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PSALM 22

To him that presides upon Aijeleth Shahar, a Psalm of David.

1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me! The words of my roaring are far away from my salvation.
2. O my God! I cry by day and you answer not; and by night, and have no rest.
3. Yet you are Holy, you that inhabit the praises of Israel.
4. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted in you, and you did deliver them.
5. They cried aloud to you, and were delivered; they trusted in you and were not ashamed.
6. And I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of man and despised of the people.
7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they open wide their lips, they shake the head, saying.
8. He trusted in jehovah, let him deliver him, let him protect him, since he delighted in him.
9. For you are he that took me out of the womb; you did make me hope on my mother's breasts.
10. I was cast upon you from the womb; you are my god from my mother's belly.
11. Be not you far from me, for trouble is near, for there is no helper.
12. Many bulls have encompassed me; the strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about.
13. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravenous and roaring lion.
14. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15. My strength is dried up like an earthen vessel; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you have laid me in the dust of death.
16. For dogs have encompassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17. I can count all my bones: they look—they stare upon me.
18. They part my garments among them; and cast lots upon my clothing.
19. But you, O jehovah, be not far off; O my strength! hasten to help me.
20. Deliver my soul from the sword; my only one from the hand of the dog.
21. Save me from the lion's mouth; and answer me from the horns of the unicorn.
22. I will declare your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise you.
23. You that fear jehovah praise him; all you the seed of Jacob glorify him; and stand in awe of him all you the seed of Israel.
24. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hid his face from him; and when he cried to him, he heard him.
25. Of you shall be my praise in the great congregation; my vows will I pay before them that fear him.
26. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise jehovah that seek him; your heart shall live for ever.
27. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
28. For the kingdom is jehovah's, and he is the governor among the nations.
29. All the fat of the earth shall eat and prostrate themselves; all they that go down to the dust, and he that cannot keep his soul alive, shall bow down before him.
30. A seed shall serve him; it shall be counted to the lord for a generation.
31. They shall come and shall declare his justice to a people to be born, that he has accomplished it.

Verses 9, 10. You are he that look me out of the womb; you did make me hope on my mother's breasts, I have been cast upon you from my mother's belly, you are my god. The regeneration of the spiritual man is here described by such things as relate to natural generation from the mother; hence by the words, you are he that took me out of the womb, is signified that by the lord he is regenerated and made a man of the church; by making me to hope from my mother's breasts, is signified that he was afterwards led, and spiritually educated, the breasts of the mother signifying such things as regard spiritual nourishment in what relates to the church; the mother is the church; by being cast upon you from the womb, is signified that the lord operated all things from the good of love; and by you are my god from my mother's belly, is signified that He operated all things by truths, for, as was said above, the womb is predicated of the good of love, and the belly of the truths from that good; hence it is said, you are my god, for where the good of love is treated of, the lord is called jehovah, and where truths are treated of, he is called god. AE 710.

Verses 14, 17, 18. All my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, I can number all my bones; they part my garments amongst them, and cast lots on my clothing. These Words relate to the lord's temptations as to Divine Truths, which were the lord's proprium [selfhood], and hence are called my bones, and as to Divine Good which was the lord's proprium, and hence is called my heart; that heart denotes good, see AC 3813, 3635, and whereas bones signify these truths, to number which is to desire to dissipate them by reasonings and false principles, therefore also it immediately follows, that they divided his garments and cast lots upon his clothing, for garments also denote Truths, but of an exterior order. AC 3812.

Verses 16, 20. Dogs have compassed me about, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they have pierced my hands and my feet, deliver my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog. Dogs here denote those who destroy the goods of faith, who on that account are called the assembly, of the wicked; to deliver the soul from the sword, denotes from the false principle vastating the truth of faith; that sword is the false principle vastating the truth of faith, see AC 2799, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294; and that soul is the life of faith, AC 9050; hence also it is evident, that to deliver my only one from the hand of the dog denotes from the false principle vastating the good of faith. That good falsified and thereby made unclean is signified by dogs, is also evident in Matthew, "Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine," Matt 7:6. The reason why dogs signify those who render the good of faith unclean by falsifications is because dogs eat unclean things, and also bark at and bite men. AC 9231.

Verse 18. They part my garments amongst them, and cast lots upon my clothing. Thus it is written in David, and in Matthew, "They divided his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled what was said by the prophet," Matt 27:35; also in John, "The soldiers took the garments, and made four parts; and the coat; the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout; they said concerning it, let us not divide it, but let us cast lots for it whose it shall be, that the Scripture might be fulfilled," John 19:23, 24. He who reads these Words, and knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, is not aware that any arcanum lies concealed in them, when yet in singular the words there is a Divine Arcanum. The arcanum was, that, Divine Truths wore dissipated by the Jews; for the lord was Divine Truth, whence He is called the Word, John 1:1. and following verses: the word is Divine Truth; his garments represented Truths in the external form, and his coat [or clothing] Truths in the internal form; the division of the garments represented the dissipation of the Truths of Faith by the Jews; that garments denote Truths in the external form, see AC 2576, 5248, 5954, 6918; and that a coat [or clothing] denotes Truth in the internal form, see AC 4677; Truths in the external form are such as are Truths of the Word in the literal sense; but Truths in the internal form are such as are the Truths of the Word in the spiritual sense; the division of the garments into four parts signified total dissipation, in like manner as the division in Zechariah 14:4. and in other places; in like manner division into two parts, as is written concerning the veil of the temple, Matt 27:51; Mark 15:28; the rending of the rocks also on that occasion, Matt 27:52, represented the dissipation of all things of faith, for a rock denotes the lord as to faith, and hence denotes faith from the lord. AC 9093; see also AE 195.

