Arcana Coelestia #31
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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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:
1. literally, orions
Matthew 8
1
When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2
Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."
3
Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be made clean." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4
Jesus said to him, "See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
5
When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,
6
and saying, "Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented."
7
Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8
The centurion answered, "Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9
For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and tell another, 'Come,' and he comes; and tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10
When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, "Most certainly I tell you, I haven't found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
11
I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,
12
but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13
Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed." His servant was healed in that hour.
14
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.
15
He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him.
16
When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;
17
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."
18
Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
19
A scribe came, and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20
Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
21
Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father."
22
But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
23
When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24
Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.
25
They came to him, and woke him up, saying, "Save us, Lord! We are dying!"
26
He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27
The men marveled, saying, "What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
28
When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.
29
Behold, they cried out, saying, "What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"
30
Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.
31
The demons begged him, saying, "If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs."
32
He said to them, "Go!" They came out, and went into the herd of pigs: and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the water.
33
Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.
34
Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
