27. 'And all the tribes of the land shall wail' signifies that this will be when there are no longer any goods and truths in the Church. That 'the tribes of the land' signify goods and truths of the Church will be seen in the Exposition of chapter vii, where it treats of the twelve 'tribes' of Israel. By 'to wail' is signified mourning on account of their being dead. By those things is understood something like what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:-
After the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall down from heaven; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man, and then shall all the tribes of the land wail Matt. xxiv 29, 30.
These things [are said] of the consummation of the age, which is the end of the Church. 'The sun shall be darkened' signifies that love and charity are no more; 'the moon shall not give her light' signifies that intelligence and faith are no more; 'the stars shall fall down from heaven' signifies that the cognitions of good and truth are no more: 'all the tribes of the land shall wail' signifies that goods and truths are no more; the 'affliction' signifies that state of the Church.
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