8108. 'And by night in a pillar of fire to give them light' means that when there was a state of dimness, this was moderated by enlightenment from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'night' as a state of obscurity or dimness, dealt with in 1712, 6000; from the meaning of 'fire' as the good of love, dealt with in 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852; and from the meaning of 'giving light' as enlightenment. The reason why Jehovah or the Lord appeared or led the way in a pillar of cloud during the daytime and in a pillar of fire by night was that the state of heaven was represented thereby. In heaven variations and changes of state occur unceasingly; for angels are being perfected constantly, and without unceasing changes of states this perfecting could not possibly take place. In general those variations and changes are like the cyclic changes in the world - like the round of yearly seasons, which are spring, summer, autumn, winter, and spring again, and like the round of times of day, which are morning, midday, evening, night, and morning again. Morning and midday in heaven occurs when the understanding is being enlightened by the Lord; but in this state the light is moderated by a dimming of truth, as if by a cloud. And evening and night there occur when the understanding grows dim; but the Lord moderates that dimness by means of the good of love, as if by means of a fire giving light. These provisions by the Lord are what were represented by the pillar of cloud during the daytime, and the pillar of fire by night, present with the children of Israel in the wilderness.

7324. 'And over their pools' means against the factual knowledge subservient to them. This is clear from the meaning of 'pools' as factual knowledge subservient to truths constituting religious teachings, and in the contrary sense factual knowledge subservient to falsities constituting religious teachings. When 'pools' are mentioned in the Word intelligence based on cognitions of goodness and truth is meant in the spiritual sense, for one takes 'pools' in the Word to refer to gatherings of water, or lakes, and gatherings of water and lakes are cognitions which, when concentrated together, contribute to intelligence, as in Isaiah,

Waters will break forth in ¹ the wilderness, and streams in the plain of the wilderness; and the dry place will become a pool and the thirsty ground wellsprings of water. Isaiah 35:6-7.

[2] In the same prophet,

I will open streams on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into well springs of water. Isaiah 41:18.

Here 'making the wilderness into a pool of water' stands for providing cognitions of goodness and truth, and therefore imparting intelligence, where they had not existed before. In the same prophet,

I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up every plant; and I will make streams into islands, and dry up pools. Isaiah 42:15.

'Pools' stands for much the same. Likewise in David,

Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and streams of waters into a dryness. He turns a wilderness into a pool of water, and parched land into streams of water. Psalms 107:33-35.

In the same author,

At the presence of the Lord, you are in labour, O earth; at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of water. Psalms 114:7-8.

[3] In Isaiah,

The rivers of Egypt will diminish and dry up. Therefore the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river. Therefore its foundations will be broken to pieces - all those making their wages out of pools of the soul. Isaiah 19:6, 8, 10.

'Pools of the soul' stands for the things that constitute intelligence when it is based on cognitions; but since these verses refer to Egypt 'pools of the soul' are the things constituting intelligence when it is based on the facts known to the Church. For 'Egypt' is those facts, and known facts are cognitions, but a lower level of them.

[4] The meaning of 'pools of water' in the contrary sense as evils arising out of falsities, and consequent insanity, is evident in Isaiah,

I will cut off from Babel the name and residue, and son and grandson, and I will turn it into the inheritance of the duck, and into pools of water. Isaiah 14:21, 23.

Since 'pools' are in the contrary sense evils arising out of falsities, and consequent forms of insanity, the hell where such things reign is also meant by them. But in this case a pool is called 'a pool of fire' and 'a pool burning with fire and brimstone', as in Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8. 'Fire and brimstone' stands for self-love and the desires that spring from it, for self-love and its desires are nothing other than fire, not elemental fire but the kind of fire that derives from spiritual fire; and this fire - spiritual fire - makes a person a living being. The fact that different types of love are life-giving fires is evident to anyone who thinks about it. These fires are what are meant by the holy fires that burn in heaven and by the fires of hell. Elemental fire does not exist in those places.

Poznámky pod čarou:

6834. 'And the bramble bush was not at all being consumed' means Divine Truth united to Divine Good in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'the bramble bush' as true factual knowledge, dealt with above in 6831, 6833, but in this instance as Divine Truth in the natural, since the description has reference to the Lord (the natural is meant because there truth takes the form of factual knowledge); and from the meaning of 'not being consumed by the fire' as not being reduced to nothing by the good of Divine Love, 'fire' being the good of Divine Love, see just above in 6832. Thus the fact that it was united to it, that is to say, Divine Truth was united to Divine Good in the natural, is what is meant by the words used here. It is their meaning in the highest sense, in which the Lord is the subject. The implications of this are as follows: The Divine Good of Divine Love is the actual fire of the sun in the next life. That fire is so hot that if its heat were to fall on someone, even on an angel of the inmost heaven, without a shield to moderate it, he would be deprived of all conscious feeling and would be destroyed. This is how hot God's love is in the Lord. But when the Lord was in the world and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, He received in His Human the fire of that love and there united it to truth when He made Himself the law of God. This then is what one should understand by the statement that Divine Truth was united to Divine Good within the natural.