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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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.

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5136. 'Out of the land of the Hebrews' means from the Church; that is to say, evil caused celestial things to be alienated from it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of the Hebrews' as the Church, 'the land of the Hebrews' being in this case the land of Canaan, for this was the place from which Joseph was taken away. The reason why in the Word 'the land of Canaan' means the Church is that the Church had existed there since most ancient times, first the Most Ancient Church, which came before the Flood; then the Ancient Church, which came after the Flood; after that the second Ancient Church, which is called the Hebrew Church; and at length the Jewish Church. So that the Jewish Church might be established there Abram was commanded to move from Syria to that land, where he received the promise that the land would be given as an inheritance to his descendants. This explains why in the Word 'land' or 'earth' means the Church, and 'the whole land' - an expression found in various places - the universal Church, and why 'a new heaven and a new earth' means a new Church, internal and external.

[2] The reason the Church existed there continuously since most ancient times was that the member of the Most Ancient Church, who was celestial, was the kind of person who saw within every single object in the world and on earth something representative of the Lord's kingdom. Worldly and earthly objects were the means that enabled him to think about heavenly realities. This was where all the representatives and meaningful signs known subsequently in the Ancient Church had their origin, for these had been gathered together by the people meant by 'Enoch', and preserved for the use of others descended from them, 519, 521, 2896. This was how it came about that each specific place, and also each specific mountain or river in the land of Canaan, where the most ancient people lived, came to be representative, as did all the surrounding kingdoms. Now because the Word could not be written unless representatives and meaningful signs were used, including those connected with places, those consecutive dispensations of the Church were to that end kept in existence in the land of Canaan. But after the Lord's Coming the Church was transferred elsewhere because representatives were now done away with. From all this it is evident that the land of Canaan, called the land of the Hebrews here, means the Church.

[3] But see what has been presented already on these matters - in the following places:

The Most Ancient Church, the one before the Flood, existed in the land of Canaan, 567, 3686, 4447, 4454.

Part of the Ancient Church, the Church after the Flood, existed there, 3686, 4447.

The second Ancient Church, called the Hebrew Church, also existed there, 4516, 4517.

Abram was therefore commanded to go there, and the land was given to his descendants, 3686, 4447.

Consequently the land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4240, 4447.

This explains why in the Word 'the land' means the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355, 4447, 4535.