526. And the third part of them was darkened.- That this signifies that all those things were changed into falsities of evil, and into the evils of falsity, is evident from the signification of darkness which denotes falsities, and hence of being darkened which denotes to be changed into falsities. The reason why it denotes to be changed into the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity is, that it is said the third part of the sun was darkened, the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; and the sun signifies the good of love, the moon, the good and truth of faith, and the stars, the cognitions of good and truth. Therefore the third part of the sun being darkened, signifies that the good of love was changed into evil, and the falsity thence, which is the falsity of evil. For good is changed into evil, and thence falsity, but the truth of faith, signified by the moon, is changed into falsity, and thence evil, which is the evil of falsity. The evil of falsity is the falsity of doctrine, from which proceeds evil of life, and the falsity of evil is evil of life, from which proceeds falsity of doctrine.

[2] The reason why darkness signifies falsity, is, that light signifies truth, and falsity is the opposite of truth, as darkness is of light. Moreover, when a man does not possess the light of life, which is the Divine Truth, the shadow of death is then in him, which is falsity. For man, from his proprium, is in every evil, and the falsity therefrom, and he can be removed from them only by means of the truths of the church; where therefore there are no truths, there the falsities of evil are. That truths are the only means by which man can be removed from evils, purified and reformed, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 24).

[3] That darkness in the Word, signifies falsities of various kinds, is evident from the following passages.

In Joel:

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

By the sun being turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, is signified the same as by the third part of the sun and the third part of the moon being darkened, namely, that at the end of the church the falsity of evil will be in the place of the good of love, and the evil of falsity in the place of the truth of faith. Similar things are signified elsewhere also in the Word, where mention is made of the darkening of the sun and moon.

[4] Thus in Isaiah:

"For the stars of the heavens, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine" (13:10; 24:21, 23).

In Ezekiel:

"When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens; and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine. All the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land" (32:7, 8).

Again, in Joel:

"The day of Jehovah is near in the valley cut off. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining" (3:14, 15).

In the same:

"The day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud, and obscurity, the earth quaketh before him, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining" (2:1, 2, 10).

And in the Evangelists:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven" (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24, 25).

These things are said concerning the last time of the church, when there are no longer any spiritual good and truth, or good and truth of heaven and the church, but only evil and falsity. That the goods and truths of the church, which are called the goods of love and the truths of faith, are changed into evils and falsities, is signified by the sun and moon being obscured and darkened, and the stars not giving their light. The last judgment, which then follows, is signified by the day of Jehovah great and terrible; and because this takes place when the church is in darkness and thick darkness, therefore it is also called a day of darkness, and of thick darkness, and also a day of cloud and obscurity, as also in the following passages.

[5] In Amos:

"Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! what to you is the day of Jehovah? It is a day of darkness and not light. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even thick darkness, and no brightness in it?" (5:18, 20).

And in Zephaniah:

"The day of Jehovah, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and gloominess" (1:14, 15).

And in Isaiah:

"In that day he shall look into the land, which behold is darkness and sorrow, and the light becomes darkened in the ruins thereof" (5:30).

And again:

"He shall look unto the earth; and, behold, distress and thick darkness, the gloom of straitness; and driven with thick darkness" (8:22).

And again:

"Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people" (60:2).

So in Jeremiah:

"Give glory to Jehovah your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight, then shall we look for light, but he will turn it into the shadow of death, and make it thick darkness" (13:16).

These passages also relate to the last time of the church, when the Lord shall come into the world, and judgment be accomplished; because at that time there is no longer any good of love, or truth of faith, but evil of falsity, and the falsity of evil, that day is therefore called a day of darkness and of thick darkness.

[6] The same is signified by the darkness over all the land from the sixth hour to the ninth, when the Lord was crucified (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-49). By the darkness over all the land was represented, that in the entire church there was nothing but evil and the falsity thence and the falsity and the evil thence. The three hours also signify what is full and absolute; for all the details related in the Evangelists concerning the passion of the Lord, contain in them interior things of heaven, and signify celestial Divine things, and these can be made evident only by means of the internal spiritual sense.

