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מפי עליון לא תצא הרעות והטוב׃
Apocalypse Revealed #410
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)
Amos 5
1
Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
2
"The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up."
3
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."
4
For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live;
5
but don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6
Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
7
You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:
8
seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
9
who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.
10
They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
11
Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
12
For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.
13
Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
14
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
15
Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."
16
Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
17
In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says Yahweh.
18
"Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.
19
As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
20
Won't the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies.
22
Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
23
Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24
But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25
"Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
26
You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
