9033. The last two verses have dealt with the weakening of spiritual truth, that is, truth contained in the teachings and belief of the Church. But the two verses which follow next deal with the weakening of factual truth, which belongs to the literal sense of the Word, by spiritual truth, which is contained in the teachings and belief of the Church. This, it is true, appears to be a similar matter to that in the previous paragraph; but it is not similar. Therefore let an example again be used to clarify it. One spiritual truth or genuine truth contained in the teachings and belief of the Church is that the Lord punishes no one, since He is Mercy itself, and therefore whatever He does, He does because He is merciful and in no way at all because He is angry and vengeful. And yet the Lord says in Matthew,

Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. Matthew 10:28.

Here it says that God should be feared because He is able to destroy body and soul in Gehenna, when in fact He destroys no one; but it is still a truth. Therefore it must not be dispensed with, that is, denied, because if it is denied, faith in the Word perishes. And if that perishes a person cannot have any spiritual life within himself, for spiritual life comes to a person from the Word through faith.

[2] The truth of the matter is this: It is a law of Divine order that good holds within itself its own reward, which is heaven. So too evil holds within itself its own punishment, which is hell. The first law begins in the Lord, since the Lord intends good to all; but not so the second, since the Lord intends ill to none. It nevertheless comes about, not because of the Lord but because of the person immersed in evil, thus because of evil itself. Yet such ill is attributed to the Lord in the literal sense of the Word, because He appears to be the cause of it. Therefore since it is an apparent truth it must not be denied, that is, must not be disposed of; for faith in the Word, simple people's faith, would thereby be disposed of, see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8227, 8228, 8282, 8483, 8631, 8632, 9010.

8197. 'And it was cloud and darkness [for the former]' means that the falsity arising from evil on the one side was intensified; 'and it lit up the night [for the latter]' means that the truth springing from good on the other side grew brighter. This is clear from the meaning of 'cloud and darkness' as the intensification of falsity arising from evil ('cloud' means falsity, see 1043, 1047, 8137, 8138, as also does 'darkness', 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711); and from the meaning of 'lighting up the night' as the brightening of truth springing from good. 'A pillar of fire by night' means a state of dimmed truth, moderated by enlightenment from good, 8108.

[2] With regard to the pillar, that it brought darkness to the Egyptians but light among the children of Israel, the situation is that the Lord's presence, which is meant here by 'the pillar', is heavenly light itself. From this heaven derives its light, a light that is a thousand times brighter than light in the world at midday. Yet the same light turns into thick darkness among the evil, even though they may be in actual light; and it turns to even thicker darkness as the falsity arising from evil among them grows in intensity. The reason for this is that God's truth coming from the Lord appears before angels' eyes as light. But it cannot appear as light to those steeped in falsities arising from evil, only as thick darkness, since falsity is the opposite of truth and snuffs it out. This is why the pillar, which was the Lord's presence, brought cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, 'the Egyptians' meaning those steeped in falsities arising from evil, and lit up the night among the children of Israel, 'the children of Israel' meaning those guided by truth springing from good. The Lord appears to each person in a way suited to the kind of person he is, see 1861(end), 6832.