408. And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. This symbolizes the appearance of their personal intelligence owing to a conceit arising from a hellish love.

A great star falling from heaven symbolizes the appearance of their personal intelligence owing to a conceit arising from a hellish love, because it appeared to burn like a torch, and because its name was Wormwood, as we are told in the next verse. Both a star and a torch symbolize intelligence, here the people's personal intelligence, because it appeared to burn, and everyone's personal intelligence burns with conceit, a conceit that arises from a hellish love, a love symbolized by the mountain burning with fire (no. 403). Wormwood symbolizes hellish falsity, which gives rise to and composes that intelligence.

To be shown that a star symbolizes intelligence, see nos. 151, 954, and that a torch or lamp does also, no. 796.

410. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. (8:11) This symbolizes hellish falsity, the origin of their personal intelligence, by which they had falsified all the Word's truths.

The star symbolizes their personal intelligence owing to a conceit arising from a hellish love (no. 408). The name symbolizes its character (nos. 81, 122, 165). Wormwood symbolizes hellish falsity, which we will consider next. Waters symbolize truths (no. 50), here the Word's truths, because the subject is faith. A third means, symbolically, all, as said before. Gathering these into a single meaning yields the meaning presented above.

As for wormwood, it symbolizes hellish falsity because of its extreme bitterness, which renders foods and beverages unpalatable. Wormwood symbolizes such falsity, therefore, in the following places:

Behold, I feed... this people with wormwood, and will give them water of gall to drink. (Jeremiah 9:14-15)

...thus says Jehovah... against the prophets: Behold, I feed them with wormwood, and will make them drink water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy has gone out into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:15)

...you turn justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. (Amos 6:12, cf. 5:7)

...that there may not be among you a root bearing gall or wormwood. (Deuteronomy 29:18)

Since the Jewish Church falsified all the Word's truths, like the church which is the subject here, and the Lord represented it by all the events of His suffering, by permitting the Jews to treat Him as they had the Word, because He embodied the Word, therefore "they gave Him vinegar mingled with gall," which is like wormwood, "but when He had tasted it, He would not drink" (Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23, cf. Psalms 69:21).

As that was the character of the Jewish Church, it is therefore described in this way:

He has filled me with bitterness, (and) He has made me drunk on wormwood. (Lamentations 3:15, 19)