4697. 'And the eleven stars' means cognitions of good and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'stars' as cognitions of good and truth. The reason 'stars' in the Word means those cognitions is that they are tiny sources of light shining in the night, which send out flickers of light at that time into our sky, even as cognitions transmit glimmers of goodness and truth. This meaning of 'stars' as those cognitions may be seen from many places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

[Thus] said Jehovah who gives the sun for light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. Jeremiah 31:35.

This refers to a new Church. 'Giving the sun for light by day' means good flowing from love and charity, and 'the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for light by night' means truth and cognitions.

[2] Similarly in David,

Jehovah who made the great lights, the sun to have dominion by day, the moon and stars to have dominion by night. Psalms 136:7-9.

Anyone unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word will presume that here 'the sun' is used to mean the sun of this world, and 'the moon and stars' to mean the moon and the stars, but no spiritual and heavenly meaning comes out of that presumption. Yet the Word in every individual part is heavenly. From this it is also evident that it is the goods of love and charity, and the truths of faith, together with cognitions of these, that are meant.

[3] This is similar to what occurs in Chapter 1 of Genesis, where the new creation of the heavenly man is the subject,

God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and for years. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness. Genesis 1:14-18.

See [in Volume One, paragraphs] 30-38.

[4] In Matthew,

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.

Here 'the sun' and 'the moon' mean love and charity, or good and truth, while 'stars' means cognitions - see 4060; and because the last day or last state of the Church is the subject here, 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light' means that at that time the good of love and charity will perish, and 'the stars will fall from heaven' means that the cognitions of good and truth will perish too. That these things are meant is evident from the prophetical parts of the Word where similar descriptions occur regarding the day or state of the Church.

[5] As in Isaiah,

Behold, the day of Jehovah will come, cruel, to make the earth a waste, and He will destroy sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not shine with their light. The sun will be obscured in its rising, and the moon will not give its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is near. The sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. Joel 3:14-15.

In Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in heaven I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

And in John,

The fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun was struck, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened and the day did not shine for a third part of it; and the night likewise. Revelation 8:12.

[6] This meaning of 'stars' as cognitions of good and truth is in addition evident from the following places: In Daniel,

Out of one horn of the he-goat of the she-goats there grew one small-sized horn and it grew exceedingly towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]; and it grew even towards the hosts of heaven, and it cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. Daniel 8:9-10.

And in John,

The great dragon drew with his tail a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them down to the earth. Revelation 12:4.

Clearly the actual stars are not meant here, the subject in Daniel and John being the state of the Church in the last times.

[7] Similarly in David,

Jehovah counts the number of stars; He gives names to them all. Psalms 147:4.

In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon; praise Him, all stars of light. Psalms 148:3.

In John,

A great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Revelation 12:1.

[8] Since cognitions of good and truth are meant by 'stars', the teachings of the Church are meant too, since these are cognitions. Teaching to do with faith separated from charity in the last times is described as 'a star' in the following verses in John,

The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and It fell onto a third part of the rivers, and onto the fountains of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third part of the waters became wormwood, and many people died in the waters, because they were made bitter. Revelation 8:10-11.

'The waters' which were made bitter by that star are truths, and 'the rivers' and 'the fountains of waters' are intelligence imparted by those truths, and wisdom from the Word. For 'waters' meaning truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424; for 'rivers' intelligence, 3051; and for 'fountains' wisdom from the Word, 2702, 3424.

9278. 'Six days you shall do your work' means a state of labour and conflict, when a person is governed by external delights that must be joined to things that are internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' that come before the seventh, as states of labour and conflict, dealt with in 737, 900, 8510, 8888, 8975, the labour and conflict during them being meant by 'the work' that will be done on those days. 'The work' done during the six days and 'the rest' on the seventh day mean the things experienced by a person in his first state and in his second while being regenerated, and also those experienced by him after he has been regenerated. Regarding a person's first and second states while he is being regenerated, see above in 9274; and regarding the things experienced by him after he has been regenerated, 9213. The purpose of these experiences is that external things may be joined to internal ones; for there is an external man, which is also called natural, and there is an internal man, which is called spiritual. The external man is in contact with the world, and the internal with heaven.

