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PSALM 132

A Song of degrees.

1. jehovah, remember David, in all his afflictions.
2. How we swore to jehovah, and made a vow to the mighty one of Jacob:
3. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed;
4. I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids.
5. Until I shall have found a place for jehovah, a habitation for the mighty one of Jacob.
6. Lo, we heard of it at Ephrata; we found it in the fields of the forest.
7. We will go into his habitation; we will worship at his footstool.
8. Arise, O jehovah, and enter into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength.
9. Let your priests be clothed with justice, and let your saints sing for joy,
10. For the sake of David your servant, turn not away the face of your anointed.
11. jehovah has sworn in truth to David, he will not turn from it: saying, of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne!
12. If your sons will keep my covenant, and my testimony which I shall teach them, their children also for ever shall sit upon your throne.
13. For jehovah has chosen Zion; he has desired it for a habitation for himself.
14. Saying, this shall be my resting-place for ever; here will I dwell for I have desired it.
15. I will assuredly bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16. Her priests also will I clothe with salvation, and her saints shall sing aloud for joy.
17. There will I cause the horn of David to flourish; I have prepared a lamp for mine anointed.
18. His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

Verse 3. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up on the couch of my bed. To go up on the couch of the bed denotes upon the natural principle to the truth which is from the good of love; that to enter within the tent of the house, and to ascend on the couch of the bed, is a prophetic saying, which without the internal sense cannot be understood, may be manifest to every one. AC 6188.

Verses 6, 7, 8. Speaking of the lord, where Ephrata is Bethlehem, where the lord was born; you and the ark of your strength denotes the lord and his representative. That the ark was worshiped instead of jehovah by the Israelitish and Jewish people, and that it was believed that he dwelt there, and between the cherubs, is evident from the second book of Samuel 6:2. The reason why the inmost heaven was signified by the ark was, because by the whole tabernacle or tent was signified the universal angelic heaven, its external by the court, its middle by the habitation where the priests ministered, and the inmost by the habitation within the veil, where the ark was, in which was the testimony. AC 9485.

Verses 6, 7, 8, 9. The subject here treated of is concerning the lord, who is also here meant by David, as may be manifest from this consideration, thus it is said, we have found him in Ephrata, and in the fields of the forest, also, they bowed themselves at his footstool; Ephrata is Bethlehem where the lord was born, and by Ephrata is signified the Word as to its natural sense, and by Bethlehem the Word as to its spiritual sense, and he was willing to be born there, because the lord is the Word, by the fields of the forest are signified those things which are of the natural sense of the Word, thus which are the sense of the letter; the spiritual sense of the Word is also signified by his habitation, and hence also heaven, because heaven is in that sense; and by the footstool to which they should bow themselves, is signified the natural sense of the Word, and hence also the church on earth, because it is in that sense; by the rest to which jehovah shall rise, is signified the union of the Divine and Human principle, and his conjunction with heaven and the church; and since the lord has rest and peace, and they also have rest and peace who are in heaven and the church, when he has subdued the hells, and arranged all things in order there and in the heavens, it is said, arise you in the ark of your strength; by you is meant the lord himself, and by the ark of your strength is meant the Divine truth proceeding from him, for by this truth the lord has Divine power; by the priests who should be clothed with justice, and by the saints who should sing for joy, are signified similar things, as by the hundred and ten thousand of Israel, by the priests those who are in good, and by the saints those who are in truths, thus abstractedly the goods and truths of heaven and the church, AE 700.

Verse 7. We will go into his habitation; we will worship at his footstool. In the representative church, consequently amongst the Jews, it was supposed that the house of god and the temple was his footstool, not knowing that by the house of god and the temple was signified representative external worship; they were altogether ignorant of the nature of the internal things of the church, which were signified by heaven, or the throne of god: again, "jehovah says to my lord, sit on my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool, Psalm 110:1;" by footstool in like manner are here signified things natural, as well sensual as scientific, and hence the rational things of man, which are called enemies when they pervert worship, and this by the literal sense of the Word, so that there remains only worship in externals, and internal worship either totally perishes or is defiled, but inasmuch as in themselves they have relation to internal worship, when this worship is restored they then become a footstool. AC 2162.

Verse 11. jehovah has sworn in truth to David, he will not turn from it: of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne. By David here, as also in other passages, is meant the lord as to the spiritual kingdom, which is his royalty, wherefore by setting on the throne the fruit of his body, is meant who is regenerated by him; he is called the fruit of his body, from this consideration, because he is in truths, and in a life according to them; by the throne which is his, is meant heaven; these are the things which are signified in the spiritual sense by those words, but in the supreme sense by them is meant the lord and his glorification. AE 710.

Verse 11. jehovah has sworn in truth, etc. jehovah swearing in truth to David manifestly denotes the confirmation of eternal truth, wherefore it is said, "From which he will not recede;" that by David is meant the lord, was shown above, nevertheless an oath was made to David, inasmuch as he was such, that he believed it to be confirmed respecting himself and his posterity, for David was principled in the love of himself and his posterity, and hence he believed that the oath had respect thereto, namely that his seed should be established for ever, and his throne to generation and generation, when yet this was spoken of the lord. By jehovah or the lord swearing to give the land to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, or their posterity, in an internal sense, is signified confirmation, that he would give the heavenly kingdom to those who are principled in love and faith towards himself; these are they who are meant in the internal sense of the Word by the sons and posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the fathers; which was also actually represented by this, that the land of Canaan was given to their posterity, and that the church at that time with them represented the lord's celestial kingdom, as did also the land itself. AC 2842.

Verse 17. There will I cause the horn of David to flou-rish; I have prepared a lamp for mine anointed. The reason why kings were called the anointed of jehovah, and that on this account it was sacrilegious to hurt them, was, because by the anointed of jehovah is meant the lord as to the Divine Human principle, although as to the sense of the letter, the term was applied to the king, who was anointed with oil, 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 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 9194; but the kings of the earth were not the anointed of jehovah, but represented the lord, who alone is the anointed of jehovah, and on this account it was sacrilegious to hurt them by reason of the anointing; but the anointing of the kings of the earth was effected by oil, whereas the anointing of the lord was of the Divine good itself of the Divine love, which the oil represented. AC 9954.