Ezechiele 32:1
To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.
A Brief Exposition of New Church Doctrine #78
78. BRIEF ANALYSIS
In the prophetic parts of the Word, statements similar to the one in Matthew 24:29, occur concerning the sun, moon and stars. Thus it is written in Isaiah:
Behold the cruel day of Jehovah cometh . . . the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened at his rising and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Isaiah 13:9-10.
In Ezekiel:
When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens and darken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light; . . . and I will set darkness upon thy land.Ezekiel 32:7-8.
In Joel:
The day of Jehovah cometh, ... a day of darkness, . . . the sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.Joel 2:1-2, 10.
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of Jehovah cometh. Joel 2:31.
The day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision, the sun and moon shall be darkened. Joel 3:14-15.
In the Revelation:
The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, . . . and the day shone not for a third part of it. Revelation 8:12.
The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. Revelation 6:12.
All these passages treat of the last time of the Jewish Church, when the Lord came into the world. The meaning here is similar in Matthew and the Revelation, but they refer to the last time of the Christian Church, when the Lord would come again in the Word which is Himself, and in which He is. Wherefore, immediately after those words in Matthew 24:29, it is said:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of the heavens.Matthew 24:30.
By the sun in the above passages is meant love, by the moon faith, and by the stars the cognitions of good and truth. By the powers of the heavens are meant those three essentials as the supports and foundations of the heavens where the angels are, and of the Churches where men are. Therefore, by the foregoing passages collected into one idea is meant that neither love nor faith, nor any cognitions of good and truth remain in the Christian Church, in the last time thereof when it draws to its end. That the sun signifies love has been shown in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 53-54, 413, 796, 831, 961; that the moon signifies faith, THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 53, 332, 413, 423, 533; and that stars signify cognitions of good and truth, THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 51, 74, 333, 408, 419, 954.
Apocalypse Revealed #10
10. John, to the seven churches. (1:4) This symbolically means, to all who are in the Christian world where the Word exists and where through it the Lord is known, and who turn to the church.
The seven churches mean, not seven churches, but all who are constituents of the church in the Christian world. For numbers in the Word symbolize properties, and seven symbolizes all things or all people, and so also fullness and completeness, and it occurs in the Word where the subject is something holy, and in an opposite sense, something profane. Consequently this number involves holiness, and in an opposite sense, profanation.
Numbers symbolize properties, or rather they serve as a class of adjectives to substantives, assigning some attribute to their subjects, because a number in itself is a natural quantity. For natural things are measured by numbers, but spiritual things by properties and their states. Therefore someone who does not know the symbolism of numbers in the Word, and particularly in the book of Revelation, cannot know the many secrets that it contains.
Now, because seven symbolizes all things or all people, it is apparent that the seven churches mean all people in the Christian world where the Word exists and where through it the Lord is known. If these live according to the Lord's commandments in the Word, they form the real church.
[2] It is because of this that the Sabbath was instituted on the seventh day, and that the seventh year was called a sabbatical year, and the forty-ninth year the year of Jubilee, which symbolized everything holy in the church.
It is because of this, too, that a week in Daniel and elsewhere symbolizes an entire period from beginning to end and is predicated of the church.
Similar things are symbolized by seven hereafter, as for example, by the seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of Man (Revelation 1:13); by the seven stars in His right hand (1:16, 20); by the seven spirits of God (1:4; 4:5); by the seven lamps of fire (4:5); by the seven angels to whom were given seven trumpets (8:2); by the seven angels having the seven last plagues (15:5-6); by the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues (16:1; 21:9); by the seven seals with which the book was sealed (5:1).
Likewise in the following places: That their hands should be filled for seven days (Exodus 29:35). That they should be sanctified for seven days (Exodus 29:37). That when they were inaugurated they should go in seven days, clothed in holy garments (Exodus 29:30). That for seven days they should not go out of the Tabernacle while being initiated into the priesthood (Leviticus 8:33, 35). That atonement should be made for the altar seven times on its horns (Leviticus 16:18-19), and also seven times toward the east (Leviticus 16:12-15). That the water of separation should be sprinkled seven times toward the Tabernacle (Numbers 19:4). That Passover should be celebrated for seven days and unleavened bread eaten for seven days (Exodus 12:1ff., Deuteronomy 16:4-7).
So, too, that the Jews should be punished sevenfold for their sins (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28), on which account David says, "Requite our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom" (Psalms 79:12). "Sevenfold" means fully.
[3] Also in these places:
The words of Jehovah are pure words, silver... in a furnace... purified seven times. (Psalms 12:6)
The hungry have ceased, until the barren has borne seven, while she who has many children has become feeble. (1 Samuel 2:5)
"The barren" is the church of the gentiles, who did not have the Word. "She who has many children" is the church of the Jews, who did have the Word. Similarly,
She will languish who has borne seven; she will breath out her soul. (Jeremiah 15:9)
Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will... set on fire and burn the weapons...; and they will make fires with them for seven years... ...they will bury Gog, and... for seven months... will be cleansing the land. (Ezekiel 39:9, 11-12)
(The unclean spirit) will take seven other spirits more wicked than himself... (Matthew 12:45)
Profanation is described there, and the seven spirits with which he would return symbolize all falsities of evil, thus a complete extinguishing of goodness and truth.
The seven heads of the dragon, and the seven jewels 1 on its heads (Revelation 12:3), symbolize the profanation of all goodness and truth.
This makes apparent that "seven" involves holiness or profanation, and symbolizes completeness and fullness.
Footnotes:
1. The word translated as "jewels" here means diadems or crowns in the original Greek and Latin, but the writer's definitions of the term elsewhere make plain that he regularly and consistently interpreted it to mean jewels or gems.
