Week 5
Day 1

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Psalms about the New Church

Divine Truth in the Church

Psalm 19

To the victor; a psalm of David.

The heavens recount the glory of God;

And the expanse tells the work of His hands.

Day to day utters a saying,

And night to night shows knowledge.

There is no saying and there are no words,

Without their voice being heard....

And He, as a bridegroom going out from His chamber,

Has joy as a hero to run the path.

From the end of the heavens is His¹ going out,

And His circuit upon the ends of them;

And there is nothing hidden from His heat.

The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul;

The testimony of Jehovah is faithful, making wise the simple.

The precepts of Jehovah are upright, making glad the heart;

The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of Jehovah is clean, standing forever;

The judgments of Jehovah are truth,

They are just altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, and than much fine gold;

And sweeter than honey and the dropping of honeycombs.

Also by them is Thy servant warned;

In keeping them there is much reward.

Who can understand errors?

From such as are hidden, hold me innocent.

Also keep back Thy servant from the presumptuous ones;

Let them not rule over me.

Then shall I be perfect,

And I shall be innocent from much transgression.

Let the sayings of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be for good pleasure before Thee,

O Jehovah, my Rock, and my Redeemer.

The heavens recount the glory of God (v. 1).

AC 9409:2. That in the internal sense “heaven” is the angelic heaven, is from correspondence, and also from the appearance. Hence it is that when mention is made in the Word of “the heavens,” and also of “the heavens of heavens,” in the internal sense are meant the angelic heavens. For the ancients had no other idea of the visible heaven than that the heavenly inhabitants dwell there, and that the stars are their habitations. Similar also at this day is the idea of the simple, and especially of little children. From this also men look upward to heaven when praying earnestly to God. This also is from correspondence; for in the other life a heaven with stars appears, yet not the heaven that appears to men in the world; but a heaven that appears in accordance with the state of intelligence and wisdom of the spirits and angels. The stars there are knowledges of good and truth; and the clouds which are sometimes seen beneath the heaven are of various signification according to their colors, their translucence, and their movements; the blueness of heaven is truth transparent from good. From all this it can be seen that by “the heavens” are signified the angelic heavens; but by “the angelic heavens” are signified truths Divine, because the angels are receptions of the truth Divine that proceeds from the Lord.

Sweeter than honey (v. 10).

AC 5620. That “honey” is delight is because it is sweet, and everything sweet in the natural world corresponds to what is delightful and pleasant in the spiritual world. The reason why it is called its delight, that is, the delight of truth from good in the exterior natural, is that every truth and especially every truth of good has its own delight; but a delight from the affection of these, and from the derivative use.... In David, Psalm 19:9-10, the “judgments of Jehovah” are truth Divine; “sweeter than honey and the dropping of honeycombs” is delights from good and pleasantnesses from truth.

O Jehovah, my Rock, and my Redeemer.

AE 411:10. “Jehovah [my] Rock” has a like signification as “Jehovah God,” namely, the Lord in respect to Divine good and Divine truth; and He is called “Redeemer” from regeneration, which is effected by Divine truth; “the sayings of [my] mouth” signify the understanding of truth, and “the meditation of [my] heart” the perception of good.

¹“This refers to the Lord, whose state of Divine power is here described by such things as are of space” (AC 3387:5).

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