5219. 'And behold, it was a dream' means in that obscurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'a dream' as a state that was obscure, dealt with in 1838, 2514, 2528, 5210. The word obscure is used because truths have been banished; indeed where there are no truths obscurity exists. The light of heaven flows solely into truths, that light being Divine Truth received from the Lord, the source of truths residing with angels and spirits, and with men too. They are subsidiary lights; but they derive their light from Divine Truth through the good present within those truths. For unless truths are rooted in good, that is, unless truths have good present within them, they cannot acquire any light from the Divine. They acquire it through good, for good is like a fire or flame, and truths are like lights radiating from it. In the next life there are also some truths that shine which are devoid of good; but the light shining from them is a wintry light which turns into thick darkness on the arrival of the light of heaven.

[2] From all this one may now see what is meant here by obscurity, namely a natural state when facts that are good are banished by those that are useless. Such obscurity is one that can receive a general enlightenment, 5208, 5218. But obscurity caused by falsities can by no means receive any enlightenment, for falsities are so many masses of darkness which blot out the light of heaven and in so doing bring obscurity which cannot be lightened until those falsities have been removed.

2514. 'In a dream in the night' means a perception that was obscure. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'a dream' and at the same time of 'the night'. When perception is the subject, 'a dream' means something obscure in contrast to wakefulness, and still more when the expression 'a dream in the night' is used. The reason the Lord's initial perception is called obscure is that it existed within the human which He was to cast off and from which He was to dispel the shadows. Though it originated in the Divine the Lord's ability to perceive nevertheless existed within the human, the nature of which is such that it does not immediately receive light itself but gradually as the shadows there are dispelled. The bringing of Himself into something less obscure as regards the doctrine of faith is what is meant in verse 6 by a second reference - but without mention of 'the night'- to God's coming to Abimelech 'in the dream'. And His entry after this into clear perception is what is meant in verse 8 by 'in the morning Abimelech rose up early.'