Apocalypse Revealed # 209
209. 'Wretched and poor.' This symbolically means that they have no truths or goods.
Wretched and poor people mean, in the spiritual sense of the Word, people who lack concepts of truth and good, for they are spiritually wretched and poor. They are also meant by the people in the following passages:
I am wretched and poor, O Lord; be mindful of me. (Psalms 40:18) [NCBSP: Psalms 40:17], cf. Psalms 70:5)
Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and answer me, for I am wretched and poor. (Psalms 86:1)
The impious bare the sword and bend their bow, to cast down the wretched and poor... (Psalms 37:14)
(The impious man) persecuted the wretched and poor man, even to slay the downcast in heart. (Psalms 109:16)
(God) will judge the wretched of the people; He will save the children of the poor... He will deliver the poor man when he cries, and the wretched man... (Psalms 72:4, 12-13)
Jehovah... delivers the wretched man from one who is too strong for him, and the poor man... from those who plunder him. (Psalms 35:10)
(The impious man) devises wicked plans to destroy the wretched with lying words, even when the poor man speaks justly. (Isaiah 37:7)
The wretched shall have their joy in Jehovah, and the poor of mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
See also elsewhere, as Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49; 18:12; 22:29; Amos 8:4; Psalms 9:18; 69:32-33; 74:21; 109:22; 140:12; Deuteronomy 15:11; 24:14; Luke 14:13, 21, 23.
The wretched and poor mean chiefly people who lack concepts of truth and goodness and yet desire them, since the rich mean people who possess concepts of truth and goodness (no. 206).
Psalms 109
1
God of my praise, don't remain silent,
2
for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
3
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
4
In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.
5
They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6
Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.
7
When he is judged, let him come forth guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin.
8
Let his days be few. Let another take his office.
9
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10
Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.
11
Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
12
Let there be none to extend kindness to him, neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
13
Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don't let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15
Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16
because he didn't remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.
17
Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn't delight in blessing, and it was far from him.
18
He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
19
Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.
20
This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, of those who speak evil against my soul.
21
But deal with me, Yahweh the Lord, for your name's sake, because your loving kindness is good, deliver me;
22
for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
23
I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
24
My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.
25
I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
26
Help me, Yahweh, my God. Save me according to your loving kindness;
27
that they may know that this is your hand; that you, Yahweh, have done it.
28
They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.
29
Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
30
I will give great thanks to Yahweh with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the multitude.
31
For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul. A Psalm by David.
