332. And the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. This symbolically means that all goodness of love was adulterated in those people, and every truth of faith falsified.

The sun symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine love, and thus the goodness of love emanating from Him; and in an opposite sense it symbolizes the Lord's Divinity denied, and thus the goodness of love adulterated. See no. 53 above. And because the sun symbolizes the goodness of love, therefore the moon symbolizes the truth of faith. For the sun has a reddish glow owing to its fire, while the moon glows white from the light radiating from the sun, and fire symbolizes the goodness of love, while light symbolizes the truth arising from that goodness. Regarding the moon, see also the places cited above in no. 53.

The sun is said to have become as black as sackcloth of hair because good adulterated is, in itself, evil, and evil is black.

The moon is said to have become like blood because blood symbolizes Divine truth, and in an opposite sense Divine truth falsified. See nos. 379, 684 below.

The sun and moon are described in almost the same way in Joel:

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

684. And they became blood. This symbolizes the Word's truths falsified.

Blood in a good sense symbolizes Divine truth, and in an opposite sense that truth falsified, as may be seen in no. 379 above. Blood symbolizes Divine truth falsified and profaned because Jews shed the Lord's blood, which was Divine truth itself or the Word, and they did this because they had falsified and profaned all the Word's truths. (That the Lord suffered as an embodiment of the Word, or in other words, that the Jewish nation did the same violence to the Lord as they had done to the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 15-17.)

People caught up in faith alone falsify all the Word's truths, because the entire Word has to do with a life in accordance with the commandments in it, and with the Lord as being Jehovah and the only God; and people caught up in faith alone give no thought to a life in accordance with the commandments in the Word, nor do they approach the Lord.