<<  PSALM CXIV. >>

1. When Israel went forth out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language:
2. Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3. The sea saw it, and fled;
The Jordan was driven back.
4. The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
5. What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest ?
Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back ?
6. Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams;
Ye little hills, like lambs ?
7. Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8. Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.

 1. When Israel went forth out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language:

1, 2. Judah stands for celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, and Israel for celestial truth, or spiritual good. A. 3654.
The church established by the Lord from the nations. P. P.
1-8. Here in the internal sense the spiritual good after regeneration is treated of and is described as to its quality, its celestial spiritual by the mountains leaping like rams, and its celestial natural by the hills like the sons of the flock. A. 2830.

2. Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.

2. The heavenly kingdom and its love, which is love to the Lord, is signified by Judah and his tribe. R. 350.
See Ezekiel xlviii. 8-22. By the land is understood the church, consequently by the tribes such things as pertain to the church, by Judah the celestial church, or the church which is in love to the Lord, in which therefore the  sanctuary is. The same is understood by Judah and Israel here. The sanctuary signifies in the supreme sense the Lord himself and in a derivative sense the worship of Him from the good of love, Israel the truth of the church
derived from that good. Since all power belongs to that truth, or to good by truths, therefore it is said that Israel
was his dominion. E. 433.
2-7. The departure of the Israelites out of Egypt is described in these words. The establishment of a church is here understood, or the regeneration of the men of the church, for the church is signified by Israel, and the establishment thereof by their departure from Egypt. The shaking off of evils is signified by their passing through
the red sea, and the introduction into the church by their passing over Jordan. (Details left out.) E. 405.
2, 3, 5. Judah stands for the good of celestial love, Israel for the good of spiritual love, the sea for knowledges of
truth, Jordan for knowledges of good, which are said to be turned back when the good of love obtains the dominion; for then knowledges are viewed from that good, but not good from them. A. 4255.

3. The sea saw it, and fled;
The Jordan was driven back.
4. The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
5. What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest ?
Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back ?
6. Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams;
Ye little hills, like lambs ?

3-6. Its falsities have been removed, and the goods of love and charity take their place. P. P.
4-7. See Psalm xxxvi. 7. R. 336.
4, 6. See Psalm lxviii. 16, 17. A. 6435.

7. Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,

7. The God of Jacob is the Lord. A. 3305.
The Lord is called the God of Israel and the God of Jacob. L. 39.
By being with child, travailing and bringing forth is signified conceiving and bringing forth the tilings which are of spiritual life. The difficulty of receiving the truths of doctrine from the Word is described by many things that relate to pain in travailing. R. 535.
That the natural births mentioned in the Word involve spiritual births is clearly manifest. T. 583.
By bring forth O earth is signified the establishment of the church, or the reformation of those who will be of the church. To bring forth means to receive truths and to be reformed. The earth stands for the church. It is said from before the Lord and from before the God of Jacob, because reformation is understood as to good and as to truth, for the Lord is called Lord from good, and God from truth. E. 721.
7, 8. See Psalm cvii. 33, 35. A. 7324.

8. Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.

By a lake is signified where there is truth in abundance.
R. 835.
See Psalm lxxviii. 15, 16, 20, 35. E. 411.
By the standing water and the fountains of water here mentioned are understood truths in abundance by which the church is formed, for by the earth trembling is signified the commencement of the church, which is said to tremble or to bring forth when truths are therein produced, the earth standing for the church. E. 483.
Because the church is from the Lord, who will instruct those who are in ignorance. P. P.

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)