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.

425. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. This symbolizes their power to persuade that their falsities are true.

A scorpion symbolizes a deadly persuasiveness, and a scorpion of the earth a deadly persuasiveness in matters having to do with the church, as the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285). For when a scorpion stings a person, it produces a numbness in the limbs, and if it is not treated, death. Persuasiveness does something similar to the intellect. A scorpion, moreover, has the same symbolism in the following places:

...do not be afraid of them or... of their words; they are... thorny..., ...you dwell among scorpions... ...they are brazen-faced and hard-hearted... (Ezekiel 2:4, 6)

(Jesus said to the seventy He had sent out,) "Behold, I give you the power to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, even so that nothing whatever hurts you. (Luke 10:19)