31. That 'the great lights' mean love and faith, and are also mentioned as the sun, the moon, and the stars, is clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

This refers to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who are used in the Word to mean the sensory and the factual. The meaning here is that they will have blotted out love and faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah for making the earth a desolation; for the stars of the heavens and their constellations ¹ will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. The earth quakes before Him, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:10.

[2] In Isaiah, in reference to the Lord's Coming and the enlightenment of gentiles, and so to a new Church, in particular to individuals who are in darkness but who are beginning to receive the light and be regenerated,

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Jehovah will arise upon you, and nations will walk towards your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light. Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20.

In David,

Jehovah makes the heavens by intelligence, He spreads out the earth upon the waters, He makes the great lights, the sun to have dominion over the day, and the moon and stars to have dominion over the night. Psalms 136:5-9.

And in the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:3-4.

[3] In all of these places 'the lights' mean love and faith. Because the lights represented and meant love and faith in the Lord, the Jewish Church was commanded to keep a light burning all the time from evening till morning, for every command which that Church received was representative of the Lord. Concerning this light it is said,

Command the sons of Israel that they take oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the Tent of Meeting outside the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah. [Exodus 27:20-21]

That this means the love and faith which the Lord kindles and causes to shine in the internal man, and by means of the internal man in the external man, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown at that point in Exodus.

Fußnoten:

3584. 'Cursed be those cursing you' means that the person who separates himself will be separated, while 'blessed be those blessing you' means that the person who joins himself will be joined. This is clear from the meaning of 'being cursed' as being separated from, and of 'being blessed' as being joined to, dealt with in 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565. These expressions have reference to truths - 'those cursing' meaning falsities, which sever themselves from truths, and 'those blessing' meaning truths, which link themselves to all other truths. For truths and goods are such that they form themselves into a community and at length constitute so to speak a single political unit. In the same way also such units group themselves together. The origins of all this lie in the form heaven takes. Within that form angels are positioned according to the blood relationships and relationships by marriage that exist between good and truth. In this way all the angels together constitute one kingdom or a single political unit. It is from this heavenly form that truths and goods flow in with man and become so positioned there that a similar form is produced, all of which is effected by the Lord alone. But what is involved here will be seen far more clearly from the correspondence of the Grand Man, which is heaven, with every single thing that exists with man. This correspondence will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with at the ends of chapters. From these considerations it is now evident what Isaac's blessing, pronounced over Jacob but meant for Esau, embodies, namely the fruitfulness of good through the multiplication of truth, and of further fruitfulness of the latter.