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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

5807. 'And his father loves him' means that this truth exists joined to spiritual good from the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'love' as a joining together, dealt with below; from the representation of Israel, who here is the one who 'loves him', as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598; and from the representation of Benjamin, who is the one whom 'his father loves', as new truth, dealt with above in 5804, 5806. The existence of this truth joined to that good is what is meant by 'his father loves him'; and to this truth that good cannot fail to be joined since such truth has its origin in that good. This truth and good exist joined together like father and son, and also like the mental powers of will and understanding since all good has a place in the will and all truth in the understanding. When the will wills what is good this good is implanted in the understanding, where it is given a specific form fashioned according to the essential nature of that good. This form is truth; and as this new truth is born in that manner one can see that it cannot fail to be joined to that good.

[2] As regards love, that it is a joining together, it should be recognized that love is a spiritual joining since it is a joining together of two people's minds, that is, of their thought and will. From this it is evident that regarded essentially love is something purely spiritual, the natural counterpart of which is the delight that comes with companionship and that kind of togetherness. Essentially love is the harmony that results from changes of state and from variations in the forms or substances from which the human mind is built. If that harmony originates in the heavenly form it is heavenly love. From this one may see that love cannot have its origin in anything other than genuine Divine love, which is received from the Lord. This means that love is the Divine flowing into forms and so arranging them that their changes of state and variations may exist in the harmony of heaven.

[3] But loves contrary to this - self-love and love of the world - are not joinings together but separations. They do, it is true, appear to be joinings together; but this is due to one person considering another to be one with him as long as he co-operates with him in making gain, acquiring important positions, or in taking revenge on and persecuting those who oppose him. But as soon as one ceases to show the other person favour, they separate. Heavenly love is different. This is totally averse to doing good to another for selfish reasons; rather it does it for the sake of the good which resides with that other person and which he receives from the Lord, consequently for the sake of the Lord Himself, the Source of that good.