Psalm 82. A plea for justice.

Psalm 82 is a strong plea for true justice, which is God’s justice, not man’s. The psalm begins with the idea of God standing at the centre of everything, in the congregation of the mighty, and he judges among the gods (the word ‘gods’ here means the judges of this world. By God’s position all else is measured and seen for what it really is, good or bad, true, or false.

Spiritually, for us, this is a helpful picture of God at the centre. It asks us to measure all of our intentions, motives, reasons, actions, against the presence of the Lord at the centre of our life, in order to see if they stand comparison and if they are happening from God or from ourselves. (See Arcana Caelestia 4482.3)

The psalm moves on to rebuke the judges of this world for their injustices, favouring what is wicked. It holds up several clear needs for justice among people, to defend the poor and fatherless, give justice to the afflicted and needy, and deliver them, and free them from the hand of the wicked. Literally this is true civil justice; spiritually it is advocating care and consideration for those who are spiritually poor and spiritually fatherless. In other words, those states in people where there is poor understanding and no sense of God as heavenly Father. (Arcana Caelestia 8897)

At a deeper level, these impoverished states apply to ourselves. It is about our own poverty and our sense of being without the Lord and feeling alone. It is about our genuine constant need of the Lord to guide and protect us, even from ourselves and our wilfulness. (Arcana Caelestia 9209.5, 6)

Verse 5 describes the bereftness and deficiency of one who is without any truth or good in their lives to help and lead them. They do not know; they walk in darkness; the foundations of the earth are unstable. The spiritual idea here is that a lack of knowing the truth of the Lord leads to a life in darkness and finally to a lack of any trustworthy foundation in our lives. Foundations are the truths which support and carry us safely in our lives. (Arcana Caelestia 9643)

The psalm closes with a clear statement that while we are children of God, of the Most High, we will die and we are capable of falling; therefore the psalm continues, May God arise and be the judge over all the earth... because everything finally goes back to God.

1463. That 'sojourning' means receiving instruction becomes clear from the meaning in the Word of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction, and it has this meaning because sojourning and passing on, or moving from one place to another, is in heaven nothing else than a change of state, as shown already in 1376, 1379. Therefore every time travelling, sojourning, or transferring from one place to another occurs in the Word nothing else suggests itself to angels than a change of state such as takes place with them. There are changes of state both of thoughts and of affections. Changes of the state of thoughts are cognitions, which in the world of spirits are represented by means of forms of instruction. This also explains why members of the Most Ancient Church, having communication with the angelic heaven, did not perceive anything else by 'sojourning'. Thus the statement here that 'Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn' does not mean anything other than the Lord's being instructed.

[2] Something similar is meant by Jacob and his sons going down into Egypt, as in Isaiah,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, My people went down to Egypt at first to sojourn there, and Asshur oppressed them without cause. Isaiah 52:4.

Here 'Asshur' stands for reasonings. This is also why in the Jewish Church people who were receiving instruction were called 'sojourners, sojourning in their midst' who, it was commanded, were to receive the same treatment as the native-born, Exodus 12:48-49; Leviticus 24:22; Numbers 15:13-16, 26, 29; 19:10. Regarding sojourners it is said in Ezekiel,

You shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. You shall divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves and for sojourners, sojourning in your midst. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel, they shall cast lots with you for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. In the tribe with which the sojourner has sojourned, there shall you give him his inheritance. Ezekiel 47:21-23.

This refers to the new Jerusalem, or the Lord's kingdom. 'Sojourners sojourning' is used to mean people who allow themselves to receive instruction, consequently the gentiles. That 'sojourners' stands for people who are receiving instruction is clear from the fact that it is said 'in the tribe with which he has sojourned, there shall an inheritance be given him'. 'Tribes' stands for the things that constitute faith.

[3] 'Sojourning' is also similar in meaning to travelling and dwelling. 'Travelling' means the established patterns and order of life, while 'dwelling' means living, both dealt with already in 1293. For the same reasons the land of Canaan is also called 'the land of the sojournings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob', in Genesis 28:4; 36:7; 37:1; Exodus 6:4. And Jacob said to Pharaoh,

The days of the years of my sojournings; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings. Genesis 47:9.

Here 'sojourning' stands for life and for forms of instruction.