[7] That falsity is signified by darkness, is still further evident from the following passages.

Thus in Isaiah:

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (5:20).

To put darkness for light, and light for darkness, signifies to call falsity truth, and truth falsity; that darkness denotes falsity and light truth, is clear, for good and evil are first mentioned, afterwards therefore, truth and falsity.

[8] So in John:

"And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, for their works were evil" (3:19).

The Lord here calls Himself the light because He was the Divine Truth itself when in the world; therefore light signifies the Lord as to Divine Truth, and also Divine Truth from the Lord; and because darkness is opposed to light, therefore the darkness which men loved rather than the light, signifies the infernal falsity, which is the falsity of evil. That the falsity of evil is here meant by darkness, is evident from the words, for their works were evil. The falsity of evil exists from evil works or evils of the life; for as good conjoins to itself truth, so evil conjoins to itself falsity, the one is from the other.

[9] Similar things are signified by light and by darkness in the following passages in John:

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (1:4, 5).

Again:

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (8:12).

And again:

Jesus said, "Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in darkness" (12:35, 46).

In these passages darkness signifies infernal falsity. For light of which darkness is the opposite, signifies Divine truth. Light signifies Divine Truth, because light in the heavens in its essence, is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord; see in the Heaven and Hell 126-140). Since the Divine Truth is the light in the heavens, it follows that the falsity of evil, which is the falsity in the hells, is darkness; it does not indeed appear as darkness to those who are in the hells, for they do see one another, but the light (lumen) by which they see is like that from ignited charcoal, and such light, when the light of heaven flows into it, becomes complete darkness. For this reason the caverns and dens in which [the infernals] are, appear, to those who are in the heavens, like gloomy caves.

[10] From these considerations it is evident why darkness signifies the falsities of evil, and why the Lord said that those who are cast into hell should be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).

So in David:

"The enemy persecuteth my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to sit in darkness, as the dead of the world" (Psalm 143:3).

Here, by the enemy who persecuteth his soul, is signified, in the spiritual sense, evil; therefore his being made to sit in darkness, signifies to be in falsities.

[11] So in Isaiah:

"Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we look for light, but, behold darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness" (59:9).

By judgment is far from us, is signified that there is no understanding of truth; neither doth justice overtake us, signifies that there is no good of life; we look for light, but, behold, darkness, signifies expectation of truth, but behold falsity; and for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness, signifies the expectation of goods by truths, but behold the life of falsity from evils. For brightness signifies the goods of truth, because light signifies truth, and truth is resplendent from good; thick darkness signifies the falsities of evil, and to walk signifies to live.

[12] So in Luke:

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

This the Lord said to the chief priests, the rulers of the temple, and the elders who took Him by means of Judas. The power to do this wickedness the Lord calls the power of darkness, because they were in the falsities of evil, in falsities concerning the Lord, and in evils against Him; by darkness is here also meant hell, because such falsities of evil are there.

[13] So again:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye is clear, thy whole body also shall be full of light; but if thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp doth give thee light" (11:34, 35, 36; Matthew 6:22, 23).

The eye here signifies the understanding, and the pure or single eye, the understanding of truth from good; but the evil eye signifies the understanding of falsity from evil; the body which is said to be either full of light or darkness, signifies the whole man. It may then be concluded that the signification of these words in their series, is, that the whole man is of such a nature as the quality of his understanding from the will. For every man is his own good and his own truth, because he is his own love or his own affection, therefore his nature is entirely such as that of his understanding from the will. For all truth is of the understanding, and all good of the will; the body being only obedience, because it is the effect from an efficient cause, and the efficient cause is the understanding from the will; the quality therefore of the one is according to the quality of the other, since every effect derives all that it has from the efficient cause. That care must be taken, lest truth once perceived in the understanding and received into the will, be turned into falsity, which is done from evil, is meant by, "Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness," for falsities consequently become worse; therefore it is said in Matthew in the passage already quoted, "If, therefore, the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness."

