PSALMS 15      Other translations  -  previous  -  next  -  meaning  -  Psalms  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

PSALM 15

A Psalm of David.

1. jehovah, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle? Who shall dwell in your holy mountain?
2. He that walks in integrity, and who does justice, and speaks the truth in his heart;
3. Who slanders not with his tongue, who does no evil to his fellow, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbour;
4. In whose eyes the vile person is condemned, but who honours them that fear jehovah; who, when he swears to his fellow, changes not;
5. Who puts not out his money to usury, nor takes a bribe against the innocent, He that does these things shall never be moved.

Verses 1, 2. By the tabernacle is here signified the church as to the good of love, thus also the good of love; by the mountain of holiness, by which is meant Jerusalem, is signified the church as to the truths of doctrine derived from that good: hence is known what is meant by sojourning in them: he who walks in integrity, signifies one who is in good as to life, and in truths as to doctrine: wherefore it is said, who does justice, and speaks the truth; for by doing justice is signified to be in good as to life, and by speaking the truth is signified to be in truths as to doctrine. AE 799.

To sojourn in the tabernacle of jehovah means in heaven, and in the good of love there. AC 10545.

Verse 5. Who puts not out his money [silver] to usury —By a usurer is signified one who does good for the sake of gain; for a usurer lends money to another for the sake of usury, and gives aid to another for the sake of recompense; and as genuine charity does not regard gain or recompense as an end, but the good of its neighbour, therefore, by not being as a usurer is signified that it shall be done from charity. So in David: "He who walks in integrity, and who does justice, and speaks the truth in his heart:—who puts not out his money to usury, nor takes a bribe against the innocent;" Psalm 15:2, 5; where to put out his money to usury is to teach for the sake of gain alone, thus to do good for the sake of recompense. AC 9210.

Verse 1. jehovah, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle? Who shall dwell in your holy mountain?—It is evident that these words are not to be interpreted literally, as if they implied that jehovah, or the lord, had his abode in a tent, or a hill, according to the common meanings of those terms in the language of men. For jehovah, or, the lord, it is plain, can only dwell in the principles which proceed from himself, thus in his own pure love and wisdom, as imparted from himself to its recipient subjects, whether in heaven above, or in the church below. Accordingly he himself thus testifies, where it is written: "Thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place [in what is high and holy,] with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit; to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones; Isaiah 57:15." And again: "jesus answered and said to him, If a man love Me, he will hear my words, and my father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him; John 14:23." Hence it is manifest, that the tabernacle and holy mountain, mentioned by the Psalmist as the abode of jehovah [or the lord,] have reference to the living principles from jehovah [or the lord] in man, in which he [jehovah] makes his abode; and that these principles are of a twofold description or character, the first being signified by the tabernacle, and the second by the holy mountain. But what principle is distinctly meant by the tabernacle, and what by the holy mountain, can only be known from the consideration, that heavenly love and heavenly wisdom, as was above hinted at, are the only principles in which the almighty dwells with man, and that, consequently, the term tabernacle has more relation to the former principle, and the term holy mountain [or mountain of holiness] to the latter. For it is a well-established fact, that some men are more distinguished by the will of good, and some by the intelligence of truth, and that both are capable of becoming the abodes of the divine presence and favour, provided they are disposed gratefully to acknowledge, that both the will of good and the intelligence of truth are of god, and not merely of man. Here, then, in the two significant terms, tabernacle and holy mountain, we again behold a reference to that marriage of the divine love and wisdom, or the divine good and true, which forms the very life and soul of the holy volume of the revealed word of the most high.