PSALMS 50
Other translations - previous - next - meaning - Psalms - BM Home - Full PageA Psalm of Asaph.
That the coming of the lord to those of the church to judgement is at hand, verses 1 to 6; that the lord desires not sacrifices and external worship, verses 7 to 13; that he desires confession of heart, verses 14, 15; that external worship avails nothing when sins are committed, verses 16 to 20; that they do such things, and therefore evil will come upon them, verses 21, 22, 23.
Verse 1. The god of gods, jehovah speaks, he calls the earth from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof. Inasmuch as the sun signifies the good of love to the lord belonging to man, hence by from the rising of the sun to its setting, are signified all who are in the good of love to the lord from the first to the last, from the rising of the sun the first, and to the setting of the sun the last. AE 401.
Verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. jehovah will speak, and will call the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting; out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, god shines forth; our god will come; he will call to the heavens above, and to the earth, to judge his people; gather my saints to me. The subject here treated of is manifestly concerning a judgement upon all from Zion, thus from the lord by divine truth; the separation of the good from the evil is meant by he shall call the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting; judgement upon all by he shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth to judge the people; the gathering together of the good and their salvation, is meant by gather together my saints to me; the divine truth, in which the lord is in his glory, is meant by out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, god shines forth. AE 850.
Verse 3. A fire shall go before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. In the spiritual world, as in the natural, there exist, strong winds and storms, but the storms in the spiritual world exist from the lord's influx into lower things, where they dwell who are in evils and falsities: this influx, as it descends from the heavens towards the earths beneath, becomes proportionably denser, and appears as a cloud, and with the wicked dense and opaque, according to the quantity and quality of evil; these clouds are appearances of what is false grounded in what is evil, arising from the spheres of their life, for around every spirit and angel there is a sphere of life; when the Divine [principle] is powerfully emitted from the lord as a sun, and when it flows into these dense and opaque clouds, there arises a storm, which the spirits perceive in like manner as men perceive storms on earth; it has been granted me occasionally to perceive those storms, and likewise the east wind by which the wicked are dispersed and cast into hell, when the last judgement was accomplished. AE 419.
Verse 10. For every wild beast of the forest is mine. The expression wild beast, in the original tongue, properly signifies life, or what is living, but in the Word, not only what is living, but also as it were what is not living, or a wild beast, wherefore unless a man be acquainted with the internal sense of the Word, he cannot at times know what is signified; the reason why each is signified is because the man of the most ancient church, in self-humiliation before the lord, acknowledged himself to be not living, not even to be a beast, but a wild beast, for he knew that man in himself is such, or when viewed in his own proprium; hence the same expression signifies what is alive, and signifies also a wild beast. AC 908.
Hitherto it has been shown from the word that wild beasts signify evil lusts and falsities, specifically the lusts of destroying goods and truths by falsities, thus the spiritual life of man; it shall now also be shown that wild beasts in the word likewise signify the affections of truth and good, which are opposite to the affections of what is false derived from evil which are called lusts; the reason is because the term, from which they are denominated and called, in the original tongue signifies life, for wild beast in that tongue is called chajah, and chajah signifies life, and in the affection of good and of truth is the essential spiritual life belonging to man; wherefore when a wild beast is mentioned in the word in this good sense, it ought rather to be called an animal, which signifies a living soul: but when mention is made of wild beast in this sense, then it is necessary to put off the idea which adheres to the term wild beast (fera) in the Latin tongue, for in this tongue to the term wild beast there adheres an idea of wildness and ferocity, thus an unfavourable and evil idea: it is otherwise in the Hebrew language, where wild beast signifies life, and in general a living soul or animal. AE 388.
Verses 10, 11. Every wild beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand mountains; I know all the birds of the mountains, and all the wild beasts of the field are mine. These words indeed have relation to sacrifices, and were intended to teach that the lord is not delighted with them, but with confession of heart and invocation; nevertheless by wild beast of the forest, by beasts of the mountains, by the birds of the mountains, and wild beasts of the field, are signified similar things as above, namely the things belonging to the man of the church; thus by mountains the good things of love; by beasts the affections of the natural man. AE 650.
Verse 12. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. These words have relation to sacrifices, being intended to teach, that the lord is not delighted with them, but with confession and works; for it follows, shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goals? offer to god thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the most high, wherefore by " If I were hungry," is signified: if I desired sacrifices; but whereas the lord wills worship from goods and truths, it is said, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof; fullness signifies goods and truths in the whole complex, as above; this is said indeed of the beasts which were to be sacrificed, but by them, in the spiritual sense, are signified the various kinds of good and truth. AE 741.
Verses 14, 23. Offer to god thanksgiving, and pay your vows, etc. Real confession of the heart, inasmuch as it is grounded in celestial love, is in a general sense confession; the man, who is in this confession, acknowledges that all good is from the lord, and that all evil is from himself, and when he is in this acknowledgement he is in a state of humiliation, for he acknowledges in such case that the lord is every thing belonging to him, and that he himself is respectively nothing, and when confession is made from this state, it is then grounded in celestial love. But sacrifices of confession, which were offered in the Jewish church, were thanksgivings, and were called in a universal sense eucharistic and retributory sacrifices, which were of a two-fold kind, namely confessional and votive: that sacrifices of confession involved the celestial principle of love, may appear from their institution, Levit 7:11, 12, 13, 14. But the votive sacrifices, which were another kind of eucharistics, in an external sense signified retribution, in an internal sense the will that the lord would provide, and in a supreme sense a state of providence; hence it is that mention is made of each in the Word throughout, as in David, "Offer to god thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; he who sacrifices confession honours me, and he who orders his way to him will I show the salvation of god," Psalm 1:14, 23; 56:12; 116:17, 18. AC 3880.
Verse 1. The god of gods, jehovah speaks. In the commonly received English version of the Psalms, these Words are thus rendered, the mighty God even the lord has spoken, but in the original Hebrew they are expressed as they are here rendered.
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