[14] Darkness also signifies the falsities of evil in the prophet Isaiah:

"Sit thou silent, and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for they shall call thee no more the mistress of kingdoms" (47:5).

Here, the daughter of the Chaldeans signifies the falsification of truth, and hence darkness signifies the falsities of evil, since evil falsifies truth. The falsity of evil was also signified by the thick darkness, which was over all the land of Egypt, during three days, while the children of Israel had light in their dwellings (Exodus 10:21, 22, 23); also by the darkness in Genesis 15:12, 17, and in many other passages.

[15] It has been shown so far, that darkness, in the Word, signifies the falsities of evil; that darkness also signifies falsities not of evil, such as were the falsities of religion with the upright Gentiles, originating in ignorance of the truth [shall now be shown]. That these falsities are also called darkness, is clear from the following passages:

In Isaiah:

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined" (9:2).

And in Matthew:

"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up" (4:16).

And in Luke:

The dayspring from on high hath appeared "to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" (1:78, 79).

Again, in Isaiah:

"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thy thick darkness be as the noon day (58:10).

Again:

"He shall say to the bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves" (49:9).

Again, in the same prophet:

"And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness and out of darkness" (29:18).

And again:

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight (42:16).

And in Micah:

"When I sit in darkness, Jehovah shall be a light unto me" (7:8).

In these passages, darkness signifies the falsities of ignorance, such as formerly existed, and at this day exist, with the upright Gentiles. These falsities are altogether distinct from the falsities of evil, for the latter contain in themselves evil, because they are from evil, while the former contain in themselves good, for they have good for an end. Those therefore who are in those falsities can be instructed in truths, and also when instructed they receive truths in the heart, because the good, which is in their falsities, loves the truth, and also conjoins itself with the truth when it is heard. The case is different with the falsities of evil; these are averse to, and reject all truth, because it is truth, and does not therefore agree with evil.

[16] In the Word, darkness also signifies mere ignorance arising from the deprivation of truth; as in David (Psalm 18:29; Psalm 139:11, 12). Darkness also signifies natural light (lumen naturale), for this, in comparison with spiritual light, is like darkness; wherefore also the angels, when they look down into the natural light of man, such as is in the natural cognition of men, regard it as darkness, and the things which are in it, as in darkness; this light (lumen), is signified by the darkness mentioned in Genesis (Micah 1:2-5). And because the sense of the letter of the Word is natural, therefore this also in the Word is called a cloud, and also darkness, in comparison with the internal sense, which is the light of heaven, and is called glory.

507. And all green grass was burnt up.- That this signifies that all scientific truth would perish through the desires of the same loves, is evident from the signification of grass, which denotes what is scientific (scientificum), of which more below; and from the signification of green, which denotes that it is true and living from truth, for as green grass serves as food to animals, so scientific truth (scientificum verum) as spiritual nourishment for men. For whatever is produced in fields, gardens, and plains, and serves for the nourishment either of man or beast, has a correspondence with such things as serve for the nourishment of the external (animus) and internal (mens) minds, which nourishment is called spiritual nourishment. Similar things also appear in the spiritual world, from the correspondence of spiritual things with natural things. And because the Word in the letter is natural, and written by correspondences, therefore it is here said, that the third part of the trees, and all green grass, were burnt up, by which is meant, in the spiritual sense, that all perception and cognition of truth and good, and also all scientific truth, perished through those two corporeal, earthly, and merely natural loves.

[2] By scientific truth is meant every scientific, by which spiritual truth is confirmed, and which has life from spiritual good. For a man may be wise by means of scientifics, or he may be insane. He becomes wise by means of scientifics when by them he confirms the truths and goods of the church, which are spiritual truths and goods; but he becomes insane by scientifics when by means of them he weakens and refutes the truths and goods of the church. When he confirms the truths and goods of the church by them, they are then called scientific truths, and are said to be living; but when by means of them he weakens and refutes the truths and goods of the church, they are called scientific falsities, and are as dead. Knowledges (scientiae) are only means to uses, and their quality is according to the uses which exist from them. They are living when man acquires intelligence and wisdom by means of them. All intelligence and wisdom is from truths that are from heaven, and such intelligence and wisdom being from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, are living, because they are the very spiritual life of man; but intelligence and wisdom from falsities have no existence, and if they be supposed to exist with any one, they are nevertheless dead, because they are from hell.

