8106. 'During the daytime in a pillar of cloud' means that when there was a state of enlightenment, this was moderated by a dimming of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'during the daytime' or 'in the day' as in a state of enlightenment, for the times of day - morning, midday, evening, and night - correspond to degrees of enlightenment in the next life, that is, of intelligence and wisdom, 5672, 5962, 6110, so that 'the day' is a state of enlightenment or clear perception, and 'the night' a state of unenlightenment or dimmed perception, 7680; and from the meaning of 'cloud' as a dimming of truth, since a cloud takes away the brilliance of the light from the sun and also moderates it.

[2] Various places in the Word say that Jehovah appeared in a cloud, that He was clothed with a cloud, or that 'clouds were under His feet'. In those places 'cloud' is used to mean a dimming of truth; in particular the literal sense of the Word is meant, for in comparison with the internal sense the literal sense is a dimmed presentation of truth, see the Preface to Genesis 18, and also 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752. This was meant by 'the cloud' when the Lord appeared in glory to Peter, James, and John, Luke 9:34; when He appeared to the people from Mount Sinai, and to Moses when he went in to Him there, Exodus 19:9; 20:21; 24:15-18; 34:5. The same was also meant by what the Lord declared so many times, that He would come in the clouds of heaven, Matthew 24:30; 26:63-64; Mark 13:26; 14:61-62; Luke 21:27.

[3] The literal sense of the Word is called 'a cloud' because the internal sense, which is called 'the glory', cannot be understood by anyone unless he has been regenerated and therefore enlightened. If the internal sense of the Word, or God's truth in its glory, were to appear in front of someone who has not been regenerated it would be like thick darkness in which he would see absolutely nothing, and also would leave him blind, that is, with no belief at all.

From all this one may see what the description 'a cloud during the daytime' means, namely a dimming of truth and, when it has reference to the Word, the literal sense.

[4] The expressions 'in a pillar of cloud' and 'in a pillar of fire' are used because 'a pillar' means a load-bearing support, as in Jeremiah 1:18; Psalms 75:3; Revelation 3:12; Job 9:6; and it is used to refer to the natural level, since the natural level is a kind of support or pedestal for the spiritual level. For the spiritual level terminates at the natural level and rests on it. This explains why the feet of an angel coming down from heaven looked like pillars of fire, Revelation 10:1; for the natural level is meant by 'feet', 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328.

2625. 'At the appointed time' means when the Rational was such that it was receptive. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'time'. There are two things which appear to be indispensable while a person lives in the world because they exist as essential elements of the natural order - those two things being space and time. Living in the world or natural order therefore is living in space and time. But these two cease to have any existence in the next life. They do, it is true, appear to exist to some extent in the world of spirits, the reason for this being that spirits recently arrived from life in the body bring with them mental pictures of natural things. But subsequently they perceive that space and time do not exist in that life but states instead, and that states in the next life correspond to extensions of space and of time within the natural order - states in respect to Being corresponding to those of space, and in respect to Manifestation to those of time. Regarding space or place, see 1274, 1379, 1380, 1382.

[2] From this anyone may see what kind of mental pictures a person is able to have while in the world or natural order regarding things which belong to the next life and about many arcana of faith. He may see that such a person is unwilling to believe those things unless he can take them in by means of objects that exist in the world, indeed by sensory evidence. For he cannot do other than suppose that if he were to divest himself of his mental pictures that have been formed from space and time, more so to divest himself of space and time themselves, he would cease to be anything at all and so would have nothing left to him from which he could perceive with his senses or have thoughts of anything apart from that which was unintelligible to him. But in actual fact quite the reverse is the case: the life of angels is such that it is the wisest and happiest of all.

[3] This is the reason why people's ages mentioned in the Word do not in the internal sense mean ages but states, so that in this verse 'old age' does not mean old age. Nor does any number mean a number but some specific state, as in the case of 'a hundred years' mentioned further on. From this it now becomes clear that 'the appointed time' means the state when the rational was such that it was receptive.

[4] As regards the specific teaching presented here - that the Divine Rational received being and was given manifestation from the Lord's Divine spiritual united to His Divine celestial, when the days had been completed for him to cast off the human and when the Rational was such that it was receptive (meant in the internal sense by 'Sarah conceived and bore to Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time') - the following needs to be known:

The human has its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, see 2106, 2194. The Lord advanced gradually towards the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, and of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, 1864, 2033, 2523.

He did so by His own power, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, through continuing temptations and repeated victories, 1690, 1737, 1813, and through receiving revelations repeatedly from His own Divine, 1616, 2500, till at length He cast out the whole human from the mother, 1414, 1444, 2574.

And in this way He made His Human - as to the Rational - Divine, as taught by the things that occur in this verse.

From all this it is evident how the explanation 'when the days had been completed for Him to cast off the human and when the Rational was such that it was receptive' is to be understood.

[5] Some idea of this matter may be had from what happens to people who are being regenerated. The celestial things of love, and the spiritual things of faith, are instilled into them by the Lord not all at once but gradually; and when by means of those things a person's rational has become such that it is able to be receptive, he is for the first time becoming regenerate, mostly by means of temptations in which he overcomes. While these experiences are taking place the days are being completed to cast off the old man and put on the new. Regarding man's regeneration, see 677, 679, 711, 848, 986, 1555, 2475.