6343. Thou art my strength. That this signifies power in good by means of faith, is evident from the representation of Reuben, who here is “thou,” as being faith in the understanding (see n. 6342); and from the signification of “strength,” as being the power that is in good. As regards power, namely, the power of thinking and willing, of perceiving, of doing what is good, of believing, and of dissipating falsities and evils, it is all from good through truth; good is the principal, and truth is only the instrumental (see n. 3563, 4931, 5623). That there is signified the power that is in good, is because “strength” signifies this power, whereas “forces” signify the power of truth; hence it is that by “the beginning of my forces,” as presently follows, is signified the first power in truth; for the word by which “forces” are expressed in the original, is in the Word predicated of truth; but the word by which “strength” is expressed, is predicated of good.

[2] That the Word is holy, and in its interiors most holy, is very evident from the fact that in every detail of the Word there is the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of good and truth, thus heaven; and that in every detail of the inmost sense there is the marriage of the Lord’s Divine Human with His kingdom and church; nay, in the supreme sense there is the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord. These most holy things are in every detail of the Word-a manifest proof that the Word has descended from the Divine. That this is so may be seen from the fact that where mention is made of good, mention is made of truth also; and where the internal is spoken of, the external also is spoken of. There are also words which constantly signify good, and words which constantly signify truth, and words which signify both good and truth; and if they do not signify them, still they are predicated of them, or involve them. From the predication and signification of these words it is plain that, as before said, in every detail there is the marriage of good and truth, that is, the heavenly marriage, and in the inmost and supreme sense the Divine marriage which is in the Lord, thus the Lord Himself.

[3] This appears everywhere, but not evidently except in passages where there are repetitions of the same thing, with only a change of words, as in this chapter, where it is said of Reuben, “Thou art my strength, and the beginning of my forces;” also, “excellent in eminence, and excellent in power.” Here “strength” relates to good, and “forces” to truth; and “excellent in eminence” to truth, and “excellent in power” to good. So in the following verse, of Reuben: “Thou wentest up on thy father’s bed; then thou profanedst it; he went up on my couch.” So in what follows with respect to Simeon and Levi: “Cursed be their anger, for it was vehement, and their wrath, for it was hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (verse 7); where “anger” signifies a turning away from good, and “wrath” a turning away from truth; and “Jacob” is the external of the church, and “Israel” is its internal. Also with respect to Judah: “Thy brethren shall celebrate thee; thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee” (verse 8). Again: “He binds his young ass unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes” (verse 11). With respect to Zebulun: “He shall dwell at the haven of the seas, and he shall be at the haven of ships” (verse 13). With respect to Dan: “He shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow-snake upon the path” (verse 17).

[4] Like things frequently occur in the Psalms and in the prophets, as in Isaiah:

Babel shall not be inhabited to eternity, neither shall it be inhabited even to generation and generation. Her time is near, and it shall come, and her days shall not be prolonged” (Isaiah 13:20, 22).

Seek ye from above in the book of Jehovah, and read ye; no one of these shall be missing, the one shall not long for the other; for with the mouth He hath commanded, and His spirit it hath gathered them. And the same hath cast the lot for them, and the hand hath distributed to them by rule. They shall possess it even eternally, to generation and generation shall they dwell therein” (Isaiah 34:16-17);

and so in a thousand other passages. He who does not know that the expressions in the Word are significative of spiritual and celestial things, and that some are said of good, and some of truth, cannot but believe that such expressions are mere repetitions, said merely to fill up, and therefore in themselves useless; and from this it is that they who think wrongly about the Word, regard such expressions as ground for contempt; when yet the veriest Divine things are stored therein, namely, the heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself; and the Divine marriage, which is the Lord Himself. This sense is the “glory” in which the Lord is, and the literal sense is the “cloud” in which is this glory (Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:27 nesis 18, and also n. 5922)

6000. And God said to Israel in the visions of the night. That this signifies obscure revelation, is evident from the signification of “God said in the visions” as being revelation. For revelations were made either by dreams, or by night visions, or by day visions, or by speech within the man, or by speech without him from angels that were seen, and also by speech without him from angels that were not seen. By all these are signified in the Word various kinds of revelations, and by a “vision of the night,” obscure revelation; for “night” signifies what is obscure (see n. 1712, 2514), and obscurity in the spiritual sense is that truth does not appear. Moreover in the Word “night” signifies falsity from evil, for they who from evil are in falsity are in the obscurity of night. Thus all who are in hell are said to be in night. They indeed are in a kind of light there, for they see one another; but this light is like the light from a hard-coal fire, and is turned into darkness and thick darkness when heavenly light flows in. Hence it is that they who are in hell are said to be in night, and that they are called angels of night and of darkness; and on the other hand they who are in heaven are called angels of day and of light.

[2] That “night” denotes what is obscure, and likewise what is false, may also be seen from the following passages in the Word.

In John:

Jesus said, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walk in the day, he stumbleth not. But if anyone walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him (John 11:9-10);

“twelve hours” denote all states of truth; “walking in the day,” denotes to live in truth; and “walking in the night,” to live in falsity.

[3] Again:

I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work (John 9:4);

“day” denotes truth from good; and “night,” falsity from evil. It is the first time of the church which is meant by “day,” for then truth is received, because men are in good; and it is the last time of the church which is meant by “night,” for then nothing of truth is received, because men are not in good. For when man is not in good, that is, when he is not in charity toward the neighbor, then even if the veriest truths are told him, he receives them not, for then it is not at all perceived what is true, because the light of truth falls into such things as are of the body and the world, which alone are attended to, and alone are loved and estimated as real; but not into such things as are of heaven, because with such men these are relatively of little or no account. Thus the light of truth is absorbed and smothered in what is densely dark, as is the light of the sun in what is black. This is signified by “the night cometh when no one can work.” It is also such a time at this day.

[4] In Matthew:

While the bridegroom tarried, all the virgins slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh (Matthew 25:5-6);

“midnight” also denotes the last time of an old church, when there is nothing of faith because nothing of charity, and also the first time of a new church.

In Luke:

I say unto you, In that night there shall be two upon one bed; the one shall be accepted, and the other shall be left (Luke 17:34);

here in like manner “night” denotes the last time of an old church and the first of a new one.

[5] In Matthew:

Jesus said to the disciples, All ye shall be scandalized against Me in this night. And to Peter, In this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice (Matthew 26:31, 34).

That it pleased the Lord to be taken at night, signified that with them at that time Divine truth was in the obscurity of night, and that falsity from evil was in its place. And that Peter denied the Lord thrice in that night, also represented the last time of the church, when the truth of faith is indeed taught, but is not believed. Such a time is “night,” because the Lord is then utterly denied in the hearts of men; for the twelve apostles, like the twelve tribes of Israel, represented all things of faith (n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3354, 3488, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060), and Peter represented the faith of the church (see the preface to Genesis 18; also to Genesis 22; and also n. 3750, 4738). Therefore it was that the Lord said unto Peter that “in that night he should deny Him thrice;” and to the disciples, “all ye shall be scandalized against Me in this night.”

[6] In Isaiah:

One calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night 21:11-12, speaking of the coming of the Lord, which is the “morning,” which coming was when there was no longer any spiritual truth in the earth, and which is “night.”

[7] In Zechariah:

It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah; not day nor night; for about the time of evening there shall be light. It shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; and Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall Jehovah be one, and His name one (Zech. 14:7-9); speaking here likewise of the Lord and also of a new church. “Jehovah who shall be king, and Jehovah being one and His name one,” is the Lord as to the Divine Human, which should be one with the Divine Itself which is called the “Father.”

Before the coming of the Lord the Divine Human was Jehovah in the heavens, for by passing through the heavens He presented Himself as a Divine Man before many on earth. But at that time the Divine Human was not so completely one with the Divine Itself which is called the “Father,” as when the Lord made it in Himself altogether one. That before this they were as it were distinct, is plain from the nineteenth chapter of Genesis, where it is said, “Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Jehovah out of heaven” (verse 24; see n. 2447).

The “day when it was not day nor night,” is when the Lord was born; for it was then “evening,” that is, the end of the representatives of the church; the “light about the time of evening” is the Divine truth which would then appear.

[8] In Isaiah:

Surely in the night Ar has been laid waste, Moab has been cut off; surely in the night Kir of Moab has been laid waste (Isaiah 15:1);

“Moab” denotes natural good, and in the opposite sense adulterated good (n. 2468); its vastation is here treated of. Vastations are said to be effected “in the night,” because truth is then obscured, and falsity enters.

In Jeremiah:

The great city weeping shall weep in the night, and her tear shall be on her cheek (Lam. 1:2); describing the desolation of truth; “night” denotes falsity.

[9] In David:

Thou shalt not be afraid of the dread of night, of the arrow that flieth by day, nor of the death that wasteth at noonday (Psalms 91:5-6); the “dread of night” denotes falsities of evil which are from hell; the “arrow that flieth by day,” falsity which is openly taught, whereby good is destroyed; the “death that wasteth at noonday,” evil which is lived in openly, whereby truth is destroyed.

In John:

The gates of the holy Jerusalem shall not be shut by day; for there is no night there (Revelation 21:25).

There shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light (Revelation 22:5).

“There shall be no night there” denotes that there shall be no falsity.

In Daniel:

Daniel said, I saw in my vision when it was night. After this I saw in the visions of the night (Daniel 7:2, 7); “visions of the night” here also denote obscure revelation, for in this passage the four beasts are treated of, and their horns, and many things which belong to obscure revelation.

It is similar with the horses of various colors which Zechariah saw “in the night” (Zech. 1:8, and following verses).