The 23rd Psalm is one of the best-known and most-loved literary works in the world, and it may well be the best poem ever written. It is also a fine example of the power of figurative language: We read deep things into the vision of ourselves as sheep, led to green pastures and good water by a kind shepherd. It’s empowering to feel the confidence to go fearlessly into the valley of the shadow of death, and to feel the love and caring of a table prepared by the Lord and a cup so full it overflows.

What people don’t know, however, is that this language actually has precise internal meanings, and that when we see them there is an even deeper beauty in the poem. That’s because what it actually describes is the path to heaven, and the fierce desire the Lord has to lead us there.

The first step is to let the Lord be our shepherd – to accept His teaching and His leadership. The green pastures and the still waters represent the things He will teach us for the journey. Then He begins working inside is, setting our spiritual lives in order, so that we desire to do what’s good and to love one another. That’s represented by restoring our souls and leading us in the paths of righteousness.

But we will still face challenges. We still live external lives, out in the world, and we are subject to desires that arise in those externals, in our bodily lives. That’s the valley of the shadow of death. But the rod and staff represent truth from the Lord on both external and internal levels, ideas that can defend us against those desires.

And if we keep following, the Lord will prepare a table for us – a place inside us that he can fill with love (the anointing oil) and wisdom (the overflowing cup). Thus transformed, we can enter heaven, with love for others (“goodness”) and love from the Lord (“mercy”) and can love and be loved to eternity.

One of many beautiful things about this is the fact that it is the Lord who really does all the work. In the whole text, the only action taken by the sheep is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Other than that, they follow the Lord, trust the Lord, accept the blessings of the Lord. And that is really true! In external states (in the valley) we might seem to be doing the work ourselves, but internally, spiritually, we simply need to give ourselves to the Lord and let Him bless us.

The underlying idea here is that the Lord created us so that He could love us, in loving us wants us to be happy, knows that our greatest happiness will come from being conjoined to Him in heaven, and Himself wants nothing more than to be conjoined to us. So everything He does, in every moment of every day for every person on the face of the planet, is centered on the goal of getting that person to heaven. He wants each and every one of us in heaven more than we are capable of imagining. We just need to cooperate.

(Verweise: Apocalypse Explained 375 [34], 727 [2]; The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 273)

10093. 'That which has been waved, and that which has been heaved up' means what has been acknowledged and what has been perceived. This is clear from the meaning of the words 'that which has been waved', when they refer to the breast, as that which has been endowed with life through acknowledgement, dealt with above in 10091; and from the meaning of 'that which has been heaved up' as the Divine Celestial, which is the Lord's alone, perceived in heaven and in the Church, dealt with below. The implications of all this must be stated briefly. There are two kingdoms which comprise the heavens, the celestial and the spiritual. Divine Truth is acknowledged in the spiritual kingdom but perceived in the celestial kingdom. The reason why this should be so is that Divine Truth in the spiritual kingdom is received in the understanding part of the mind but in the celestial kingdom in the will part. What is received in the understanding part is termed 'acknowledged', and what is received in the will part is spoken of as 'perceived'. Furthermore those in the spiritual kingdom can do no more than acknowledge Divine Truth, whereas those in the celestial kingdom are able to perceive it. See what has been shown abundantly regarding those two kingdoms in the places referred to in 9277, 9596, 9684.

[2] As regards 'the heave offering', that which was Jehovah's or the Lord's and was given to Aaron on account of his representation is called 'the heave offering'. And since Aaron represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, 9806, that part of sacrifices which was heaved up and given to Aaron represented that which is Divine and the Lord's, and is also called 'the anointing', in Moses,

The breast of the wave offering and the flank of the heave offering I have received from among the children of Israel from their eucharistic sacrifices, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons by a statute forever ¹ from among the children of Israel. This is the anointing of Aaron and the anointing of his sons from the fire offerings to Jehovah, on the day he presented them ² , to serve Jehovah in the priestly office. Leviticus 7:34-35.

The expression 'the anointing' is used because 'anointing' means consecrating to serve as a representative sign of the Lord in respect of Divine Good, see 9954, 10019. And in another place in the same author,

Jehovah spoke to Aaron, Behold, I have given you charge of My heave offerings; as regards all the holy things of the children of Israel, I have given them to you for the anointing, and to your sons. Yours shall the heave offering of [their] gift be, as regards every wave offering of the children of Israel, all the best ³ of pure oil, and all the best ³ of the new wine and the grain, of the firstfruits; and as regards all the firstfruits which they will give to Jehovah, they shall be yours. As regards every devoted thing, everything opening the womb of all flesh which they will bring to Jehovah, [it shall be yours.] From the firstborn of cow, sheep, and she-goat, the flesh shall be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and just as the right flank are. Every heave offering of the holy things [I have given you]. You shall have no portion or inheritance in the land, because Jehovah is your portion and inheritance. Also, every heave offering from the tithes and the gifts which have been made to the Levites. Numbers 18:8-29.

From all this it is evident what the term 'heave offering' denotes, namely all the things that were Jehovah's, that is, the Lord's.

[3] And since the Levites represented the Divine Truths in heaven and in the Church which serve Divine Good, they were also given to Aaron instead of all the firstborn, which were Jehovah's, that is, the Lord's. They are spoken of in Moses as follows,

I have taken the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel, instead of every firstborn, that which opens the womb, from the children of Israel, that the Levites may be Mine; for every firstborn is Mine. And since the Levites have been given to Me, I have given them as gifts to Aaron and his sons. Numbers 3:12-13; 8:16-19.

Heave offerings are spoken of as gifts presented to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, from among the children of Israel; but it should be understood that they are Jehovah's not by virtue of their being a gift but because He is the real owner; for nothing holy or Divine with a person belongs to the person, only to the Lord present with him. All that is good and true, as is well known in the Church, thus all that is holy and Divine, comes from the Lord God, and none at all from the person; and from this it is evident that when the gift is said to come from the person, this is due to appearances. This also is why the next verse states,

For it is a heave offering, and it shall be a heave offering from among the children of Israel, it is a heave offering to Jehovah.

This means that the heave offering from the children of Israel belongs to Jehovah, thus that the gift from them is a gift from the Lord. From this it is evident what a heave offering is.

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