22. Verse 5 And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

What 'evening' means, and what 'morning', is recognized from what is said above. 'Evening' means every prior state, because it is a state of shade, that is, of falsity and of absence of faith, while 'morning' is every subsequent state, because it is one of light, that is, of truth and of cognitions of faith. 'Evening' in general means all the things that are man's own, whereas 'morning' means all those that are the Lord's, as is said through David,

The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken within me, and His word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has said, the Rock of Israel has spoken to me. He is like the morning light, when the sun is rising on a cloudless morning, shining bright, as when after rain tender grass [springs up] from the earth. 2 Samuel 23:4.

Because 'evening' is a time when there is no faith, and 'morning' when there is, the Lord's Coming into the world is called 'the morning', and the time at which He comes, since faith does not exist at that point, is called 'the evening', as in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:13-14.

In the Word, 'morning' stands in a similar way for every coming of the Lord, and so is a term describing the new creation.

4754. 'Because he is our brother, our flesh' means because that which is received from them is accepted. This is clear from the meaning of 'brother' as a blood relationship by virtue of good, dealt with in 3815, and from the meaning of 'flesh' as that which is one's own in both the genuine and the contrary senses, dealt with in 3813, and so means that it was accepted because it was received from those who belonged to the Church, and that it was accepted by these because it was accepted by those in whom simple good was present. For the Ishmaelites represent those in whom simple good is present, while Joseph's brothers represent the Church that adheres to faith separated from charity. Those in whom simple good is present acknowledge that the Lord's Human is Divine and also that the works of charity must be done so that a person may be saved. Adherents to faith separated from charity know this, and therefore they do not in everyone's presence insist emphatically on faith separated from charity; indeed they hardly mention it among those in whom simple good is present. The main reason for this is that they do not dare to express anything contrary to common sense, thereby robbing themselves of position and gain. For if those in whom simple good is present rejected such ideas about faith separated from charity, they would say that these adherents to those ideas were stupid. Those in whom simple good is present know what love is and what the works of love are; but what faith separated from these may be they do not know. Arguments favouring faith rather than works and concerning the distinction drawn between the Lord's Divine and His Human they would call sophisticated ones beyond their grasp. This being so, to get themselves accepted, and because what is received from them is accepted, the adherents to faith alone choose to compromise their position; for if those truths were annihilated it would be no profit to them and would not give them any superiority, 4751.