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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

7763. Exodus 11

1. And Jehovah said to Moses, One more plague I will bring onto Pharaoh and onto Egypt; afterwards he will send you away from here. When he sends everything away he will surely drive you out from here.

2. Say now in the ears of the people, and let them ask, a man from his companion and a woman from her companion, vessels of silver and vessels of gold.

3. And Jehovah gave the people favour ¹ in the eyes of the Egyptians. Also the man Moses was exceedingly great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants and in the eyes of the people.

4. And Moses said, Thus said Jehovah, About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt;

5. And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from Pharaoh's firstborn who is to sit on his throne, even to the firstborn of the servant-girl who is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of the beasts.

6. And there will be a great cry in the whole land of Egypt, the like of which has never been, and the like of which will not be again.

7. And against all the children of Israel not a dog will move its tongue, against man (vir) and even against beast, so that you may know that Jehovah makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.

8. And all these your servants will come down to me, and bow down to me, saying, Go out, you, and all the people at your feet! ² And after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in wrath and anger. ³

9. And Jehovah said to Moses, Pharaoh will not hear ⁴ you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

10. And Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; and Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart unyielding, and he did not send the children of Israel away from his land.

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with the damnation of faith separated from charity, which is meant by the killing at midnight of the firstborn of Egypt. In addition it deals with the known facts about what is true and good which were to be passed over to those belonging to the spiritual Church, meant by the vessels of silver and gold which the children of Israel were to borrow from the Egyptians.

Footnotes: