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PSALM 23

A Psalm of David.

1. jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me to the waters of rest.
3. He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of justice, for his name's sake.
4. Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of jehovah for ever.

Verse 1, 2, 5. jehovah is my shepherd I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me to waters of rest; he prepares before me a table in the presence of mine enemies; you make fat my head with oil; my cup runs over. By these words in the internal sense is meant, that whoever trusts in the lord, is led into all the goods and truths of heaven, and abounds in their delights; by my shepherd is meant the lord; by pastures of herb are signified the knowledges of truth and good; by waters of rest are signified the truths of heaven thence derived; by a table is signified spiritual nourishment; by making fat the head with oil, is signified the wisdom which is from good; by my cup runs over, is signified the intelligence which is from truths; for by cup the like is signified as by wine. Mention is made of pastures of herb and waters of rest, as if they were comparisons, by reason of the lord being called a shepherd, and the flock of a shepherd is led into pastures of herb, and to clear waters, but still they are correspondences. AE 375. See also AC 3120.

Verse 2. He makes me lie down in green pastures. From this passage it is evident that by lying down is signified a state of peace and tranquillity, and that by lying down in the present passage is signified tranquillity of state, for place in the internal sense is state. AC 3696.

Verse 4, 5. Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me; you prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; you make fat my head with oil; my cup runs over. To walk in the valley of the shadow of death, in a spiritual sense, signifies an obscure understanding, to which truths do not appear from light; your rod and your staff shall comfort me, signifies that Divine Truth spiritual together with Divine Truth natural will protect, because they have power; a rod is Divine Truth spiritual, a staff Divine Truth natural, both together as to the power of protecting, for to comfort is to protect: inasmuch as a rod and a staff signify Divine Truth as to power, it, therefore follows, you prepare a table before me, you make fat my head with oil, and my cup runs over, by which words is signified spiritual nourishment by Divine Truth, for by preparing a table is signified to nourish spiritually, by making fat the head with oil is signified by the good of love, and by the cup running over is signified the Truth of Doctrine from the Word. AE 726.

Verse 6. I shall dwelt in the house of jehovah for length of days. Length, when applied to time, signifies what is perpetual and eternal, as length of days, Psalm 23:6. but when applied to space signifies what is holy. AC 650. Verse 6. Length of days. The prolongation of days upon the earth does not signify a lengthening of the days of life in the world, but the state of the life in the church, consequently in heaven; for to be prolonged is predicated of good and its augmentation, and days signify the state of the life. AE 304.

The attentive reader will not fail to remark, in the foregoing Psalm, an evident allusion to that divine and heavenly marriage of the good and the true, which has so frequently been above noted, as constituting a striking proof of the Divine inspiration of the sacred writings. For when he reads at verse 2. of lying down in green pastures, and of being led to the watery of rest, and at verse 5, of the head being made fat with oil, and of the cup running over, he will want no one to instruct him, that to lie down in green pastures, and to have the head made fat with oil, are expressions, which have more especial reference to the good of Love and Charity, whilst being led to the waters of rest, and having the cup running over, have a similar reference to the truth of wisdom and intelligence, and that all the expressions united point manifestly at the above divine and heavenly marriage, and thus demonstrate the divine origin of the Holy Record which contains them.