The Bible

 

Genesis 1:14

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14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #414

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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.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7022

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7022. 'And Moses took his wife' means the good linked to [the law from God]. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Lord in respect of the law or truth from God, dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'wife' as the good linked to it, dealt with in 4510, 4823. In the internal sense, and also in the highest sense in which the Lord is the subject, 'the wife' who was married to Moses represents the good that had been joined to truth, the reason for this being that every single thing in the spiritual world and in the natural world has the likeness of a marriage within it. The likeness of a marriage exists wherever there is that which is active and that which is passive; and both must be present with each other wherever anything comes into being. Unless they are joined together nothing can possibly be produced. One reason why the likeness of a marriage is present in all things is that all things have a connection with goodness and truth and so with the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of goodness and truth; and the heavenly marriage has a connection with the Divine marriage, which is a marriage of Divine Good and Divine Truth. And another reason is, as has been stated, that nothing can be produced or brought into being unless there is that which is active and that which is passive, and so unless the likeness of a marriage exists. From all this it is plainly evident that the truth of faith devoid of the good of charity cannot produce anything, and neither can the good of charity devoid of the truth of faith. The two must be joined together to bear fruit and to establish the life of heaven in a person. Regarding the likeness of a marriage present in every single thing, see 1432, 2177, 2516, 5194. And since each detail of the Word has the marriage of goodness and truth within it, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712, 4138 (end), 5138, 6343, each detail of the Word has heaven within it, for heaven constitutes that actual marriage. And since each detail of the Word has heaven within it, each detail has the Lord within it, because the Lord is the All in all of heaven. All this shows how it comes about that 'the wife of Moses' represents the good that had been joined to truth, even in the highest sense in which the Lord is the subject, in the same way as Sarah the wife of Abraham represents such good, dealt with in 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, and also Rebekah the wife of Isaac, in 3012, 3013, 3077.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.