Verse 21. Save me from the lion's mouth, and answer me from the horns of the unicorn. By horns are signified the power of Truth which is grounded in good, and in an opposite sense the power of the false principle which is grounded in evil. Divine Truths are here called the horns of the unicorn by reason of their height; hence mention is so often made of the horn being exalted, for exaltation signifies power from an interior principle. AC 2832.

By a lion is signified the false principle with great might destroying Truths; and by the horns of the unicorn are signified Truths which prevail against falses. AE 316.

Verse 23. You that fear jehovah praise him; all you seed of Jacob glorify him; stand in awe of him all you seed of Israel. In many passages in the Word mention is made of fearing jehovah god, and by it is meant to worship, wherefore it shall be briefly said what is specifically meant by fearing god; all worship of jehovah god must be from the love of good by truths; worship from the good of love alone is not worship, neither is that worship which is from truths alone without the good of love; there must be both, for the good of love is the essential principle of worship; but good exists and in formed by truths, hence all worship must be by truths grounded in good. AE 696.

Verse 23. Stand in awe of him all you seed of Israel. By the seed of Israel is meant the spiritual church, for seed in the literal sense signifies posterity, but in the internal sense Faith, and since, as has been frequently said, there is no Faith unless where there is charity, therefore it is charity itself which is meant by seed in the internal sense. AC 1025.

Verse 24. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hid his faces from him, and when he cried to him he heard him. It is said in many passages of the Word, that jehovah, that is, the lord, conceals and hides his faces on account of iniquities and sins, and that he is entreated not to conceal and hide, when yet he never in any case conceals and hides, namely: his Divine Good and Divine Truth, for the lord is Divine love itself, and mercy itself, and wills the salvation of all, wherefore he is present with all and every one, even with those who are in iniquities and sins, by which presence he gives them the liberty of receiving him, that is. Truth and Good from Him, wherefore if they freely will it, they also receive. The reason why it must be done freely is, that goods and truths may remain with man, and may appertain to him as his; for what a man does from freedom, this he does from affection, since all freedom is of the affection; affection also is his will, wherefore what is received in freedom, or from affection, this enters the man's will and remains; the reason why it then remains is because the will is the man himself; for in it primarily resides his life, but in thought and understanding secondarily. This therefore is the reason why man ought to receive Divine Good and Divine Truth, with which the Lord is always present: this also is meant by the words, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and dine with him, and he with me," Rev 3:20. But when man from freedom chooses evil, he then shuts the door against himself, and thus does not admit the good and truth which is from the lord; wherefore the lord in such case appears as absent: from this appearance it is that it is said, that jehovah conceals and hides his faces, although he does not conceal and hide: moreover, man in such case, as to his spirit, turns himself away from the lord, whence also he does not perceive the good, nor see the truth which is from the Lord, the consequence is, that it also appears as if the lord does not see him, when yet he sees all and every thing belonging to him; from this appearance it also is, that the lord is said to conceal and hide his faces, yea, that he is said to set his faces against the wicked. AE 412.

Verses 27, 28. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him, for the kingdom is jehovah's and he is the governor among the nations; and in Isaiah, "All the nations shall see your justice, and all things your glory," Isaiah 62:2. In these passages no mention is made of nations and people, but of nations and kings, because by kings the like is signified as by people, namely: those who are in truths, see AC 31; and whereas by nations are signified those who are in good, and by kings those who are in truths, therefore it is said of the nations, that they shall see your justice, and of kings that they shall see your glory, justice in the Word being predicated of Good, and glory of Truth. AE 331. See also AC 126.

Verse 29. All they that go down to the dust shall kneel before him, and he that cannot keep his soul alive. That dust signifies what is damned and infernal, is manifest from what has been said of the serpent, of whom, because he was cursed, it is said that he should eat dust, besides what is there shown concerning the signification of dust, it is allowed to add what is written in David, "All they that go down to the dust shall kneel before jehovah, and he that cannot keep his soul alive;" Psalm 22:29; and in another place, "You hide your faces, they are troubled; you gather their spirit, they expire, and return to their dust," Psalm 104:24, which means that when they turn themselves away from the face of the lord, they expire or die, and thus return to dust, that is, become damned and infernal. AC 278.

Verse 30. A seed shall serve him; it shall be counted to the lord for a generation. The lord is here treated of; and by the seed which shall serve him, are meant those who are in the truths of doctrine from the Word; and being counted to the lord for a generation is signified that they shall be his to eternity, to be counted signifying to be placed in order and arranged; in this case, to be numbered to, or added to, thus to be his. AE 708.