Arcana Coelestia #38
38. Verse 18 And to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
'The day' is used to mean good, and 'the night' evil. Consequently goods are called 'the works of the day', whereas evils are called 'the works of the night'. 'The light' is used to mean truth, and 'the darkness' falsity, just as the Lord says,
Men preferred darkness rather than light; he who does the truth comes to the light. John 3:19-21.
Verse 19 And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
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.
