31. That 'the great lights' mean love and faith, and are also mentioned as the sun, the moon, and the stars, is clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

This refers to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who are used in the Word to mean the sensory and the factual. The meaning here is that they will have blotted out love and faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah for making the earth a desolation; for the stars of the heavens and their constellations ¹ will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. The earth quakes before Him, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:10.

[2] In Isaiah, in reference to the Lord's Coming and the enlightenment of gentiles, and so to a new Church, in particular to individuals who are in darkness but who are beginning to receive the light and be regenerated,

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Jehovah will arise upon you, and nations will walk towards your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light. Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20.

In David,

Jehovah makes the heavens by intelligence, He spreads out the earth upon the waters, He makes the great lights, the sun to have dominion over the day, and the moon and stars to have dominion over the night. Psalms 136:5-9.

And in the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:3-4.

[3] In all of these places 'the lights' mean love and faith. Because the lights represented and meant love and faith in the Lord, the Jewish Church was commanded to keep a light burning all the time from evening till morning, for every command which that Church received was representative of the Lord. Concerning this light it is said,

Command the sons of Israel that they take oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the Tent of Meeting outside the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah. [Exodus 27:20-21]

That this means the love and faith which the Lord kindles and causes to shine in the internal man, and by means of the internal man in the external man, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown at that point in Exodus.

Бележки под линия:

3987. 'And now, when shall I, even I, provide for my own house?' means that now its own good will be made fruitful from this. This is clear from the meaning of 'house' as good, dealt with in 2231, 2233, 3128, 3652, in this case 'my own house' as the good meant by Jacob. 'Providing for his own house' means that the good from this is to be made fruitful, as is evident from the fact that the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth is the subject now because the joining of the interior man to the external has taken place; for 'Joseph', the one born last, means that fruitfulness, 3965, 3969, 3971, and 'the flock' which Jacob acquired to himself by means of Laban's flock, dealt with below, describes that fruitfulness. As regards good not being made fruitful nor truth being multiplied until the external man has been joined to the internal, this becomes clear from the consideration that the desire that another shall have what is good, and consequently the thought of good, belong to the interior man, whereas doing good and consequently making known what is good belong to the external man. Unless doing good has been joined to the desire for what is good, and making good known to the thought of good, a person possesses no good at all. For the wicked can desire what is evil and yet do good, and also think evil and yet declare what is good, as anyone can well know. Hypocrites and unholy persons are more bent on this and better at it than others, so much so indeed that they are able to pass themselves off as angels of light, when in fact they are devils within. This proves that good cannot be made fruitful with anyone unless doing what is good has been joined to the desire for good, and making good known to the thought of it; that is, unless the external man has been joined to the internal.