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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

5835. 'And his soul being bound up with his soul' means when more closely joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'soul' as life, so that 'the soul of the one bound up with the soul of the other' means the life of the one in that of the other. Consequently a closer joining together is meant, that is to say, of spiritual good, which is 'Israel', to the truth springing from that good, which is 'Benjamin'. The implications of good being joined as closely to truth as the soul of the one is bound up with that of the other are as follows: A person's mind, which is the real person and is where his life resides, has two powers, one of which is assigned to the truths of faith, the other to the good of charity. The mental power assigned to the truths of faith is called the understanding, while the one assigned to the good of charity is called the will. To enable a person to be truly human these two powers must make a unified whole.

[2] But at the present day those two mental powers have become completely set apart from each other, as may be recognized from the fact that a person can understand something as being true and yet be unable to will it. For a person can see in his understanding that all the Ten Commandments are truths and to some extent that the contents of religious teachings drawn from the Word are truths; indeed he can also confirm that they are truths by the use of his understanding and in addition through the preaching he hears. yet the intentions of his will are at variance with those truths, and so as a consequence are his actions. From this it is evident that those two mental powers present in a person have become set apart from each other. Yet they ought not to be set apart, as may be recognized from the consideration that should they be set apart when he enters the next life ¹ the truth in his understanding will raise him up towards heaven, while the evil intentions in his will will draw him down towards hell, thus leaving him suspended between the two. Even so, the intentions in his will, which constitute his actual life, will carry him downwards, thus taking him inevitably into hell. Therefore to prevent this from happening, those two mental powers have to be joined together. This is effected by the Lord through regeneration - through the implantation of the truth of faith within the good of charity. For in this way a person is provided through the truth of faith with a new understanding, and through the good of charity with a new will; and this gives him two mental Powers which make one complete mind.

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