시편 23편은 세계에서 가장 잘 알려져 있고 가장 사랑받는 문학 작품 중 하나이며, 지금까지 쓰여진 시 중 최고의 시일 수도 있습니다. 또한 비유적 언어의 힘을 보여주는 좋은 예이기도 합니다: 우리는 친절한 목자가 푸른 초장과 좋은 물로 인도하는 양이 된 우리 자신의 모습을 통해 깊은 것을 읽어냅니다. 사망의 음침한 골짜기로 두려움 없이 나아갈 수 있는 자신감과 주님이 차려주신 식탁과 넘치도록 가득 찬 잔의 사랑과 배려를 느낄 수 있는 힘이 생깁니다.

그러나 사람들이 모르는 것은 이 언어가 실제로 정확한 내적 의미를 가지고 있으며, 우리가 그것을 볼 때 시에는 더 깊은 아름다움이 있다는 것입니다. 그 이유는 이 시가 실제로 묘사하는 것은 천국으로 가는 길이며, 우리를 천국으로 인도하려는 주님의 강렬한 열망이기 때문입니다.

첫 번째 단계는 주님을 우리의 목자로 모시고 그분의 가르침과 리더십을 받아들이는 것입니다. 푸른 초원과 잔잔한 물은 그분이 여정에서 우리에게 가르치실 것들을 상징합니다. 그런 다음 주님은 우리 안에서 일하기 시작하여 우리의 영적인 삶을 질서 있게 정돈하여 우리가 선한 일을 행하고 서로 사랑하기를 원하도록 하십니다. 그것은 우리의 영혼을 회복시키고 우리를 의의 길로 인도하는 것으로 표현됩니다.

그러나 우리는 여전히 도전에 직면할 것입니다. 우리는 여전히 세상 밖에서 외적인 삶을 살고 있으며, 그 외적인 삶, 육체적인 삶에서 일어나는 욕망의 지배를 받습니다. 그것이 바로 사망의 음침한 골짜기입니다. 그러나 지팡이와 지팡이는 외적, 내적 차원에서 주님이 주시는 진리, 즉 그러한 욕망으로부터 우리를 보호할 수 있는 사상을 상징합니다.

우리가 계속 따를 때 주님은 우리 안에 사랑(기름부음)과 지혜(넘치도록 잔)로 채울 수 있는 식탁을 준비해 주실 것입니다. 이렇게 변화된 우리는 다른 사람에 대한 사랑("선")과 주님의 사랑("자비")으로 천국에 들어갈 수 있으며, 영원히 사랑하고 사랑받을 수 있습니다.

이것의 많은 아름다운 점 중 하나는 모든 일을 실제로 행하시는 분이 주님이라는 사실입니다. 본문 전체에서 양들이 취한 유일한 행동은 사망의 음침한 골짜기로 걸어가는 것뿐입니다. 그 외에는 주님을 따르고, 주님을 신뢰하고, 주님의 축복을 받아들입니다. 그리고 그것은 정말 사실입니다! 외적인 상태(골짜기)에서는 우리가 스스로 일을 하는 것처럼 보일 수 있지만, 내적으로는 영적으로 우리 자신을 주님께 드리고 주님께서 우리를 축복하시도록 내버려두면 됩니다.

여기서 근본적인 생각은 주님께서 우리를 사랑하시도록 우리를 창조하셨고, 우리를 사랑하시면서 우리가 행복하기를 원하시며, 우리의 가장 큰 행복은 천국에서 그분과 결합하는 것에서 비롯된다는 것을 알고 계시며, 그분 자신도 우리와 결합하는 것 이상을 원하지 않으신다는 것입니다. 그래서 그분께서 지구상의 모든 사람을 위해 매일 매 순간 행하시는 모든 일은 그 사람을 천국에 데려가려는 목표에 집중되어 있습니다. 그분은 우리가 상상할 수 있는 것 이상으로 우리 한 사람 한 사람이 천국에 가기를 원하십니다. 우리는 협력하기만 하면 됩니다.