[3] These things have been said in order that it may be known that green grass signifies the scientific truth that is living, but grass burnt up, the scientific falsity that is dead. When truth and good, which come from heaven, do not find a receptacle with man in cognitions and scientifics, but when evils and falsities, which come from hell do, then scientifics are not living, but dead, and correspond to grass withered and burnt up. The same is the case with man himself, for the quality of a man is according to the quality of the cognitions and knowledges (scientiae) which he has. For it is from living knowledges (scientiae) that he has intelligence; from knowledges that are not living he derives no intelligence; and if they are dead because of the confirmation of falsities by them, insanity and folly are the result.

[4] A man of such a character is, from correspondence, compared, in the Word, to grass; and he is also called grass in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"Their inhabitants became like the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as a field blasted before the crop" (37:27; 2 Kings 19:26).

In David:

The evil "shall suddenly be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb" (Psalm 37:2).

Again:

"As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth" (Psalm 103:15).

And again:

The haters of Zion "shall be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth before it is plucked up" (Psalm 129:6, 7).

In Isaiah:

"The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and they shall see. The voice said, Cry, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the holiness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the spirit of Jehovah bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (40:5-8).

These things are said concerning the coming of the Lord, and the revelation of Divine Truth from Him, meant by "the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and they shall see." That then there would be neither scientific truth nor spiritual truth with man, is signified by "all flesh is grass, and all the holiness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth." Grass denotes scientific truth, and the flower of the field spiritual truth. That man is of such a nature, is meant by "all flesh is grass," and by "surely the people is grass, the grass withereth;" for all flesh denotes every man, and the people, those who were in truths, but are now in falsities.

[5] In the same:

"I am he that comforteth you; who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man; he shall die, and of the son of man, he shall be as grass?" (51:12).

These words signify, that all things are from the Lord, and nothing from [man's] own intelligence and wisdom. Man signifies man as to wisdom, and the son of man signifies man as to intelligence; that the latter is only knowledge (scientia), is meant by the words, "he shall be made as grass."

[6] Again:

"I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up in the midst of the grass" (44:3, 4).

The spirit of Jehovah signifies the Divine Truth, and blessing signifies its multiplication and fructification. Intelligence therefore by means of scientific truths is signified by springing up in the midst of the grass.

[7] In David:

Jehovah who "causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man" (Psalm 104:14).

And again:

Jehovah who "prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains, who giveth to the beast his food" (Psalm 147:8, 9).

In Moses:

"My doctrine shall flow down as the rain, my word shall drop as the dew, as small rain upon the grass, and as the drops upon the herb" (Deuteronomy 32:2).

In these passages, grass signifies scientific truth, and the herb of the field, spiritual truth; for the herb of the field means what first springs up in a field or in newly tilled [land], wherefore it is called herb for the service of man. The reason why it is said, grass for the beast, and for food to the beast, is, that beast, in the Word, signifies the affection of the natural man, and scientific truth is to him for food and nourishment.

[8] In Job:

"Behold, behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox" (40:15).

Behemoth has a similar meaning to beast in the Word, namely, man's natural affections, wherefore it is said, "Behold, now, behemoth, which I have made with thee." His spiritual food is scientific truth; this is meant by his devouring grass as an ox.

[9] That green signifies what is living or alive, is evident without further explication; for a plant when it grows or is alive is green, but when it ceases to grow or dies, then its green colour perishes. Wherefore green signifies what is living or alive; as is also the case in the following passages; Jeremiah 11:16; 17:8; Ezekiel 17:24; 20:7; Hosea 14:8; David, Psalm 37:35; 52:8; 92:10; and elsewhere.