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Psalms 23 : The 23rd Psalm

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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.

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The 23rd Psalm

Nga 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.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #5427

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5427. 'And Joseph recognized his brothers' means that the truths of the Church were visible to the celestial of the spiritual in the light that this possessed. This is clear from the meaning of 'recognizing' as perceiving, seeing, and so being visible; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the celestial of the spiritual, dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'his brothers' as the general truths known to the Church, dealt with above in 5409, 5419. And Since 'Joseph recognized his brothers' means that those truths - the general truths known to the Church - were visible to the celestial of the spiritual, it follows that they were seen by the light in which the celestial of the spiritual dwells and so by the light which the celestial of the spiritual possesses. In this light, which is truth from the Divine, 5417, every single truth below - that is, within the natural - is visible. But the reverse is not possible if no intermediary is present, still less if no agreement between the two sides exists, no agreement enabling the two to be joined together. This becomes quite clear from the consideration that angels dwelling in the heavens, and so in the light of heaven, can see every single thing that happens in the world of spirits, which is immediately below the heavens, as well as every single thing that happens on the earth of the lower ones, and indeed that happens in the hells. But the reverse is not possible.

[2] It is also the case that the angels of a higher heaven can see everything that is happening in the heaven beneath them, but the reverse is not so unless an intermediary exists. Intermediary spirits also serve as the means by which communication forward and back takes place. When therefore those who are in a lower position and have no intermediary, and more particularly those who are not in agreement with the ones above them, look at the light of heaven, they see absolutely nothing at all; everything there appears to them to dwell in total obscurity. But in fact those in the place where they look dwell in the brightest light. This may be illustrated by the following unique experience: A large city once appeared in front of me, where there were thousands of different, delightful and beautiful sights. I saw these because an intermediary had been provided; yet the spirits present with me could not see a single thing because they had no intermediary. I was told that even though they are present in that place those who are not in agreement with the ones above them discern nothing whatever of the things existing there.

[3] The same is similarly true of a person's interior man or spirit, which is also called his soul. The interior man can see every single thing present and taking place in the exterior man; but the reverse is not possible unless the two are in agreement and an intermediary is present. To the exterior man therefore, when it is not in agreement with the interior man, the interior man does not appear to have any existence. It appears to be so completely non-existent that when anything is said about the interior man, it seems to the exterior man either to be so obscure that it is unwilling even to contemplate it or to be nothing it can believe in. But when agreement between the two does exist, the exterior man sees, with the help of the intermediary, what is going on in the interior man. For then the light which the interior man possesses enters into the light which the exterior or natural man possesses; that is, heavenly light passes into natural light and brightens it, and in this brighter light what is happening to the interior man is made visible. This is the origin of the intelligence and wisdom which the exterior man possesses. But if no intermediary is present, and especially if no agreement exists, the interior man sees and perceives what is going on in the exterior man and also to some extent guides it; the reverse however does not happen. More than that, if contrariety exists - that is to say, if the exterior man completely perverts or snuffs out what comes in by way of the interior man - the interior man is deprived of the light it receives from heaven, heaven is inaccessible to it, and a communication from hell with the exterior man is opened up. You may see more about these matters in what now follows below.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.