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PSALM 59

To him that presides; Al-taschith; Michtam of David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.

1. Deliver me from mine enemies, O god; lift me up from them that rise up against me.
2. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the men of blood.
3. For lo! they lie in wait for my soul; the mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O jehovah.
4. Not for mine iniquity do they run and prepare themselves; arouse yourself to meet me, and behold!
5. And do you, O jehovah, god of Hosts, the god of Israel, awake to visit all the nations; spare not any who are treacherous in iniquity. Selah.
6. They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
7. Behold, they belch out with their mouths, swords are in their lips; for who, say they, does hear?
8. But you, O jehovah, shall laugh at them; you shall have all the nations in derision.
9. They are strong; but on you do I wait; for god is my refuge.
10. The god of my mercy shall prevent me; god shall make me to see my desire upon mine enemies.
11. Slay them not lest my people forget; scatter them by your strength, and cast them down, O lord! our shield.
12. For the sin of their mouth, for the word of their lips, let them be taken in their pride; and for the curses and lies which they speak.
13. Consume them in wrath, consume them that they be no more; that they may know that god rules in Jacob, even to the ends of the earth. Selah.
14. They return in the evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
15. They wander about for meat, if they be not satisfied; thus do they spend the night.
16. But I will sing aloud of your strength, yea, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning, for you have been my defence and my refuge in the day of my trouble.
17. O my strength, of you will I sing; for god is my defence, even the god of my mercy.

Verses 6, 14. They return at evening, they make a noise like a dog, etc. A dog signifies the lowest of all, or those who are vile in the church, likewise those who are out of the church, also those who babble much about the things of the church and understand little; and in the opposite sense, those who are altogether out of the faith of the church, and speak disrespectfully of those things which are of faith. AC 7784.

By dogs in general are signified they who are in all kinds of cravings, and indulge in them, particularly they who are in pleasures merely corporeal, especially in the pleasure of feasting, in which they delight; such, inasmuch as they are of gross minds, make no account of the things which relate to the church. Dogs have this signification in the following passages in the Word: "His watchmen are blind, they are all dumb dogs, looking about, lying down, loving to slumber, dogs obstinate of soul, they know not satiety," Isaiah 56:10, 11. "They make a tumult like a dog, and go about in the city, they ramble to eat, if they be not satisfied, thus do they spend the night," Psalm 59:6, 14. AC 7784

Verse 7. Behold they belch out with their mouth, for swords are in their lips. That a sword signifies the false principle destroying truth, is evident from these words, and hence may be known what is meant by the lord's Words to Peter, "They that take the sword, shall perish by the sword," namely that they who believe in falses, will perish by falses. The ground of this signification originates in the spiritual world, where, when spiritual combats take place, which are combats of what is true against what is false, and of what is false against what is true, there appears various weapons of war, as swords, spears, shields, and the like, not that by such things they engage in combat, for they are only representative appearances of spiritual combats. AE 131.

Verse 13. Consume them in wrath, etc. The external of the Word, which is called the sense of the letter, is written according to appearances in the world, because it is for infants and the simple minded, who have no perception of any thing contrary to appearances, wherefore such by the sense of the letter, in which are appearances of truth, are introduced into interior truths, as they advance in age, and thus appearances are put off by degrees, and in the place thereof interior truths are implanted: this may be illustrated by numberless examples from the Word; as where it is written that God is angry, punishes, casteth into hell, brings evil upon the wicked, and many other things of a similar nature, when notwithstanding god is never angry, never punishes, or casteth into hell, neither does he at all do evil to any one, but these things belong to the wicked themselves, and are the consequence of their evils, for in the evils themselves are contained the evils of punishment; nevertheless these things are said in many passages in the Word, because it so appears. AE 631.

Verse 16. Of your mercy in the morning. We often read of morning in the Word, and it has various significations according to the series of things treated of in the internal sense; in the supreme sense it signifies the lord, and also his coming; in the internal sense it signifies his kingdom and church, and their state of peace; it moreover signifies the first state of a new church, and also a state of love, likewise a state of illustration, consequently a state of intelligence and wisdom, and also a state of conjunction, of goodness and truth, which is, when the internal man is conjoined to the external. The ground and reason why morning has such various signifi-cations, is because in the supreme sense it signifies the Divine Human of the lord, and hence it also signifies all those things which proceed from him, so that he himself is there. The reason why the Divine Human of the lord, in the supreme sense is understood by morning is because the lord is the sun of the angelic heaven, and the sun of that heaven does not make a progression from morning to evening, or from rising to setting as the sun of the world does to appearance, but it remains constant in its place, in front above the heavens, hence it is, that it is always in the morning, and never in the evening, and inasmuch as all intelligence and wisdom, which the angels possess, exist with them from the lord as a sun, therefore also their state of love, and their state of wisdom and intelligence, and, in general, their state of illustration is signified by the morning. AC 179.