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PSALM 70

To him that presides, a Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

1. O god, make haste to deliver me; O jehovah, make haste to help me.
2. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul; let them be turned backwards and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
3. Let them be turned back as a reward of their shame, that say, aha! aha!
4. Let all those that seek you be glad and rejoice in you; and let such as love your salvation say continually, Let god be magnified!
5. But I am afflicted and needy, make haste to me, O god; you are my help and my deliverer; O jehovah, delay not.

Verse 1. O god, make haste to deliver me; O jehovah, make haste to help me. By reason of the marriage of the lord with the church, or, what is the same thing, the marriage of divine good and divine truth, in every part of the Word, the expressions, jehovah and god, so frequently occur; also jehovah and the holy one or israel, as if they were two, when, nevertheless, they are one; for by jehovah is meant the lord as to divine good, and by god and the holy one of israel, is meant the lord as to divine truth. That the expressions jehovah and god, and jehovah and the holy one of israel, also occur in many parts of the Word, and yet signify one, may be seen in the "Doctrine respecting the lord," SS 34, 38, 46. SS 88.

Verse 4. Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad. By rejoicing and being glad, is signified to enjoy the delight of the affections of the heart and soul; the delight of the affection of the heart is of the will, and the delight of the affection of the soul is of the understanding; for, in the Word, by heart and soul are meant the will and understanding of man; hence it is that it is said to rejoice and be glad, although joy and gladness seem to be one and the same thing, but in these expressions there is a marriage of the will and the understanding, which is also a marriage of good and truth, that takes place in the whole and in every particular of the Word, as is shown in the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture;" AR 80 to 90; this is the reason why both these expressions, to rejoice and be glad, or joy and gladness, frequently occur in other parts of the Word. AR 507.

Verse 5. But I am afflicted and needy, make haste to me, O god. By the miserable and the poor, in the spiritual sense of the Word, are meant they who are without the knowledges of things true and good, for they are spiritually miserable and poor; the same are understood hereby in the following passages, "I am miserable and poor, O lord, remember me," Psalm 40:18, 70:5. By the miserable and the poor are principally understood those who are not in the knowledges of what is good and true, and yet desire them, because by the rich are understood such as are possessed of the knowledges of things good and true. AR 209.

Divine order requires that man should prepare himself for the reception of god; and in proportion as he so prepares himself, god enters into him, as into his house or habitation; and that preparation is effected by means of knowledges concerning god and the spiritual things of the church, and a consequent intelligence and wisdom; for it is a law of order, that in proportion as man approaches and draws near to god, which he ought to do entirely as from himself, in the same proportion god approaches and draws near to man, and joins himself to him in the centre of his soul. AR 89.