7870. 'On that night' means their state - a state of evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'night' as a state when there is nothing but evil and falsity. For night describes the opposite of day and thick darkness the opposite of [clear] light, and 'day' and '[clear] light' mean a state in which truth and good reign. This being so, 'night' also means the last phase of the Church, for at that time falsities and evils reign because there is no faith or charity, see 2353, 6000. In addition 'night' means when vastation is completed, 7776, and also damnation, 7851. From all this it is evident that the state of those who are in hell is called 'night'. Not that the thick darkness of night envelops them, for they can see one another. But since the state of truth and good which exists in heaven is called 'day', the state of falsity and evil is called 'night'. Also thick darkness exists in hell when any light at all from heaven flows into it; for then the inferior light which they see by is reduced to nothing and becomes thick darkness.

[2] The source of the inferior light they see by is, it is true, light from the Lord coming through heaven; for in the next life no light comes from anywhere else. But among those in hell that light from Him enters by way of the ability to understand what is true. The ability enabling them to understand remains with them, as it does with every human being, however much they may be steeped in evil or falsity. But when that heavenly light passes on into their will - that is to say, into unwillingness to understand - and consequently passes into the evil and falsity that reside with them, the heavenly light is turned for them into inferior light resembling that emitted from a coal fire. And, as has been stated, that inferior light is converted into utterly thick darkness by the light of heaven when this flows into it. Regarding the inferior light in hell, its being like that emitted from a coal fire, see 1528, 3340, 4418, 4571; and regarding its conversion into thick darkness at the presence of the light of heaven, 1783, 3412, 4533, 5057, 5058, 6000. From all this it may be recognized that in the next life the kind of light each one has depends on whether his ability to understand is furnished with truths springing from good or with falsities arising from evil.

2353. 'In the night' means the final period when these two are acknowledged no longer. This is clear from the meaning of 'the night' as a time of darkness when the things of light are seen no longer. The angels did not come in the night but at evening time, but because it was the men of Sodom who spoke and cried out, that is, those who are immersed in falsity and evil, the expression used is not 'in the evening' but 'in the night'. For 'night' in the Word means the period of time and the state when the light of truth exists no longer, but merely falsity and evil, and so is the final period when judgement takes place.

[2] This meaning is met in other places, as in Micah,

Against the prophets who lead the people astray: It is night for you instead of vision, and darkness for you instead of divination, and the sun is setting upon the prophets and the day is becoming black over them. Micah 3:5-6.

'The prophets' here stands for those who teach falsities. 'Night', 'darkness', 'sunset', and 'the day becoming black' stand for falsities and evils.

[3] In John,

If anyone walks in the day he does not stumble; but if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him. John 11:9-10.

Here 'night' stands for falsity deriving from evil. 'The light' stands for truth deriving from good, for just as all the light of truth derives from good, so all the night of falsity does so from evil.

[4] In the same gospel,

I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when nobody can work. John 9:4.

'Day' stands for the period of time and the state when good and truth are present, but 'night' when evil and falsity are present.

[5] In Luke,

I tell you, in that night there will be two upon one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Luke 17:34.

Here 'night' stands for the final period when the truth of faith is no more.

[6] When the children of Israel were going out of Egypt they were commanded 'to go out at midnight', because in this way the vastation of good and truth inside the Church was represented, and also that nothing except falsity and evil reigned there any longer, Exodus 11:4. And when they did, all the firstborn of Egypt were slain at midnight, Exodus 12:12, 29-30. Now because those with whom good and truth are present, who were represented by the children of Israel, are watched over when, like Lot in Sodom, they are among falsities and evils, that night is described in reference to them as 'the night when Jehovah kept watch', Exodus 12:42.