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PSALM 144

A Psalm of David.

1. Blessed be jehovah my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.
2. My mercy and my fortress, my lofty tower and my deliverer, my shield and he with whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me I
3. O jehovah, what is man, that you shouldst know him;.! Or the son of man, that you shouldst take thought of him!
4. Man is like vanity! His days are like a shadow which passes away!
5. O jehovah, bow your heavens and come down; touch the mountains that they may smoke.
6. Hurl your lightning and scatter them; send forth your arrows and destroy them.
7. Put forth your hands from on high; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children.
8. Whose mouth speaks vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9. O god, I will sing a new song to you, with the ten stringed lute will I sing praises to you.
10. Unto him who gives salvation to kings, who delivered! David his servant from the evil sword.
11. Rescue me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaks vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12. That our sons may be like plants, well-grown in their youth; that our daughters may be like corner-pillars beautifully carved after the model of a palace.
13. That our garners may be full, supplying all kinds of provision, that our flocks may bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in our fields.
14. That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out, nor any complaining in our streets.
15. Happy are the people, who are in such a state! Happy are the people, whose god is jehovah!

Verse 1. Blessed be jehovah. Blessing implies all good celestial, and spiritual, and also natural, which are signified by blessing in an internal sense; and in an external sense, by blessing is signified all worldly, corporeal, and terrestrial good; but in order to make these a blessing, they must needs be connected with internal blessing, for this alone is blessing, because it is eternal, and joined with all happiness, and is the very esse of blessing, for what can be said to be, except it be eternal; every other thing ceases to be. It was a customary form of speech amongst the ancients to say, blessed be Jehovah, by which they meant, that all blessing is from him, that is, all good; and it was also a form of thanksgiving for the lord's blessing both past and present; as in David, Psalm 28:6, 31:21, 41:13. AC 1096.

Verse 1. Who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. That the hands signify power, and that all power is of truth derived from good, see AC 10019, and that the right hand signifies the power of truth derived from good, and the left hand truth productive of good, AC 10061. The reason why the intellectual principle is what is meant is because every thing intellectual is formed from truths, but every thing voluntary, or of the will, from goods, for all things in the world and in heaven have reference to truth and to good, and the understanding of man was given for truths, and the will for goods. Therefore, since by the hands is signified truth in its power, the understanding, or intellect, is also signified. Inasmuch as the thumb of the hand, in like manner as the hand, signified the power which is of truth derived from good, therefore in ancient times amongst the nations, and also with the Israelitish people, it was usual to cut off the thumbs of the hands and the thumbs of the feet of their enemies, Judges 1:6, 7; by which was represented the taking away of all power; in the thumb also is the primary power of the hand, for when that is cut off the hand is of no avail in battle. As the thumb, so also the fingers signify power, as in David, "jehovah teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight," Psalm 144:1; again, "When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers," Psalm 8:3; and in Luke, "jesus said, if by the finger of god I cast out devils, certainly the kingdom of god is come to you," Luke 11:20. AC 10062.

Verse 2. See Psalm 18:2, Exposition.

Verses 5, 6. Bow your heavens, and come down: touch the mountains that they may smoke; hurl your lightning and scatter them. By bowing the heavens and coming down, is here signified the same as above, by rending the heavens and descending, by coming forth out of his place, by descending and treading upon the high places of the earth, namely, visitation and judgement; to touch the mountains that they may smoke, signifies by his presence to destroy those who are in the evils of the loves of self and of the world, and thence in falses; to smoke signifies to he let into the evils of those loves, and into their falses, for fire signifies those loves, and smoke the falses thence arising; by hurl your lightning and scatter them, is signified the Divine truth, by which they are dissipated, for by the presence of Divine truth evils and falses are discovered, and by the collision which then takes place, there appear as it were lightnings. AE 405.

Verses 11, 12. Deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaks vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood; that our sons may be like plants, well-grown in their youth; that our daughters may be like corner-pillars beautifully carved after the model of a palace. That by the sons of the stranger are understood falses, is evident, for it is said, whose mouth speaks vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood; and that by our sons are signified truths, is also evident, for it is said, that they are as plants, well-grown in their youth, plants also denoting truths, and youth denoting here, as above, the ancient church, which was in genuine truths; by our daughters are signified the affections of truth, which are therefore compared to corner-pillars beautifully carved after the model of a palace, because a palace is a representative of the understanding in which truths are in a beautiful form, and they are in a beautiful form, when they are from the affection of truth. AE 724.

Verses 13, 14. That our garners may be full, supplying all kinds of provision, that our flocks may bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in our fields; that our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out, nor any complaining in our streets. By the garners full of food, are signified doctrinals from the Word, thus the Word itself, wherein are all the truths of doctrine, from which is instruction and spiritual nourishment; by the flocks bringing forth thousands, and ten thousands in the fields, are signified goods and truths spiritual, by thousands of flocks, goods, and by ten thousands, truths; by oxen burdened, are signified natural goods and their affections; by no breaking in, is signified their coherence; by none going away, is signi-fied no loss of any; by no complaining in the streets, is signified no lamentation any where over the want of them, AE 652.