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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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.

Notes de bas de page:

6775. 'And the priest of Midian had seven daughters' means holy things belonging to that Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'a priest's daughters' as things that belong to the Church, for 'a daughter' means a Church, see 2362, 3963, 6729, and 'a priest' the good of love, 1728, 3670, 6148, so that 'a priest's daughters' means a Church so far as its good is concerned; from the meaning of 'Midian' as people who are guided by the truths that go with simple good, dealt with just above in 6773; and from the meaning of 'seven' as that which is holy, dealt with in 395, 433, 716, 881, 5265, 5268. Thus 'the priest of Midian had seven daughters' means holy things belonging to the Church among those who are guided by the truths that go with simple good. The people said to be governed by simple good are those who keep up the external practices of the Church and who in simplicity take the Word literally, each one believing it according to his own understanding. They also lead lives that accord with what they believe, and so are governed by good, depending on the nature of that good, which is determined by the truths that guide them. That good brings an internal dimension of the Church to these people, but because they are not guided by truths of a more internal kind, the good entering in becomes something general and accordingly vague, since spiritual light is unable to fall on particular aspects and thereby illuminate things distinctly. The kind of people spoken of here have heaven granted to them in the next life as determined by the nature of their good, which depends on their truths. People such as these are meant here by 'Midian'; but properly speaking they are those outside the Church who lead a good life in keeping with their type of religion.