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

1326. That 'therefore He called the name of it Babel' means such worship, namely that meant by 'Babel', is clear from what has been stated so far - about worship which inwardly contains self-love and therefore everything that is filthy and unholy. Self-love is nothing else than the proprium, and how filthy and unholy this is becomes clear from what has been shown already about the proprium in 210, 215. From philautia, ¹ that is, from self-love or the proprium, flow all evils, such as those of hatred, revenge, cruelty, adultery, deceit, hypocrisy, and irreligion. Consequently when self-love or the proprium is present in worship, such evils are present too - but the particular kind of evils and their intensity being determined by the extent and nature of what flows from that self-love. This is the origin of all profanation in worship. The fact of the matter is that insofar as self-love or the proprium introduces itself into worship, internal worship departs, that is, internal worship ceases to exist. Internal worship consists in the affection for good and in the acknowledgement of truth, but to the extent that self-love or the proprium intrudes or enters in, the affection for good and the acknowledgement of truth depart or go away. Holiness cannot possibly co-exist with unholiness, any more than heaven can with hell. Instead one must depart from the other. Such is the state and proper order existing in the Lord's kingdom. This is the reason why among the kind of people whose worship is called 'Babel' no internal worship exists, but instead something dead and indeed inwardly corpse-like is worshipped. This shows what their external worship which is inwardly such is like.

[2] That such worship is 'Babel' is clear from many parts of the Word where Babel is described, as in Daniel, where the description of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel saw in a dream - whose head was gold, breast and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze, legs iron, and feet partly iron and partly clay - means that true worship finally deteriorated into the kind of worship called 'Babel', and therefore also a stone cut out of the rock smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, Daniel 2:31-33, 44-45. The statue of gold which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel set up, and which people were to adore, had no other meaning, Daniel 3:1-end. The same applies to the description of the king of Babel with his nobles drinking wine from the vessels of gold that had come from the Temple in Jerusalem, of their praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and stone, and of writing therefore appearing on the wall, Daniel 5:1-end; to the description of Darius the Mede commanding that he be adored instead of God, Daniel 6:1-end; and to that of the beasts seen by Daniel in a dream, Daniel 7:1-end, as well as to that of the beasts and Babel in John's Revelation.

[3] That such worship was meant and represented is quite clear not only in Daniel and John but also in the Prophets: in Isaiah,

Their faces were faces of flames; the stars of the heavens and their constellations do not give their light The sun is darkened in its coming up and the moon does not shed its light Tziim lie down there, and their houses are full of ochim, and daughters of the owl dwell there, and satyrs dance there, and iim answer in its palaces, and dragons in its halls of pleasure. Isaiah 13:8, 10, 21-22

This refers to Babel and describes the internal aspect of such worship by 'faces of flames', which are evil desires; by 'the stars', which are truths of faith, 'not giving their light'; by 'the sun', which is holy love, 'being darkened'; by 'the moon', which is the truth of faith, 'not shedding its light'; by 'tziim, ochim, daughters of the owl, satyrs, dim, and dragons', which are the more interior aspects of worship. For such things belong to self-love or the proprium. This also is why Babel in John is called 'the mother of whoredoms and abominations', Revelation 17:5; and in the same book,

A dwelling-place of demons, ² and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Revelation 18:2.

From these places it is evident that when such things are within, it is impossible for any good or truth of faith to be there, and that to the extent that those things enter in, the goods which are the objects of affection, and the truths of faith, depart. They are also called in Isaiah 21:9 'the graven images of the gods of Babel'.

[4] That it is self-love or the proprium which lies within their worship, or that it is worship of self, is quite clear in Isaiah,

Prophesy this parable against the king of Babel, You said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the uttermost parts of the north. I will go up above the heights of the cloud, I will make myself like the Most High. But you will be brought down to hell. Isaiah 14:4, 13-15.

Here, it is plain, Babel means the person who wishes to be worshipped as a god, that is, worship of self is meant.

[5] In the same prophet,

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You trusted in your wickedness, you said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray; you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me. Isaiah 47:1, 10.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth; and I will stretch out My hand over you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you into a mountain of burning. Though Babel rise up into the heavens, and though she fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me those who lay waste will come to her. Jeremiah 51:25, 53.

This again shows that 'Babel' is worship of self.

[6] The fact that such people have no light of truth, but only total darkness, that is, that they do not possess the truth of faith, is described in Jeremiah,

The word which Jehovah spoke against Babel, against the land of the Chaldeans, There will come up upon her a nation from the north, which will make her land a desolation, and none will dwell in it; both man and beast will scatter themselves, they will go away. Jeremiah 50:1, 3.

'The north' stands for thick darkness, or absence of truth. 'No man and no beast' stands for the absence of good. For more about Babel, see at verse 28 ³ below, where Chaldea is referred to.

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