The Bible

 

Genesis 1:31

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31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Commentary

 

Evening

  
Evening Street, by Jakub Schikaneder

Evening, a time when the light and heat are fading away, represents a state in which a person -- or a community of people -- is turning away from the Lord, with little desire left to be good and little knowledge left regarding what good is. Evening is often a time of judgment.

In Genesis 19:1, the evening signifies the visitation that comes before judgment. (Arcana Coelestia 2318)

In Genesis 30:16, this signifies the good or truth in a state of good, but in the obscurity that is characteristic of the natural. (Arcana Coelestia 3949)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3949

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3949. 'And Jacob came from the field in the evening' means the good of truth in a state of good, yet also in obscurity such as envelops the natural. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of natural truth, dealt with in 3669, 3677, 3775, 3829; from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church as regards good, dealt with in 2971, and so as good itself; and from the meaning of 'evening' as obscurity, dealt with in 3056, 3833.

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