and that what was left bred worms and stank.

AC 8481. And it bred worms. That this signifies that consequently it became filthy, is evident from the signification of "breeding worms," as being to produce what is filthy; for worms are produced from that which is filthy and stinking. The falsity of evil, which is in the good that is from our own, is compared to "a worm" because the case with them is similar; for falsity also gnaws and thus torments. There are two things which make hell, as there are two which make heaven. The two which make heaven are good and truth, and the two which make hell are evil and falsity. Consequently it is these two in heaven which make the happiness there; and it is the two in hell which make the torment there. The torment in hell from the falsity is compared to "a worm;" and the torment from the evil there is compared to "fire." So in Isaiah:--

"Wine" denotes truth from good, and in the opposite sense falsity from evil (n. 6377).

AC 8482. And stank. That this signifies consequently infernal, is evident from the signification of "to stink," as being infernal filth. "To stink" is here predicated of evil, and "the worm" is predicted of falsity; for when good becomes evil, it is like flesh, or like bread, when it putrifies, and the falsity from this evil is like the worm which is produced therein from the putridity.

AC 8483. And Moses was angry with them. That this signifies that they turned away truth Divine from themselves, is evident from the signification of "to be angry," when said of Moses, by whom is represented truth Divine, as being a turning away from it (n. 5034, 5798). That this turning away appears as if it were on the part of the Lord, although it is on the part of man, (n. 5798). In the Word, anger and wrath, and even fury, against men, are often attributed to Jehovah, when yet with Jehovah they are pure love and pure mercy toward man, and not the slightest anger. This is said in the Word from the appearance; for when men are against the Divine and consequently shut off from themselves the influx of love and mercy, they cast themselves into the evil of the penalty, and into hell. This appears like unmercifulness and like vengeance from the Divine on account of the evil which they have done, when yet there is nothing of this kind in the Divine, but it is in the evil itself. (n. 1857, 2447, 6071, 6832, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8214, 8223, 8226-8228, 8282). From all this it is evident that by "Moses being angry with them" is signified that they turned away truth Divine from themselves.

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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