Arcana Coelestia #21
21. Verses 4-5 And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.
The light is called good, because it comes from the Lord, who is good itself. 'The darkness' is those things which were there prior to the person's new conception and birth. They were seen as light, because evil was seen as good, and falsity as truth. But in reality they are darkness and things proper to that person which are lingering on. All things that are the Lord's, being things of light, are compared to the day, and all that are man's own, being those of thick darkness, are compared to the night, as is done many times in the Word.
Genesis 21:22-34
22
And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:
23
Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.
24
And Abraham said, I will swear.
25
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
26
And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day.
27
And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
28
And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29
And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
30
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.
31
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.
32
Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
33
And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
34
And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
