414. So that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. This symbolically means that they no longer have in them any spiritual truth or natural truth from the Word serviceable for doctrine and life.

The day's not shining means that they had no light from the sun, and "likewise the night" means that they had no light from the moon and stars. Light in general symbolizes Divine truth, which is truth from the Word. The light of the sun symbolizes spiritual Divine truth, and the light of the moon and stars symbolizes natural Divine truth, both acquired from the Word. Divine truth in the spiritual sense of the Word is like the light of the sun during the day, and Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word is like the light of the moon and stars at night. The spiritual sense of the Word, moreover, flows into its natural sense, as the sun does with its light to the moon, and this reflects the light of the sun indirectly.

In this way also does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten people, even people who know nothing of that sense, when they read the Word in its natural sense. However, it enlightens a spiritual person as light from the sun does his eye, but a natural person as light from the moon and stars does his eye. Everyone is enlightened in accordance with his spiritual affection for truth and goodness, and at the same time in accordance with the genuine truths by which he has opened his rational faculty.

[2] Day and night also have this meaning in the following places:

God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night...." Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule by day, and the lesser light to rule by night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule by day and by night, and to divide the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:14-19)

(Jehovah) made great lights..., the sun to rule by day..., the moon and stars to rule by night... (Psalms 136:7-9)

The day is Yours, (O Jehovah,) the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. (Psalms 74:16)

...Jehovah... gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night... (Jeremiah 31:35)

If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant also may be broken with David My servant... If I have not appointed My covenant with day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth, I also will reject the offspring of Jacob and David... (Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26)

I cite these passages to make known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

536. And to him was given the key of the well of the abyss.- That this signifies communication and conjunction with the hells, is evident from the signification of a key, which denotes opening, of which we shall speak presently and from the signification of the well of the abyss, which denotes the hells where and whence are the falsities of evils, of which we shall speak in the following articles. It is said, that the key of the well of the abyss was given to the star falling from heaven unto the earth, because the star, in this case, signifies the cognitions of truth from the Word falsified by applications to evils and the falsities thence; and the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil with man, open the hells where similar evils and falsities exist. But what is meant by opening the hells, will also be explained in the following article, for it is said, "And he opened the well of the abyss."

[2] It is from appearance in the spiritual world that a key signifies opening; for houses and chambers are there, also doors by which they enter, and locks and keys by which they are opened, and they all signify such things as are in man. The house itself corresponds to the interiors of his outer (animus) mind and his inner (mens) mind; similarly the chambers. The doors correspond to the communications between the interiors of the inner and the outer mind; and the key corresponds to admission to and opening from one part into the other. In a word, everything in the houses in which angels and spirits dwell, corresponds to particular things in them. Few spirits recognise (norunt) this, because few know (sciunt) anything of correspondences; for they are in them and therefore do not reflect upon them. The case is similar with man in the world, few know the qualities of their affections and thoughts because they are in them, and therefore do not reflect upon them, although they are innumerable, as is evident from the analytical particulars that have been discovered by many learned men, all of which are operations of the mind. From these facts it may be known, why a key is here mentioned, and why it signifies admission and opening.

[3] It has a similar signification in other passages in the Word; thus in Matthew:

Jesus said to Peter, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens" (16:19);

this is explained above (n. 206:3); also in Isaiah (chap. 22:21, 22), where the same is said concerning Eliakim, as also explained above (n. 206:4).

Again, in the Apocalypse:

"I have the keys of hell and of death" (1:18), of which above (n. 86).

And again:

"These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth" (3:7); see above (n. 205, 206).

And again:

"And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, and bound him a thousand years" (20:1, 2); this passage will be explained in the following pages.

So again, in Luke:

"Woe unto you lawyers! for ye take away the keys of heaven; ye enter not in yourselves, and them that are entering in ye hinder" (11:52).

They were called lawyers, who searched the scriptures, and taught how they were to be understood. And because the sacred Scripture, or the Word, is the means of communication, and thence conjunction with heaven, as stated in the article above, and because truths open the communication, and the goods of truth establish conjunction, whereas truths falsified, which in themselves are falsities of evil, cause disjunction, therefore it is said that they take away the keys of heaven, that is, that by means of truths they could open communication with heaven to those whom they taught. But because they perverted the Word by applying it to their own loves, and thence to false principles, it is therefore said, that they entered not themselves, and hindered those who were entering. From these things also it is evident, that the key which opened the well, signifies communication and conjunction with the hells by means of the falsities into which the truths of the Word are turned by those who falsify them in applying them to evils of life, and to the false principles thence conceived.