1858. Verse 17 And the sun went down and there was thick darkness; and behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces.

'And the sun went down' means the final period when the close came. 'And there was thick darkness' means when hatred existed in place of charity. 'And behold, a smoking furnace' means grossest falsity. 'And a flaming torch' means the heat of evil desires. 'Which passed between those pieces' means that it divided off those that belonged to the Church from the Lord.

1260. Since 'nations' in the Most Ancient Church and in the Ancient Church meant goods or good persons, therefore also in the contrary sense they mean evils or evil persons Similarly with 'peoples'; since these meant truths, therefore also in the contrary sense they mean falsities. For in a corrupted Church good is turned into evil, and truth into falsity, as a consequence of which the meaning of nations and peoples in that contrary sense occurs many times in the Word, as in Isaiah 13:4; 14:6; 18:2, 7; 30:28; 34:1-2; Ezekiel 20:13; and in many other places.