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PSALM 84

To him that presides; upon Gittith, a Psalm for the sons of Korah.

1. How amiable are your dwelling-places, O jehovah of hosts!
2. My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living god.
3. Yea, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O jehovah of hosts, my king and my god!
4. Blessed are they that dwell in your house, that are continually praising you! Selah.
5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you! in whose heart are your ways;
6. Who passing through the valley of weeping make it a well; and the early rain covers it with blessings.
7. They go from strength to strength; every one of them appears before god in Zion.
8. O jehovah, god of Hosts! hear my prayer; give ear O god of Jacob! Selah.
9. Behold, O god, our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed.
10. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand; I had rather be a door keeper in the house of my god, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11. For jehovah god is a sun and a shield; jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12. O jehovah of Hosts! blessed is the man who trusts in you!

Verse 1. How amiable are your dwelling-places, O jehovah of Hosts! That the divine things, proceeding from the Divine human principle of the lord are what are properly called dwelling-places, and that hence heaven itself is called a dwelling-place, is also manifest from David, "He has sworn to jehovah, he has vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, until I have found a place for jehovah, dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Jacob." Ps 132:2, 4 to 7. The Mighty One of Jacob is the lord as to the Divine human principle. AC 9594.

By altars are here meant the heavens, for it is said, how amiable are your dwelling-places, O jehovah of Hosts! my soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living god; by dwelling-places are meant the superior heavens, and by courts the inferior heavens, where there is entrance, which are also called altars from worship; and since all worship is from the good of love by truths, therefore it is said, your altars jehovah of Hosts, my king and my god, for the lord is called jehovah from the Divine Good, and King and god from Divine Truth; and since the heavens are understood, it is also said blessed are the inhabitants of your house, the house of jehovah god being heaven in every complex; the reason why it is also said, a bird has found a house, and a swallow a nest for herself is, because a bird signifies spiritual truth, and a swallow natural truth, by which there is worship; and since all truth by which there is worship is from the good of love, therefore it is premised, my heart and my flesh cry out to the living god; by heart and by flesh is signified the good of love, and by crying out is signified worship from the delight of good. AE 391.

Verse 8. O jehovah, god of Hosts! hear my prayer; give ear, O god of Jacob! In heaven they know nothing of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when those names are read by man, they have no perception of any thing but of the lord as to his Divine principle and his Divine Human. This being the case, it may plainly appear what is signified in the Word of the Old Testament, by the god of Jacob, and by the Holy One of Israel, namely the lord himself. AC 3305.

Verse 9. Behold, O god, our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed. The reason why kings were called the anointed of jehovah, and why on that account it was sacrilegious to hurt them, was, because by the anointed of jehovah is meant the lord as to the Divine Human principle, for the lord, when he was in the world, was Divine Truth itself as to the Human principle, and was Divine Good itself, as to the very esse of his life, which esse with man is called the soul derived from the father, for he was conceived of jehovah, and jehovah in the Word is the Divine good of the Divine love, which is the esse of the life of all; hence it is, that the lord alone was the anointed of jehovah, in very essence, and in very act, inasmuch as the Divine good, was in him, and the Divine truth proceeding from that good in his Human principle when he was in the world. AC 9954.

Verse 10. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand; I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my god, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. To be a door-keeper in the house of god denotes to communicate abroad with good, which is the house of god. AC 8989.

By the court of the habitation is signified the ultimate heaven, and denoting the external of heaven; for there are three heavens, the inmost, the middle, and the ultimate; the inmost was represented by the inmost habitation, where was the ark of the testimony; the middle by the habitation out of the veil; the ultimate by the court. This heaven is called the court, because in it are they who are in the good of faith, and not yet in the good of charity towards their neighbour; they who are in the good of charity are in the middle heaven. They who are in the ultimate heaven, which is called the court, are called angelic spirits; but they who are in the middle heaven, are called spiritual angels; but they who are in the inmost heaven, celestial angels. The good itself of faith, which is the good of the ultimate heaven, is called also a court., for by it man is introduced into the good of charity, which is the good of the middle heaven. AC 9741.

Verse 11. For jehovah god is a sun and a shield; jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. That a shield denotes protection against evils and falses, is manifest without explication. That a shield signifies in respect to the lord protection against evils and falses, and in respect to man confidence in the lord, the reason is because it is the protection of the breast, and by the breast is signified good and truth, good because the heart is in it, and truth because the lungs are in it. AC 1788.

For jehovah god is a sun, etc. The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom appear in the spiritual world as a Sun. There are two worlds, the spiritual and the natural; and the spiritual world does not derive any thing from the natural world, nor the natural world from the spiritual world: they are altogether distinct, and communicate only by correspondences; the nature of which has elsewhere been abundantly shown. To illustrate this let us take an example: Heat in the natural world corresponds to the good of charity in the spiritual world, and light in the natural world corresponds to the truth of faith in the spiritual world: who does not see that heat and the good of charity, and light and the truth of faith, are totally distinct? At first sight they appear as distinct, as two totally different things: they appear so if it be enquired in thought, what has the good of charity in common with heat, and what has the truth of faith in common with light? when nevertheless spiritual heat is that good, and spiritual light is that truth. These principles, although they are so distinct in themselves, nevertheless make one by correspondence; they make one thus, that whilst a man reads of heat and light in the Word, then the spirits and angels who are with him, instead of heat perceive charity, and instead of light faith. This example is adduced in order to show, that the two worlds, the spiritual and the natural, are so distinct, that they have nothing in common with each other; but nevertheless are so created, that they communicate, yea are joined together, by correspondences.

Inasmuch as these two worlds are so distinct, it may clearly be seen, that the spiritual world is under a different sun from that of the natural world; for in the spiritual world there is equally heat and light, as in the natural world, but the heat there is spiritual, and in like manner the light, and spiritual heat is the good of charity, and spiritual light is the truth of faith. Now for as much as heat and light cannot derive their origin any otherwise than from a nun, it may appear, that in the spiritual world there is a sun different from that in the natural world, as also that the sun of the spiritual world is such in its essence, that spiritual heat and light may exist from it, and that the sun of the natural world is such in its essence, that natural heat may exist from it. Every thing spiritual, which has relation to good and truth, can proceed from no other origin than the divine love and divine wisdom, for every good is of love, and every truth is of wisdom: that they are from no other source every wise man may see.

That sun is not the lord himself, but from the lord: it is the divine love and divine wisdom proceeding from him, which appear in that world as a sun; and for as much as love and wisdom in the lord are one, as was shown in the first part, it is said that that sun is the Divine Love; for the divine wisdom is of the divine love, thus it also is love. DLW 83, 84, 86.

Verse 11. Uprightly. By uprightness or entireness, in the internal sense of the Word, is signified Divine Truth in effect, which is a life according to the divine precepts. AC 9905.