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PSALM 91

1. He that dwells in the secret place of the most high; he that abides under the shadow of the almighty,
2. Shall say of jehovah: O, my refuge and my fortress; my god, in whom I will trust.
3. For he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the deadly pestilence.
4. He shall cover you with his pinions, and under his wings shall you find refuge; his truth shall be your shield and your buckler.
5. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night; of the arrow that flies by day;
6. Nor of the pestilence that walks in thick darkness; of the destruction that wastes at noon-day.
7. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near to you.
8. You shall only behold with your eyes, and shall see the recompense of the wicked;
9. Because you, O jehovah, are my refuge; you have made the most high your habitation.
10. There shall no evil befall you, nor shall any plague come near to your tent.
11. For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
12. They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13. You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under foot.
14. Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
15. When he calls upon me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress: I will deliver him and honour him.
16. With length of days will I satisfy him, and I will show him my salvation.

Verse 3. From the snare of the fowler. For the signification of snare, see Psalm 11:6, Exposition.

Verse 4. He shall cover you with his pinions, and under his wings shall you find refuge; his truth shall be your shield and your buckler. Where shield and buckler denote defence against falses. AC 1788; see also Ps 35:2, Exposition.

To cover under the wing denotes to guard by divine truth, which is the divine spiritual principle. AE 283.

To be covered with the wing of jehovah denotes the protection and confidence which are of faith. AC 8764.

Verse 5. For you shall not be afraid of the arrow that flies by day. That the man of the spiritual church is here signified appears from the signification of a dart, or an arrow, as denoting truth, and from the signification of a bow, as denoting doctrine; see AC 2686. The man of the spiritual church was formerly called a shooter of the bow, because he defends himself by truths, and debates about truths, otherwise than the man of the celestial church, who is secure by virtue of good, and does not debate about truths. That the spiritual man was formerly called a shooter and archer, and that doctrine was called a bow and a quiver, and that the truths of doctrine, or rather doctrinals, were called darts and arrows, appears from David, where mention is made of the shooters of the bow, and of arrows and quivers. AC 2709.

Verse 6. Nor of the pestilence that walks in thick darkness; nor of the destruction that wastes at noon-day. The terror by night denotes the false principle which is in secret; the arrow which flies by day, denotes the false principle which is in manifestation; the pestilence which walks in thick darkness, denotes the evil which is in secret; the destruction which wastes at noon-day, denotes the evil which is in manifestation. AC 7102.

The above words are spoken of falses and evils, which are not known to be falses and evils, and of falses and evils, which are known to be falses and evils, and still creep into the thought and into the will, and destroy man; the falses which are known to be falses are understood by the arrow which flies by day; and the evils which are known to be evils and yet enter, are understood by the destruction which wastes at noon-day; and the falses which are not known to be falses, are understood by the terror by night; and the evils which are not known to be evils, by the pestilence which walks in thick darkness; the destruction of these latter evils is signified by a thousand which shall fall by his side; and the destruction of the falses by the myriad which shall fall at his right hand; also by the side on which they shall fall is signified good, and by the right hand the truth of good; that a thousand is predicated of evils, and a myriad, of falses, is for this reason, because falses are opposed to truths, and evils are opposed to goods. AE 336.

The terror by night denotes the falses of evil, which are from hell; the arrow which flies by day denotes the false principle which is openly professed; the destruction which lays waste at noon-day, denotes the evil which is openly lived in, whereby truth is destroyed. AC 9642.

Verse 7. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. Thousand and myriad denote what is innumerable; and since the whole Psalm relates to the lord, who is meant by David, therefore thousand and myriad here denote all who are his enemies. AC 2575.

Verse 11. For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. To the intent that the lord's life may flow in, and be received according to every law belonging to man, there are continually attendant on man, angels, and spirits, angels from heaven, and spirits from hell; and I have been informed, that there are two spirits and two angels attendant on every individual. The reason why there are attendant spirits from hell is because man. from himself is continually in evil, for he is in the delight of self-love and the love of the world, and so far as man is in evil, or in that delight, so far the angels from heaven cannot be present.

Those two spirits who are adjoined to man, cause him to have communication with hell, and those two angels cause him to have communication with heaven; man, without communication with heaven and hell, would not be able to live even a moment; if those communications were taken away, he would fall down dead as a stock, for in such case would be taken away his connection with the first esse, that is, with the lord. This also has been shown me by experience; the spirits attendant on me were a little removed, and instantly according to the removal I began as it were to expire, and likewise should have expired, unless they had been sent back again. But I am aware that few believe that any spirit is attendant upon them, yea, that there are spirits; and the principal cause of this unbelief is because at this day there is no faith by reason that there is no charity, hence neither is it believed that there is a hell, yea, neither that there is a heaven, consequently no life after death; another cause of this unbelief is because with their eyes men do not see spirits, for they say, if I saw, I would believe; what I see, that is, but what I do not see, I know not whether it is or not; when yet they know, or may know, that the eye of man is so dim and gross, that it does not even see things more extant which are in ultimate nature, as is evident from artificial glasses, by which such things become visible; how then should it be able to see the things which are within nature, even purer nature, where are spirits and angels; these man cannot see, unless by the eye of his internal man, for this eye is accommodated to the seeing of such objects; but the sight of this eye is not opened to man, during his abode in the world, for several reasons. From these considerations it may be manifest, how much modern faith differs from ancient faith; for it was a tenet of ancient faith, that every man had his attendant angel. AC 5848, 5849.

That angels and spirits are attendant upon man, see Psalm 34:7; Matt 18:10; Heb 1:14.

Verse 13. The young lion and the dragon shall you trample under foot. By treading upon a lion, an adder, serpents, and scorpions, is meant not only to destroy evils and falses, but also not to be hurt by them. AE 632.

To destroy interior and exterior falses, which vastate the goods of the church, is signified by treading on a lion and adder; and to destroy interior and exterior falses, which vastate the goods of the church, is signified by treading on a young lion and on a dragon. AE 714.

Verse 16. With length of days; see Psalm 23:6, Exposition.