[2] Divine order demands that heaven should rule the world with a person and not the world rule heaven with him; for when heaven rules a person, the Lord rules him, but when the world rules a person, the hells rule him. The natural disposition which a person is born with is such that he loves the world and self more than heaven and the Lord; and since this is the opposite of Divine order, an inversion must take place through regeneration. It takes place when the things that belong to heaven and the Lord are loved more than those which belong to the world and self. This is the reason why a person who has been regenerated, and also one who is in heaven, passes through two states that alternate with each other, in one of which external things prevail and in the other internal ones prevail; for by means of this alternation of states the external things are brought into agreement with the internal and at length made subordinate to them.

[3] When the external things prevail the person experiences labour and conflict; for he is immersed in the kind of life which savours of the world and into which the hells enter from every side, unceasingly endeavouring to engage in molestation, indeed to exercise control over the things of heaven with the person. But the Lord unceasingly protects and delivers him. This is the reason for the labour and conflict which are meant by the six days of the week in which work must be done. When however the internal things prevail, then - because the person is in heaven with the Lord - the labour and conflict come to an end, and he enjoys peace and serenity, in which also a joining together takes place. These blessings are what are meant by 'the seventh day'. The more internal aspects of the human being have been created in the image of heaven and the more external in the image of the world, so that the human being is a miniature form of heaven, also of the world, thus a microcosm, as the ancients called him, see 6057. So it is that Divine order demands that the Lord coming by way of heaven should rule the world with a person, and not at all vice versa.

[4] The nature of the labour and conflict experienced by the person when external things prevail may be recognized from this, that his state at that time is such that he is stirred by the world and indifferent towards heaven, unless it appears to him as the world does. But then the light by which he sees is so dim that he can only suppose that external things flow into internal ones, consequently that the eye sees or the ear hears by itself, that objects seen or heard by them are what produce thoughts and shape the understanding part of the mind, and that this gives him the ability to believe in and love God all by himself, and so to see heaven from the world. He cannot be easily led away from this illusion until he has been raised from external things to internal ones, and so to the light of heaven. Then he begins to perceive that things belonging to the world with him, thus those belonging to the body and its senses, see and act by means of influx from heaven, that is, from the Lord coming by way of heaven, and not at all by themselves. This goes to show why it is that a person thinking on the level of the senses supposes that his life is derived entirely from the world and the natural order, that there is no hell nor any heaven, and finally that there is no God. As a consequence he derides everything of the Church so far as he himself is concerned but is all in favour of it so far as the simple are concerned, as the means in addition to laws to keep them in check.

[5] From all this people may know what is meant by a situation in which external things prevail and not at the same time internal ones, and that when external things prevail a person feels indifferent towards what belongs to heaven or what belongs to the Lord and sees it in only dim light. They may also know who exactly in the world are the intelligent and wise, namely those who are governed by the Church's truth and good because they are recipients of wisdom from heaven, and who exactly are the stupid and foolish, namely those who are not governed by the Church's truth or good because the world is their only source of knowledge. And those among them who use worldly knowledge to set themselves firmly against the Church's truth and good are more foolish and stupid than the rest, no matter how much they suppose themselves to excel others in intelligence and wisdom and call people simple if they lead a good life based on the truths taught by doctrine. But such people's simplicity is wisdom in angels' eyes; and after death they are raised by the Lord into angelic wisdom.

[6] The Lord also teaches that this is so, in Matthew,

Therefore I speak in parables, because those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. Matthew 13:13-14.

In John,

I will send the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. Yet a little while, the world will see Me no longer. John 14:17, 19.

The world's inability to receive the Spirit of truth 'because it neither sees Him nor knows Him' means that it will not acknowledge the Lord with faith in the heart, because external things belonging to the world will obscure [Him]. This being so, is there anyone at the present day who worships Him as the Lord of the whole of heaven and of earth, Matthew 28:18? Yet all who are in heaven, and so with whom internal things prevail, see the Lord as their only God.