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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

3069. 'And I will drink' means instruction from them in truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'drinking' as receiving instruction. References to 'drinking' occur in various places in the Word, and whenever the subject is the goods and truths of faith, instruction in these and reception of them is meant, as in Isaiah,

The new wine will mourn, the vine will languish, all the merry-hearted will sigh; they will not drink wine with singing, strong drink will be bitter to those drinking it. Isaiah 24:7, 9.

'Not drinking wine with singing' stands for not receiving instruction from the affection for truth and not receiving any consequent delight. 'Strong drink being bitter to those drinking it' stands for repugnance. In the same prophet,

It will be as when a thirsting man dreams, and behold, he is drinking; and he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and the soul is craving. Isaiah 29:8.

'Thirsting' stands for desiring instruction, 'drinking' for receiving it, but in things that are valueless.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Our waters we drink for silver, our timbers come for a price. Lamentations 5:4.

'Drinking waters for silver' stands for receiving instruction but not for nothing, and also attributing truth to oneself. Truth is a free gift and so does not come from oneself but from the Lord, as these words in Isaiah declare,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy! Isaiah 55:1.

And in John,

Jesus said, If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. John 7:37-38.

Here 'drinking' means being given instruction and accepting it. In Luke,

They will say, We ate in Your presence and we drank, and You taught in our streets. But the Lord will say, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:26-27.

Here 'eating and drinking in the Lord's presence' stands for giving instruction in, and proclaiming, the good and truth of faith, doing so from cognitions drawn from the Word, which is meant by 'You taught in our streets'. But because they did it for selfish reasons - for the sake of personal honour and gain, thus not out of any affection for good and truth, and so possessed cognitions of truth and yet led evil lives - it is said, 'I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity!'

[3] In the same gospel, where Jesus was talking to the disciples,

That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

It is evident to anyone that in the Lord's kingdom they do not eat and drink, and that no table is there, thus that something different is meant by 'eating and drinking at the Lord's table in His kingdom', that is to say, enjoying a perception of good and truth. So also with what the Lord says in Matthew,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it [new] with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:28, 29.

'Drinking' stands for giving living instruction in truths and imparting a perception of good and truth. That which the Lord said -

Do not be anxious for your soul, what you are going to eat or what you are going to drink, nor for your body, what you are going to put on. Matthew 6:25, 31; Luke 12:29 - is indicative of spiritual things, that so far as all things of faith are concerned, goodness and truth are imparted by the Lord. In John,

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks from the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up into eternal life. John 4:7-14. 'Drinking' clearly stands for being given instruction in goods and truths, and the acceptance of them.