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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

Footnotes:

1985. Genesis 17

1. And Abram was a son of ninety-nine years, and Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless.

2. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you more and more.

3. And Abram fell on his face, ¹ and God spoke to him, saying,

4. As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

5. And no longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6. And I will make you more and more fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come out of you.

7. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an eternal covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.

8. And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal possession; and I will be their God.

9. And God said to Abraham, And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.

10. This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you, and your seed after you: Every male among you is to be circumcised.

11. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

12. And a son eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, and he who is the purchase of silver, from every son who is a foreigner and not of your seed.

13. He must be circumcised ² who is born in your house or who is the purchase of your silver; and My covenant shall be in your flesh as an eternal covenant.

14. And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul will be cut off from his peoples; he has broken My covenant.

15. And God said to Abraham, Sarai your wife you will not call by her name Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.

16. And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. And I will bless him, and he will become nations; kings of peoples will be from her.

17. And Abraham fell on his face ¹ and laughed, and said in his heart, Will one be born to a son of a hundred years? And will Sarah, a daughter of ninety years, give birth?

18. And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before You!

19. And God said, Truly Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him as an eternal covenant, for his seed after him.

20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and I will make him fruitful and I will multiply him more and more Twelve princes will he beget, and I will make him into a great nation.

21. And I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at the set time next year.

22. And He finished speaking to him, and God went up from over Abraham.

23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all born in his house, and every one purchased with his silver, every male among the men (vir) of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that same day, just as God had spoken to him.

24. And Abraham was a son of ninety-nine years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

25. And Ishmael his son was a son of thirteen years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

26. On that very day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

27. And all the men of his house, he that was born in the house and he who was the purchase of silver, from the son who is a foreigner, were circumcised together with him.

CONTENTS

The subject here is the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, and also the conjunction of the Lord with the human race by means of His Human Essence.

Footnotes: