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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

Фусноти:

5891. Verses 6-8 For this [is the situation] - there have been two years of famine in the midst of the land, and there are still five years, in which there will be no ploughing and harvest. And God sent me before you to establish for you a remnant on the earth, and for the bestowal of life on you for a great escape. And now, you did not send me here, but God; add He has established me as father to Pharaoh, and as Lord for all his house; and I have dominion in all the land of Egypt.

'For this' means that this is the situation 'There have been two years of famine in the midst of the land' means a state when there is a lack of good in the natural mind. 'And there are still five years' means the duration of that state until remnants shine forth. 'In which there will be no ploughing and harvest' means that in the meanwhile no good will be seen nor any truth derived from good. 'And God sent me before you' means as ordained by Divine Providence. 'To establish for you a remnant on the earth' means the middle and inmost part of the Church. 'And for the bestowal of life on you' means the spiritual life from there that is bestowed on the truths in the natural. 'For a great escape' means deliverance from damnation. 'And now, you did not send me here' means that they had not handed him over to factual knowledge in the natural. 'But God' means that the Divine had done so. 'And He has established me as father to Pharaoh' means that now the natural was dependent on him 'And as lord for all his house' means that everything in the natural was dependent on him. 'And I have dominion in all the land of Egypt' means that he sets in order the factual knowledge there.