4696. 'And behold, the sun and the moon' means natural good and natural truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sun' as celestial good, dealt with in 1529, 1530, 2120, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060; and from the meaning of 'the moon' as spiritual good, which is truth, dealt with in 1529, 1530, 2495. In the highest sense 'the sun' means the Lord because He is seen as the sun by those in heaven who are governed by celestial love, and in the highest sense 'the moon' too means the Lord because He is seen as the moon by those in heaven who are governed by spiritual love. Also He is the source of every ray of light in heaven. Consequently the light received from the sun there is the celestial form of love, which is good, and the light received from the moon there is the spiritual form of love, which is truth. Here therefore 'the sun' means natural good and 'the moon' natural truth, since these two sources of light are used to refer to Jacob and Leah (as is evident from verse 10, where Jacob says, 'Shall we indeed come - I and your mother, and your brothers - to bow down to you to the earth?') and 'Jacob' represents natural good and 'Leah' natural truth, as shown already in various places. The Divine which comes from the Lord is in the highest sense the Divine within Him, but in the relative sense is the Divine going forth from Him. The Divine good received from Him is that which is called celestial, and the Divine truth received from Him is that which is referred to as spiritual. When the rational receives these it is in this case the good and truth of the rational that are meant; but when the natural receives them it is the good and truth of the natural that are meant. Here the good and truth of the natural are meant because the words used refer to Jacob and Leah.

A 'void', or 'Vacuity' denotes a person's state before regeneration. From Arcana Coelestia 7: "The first state is the state which precedes, both the state existing from earliest childhood onwards and that existing immediately before regeneration; and it is called a void, emptiness, and thick darkness.

In Genesis 1:2, this signifies lacking good, as with man's state before regeneration. (Arcana Coelestia 17)

In Psalm 89:39, this signifies that the Jewish nation had destroyed its conjunction with the Lord and the church. (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 339)