274. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God, signifies Divine truth itself united to Divine good, proceeding from the Lord's Divine love. This is evident from the signification of "seven" as being all things in the complex; also from the signification of "lamps burning with fire before the throne," as being Divine truth united to Divine good proceeding from the Lord's Divine love; for "lamps" signify truths; therefore "seven lamps" signify all truth in the complex, which is the Divine truth; and "fire" signifies the good of love; and since the lamps were seen "burning before the throne" upon which the Lord was, it is signified that truth is from the Lord. As "the seven spirits of God" signify all truths of heaven and the church from the Lord (See Apocalypse Explained above, n. 183, therefore it is said, "which are the seven spirits of God."

(That "seven" signifies all, see above, n. 256 that "fire" signifies the good of love, see Arcana Coelestia 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 10055)

[2] That "lamps" signify truths, which are called the truths of faith, can be seen from the following passages in the Word.

In David:

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path (Psalms 119:105).

The Word is called a "lamp" because it is Divine truth. In the same:

Thou makest my lamp to shine; Jehovah God maketh bright my darkness (Psalms 18:28).

"To make a lamp to shine" signifies to enlighten the understanding by Divine truth; and "to make bright the darkness" signifies to disperse the falsities of ignorance by the light of truth.

In Luke:

Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps shining (Luke 12:35).

The "loins" to be girded signify the good of love (See Arcana Coelestia 3021[1-8], 4280, 4462, 5050-5052, 9961); and "lamps shining" signify the truths of faith from the good of love.

[3] In Matthew:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be good the whole body is light, if the eye be evil the whole body is darkness. If, therefore, the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matthew 6:22-23).

The eye is here called "lucerna," that is, a lighted lamp, because the "eye" signifies the understanding of truth, and therefore the truth of faith; and as the understanding derives its all from the will (for such as the will is, such is the understanding), so the truth of faith derives its all from the good of love; consequently when the understanding of truth is from the good of the will the whole man is spiritual, which is signified by the words, "if the eye be good the whole body is light;" but the contrary is true when the understanding is formed out of the evil of the will; that it is then in mere falsities is signified by the words, "If thine eye be evil the whole body is darkened. If, therefore, the light be darkness, how great is the darkness."

(That "the eye" signifies the understanding, see above, n. 152; and that "darkness" signifies falsities, Arcana Coelestia 1839, 1860, 3340, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711, 7712.) He who does not know that "eye" signifies the understanding does not apprehend at all the meaning of those words.

[4] In Jeremiah:

I will take away from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp (Jeremiah 25:10).

"To take away the voice of joy and the voice of gladness" signifies to take away the interior felicity that is from the good of love and the truths of faith; "to take away the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" signifies to take away all conjunction of good and truth, which makes heaven and the church with man; "to take away the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp" signifies to take away the doctrine of charity and faith. (What is signified by "millstone" and "grinding," see Arcana Coelestia 4335, 7780, 9995, 10303.)

Likewise in Revelation:

And the light of a lamp shall shine no more in Babylon; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more there (Revelation 18:23).

In Isaiah:

Her ² salvation as a lamp that burneth (Isaiah 62:1); signifying that the truth of faith should be from the good of love.

In Matthew:

The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The five foolish took their lamps, but no oil; but the five prudent took oil also. When, therefore, the bridegroom came, the prudent went in to the wedding, but the foolish were not admitted (Matthew 25:1-12).

"Lamps" here signify the truths of faith, and "oil" the good of love. What the rest of this parable signifies may be seen above n. 252, where the particulars are explained.

7711. 'And there will be thick darkness over the land of Egypt' means total deprivation of truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'thick darkness' as total deprivation of truth and good. Various places in the Word mention 'darkness' (tenebrae) and also at the same time 'thick darkness' (caligo), and in those places 'darkness' has reference to falsity and 'thick darkness' to evil together with it. But the word that is used in this verse to express thick darkness denotes pitch-black darkness (tenebrae densissimae), which in the internal sense means the kinds of falsities that well up from evil. Such falsities arise with those who have belonged to the Church and led an evil life contrary to the commandments of religious belief which they knew. The evil from which those falsities well up is the opposite of the Church, the opposite of heaven, the opposite of the Lord, and so the direct opposite of goodness and truth. This state is now described by 'thick darkness'.

[2] The fact that 'darkness' and 'thick darkness' are mentioned together in the Word, and that 'darkness' means the deprivation of truth, while 'thick darkness' means the deprivation of both truth and good, may be recognized in the following places: In Isaiah,

Judgement is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us. We wait for light, but, behold, darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and as if without eyes we grope; we stumble at midday as if it were twilight; among the living we are like the dead. Isaiah 59:9-10.

'Judgement is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us' stands for the fact that there is no truth, and no good either, 'judgement' being used to refer to truth and 'righteousness' to refer to good, see 2235, 3997. 'Waiting for light' stands for awaiting truth, and 'waiting for brightness' stands for awaiting the good of truth since the brightness of light is derived from good. The fact that the expression 'darkness' is used in those verses as the opposite of 'light' and 'judgement', and so of truth, and 'thick darkness' as the opposite of 'brightness' and 'righteousness', and so of good, is self-evident. So it is that 'darkness' is the deprivation of truth, and 'thick darkness' the deprivation of both truth and good. In Amos,

Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, and thick darkness, [and] no brightness in it? Amos 5:20.

Here the meaning is similar. In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Joel 2:2.

[3] In Zephaniah,

The day of Jehovah a day of vastation and devastation, a day of darkness and thick darkness. Zephaniah 1:15.

'Darkness' stands for the deprivation of truth, and 'thick darkness' for the deprivation of both truth and good. If 'thick darkness' were no different in meaning from 'darkness' it would be a pointless repetition, which is far from being a feature of the holy Word. In the Word it is common for a pair of expressions to describe one particular thing, the first having reference to truth or falsity, the second to good or evil. A like example occurs in Isaiah,

He will look to the earth, and behold, anguish and darkness; [he will be one] benighted by anguish, and by a thick darkness of colliding. ¹ Isaiah 8:11.

[4] 'Darkness' also means ignorance of the truth, such as exists among gentiles, and 'thick darkness' ignorance about what is good, in Isaiah,

On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 29:18.

In the same prophet,

If you satisfy the afflicted soul, your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as midday. Isaiah 58:10.

'Darkness' is falsities, see 7688.

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