31. That 'the great lights' mean love and faith, and are also mentioned as the sun, the moon, and the stars, is clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

This refers to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who are used in the Word to mean the sensory and the factual. The meaning here is that they will have blotted out love and faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah for making the earth a desolation; for the stars of the heavens and their constellations ¹ will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. The earth quakes before Him, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:10.

[2] In Isaiah, in reference to the Lord's Coming and the enlightenment of gentiles, and so to a new Church, in particular to individuals who are in darkness but who are beginning to receive the light and be regenerated,

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Jehovah will arise upon you, and nations will walk towards your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light. Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20.

In David,

Jehovah makes the heavens by intelligence, He spreads out the earth upon the waters, He makes the great lights, the sun to have dominion over the day, and the moon and stars to have dominion over the night. Psalms 136:5-9.

And in the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:3-4.

[3] In all of these places 'the lights' mean love and faith. Because the lights represented and meant love and faith in the Lord, the Jewish Church was commanded to keep a light burning all the time from evening till morning, for every command which that Church received was representative of the Lord. Concerning this light it is said,

Command the sons of Israel that they take oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the Tent of Meeting outside the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah. [Exodus 27:20-21]

That this means the love and faith which the Lord kindles and causes to shine in the internal man, and by means of the internal man in the external man, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown at that point in Exodus.

Notas de rodapé:

9206. 'And your wives will become widows' means that forms of good with them will perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'wives' (mulier) as forms of good, dealt with in 6014, 8337, the reason why they mean forms of good being that the marriage of a man (vir) and a woman (mulier) represents truth and good joined together ('a man' means truth, and 'a woman' good, see 4510, 4823); and from the meaning of 'widows' as those who have good but not truths, and still have a desire for truths, 9198. But those who have no desire for truths are meant here, since the evil who afflict widows are the subject. So it is that 'widows' is used here to mean those with whom forms of good perish.

[2] The situation is that the good of people who have good but no desire for truth is not real good, because truths are what make good real good. For good receives its specific quality from truths, see 9154. Good joined to truth is what is meant by spiritual good; therefore when truth perishes with a person, so too does good, and conversely when good perishes, so too does truth. For the bond between them is severed and dissolved, see 3804, 4149, 4301, 4302, 5835, 6917, 7835, 8349, 8356. Consequently good is recognized from this, that it has a desire and an affection for truth for the sake of good and useful service, thus for life's sake. Regarded in itself, the actual desire or affection for truth for life's sake is an affection for being joined to it. It is like food or bread that desires water or wine for the sake of combining with it; for combined with each other they provide nourishment. It is also like heat and light. Light combined with heat causes all things on the planet to spring forth and grow up; but if the combination is dissolved that which has sprung forth and grown up dies.

[3] As it is with good, so it is with all delight, pleasantness, sweetness, agreement, and harmony; these joys are such not of themselves but by virtue of the things they hold within them. Good and truth joined together make them such and determine their specific character. But what it is within them that has connection with good and what with truth is something that people who have understanding may recognize if they ponder on the matter; for everything whatever in the world, and everything whatever in heaven, thus in the whole of creation, has connection with good and with truth. Everything that has sprung forth from them has connection with both at the same time, thus with both joined together. This explains why all things were likened by the ancients to marriages, see 54, 55, 1432, 5194, 7022, and why every detail of the Word has the marriage of goodness and truth within it, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712, 4138 (end), 5138, 5502, 6343, 7945, 8339 (end).