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Micah 4

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1 And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, The mount of the house of Jehovah Is established above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the hills, And flowed unto it have peoples.

2 And gone have many nations and said, Come and we go up to the mount of Jehovah, And unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He doth teach us of His ways, And we do walk in His paths, For from Zion doth go forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

3 And He hath judged between many peoples, And given a decision to mighty nations afar off, They have beaten their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to pruning-hooks, Nation lifteth not up sword unto Nation, Nor do they learn war any more.

4 And they have sat each under his vine, And under his fig-tree, And there is none troubling, For the mouth of Jehovah of Hosts hath spoken.

5 For all the peoples do walk, Each in the name of its god -- and we, We do walk in the name of Jehovah our god, To the age and for ever.

6 In that day -- an affirmation of Jehovah, I do gather the halting one, And the driven away one I bring together, And she whom I have afflicted.

7 And I have set the halting for a remnant, And the far-off for a mighty nation, And reigned hath Jehovah over them in mount Zion, From henceforth, and unto the age.

8 And thou, O tower of Eder, Fort of the daughter of Zion, unto thee it cometh, Yea, come in hath the former rule, The kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now, why dost thou shout aloud? A king -- is there none in thee? Hath thy counsellor perished, That taken hold of thee hath pain as a travailing woman?

10 Be pained, and bring forth, O daughter of Zion, As a travailing woman, For now, thou goest forth from the city, And thou hast dwelt in the field, And thou hast gone unto Babylon, There thou art delivered, There redeem thee doth Jehovah from the hand of thine enemies.

11 And now, gathered against thee have been many nations, who are saying: `Let her be defiled, and our eyes look on Zion.'

12 They have not known the thoughts of Jehovah, Nor have they understood His counsel, For He hath gathered them as a sheaf [into] a threshing-floor.

13 Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion, For thy horn I make iron, And thy hoofs I make brass, And thou hast beaten small many peoples, And I have devoted to Jehovah their gain, And their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth!

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 312

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312. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. This symbolizes an understanding of the Word among them extinguished as to truth, thus extinguished as regards their doctrine.

We showed above that a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. Blackness symbolizes a lack of truth, thus falsity, because blackness is the opposite of whiteness, and whiteness is predicated of truth (nos. 167, 231, 232). Whiteness is also the result of light, while blackness results from darkness, thus from the absence of light, and light means truth.

In the spiritual world, however, blackness has a double origin, one resulting from the absence of a flaming light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the other resulting from the absence of a bright white light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's spiritual kingdom. The first kind of blackness has the same symbolism as a thick darkness, the second the same as a gloomy darkness. The two kinds differ from each other. One is dreadful, the other not so dreadful. It is the same with the falsities that they symbolize. The spirits who appear in a terrible darkness are called devils. They also abhor truth as owls do the light of the sun. In contrast, the spirits who appear in a darkness that is not so dreadful are called satanic spirits. They do not abhor truth, though they are still averse to it, and therefore they may be likened to barn owls, but the first to eagle owls.

The fact that blackness in the Word is predicated of falsity can be seen from the following passages:

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow... Darkened more than blackness is their form. (Lamentations 4:7-8)

...on the prophets... the day shall grow black. (Micah 3:6)

On the day that you go down to hell..., I will make Lebanon dark over you... (Ezekiel 31:15)

...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair... (Revelation 6:12)

The sun, moon and stars are darkened in Jeremiah 4:27-28, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10; 3:15, and elsewhere.

It was the third living creature that displayed the black horse because it had a face like a human being, which symbolized the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its wisdom (no. 243). Consequently it was this living creature that displayed the fact that there was no longer any truth of wisdom in the people who were third in order.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.