The Bible

 

Genesis 1:21

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21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

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 #10413

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10413. 'And they rose up in the morning of the next day' means arousal by the loves that are their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'rising up in the morning' as arousal by the loves that are their own; for 'the morning' means a state of love, and 'rising up' being raised to that state.

'The morning' means a state of love, see 5962, 8426, 8812, 10114, 10134.

'Rising up' means being raised, 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103.

But when the words 'rising up in the morning' apply to those whose interest lies in external things devoid of what is internal, and so when they apply to the evil, 'rising up' does not mean being raised but an arousal, and 'the morning' does not mean a state of heavenly love but a state of hellish love. When the evil enter that state it is morning for them, for then they enter into the delight of their life because now the loves that are truly theirs take charge of them. The difference between the good and the evil being raised to the state in which their own loves take charge is that the good do then go up whereas the evil go down. For the loves that govern the good are heavenly ones which raise those people and increase as they ascend to heaven, whereas the loves ruling the evil are hellish ones which pull these people down and increase as they descend into hell. From this it is evident that the words 'rising up in the morning' have a contrary meaning when they apply to the evil from what they do when they apply to the good. Also in the next life spirits and angels' states of love and faith change from one to another, just as the heat and light of times of day and seasons of the year do. When morning dawns on those in heaven a state exists which arouses heavenly loves and consequently brings them joy; but when it dawns on those in hell a state exists which arouses hellish loves and consequently brings them torment. For each of the latter then wishes to be the greatest and to possess all that belongs to another; and this gives rise to deep-seated hatred, savagery, and cruelty, which are meant by the fires of hell.

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