Since the light and warmth of the sun represent the Lord’s wisdom and love, it makes sense that evening, a time when the light and heat are fading away, represents a state in which a person – or a community of people – is turning away from the Lord, with little desire left to be good and little knowledge left regarding what good is.
Often evening is a time of judgment, when the state of darkness is destroyed and a new one built from its remnants – represented as morning, with new light and new warmth.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 22
- Verse 5 And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.
What ‘evening’ means, and what ‘morning’, is recognized from what is said above. ‘Evening’ means every prior state, because it is a state of shade, that is, of falsity and of absence of faith, while ‘morning’ is every subsequent state, because it is one of light, that is, of truth and of cognitions of faith. ‘Evening’ in general means all the things that are man’s own, whereas ‘morning’ means all those that are the Lord’s, as is said through David,
The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken within me, and His word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has said, the Rock of Israel has spoken to me. He is like the morning light, when the sun is rising on a cloudless morning, shining bright, as when after rain tender grass [springs up] from the earth. 2 Sam. 23:4.
Because ‘evening’ is a time when there is no faith, and ‘morning’ when there is, the Lord’s Coming into the world is called ‘the morning’, and the time at which He comes, since faith does not exist at that point, is called ‘the evening’, as in Daniel,
The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Dan. 8:13, 14.
In the Word, ‘morning’ stands in a similar way for every coming of the Lord, and so is a term describing the new creation.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 883
- ‘The dove returned to him at evening time’ means that these started to show themselves a little; and ‘evening time’ is similar to pre-morning twilight. This in like manner becomes clear from that has been stated already at verse 8, and also from the fact that here it is called ‘evening time’. Concerning ‘evening’, see what has been stated in Genesis 1, where six times the statement is made ‘there was evening and there was morning’. ‘Evening’ is a word that has to do with regeneration and indeed with that state when a person is still in near-darkness, or when there is still only a tiny quantity of light showing itself to him. Morning itself is described in verse 13 below by ‘he removed the roof from the ark and saw out’. Because ‘evening’ meant the pre-morning twilight, mention of the evening is made so many times in the Jewish Church. This also is why sabbaths and festivals began from evening onwards, and why Aaron was commanded to light the sacred lamp ‘in the evening’, Exod. 27:21.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2318
- ‘The two angels came to Sodom in the evening’ means the visitation which takes place prior to judgement. This becomes clear from the statements made by the three men, that is, by Jehovah, in the previous chapter, also from what follows in the present chapter, as well as from the meaning of ‘the evening’. In the previous chapter Jehovah said, ‘I will go down and I will see whether the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah have done altogether according to the cry which has come to Me; and if not, I will know’, verses 20, 21. At that point it was shown that those words meant the visitation that takes place prior to judgement. In the present chapter the actual process of visitation is described and after that judgement, as is evident from what follows. That ‘evening’ means the time when visitation takes place will be seen below. As for what visitation is and the fact that visitation takes place prior to judgement, see 2242. In the previous chapter the subject was the corrupt state of the human race and the Lord’s grief and intercession on behalf of those who are immersed in evil and yet with whom some good and truth exist. The present chapter therefore goes on to deal with the salvation of those with whom some good and truth exist, it being these who are represented in this chapter by Lot. At the same time it deals with the destruction of those who are immersed completely in evil and falsity, it being these who are meant here by Sodom and Gomorrah.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2323
- That ‘evening’ means the time when visitation takes place is clear from the meaning of ‘evening’. In the Word states of the Church are compared both to seasons of the year and to times of day- the seasons of the year being summer, autumn, winter, and spring; the times of day, midday, evening, night, and morning. Such a similarity does indeed exist between the two. The state of the Church which is, called ‘evening’ is a state when charity starts to be no more and as a consequence faith to be no more _ thus a state when the Church is ceasing to exist. This evening is that which is followed by night, see 22. But another state of the Church – when charity is shining and as a consequence faith, and so when a new Church is arising – is called ‘evening’. By this is meant the twilight prior to the morning, see 883. Thus the word ‘evening’ means both these states. For when a Church is ceasing to exist the Lord provides for a new one to arise. These two processes take place simultaneously, for without a Church somewhere in the world the human race cannot remain in existence because it would have no conjunction with heaven, as shown in 468, 637, 931, 2054.
[2] In the present chapter both states of the Church are dealt with, that is to say, both the rise of a new Church represented by ‘Lot’ and the destruction of the old meant by ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’, as may be seen from the paragraphs above headed Contents. This is why it is said here that two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and why what happened in the evening is recorded, in verses 1-3, what happened during the night, in verses 4-14, what happened in the morning or at dawn, in verses 15-22, and what happened after sunrise, in verses 23-26.
[3] Since ‘the evening’ means these states of the Church it also means the visitation that takes place prior to judgement; for when judgement, that is, when the salvation of those who have faith and the condemnation of those who have no faith, is imminent, visitation takes place – such visitation being an examination of their character, that is, to see whether any charity or faith is there.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3056
- ‘At evening time’ means a more obscure state at that time. This is clear from the meaning of ‘time’ as state, dealt with in 2625, 2788, 2837, and from the meaning of ‘evening’ as obscurity. For in the Word evening means the state which precedes the final period of a declining Church, the period called night, or else it means the initial state of a rising Church, the state called morning, see 2323. In both cases evening means that which is obscure, but here it is the obscurity which precedes the morning.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3197
- ‘Towards evening’ means as compared with the things below it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘evening’ as obscurity, dealt with in 3056. And since the things of a lower nature in a person, namely those belonging to his natural mind, are in obscurity as compared with the things of a higher nature, namely those belonging to his rational mind, ‘evening’ therefore means those things which, compared with them in other states, are in obscurity, as may be seen from the train of thought in the internal sense. For the subject in the internal sense is truth from the natural that was to be joined to good in the rational. And since the subject at this point is the joining together of these two, and the enlightenment of the natural man through the rational, ‘meditating in the field towards evening’ therefore means a state of the rational that is immersed in good as compared with the things below it. The state of immersion in good is described by Isaac’s dwelling ‘in the land of the south’, that is, dwelling in Divine light. Compared with this the things below the Rational dwelt in evening shade, before, that is, truth and good had been joined together and before the Natural too had been made Divine.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7844
- ‘between the evenings’ means a last and first state. This is clear from the meaning of ‘evening’ as a state of falsity and also a state of ignorance of truth; for the shade of evening is falsity and also ignorance of truth. All the times of day, like all the seasons of the year, mean in the spiritual sense alternating states involving truth and good, 5672, 5962, 6110. The end of them and the beginning of them is the evening; consequently when it says ‘between the evenings’ it implies all those states. At this point therefore ‘between the evenings’ means the state of deliverance of those governed by truth springing from good, and the state of damnation of those governed by falsity arising from evil, states which are meant by the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt when the firstborn there were killed. The fact that all this is called ‘the evening’ is clear from the following in Moses,
You shall sacrifice* the Passover in the evening when the sun goes down, at the fixed time of your departure from Egypt. Deut. 16:4, 6.
[2] From this it is evident that the end of the state of molestations and the beginning of the state of the deliverance of those represented by the children of Israel is meant by ‘between the evenings’. From that beginning the state moves on for them towards morning, which is a raising to heaven. It is evident too that the end of the state of molestations and the beginning of the state of the damnation of those represented by the Egyptians is meant by ‘between the evenings’. But these people’s state moves on towards night, which is a casting into hell. The casting of the latter into hell is represented by being drowned in the Sea Suph, while the raising of the former to heaven is represented by being led into the land of Canaan.
[3] In the Word the expression ‘the evening’ is used in various places, and by it is meant a last phase of a Church and also a first phase of it – a last one with those among whom the Church is coming to an end, and a first with those among whom it is just beginning. This explains why ‘the evening’ primarily means the Lord’s Coming, for that was the time of the end of the former Church and of the beginning of the new. The first state of the new Church is also called ‘the evening’ since a member of the Church starts with light that is dim and advances to that which is clear, and this for him is the morning.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8426
- ‘At evening you will know that Jehovah has brought you out of the land of Egypt’ means that at the end of a former state comes the revelation that they have been delivered. This is clear from the meaning of ‘at evening’ as the end of a former state, dealt with below; from the meaning of ‘knowing’ as being revealed, for what Jehovah causes a person to know is called revelation; and from the meaning of ‘bringing out’ as delivering, as often before, at this point from the molestations that are meant by ‘the land of Egypt’, 7278.
[2] The reason why ‘at evening’ means the end of a former state is that changes of state in the next life resemble the times of day in the world, that is to say, morning, midday, evening, and night or twilight, then morning again. It should be recognized that in the spiritual world changes of state are forever taking place, which all who are there pass through, the purpose of it all being that they may continue unceasingly to be made more perfect. For without changes of states, that is, without variations constantly following one another in sequence, those who are there cannot be made more perfect. The changes of states which follow one another in sequence, resembling the times of day and seasons of the year, are never exactly the same when they come round again, but are varied. The beginning of each state corresponds to morning on earth, and also in the Word is meant several times by ‘morning’. The end of each state however corresponds toevening, and is also called ‘evening’ several times in the Word. When it is morning they are in a state of love; when it is midday they are in a state of light or truth; but when it is evening they are in a state that is dim so far as truths are concerned and rather cool so far as good is concerned, since it is a state in which the delight belonging to natural love rules them. This delight is what is meant by ‘the selav’ which the people received in the evening, and good is what is meant by ‘the manna’ which they received every morning.
[3] All this goes to show what ‘the evening’ means – the end of the state of whatever the subject may be; consequently it may mean the end of a state of the Church. But see what has been shown already about the meaning of ‘the evening’:
In the next life there are changes of state, just as in the world there are changes of times and seasons, 5672, 5962, 6110.
‘Evening’ is the end of a former Church, and ‘morning’ the beginning of a new one, 2323, 7844; therefore ‘evening, and ‘morning’ mean the Coming or arrival of the Lord, 7844.
In heaven there is evening and twilight before morning, but no night; night occurs in hell, 6110.
AR 816
[4] The conjunction is called the Lamb’s marriage supper because it takes place when the church is in its final state, which is called its evening, and suppers take place in the evening. The first state of a new church is in contrast called morning. It is in its evening state that a person is called to the church, and when the people called are present, its morning state commences.
That the final state of the church is called evening and night, and its first state dawn and morning, may be seen in no. 151 above.
Now because the final period of the Jewish Church, thus its evening, occurred when the Lord went to Jerusalem to suffer, therefore the Lord supped with the disciples then and instituted the Eucharist, which is why it is called Holy Supper. It, too, is a means of the Lord’s conjunction with a person of the church, or wedding, if after repentance the person turns to Him directly. Otherwise it occasions His presence and not conjunction.
It can be seen from this what a dinner and dining symbolize elsewhere in the Word.