Psalm 27: An exuberant declaration of faith

Psalm 27 is a psalm full of exuberant confidence about the Lord’s presence in our lives. It describes various troubles and conflicts throughout, but the speaker understands that the Lord will always protect him and lift him up, just as He has in the past. At the same time, the speaker declares his commitment to be confident in the Lord, to seek the Lord’s way, to sing praises, to believe faithfully, and most of all, to wait upon the Lord.

This psalm also tells us about the inner life of the Lord during His time in this world. The Lord knew the attacks that came upon Him from hell, and He also knew the temptations that came up from within His human self. These hellish influences find echoes in many places throughout the psalm, such as in verses 2 and 3, where the wicked come up against him and an army encamps about him. Juxtaposed with these struggles is a sense of determination to resist and overcome them, as in the words: “my heart shall not fear” (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 1444).

We also hear about the growing union between the divinity and humanity in the Lord, something that grew stronger over the course of His life. Verses 4 to 10 emphasize this point in words such as, “…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (v. 4), and "When You said, ‘Seek my face’, my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, shall I seek’" (v. 8).

This psalm applies to our regeneration in the same way. It is true, of course, that we won’t face anywhere near the same extent of attacks and temptations that the Lord endured and overcame. However, our regeneration works along similar lines to the Lord’s "glorification", or the way He gradually made His human life divine (Arcana Caelestia 3138).

There are several images offered in this psalm that are worth further spiritual explanation:

In verse 2, it says “the wicked… came up against me to eat my flesh”. This means the evils that tempt us aim to destroy our love of what is good, which is the very fabric of our spiritual life (see Swedenborg’s work, Apocalypse Explained 391[11]).

Verse 3 speaks of an encamping army and “war rising up”. Where we would expect to see a fearful reaction, the speaker shows nothing but confidence. The idea here is that our own human - often selfish - thoughts, alongside evil spirits which attack our minds to bolster such thinking, can seem like an army that makes war against our trust in the Lord.

Verse 5 describes the Lord hiding us away in His pavilion and in His tabernacle when we face times of trouble. This means that the Lord protects what we understand (represented by the pavilion) and what we hold dear about doing good (the tabernacle) when we experience periods of temptation. Being “set high upon a rock” represents the way the Lord teaches us, and gives us a firm foundation (Apocalypse Explained 799).

This psalm bears an important message for us to hear whenever we are in conflict or doubt. As with many other psalms, it tells us about the fears we experience, the attacks on our intention to follow the Lord, and our determination to devote ourselves to the Lord’s ways. It is this which joins us with the Lord, and the Lord with us (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 324 326).

1444. 'And the Canaanite was at that time in the land' means the hereditary evil from the mother, in His external man. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about the Lord's heredity; for He was born as any other is born and from the mother acquired evils which He fought against and overcame. It is well known that the Lord underwent and endured very severe temptations - which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described further on - temptations so great in fact that He fought by Himself and from His own power against the whole of hell. Nobody can undergo temptation unless he has evil clinging to him. The person who has no evil cannot experience the smallest temptation, for it is evil that spirits from hell stir up.

[2] With the Lord no evil of His own doing or that was His own was present, as there is with all human beings, only hereditary evil from the mother, which is here called 'the Canaanite at that time in the land'. For this matter see what has been stated above in verse 1, in 1414, to the effect that people are born with two heredities in them, the first from the father, the second from the mother. What comes from the father remains for ever, but what comes from the mother is dispelled by the Lord when the person is being regenerated. The Lord's heredity from His Father however was Divine, while the heredity from the mother was the hereditary evil referred to here, through which He underwent temptations. Regarding His temptations, see Mark 1:12-13; Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1-2. But, as has been stated, He had no evil of His own doing or which was His own, nor did He have any hereditary evil from the mother after He had overcome hell by means of temptations. It is for this reason that the expression at that time occurs here, that is to say, 'the Canaanite was at that time in the land'.

[3] The Canaanites were people who dwelt by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan, as is clear in Moses,

The spies returned and said, We came into the land to which you sent us, and it is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people dwelling in the land are powerful and the cities are very strongly fortified, and also we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekite dwells in the south, and the Hittite, Jebusite, and Amorite dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan. Numbers 13:27-29.

'The Canaanite dwelt by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan' meant evil consequently residing with the external man, such as that acquired by heredity from the mother, for the sea and the Jordan were boundaries.

[4] That this kind of evil is meant by 'the Canaanite' is clear also in Zechariah,

And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah Zebaoth on that day. Zechariah 14:21.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom. It means that the Lord overcame the evil meant by 'the Canaanite' and drove it out of His kingdom. Evils of every kind are meant by the idolatrous nations in the land of Canaan, among which were the Canaanites, Genesis 15:19-21; Exodus 3:8, 17; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deuteronomy 7:1; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 24:11; Judges 3:5. Which evil is meant by each nation specifically will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.