La Bibbia

 

Psalms 23 : The 23rd Psalm

Studio

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Commento

 

The 23rd Psalm

Da Brian David

The Lord as Shepherd, by Nana Schnarr

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.

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

Dalle opere di Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #50

Studia questo passo

  
/ 962  
  

50. And His voice as the sound of many waters. This symbolizes natural Divine truth.

A voice, when coming from the Lord, symbolizes Divine truth, as may be seen in no. 37 above. Waters symbolize truths, and specifically natural truths, which are concepts from the Word, as follows from many passages in the Word, of which we cite only the following:

...the earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly...: bread will be given him, (and) his water will be constant. (Isaiah 33:15-16)

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue fails for thirst... I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into springs of water..., that they may see, know, consider and understand... (Isaiah 41:17-18, 20)

I will pour out water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit... (Isaiah 44:3)

...your light shall rise in the darkness..., that you may be like a watered garden, and like an issue of water, whose waters do not deceive. (Isaiah 58:10-11)

...My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns... that hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)

Their great ones have sent their young ones for water. They went to the cisterns and found no water. Their vessels came back empty. (Jeremiah 14:3)

...they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)

They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will lead them to a fountain of waters, in the way of rectitude... (Jeremiah 31:9)

...I will break the staff of bread... and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment..., so that... they waste away because of their iniquities. (Ezekiel 4:16-17; cf. 12:18-19, Isaiah 51:14)

Behold, the days will come... when I will send hunger on the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. They shall wander from sea to sea, and... shall run to and fro, to hear the word of Jehovah, but shall not find it. In that day the... young women and the young men shall faint for thirst. (Amos 8:11-13)

In that day... living waters shall flow from Jerusalem... (Zechariah 14:8)

Jehovah is my shepherd..., He leads me to still waters. (Psalms 23:1-2)

They did not thirst...; He caused waters to flow from the rock for them, and He split the rock, so that waters gushed out. (Isaiah 48:21)

O God..., in the morning will I seek You; My soul thirsts...; ...(I am) weary, without water. (Psalms 63:1)

(Jehovah) sends out His word...; He causes (the) wind to blow, so that the waters flow. (Psalms 147:18)

Praise (Jehovah), you heavens of heavens, and you waters from above the heavens! (Psalms 148:4)

(Jesus sitting by Jacob's well said to the woman,) "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst to eternity. And the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:7-15)

(Jesus said,) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)

To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)

He showed (him) a... river of the water of life..., proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)

Waters in these passages mean truths, and it is apparent from this that the sound of many waters means the Lord's Divine truth in the Word, as also in the following places:

Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illumined by His glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)

I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters... (Revelation 14:2)

The voice of Jehovah is on the waters...; Jehovah is on many waters. (Psalms 29:3)

When it is known that waters in the Word mean truths in the natural self, it can be seen what washings in the Israelite Church symbolized, and also what baptism symbolizes, and moreover what is symbolically meant by these words of the Lord in John,

Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

"Of water" means, symbolically, "by truths," and "of the Spirit" means, symbolically, "by a life in accordance with them."

In an opposite sense, waters symbolize falsities, as we will see in subsequent explanations.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.