Apocalypse Revealed #209
209. 'Wretched and poor.' This symbolically means that they have no truths or goods.
Wretched and poor people mean, in the spiritual sense of the Word, people who lack concepts of truth and good, for they are spiritually wretched and poor. They are also meant by the people in the following passages:
I am wretched and poor, O Lord; be mindful of me. (Psalms 40:18) [NCBSP: Psalms 40:17], cf. Psalms 70:5)
Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and answer me, for I am wretched and poor. (Psalms 86:1)
The impious bare the sword and bend their bow, to cast down the wretched and poor... (Psalms 37:14)
(The impious man) persecuted the wretched and poor man, even to slay the downcast in heart. (Psalms 109:16)
(God) will judge the wretched of the people; He will save the children of the poor... He will deliver the poor man when he cries, and the wretched man... (Psalms 72:4, 12-13)
Jehovah... delivers the wretched man from one who is too strong for him, and the poor man... from those who plunder him. (Psalms 35:10)
(The impious man) devises wicked plans to destroy the wretched with lying words, even when the poor man speaks justly. (Isaiah 37:7)
The wretched shall have their joy in Jehovah, and the poor of mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
See also elsewhere, as Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49; 18:12; 22:29; Amos 8:4; Psalms 9:18; 69:32-33; 74:21; 109:22; 140:12; Deuteronomy 15:11; 24:14; Luke 14:13, 21, 23.
The wretched and poor mean chiefly people who lack concepts of truth and goodness and yet desire them, since the rich mean people who possess concepts of truth and goodness (no. 206).
Psalms 9
1
I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.
2
I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3
When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.
4
For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.
5
You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6
The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
7
But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
8
He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
9
Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.
10
Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11
Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done.
12
For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted.
13
Have mercy on me, Yahweh. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death;
14
that I may show forth all your praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation.
15
The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
16
Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.
17
The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
18
For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
19
Arise, Yahweh! Don't let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.
20
Put them in fear, Yahweh. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.
