21. Verses 4-5 And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.

The light is called good, because it comes from the Lord, who is good itself. 'The darkness' is those things which were there prior to the person's new conception and birth. They were seen as light, because evil was seen as good, and falsity as truth. But in reality they are darkness and things proper to that person which are lingering on. All things that are the Lord's, being things of light, are compared to the day, and all that are man's own, being those of thick darkness, are compared to the night, as is done many times in the Word.

488. As it were for half an hour.- This signifies a corresponding time, or pause, before all things were prepared to undergo the changes which follow, [as is evident from what now follows]. It is said "for half an hour" because the half and a half signify as much as is correspondent and what is sufficient, and an hour signifies a pause. Hour is frequently mentioned in the Word, where it signifies duration, greater or less, except that there is no thought concerning the time of any hour; and when a number is added, as when it is said the first, the second, the sixth, the tenth, or twelfth hour, duration of state is signified, and also the quality of the state, according to the signification of the number added. But concerning the signification of hour; see above (n. 194); and that half signifies as much as is correspondent, and as much as is sufficient, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 10255).