414. So that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. This symbolically means that they no longer have in them any spiritual truth or natural truth from the Word serviceable for doctrine and life.

The day's not shining means that they had no light from the sun, and "likewise the night" means that they had no light from the moon and stars. Light in general symbolizes Divine truth, which is truth from the Word. The light of the sun symbolizes spiritual Divine truth, and the light of the moon and stars symbolizes natural Divine truth, both acquired from the Word. Divine truth in the spiritual sense of the Word is like the light of the sun during the day, and Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word is like the light of the moon and stars at night. The spiritual sense of the Word, moreover, flows into its natural sense, as the sun does with its light to the moon, and this reflects the light of the sun indirectly.

In this way also does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten people, even people who know nothing of that sense, when they read the Word in its natural sense. However, it enlightens a spiritual person as light from the sun does his eye, but a natural person as light from the moon and stars does his eye. Everyone is enlightened in accordance with his spiritual affection for truth and goodness, and at the same time in accordance with the genuine truths by which he has opened his rational faculty.

[2] Day and night also have this meaning in the following places:

God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night...." Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule by day, and the lesser light to rule by night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule by day and by night, and to divide the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:14-19)

(Jehovah) made great lights..., the sun to rule by day..., the moon and stars to rule by night... (Psalms 136:7-9)

The day is Yours, (O Jehovah,) the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. (Psalms 74:16)

...Jehovah... gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night... (Jeremiah 31:35)

If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant also may be broken with David My servant... If I have not appointed My covenant with day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth, I also will reject the offspring of Jacob and David... (Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26)

I cite these passages to make known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

4989. 'And said, Lie with me' means that it desired a joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'lying with me' as a joining together, that is to say, of spiritual natural good, meant here by 'Joseph', and unspiritual natural truth, meant by 'his lord's wife'; but this would be an unlawful joining together. Joinings together of good and truth, and of truth and good, are described in the Word by means of marriages, see 2727-2759, 3132, 3665, 4434, 4837, and therefore unlawful joinings together are described by means of liaisons with prostitutes. Here therefore the joining of unspiritual natural truth to spiritual natural good is described by his lord's wife's wanting to lie with him. No joining together of these exists internally, only externally, where they appear to be joined together but in fact have no more than a mere association with each other. This also is the reason why it says that she took hold of him by his garment and that he left his garment in her hand; for in the internal sense 'a garment' means what is external, by means of which the two only appear to be joined, that is, they have no more than a mere association with each other, as will be seen below at verses 12-13.

[2] These meanings cannot be seen as long as the mind or thought concentrates solely on the historical details, for in that case there is no thought of anything else than Joseph, Potiphar's wife, and Joseph's flight after leaving behind his garment. But if the mind or thought were to concentrate on what is meant spiritually by 'Joseph', 'Potiphar's wife', and the 'garment', it would be seen that some spiritual but unlawful joining together was also meant here. When this is so, the mind or thought is able to concentrate on what is meant spiritually, provided the belief is present that the historical Word is Divine not by virtue of the mere historical narrative but by virtue of what is spiritual and Divine contained within it. If a person possessed such a belief he would know that its spiritual and Divine content was concerned with the goodness and truth present in the Church and in the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense with the Lord Himself. When a person enters the next life, which happens immediately after death, if he is one of those who are being raised up to heaven he will come to realize that he retains none of the historical details recorded in the Word. He knows nothing whatever about Joseph, nor anything about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but only about the spiritual and Divine realities which he has learned from the Word and made part of his own life. These therefore are the kinds of matters inwardly present in the Word, which are called its internal sense.