75. 4.

In that day I will visit, and make an end of the kingdom of Israel (Hosea 1:4-5).

The days of visitation will come, the days of retribution will come, He will visit their sins (Hosea 9:7, 9).

They shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us (Hosea 10:8).

They shall be laid waste as in the day of battle (Hosea 10:14).

The controversy of Jehovah with Judah, to visit upon Jacob, according to his ways, according to his doings will He recompense him (Hosea 12:3).

The day of Jehovah is great and very terrible, who then shall sustain it (Joel 2:11; 3:4).

A day of battle and a day of tempest (Amos 1:14).

Then the powerful one shall not deliver his soul, and the strong of heart among the heroes shall flee away naked in that day (Amos 2:14, 16).

He will visit upon them all their iniquities, in that day (Amos 3:2, 14).

If they dig into hell, if they ascend to the heavens or in the depth of the sea, etc., thence will I draw them out (Amos 9:2-6).

Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah; to what end is the day of Jehovah for you? it is a day of darkness and not of light. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? and thick darkness and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18, 20.)

The end is come upon my people Israel. Wherefore the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day: there shall be many a dead body (Amos 8:2-3).

It is called the day of destruction, the day of straitness (Obadiah 12-14, 18, 18).

The day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy retribution shall return upon thy head. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness (Obadiah 14, 15, 17, 17).

51. Having in His right hand seven stars. (1:16) This symbolizes all concepts of goodness and truth in the Word, which exist therefore in angels in heaven and in people in the church.

When angels are below the heavens, a great number of what look like little stars appear around them, and likewise around spirits who, when they lived in the world, acquired concepts of goodness and truth for themselves from the Word, or truths of life and doctrine. These little stars appear fixed, however, in the case of those who possess genuine truths from the Word, but wandering in the case of those who possess falsified truths.

(Regarding these little stars, and the stars appearing in the sky there, I could relate marvelous things, but that is not the subject of this work.)

It is apparent from this that stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word.

The Son of Man's having them in His right hand means, symbolically, that they come from the Lord alone through the Word. Seven symbolically means all, as may be seen in no. 10 above.

[2] That stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word may be seen also from the following passages:

(I will) turn the earth into a wasteland... ...the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. (Isaiah 13:9-10)

The earth that will be turned into a wasteland is the church, in which, having been laid waste, concepts of goodness and truth in the Word are not seen.

When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens... All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

Darkness upon the land is the darkness of falsities in the church.

The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. (Joel 2:10; 3:15)

...after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24)

The stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs... (Revelation 6:13)

...a star (fell) from heaven to the earth. (Revelation 9:1)

Stars falling from heaven do not mean stars, but concepts of goodness and truth perishing.

[3] This is still more apparent from the statement that a dragon swept down a third of the stars from heaven, in Revelation 12:4, and the statement that a he-goat cast down some of the stars and trampled them, in Daniel 8:8-11. That is why the next verse in Daniel goes on to say that it cast truth to the ground (Daniel 8:12).

Stars also symbolize concepts of goodness and truth in the following passages:

(Jehovah) counts... the stars; He gives all of them names. (Psalms 147:4)

Praise (Jehovah), all you stars of light! (Psalms 148:3)

The stars from their courses fought... (Judges 5:20)

From this it is apparent what is meant by the following statement in Daniel:

The intelligent shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, ...those turning many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)

The intelligent are people concerned with truths, and those turning many to righteousness are those concerned with goodness.