9306. Take heed of his face. That this signifies holy fear, is evident from the signification of “taking heed of the face,” when said of the Lord, who is here meant by “the angel,” as being to be afraid lest He be angry on account of evils, or lest He be provoked on account of transgressions; as follows. To fear these things is holy fear (concerning which see above, n. 2826, 3718, 3719, 5459, 5534, 7280, 7788, 8816, 8925). It is said “take heed of his face,” because by the “face” is signified the interior things that belong to the life, thus those of the thought and affection, and especially those of the faith and the love. The reason is that the face has been formed according to the image of man’s interior things, in order that those which are of the internal man may appear in the external man; thus that those which are of the spiritual world may appear before the sight in the natural world, and so affect the neighbor. That the face exhibits in a visible form, or as it were in a mirror, the things which the man thinks and loves, is known. (That such are the faces of the sincere, and especially of angels, see n. 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4326, 4796-4799, 5102, 5695, 6604, 8248-8250.)

Wherefore in the original tongue “the face” is a general term employed to describe the affections which exist and appear in a man, such as gratitude, favor, benevolence, help, kindness; and also as unmercifulness, anger, revenge; consequently in that tongue “the face,” taken with what it is joined to, means “near to,” “with,” “before,” “for the sake of,” and also “against;” thus whatever is in oneself, from oneself, for oneself, and against oneself; for as before said, the face is the man himself, or that which is in the man and shows itself.

[2] From all this it can be known what is signified by the “face of Jehovah,” or by the “face of the angel,” by whom is here signified the Lord as to His Divine Human; namely, the Divine good of the Divine love, and the Divine truth from this Divine good; for these are in Jehovah or the Lord, and they are from Him; nay, they are Himself (n. 222, 223, 5585). From this it is evident what is signified by the “faces of Jehovah” in the benediction:

Jehovah make His faces to shine upon thee, and be merciful unto thee; Jehovah lift up His faces unto thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6:25-26).

God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His faces to shine upon us (Psalms 67:1).

In like manner in Psalms 80:3, 7, (Psalms 80:7)19; 119:135; Daniel 19:17 and elsewhere.

[3] Hence it is that the Lord as to the Divine Human is called “the angel of the faces of Jehovah” in Isaiah:

I will make mention of the mercies of Jehovah. He will recompense them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His mercies; and He became their Savior; and the angel of His faces saved them, because of His love, and because of His pity (Isaiah 63:7-9).

That the Lord as to the Divine Human is called “the angel of the faces of Jehovah” is because the Divine Human is the Divine Itself in face, that is, in form, as the Lord also teaches in John:

If ye had known Me, ye had known My Father also; and from henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him. Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said unto him, Am I so long time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7-11).

[4] By “the face of Jehovah” or the Lord is also signified anger, vengeance, punishment, and evil, for the reason that from the common idea that all things are from God the simple believe that evil also is from Him, especially the evil of punishment; and therefore in accordance with this common idea, and also according to the appearance, anger, vengeance, punishment, and evil are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord; when yet these are not from the Lord, but from man (on which subject see n. 1861, 2447, 5798, 6071, 6832, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8227, 8228, 8282, 8483, 8632, 8875, 9128). Such is the signification here of “take heed of his face, provoke him not, for he will not endure your transgression.” And also in Leviticus:

Whosoever shall eat any blood, I will set My faces against the soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from the midst of his people (Leviticus 17:10).

I have set my faces against the city for evil, and not for good (Jeremiah 21:10).

The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth (Psalms 34:16).

30. Verses 14, 15. And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth.

What is meant by “great luminaries” cannot be clearly understood unless it is first known what is the essence of faith, and also what is its progress with those who are being created anew. The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone, for he who does not believe in the Lord cannot have life, as He himself has declared in John:

He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God shall abide upon him (John 3:36).

[2] The progression of faith with those who are being created anew is as follows. At first they have no life, for it is only in the good and the true that there is life, and none in the evil and the false; afterwards they receive life from the Lord by faith, first by faith of the memory, which is a faith of mere knowledge [fides scientifica]; next by faith in the understanding, which is an intellectual faith; lastly by faith in the heart, which is the faith of love, or saving faith. The first two kinds of faith are represented from verses 3-13, by things inanimate, but faith vivified by love is represented from verses 20-25, by animate things. For this reason love, and faith thence derived, are now here first treated of, and are called “luminaries;” love being “the greater luminary which rules by day;” faith derived from love “the lesser luminary which rules by night;” and as these two luminaries ought to make a one, it is said of them, in the singular number, “Let there be luminaries” [sint luminaria], and not in the plural [sint luminaria].

[3] Love and faith in the internal man are like heat and light in the external corporeal man, for which reason the former are represented by the latter. It is on this account that luminaries are said to be “set in the expanse of heaven” or in the internal man; a great luminary in its will, and a lesser one in its understanding; but they appear in the will and the understanding only as does the light of the sun in its recipient objects. It is the Lord’s mercy alone that affects the will with love, and the understanding with truth or faith.