413. And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, and a third of them was darkened. This symbolically means that because of their evils springing from falsities and their falsities springing from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth.

A third means, symbolically, all (no. 400). The sun symbolizes love (no. 53). The moon symbolizes intelligence and faith (no. 332). The stars symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word (no. 51). To be darkened means, symbolically, to be unseen and unknown because of evils springing from falsities and falsities springing from evils.

Evils springing from falsities are found in people who adopt falsities having to do with religion and defend them to the point that they appear to be true. Then, when they live in accordance with them, they do evils as a result of the falsities, or the evils of falsity.

On the other hand, falsities springing from evils are found in people who do not regard evils as being sins, and still more in people who employ reasonings issuing from their natural self, and moreover from the Word, to establish in themselves that evils are not sins. Their very arguments are falsities springing from evils, and what we call the falsities of evil.

[2] Darkness symbolizes these falsities because light symbolizes truth, and when the light has been extinguished, darkness is left.

To confirm this we will first cite passages where things similar to those here in the book of Revelation are said regarding the sun, moon and stars, and darkness ensuing upon their being extinguished:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. (Isaiah 13:10, cf. 24:21, 24:23)

When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens..., I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the luminaries of light in the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land... (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

...the day of Jehovah... is at hand... The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. (Joel 2:1, 10)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24-25)

Who, if he elevates his mind, cannot see that in these places it is not the world's sun, moon and stars that are meant.

[3] That darkness symbolizes falsities of various kinds is clear from these passages:

Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! ...It will be one of darkness, and not light... Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light? Very dark, without any brightness? (Amos 5:18, 20)

(The day of Jehovah will be) a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and overcast... (Zephaniah 1:15)

In that day... it will look to the land, which, behold, will be darkness...; and the light will grow dark in its ruins. (Isaiah 5:30, cf. 8:22)

...behold, the darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. (Isaiah 60:2)

Give glory to Jehovah... before He causes darkness...; you look for light, but He turns it into thick darkness. (Jeremiah 13:16)

We look for light, but there is darkness and no brightness; we walk in thick darkness... We stumble at noonday as at twilight; among the living we are as dead men. (Isaiah 59:9-10)

Woe to those... who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. (Isaiah 5:20)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:2, cf. Matthew 4:16)

...the rising sun from on high (has appeared) to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death... (Luke 1:78-79)

If you give your soul to the hungry..., your light shall rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness shall be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58:10)

In that day... the eyes of the blind who are in thick darkness and gloom shall see. (Isaiah 29:18, cf. 42:16; 49:9)

(Jesus said,) "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:35, 46)

When I sit in darkness, Jehovah is a light to me. (Micah 7:8)

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness more than light... (John 3:19, cf. 1:4-5)

If... the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23, cf. Luke 11:34-36)

...this is your hour, and the power of darkness. (Luke 22:53)

Darkness in these places symbolizes falsity arising either from ignorance of truth or from some false tenet of religion, or from a life of evil.

Regarding people caught up in falsities having to do with religion, who are therefore caught up in evils in life, the Lord says that they should be "cast out into outer darkness" (Matthew 8:12, cf. 22:13; 25:30).

2575. 'Behold, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother' means an infinite abundance of rational truth joined to [celestial] good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a thousand' as much and countless, here, as infinite, or an infinite abundance, since the expression has reference to the Lord, a meaning dealt with below; from the meaning of 'silver' as rational truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048; and from the meaning of 'a brother' as celestial good joined to rational truth, like a brother to a sister, 2524, 2557. From this it is evident that 'I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother' means an infinite abundance of rational truth joined to [celestial] good. The reason this abundance was granted to good, meant by 'a brother', but not to truth, is that truth derives from good, not good from truth. Regarding that infinite abundance, see 2572.

[2] That 'a thousand' in the Word means much and countless, and infinite when it has reference to the Lord, is evident from the following places: In Moses,

I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generations of those who hate Me; and showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:5-6; 34:7; Deuteronomy 5:9-10.

And in Jeremiah,

Jehovah shows mercy to thousands and He repays the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. Jeremiah 32:18.

In these two places 'thousands' does not mean a definite number but that which is infinite, for the Lord's mercy, being Divine, is infinite. In David,

The chariots of God are myriad on myriad, thousands on thousands; ¹ the Lord is within them, Sinai within holiness. Psalms 68:17.

Here 'myriads' and 'thousands' stand for things that are countless.

[3] In the same author,

A thousand will fall at your side, and a myriad at your right hand; it will not come near you. Psalms 91:7.

Here also 'a thousand' and 'a myriad' stand for things that are countless, and as it has reference to the Lord, who is meant by 'David' in the Psalms, those numbers stand for all who are His enemies. In the same author,

Our garners are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks bring forth a thousand, and ten thousand in our streets. Psalms 144:13.

Here also 'a thousand', and 'ten thousand' or a myriad, stand for things that are countless. In the same author,

A thousand years in Your eyes are but as yesterday when it is past. Psalms 90:4.

'A thousand years' stands for that which is outside time, thus for eternity, which is infinity of time. In Isaiah,

One thousand at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five will you flee until you are left like a flagstaff on top of a mountain. Isaiah 30:17.

Here 'one thousand' or a chiliad stands for a large indefinite number, 'five' for few, 649. In Moses,

May Jehovah the God of your fathers add to you, as you are, a thousand times, and may He bless you. Deuteronomy 1:11.

Here 'a thousand times' stands for things that are countless, as in everyday speech in which also a thousand is an expression for many, as when one speaks of things being said thousands of times, or done in thousands of ways. Similarly in Joshua,

One man of you will chase a thousand, for Jehovah your God fights for you. Joshua 23:10.

[4] Being a definite calculable number, the word 'thousand' when used in prophetical parts, especially when these are linked together as historical descriptions, appears to mean a thousand. But in fact it means people who are many or countless - an unspecified number. For historical descriptions are of such a nature that they restrict people's ideas to the most immediate and proper meanings that the words possess, as they also do with the names that occur there, when in fact numbers in the Word, like names also, mean real things, as may become clear from what has been shown already concerning numbers in 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252. This explains why some people suppose that the thousand years referred to in Revelation 20:1-7 means a thousand years or periods of time, for the reason, as has been stated, that prophecies are declared in that book through historical descriptions. But in fact 'a thousand years' there means nothing else than that which is large and indeterminate, and elsewhere infinity of time, or eternity.

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