Psalm 31's theme is that the Lord is a fortress for us in adversity. It's quite a long psalm, and it is filled with rich imagery in almost every verse and phrase -- the Lord’s ear, the rock of refuge, the fortress, the net, the hand of the enemy, setting feet in a wide place, and more.

The psalmist exposes his feelings of rejection by others, saying again and again that his adversaries are full of hatred towards him. He feels that he is being held in contempt by his enemies, especially by his neighbours. He says that he is a reproach among them; he is repulsive to them; he is forgotten like a dead man, and that he is a broken vessel. He feels that they are against him, because of what he has chosen to stand for and uphold in his life.

This, like every other psalm, is also dealing with the inner states of Jesus in his humanity, in his work of redemption for our spiritual freedom. The Lord knew the opposition and rejection of many people. He also knew and had to deal with the attacks from the hells which took him into severe temptation. And he knew the subtleties and weaknesses of his own inherited humanity and the temptation to give in to their promptings. (Arcana Caelestia 1557)

This is an important challenge in our spiritual life. Our spiritual stands can set us against being accepted by other people who may have been friendly towards us before, but who are now against us. Spiritual commitment can bring us into an loneliness where our love of the Lord is the only fortress of our life. (Divine Providence 61)

When we bring this Psalm, spiritually, inside ourselves, and see our states reflected in what it says, we see that there is a tension between our natural life – fed by merely human values and expectations – and our spiritual life which is fed by the Word and the commands of the Lord. Both are there, co-habiting in us. We need to recognise this and manage the situation. It is a comfort to us to know that the Lord completely understands how it is for us. This is why the Lord feels like our fortress. (Arcana Caelestia 6343)

We’ll now take a look at some of the phrases and images used in this psalm and their spiritual meanings for us and also their correspondences.

Verse 2 says “Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defence to save me.” The height and hardness of rock give us the idea of the need for refuge, something higher than our confused thoughts, something firmer and steadier than our shifting emotions. This is the prayer to be made to the Lord. (Apocalypse Explained 411)

Verse 4 gives us the picture of a ‘net’: “Pull me out of the net they have secretly laid to trap me.” We know the phrase “a web of lies” in which we can become entangled to the point of not knowing truth from falsity, and a net, like a web, is all interconnected lines with no obvious beginning or end. False ideas create devious pathways to make them seem true.

Verse 8 says “You have set my feet in a wide place”. Our feet carry our body along. They are in touch with the ground. They stand for our life, with its actions, contact, use and dealings. The wideness means firmness, and breadth, which strengthens the balance of the body. To devote ourselves to the Lord sets our life on a sure base. (Apocalypse Revealed 510)

Finally, verse 10 tells us “And my bones waste away.” Our physical body is firmly built on a hard scaffolding on bones which allow us to act and move. Spiritually this stands for the truths we understand and have made our truth which support all our spiritual life and intentions. But here the speaker feels that this sureness is disappearing. It is the plea of one who is overwhelmed by the “smoke and mirrors” of opposing forces, and as the psalm constantly brings out, he can turn only to the Lord to uphold him, and he does. (Arcana Caelestia 9447)

510. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. (11:11) This symbolically means that at the end of the prior church, as the New Church commences and grows, these two essential elements of the New Church are made living by the Lord in people who accept them.

Three and a half days means, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning (no. 505), thus at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one, here the beginning of the church in people in whom the New Church commences and grows, because we are told now in regard to the two witnesses that the breath of life entered them and they stood on their feet.

The breath of life from God symbolizes spiritual life, and standing on their feet symbolizes natural life in harmony with spiritual life, and thus one made living by the Lord. This is the symbolic meaning because the breath of life refers to a person's inner being, called his inner self, which regarded in itself is spiritual. For it is a person's spirit that thinks and wills, and to think and will is, in itself, a spiritual activity. ¹ Standing on the feet symbolizes a person's outer being, called his outer self, which in itself is natural. For it is the body that says and does what the spirit in it thinks and wills, and to speak and act is a natural activity. That the feet symbolize natural things may be seen in nos. 49, 468.

[2] We need to say what all this means specifically. Everyone who is reformed is reformed first in respect to his inner self, and afterward in respect to his outer self. The inner self is reformed, not by simply knowing and understanding the truths and goods by which a person is saved, but by willing and loving them, and the outer self by saying and doing what the inner self wills and loves. To the extent the outer self does this, then, to the same extent the person is regenerated. He is not regenerated prior to that because before then his inner self is not present in the effect, but subsists only in the cause, and unless a cause has an effect, it dissipates. It is like a house founded on a field of ice, a house that sinks to the bottom when the sun melts the ice. In short, it is like a person without feet on which to stand and walk. The same is the case with the inner or spiritual self unless it is founded on the outer or natural self.

This, now, is what is symbolically meant by the two witnesses' standing on their feet after breath from God entered them, and also by similar statements in Ezekiel:

(Jehovah) said to me, "Prophesy regarding the breath...." And (when) I prophesied... breath came into them, and they... stood upon their feet... (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

Also in Ezekiel:

(The voice speaking to me said,) "Son of man, stand on your feet...." Then the spirit ¹ entered me... and set me on my feet. (Ezekiel 2:1-2)

And again in Ezekiel:

...I fell on my face. But the spirit ¹ ...entered me and set me on my feet... (Ezekiel 3:23-24)

This, too, is the meaning of the Lord's words to Peter:

...Peter said..., ."..(wash) not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to have his feet washed, and he is completely clean." (John 13:9-10)

Footnotes: