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PSALM 99

1. jehovah reigns! Let the peoples tremble! He sits between the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2. jehovah is great in Zion, and he is high above all peoples.
3. Let them praise your great and reverend name; Holy is he!
4. The mighty king loves judgement; you do establish rectitude; you do execute judgement and justice in Jacob.
5. Exalt you jehovah our god, and fall prostrate at his footstool; Holy is he!
6. Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name; these called upon jehovah and he answered them.
7. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; they kept his testimonies and the statute which he gave them.
8. You did answer them, O jehovah our god; you were a forgiving god to them, though an avenger of their doings.
9. Exalt jehovah our god, and fall prostrate at his holy mountain, for jehovah our god is holy.

Verse 1. jehovah reigns! let the peoples tremble; he sits between the cherubim, let the earth quake. Cherubim signify guard and providence, to prevent the lord, and also heaven being approached except by the good of love, that is, except by those who are in the good of love, also to prevent the goodness from being injured, which is from the lord in heaven, and with man. AC 9509.

Verse 2. jehovah is great in Zion, and he is high above all peoples. By Mount Zion is signified heaven and the church where the lord reigns by his Divine truth, and the reason is because Zion was the city which David built, and in which he afterwards dwelt, and was hence called the city of David, and because by David was represented the lord as to royalty, which is Divine truth, therefore by Zion in the Word is signified heaven and the church where the lord reigns by Divine truth. For the same reason also it was, that the ark of jehovah, in which the law was deposited, was translated into that city by David, for by that law in an extended sense is also signified the Divine truth proceeding from the lord. For this reason also it was, that by Jerusalem, which was beneath that mountain, is signified the church as to doctrine, for the doctrine of the church is all from the Divine truth which proceeds from the lord, consequently from the Word: the reason why that city was built on a mountain was, because mountains at that time from their height represented the heavens, and hence also in the Word signify the heavens; the reason of the representation and consequent signification was because the supreme heavens, where are the angels of the third degree, appear in altitude above the rest, and before the eyes of others as mountains, and because the supreme heavens appear as mountains, and the angels who are upon them are in love to the lord, hence by mountains in the Word, and principally by Mount Zion, is signified love to the lord. AE 850.

Verse 4. You do execute judgement and justice in Jacob. What is meant by Jacob see Psalm 87:2, Exposition.

Verse 5. Exalt you jehovah our god, and fail prostrate at his footstool; Holy is he! Footstool is the Divine truth under heaven, such as is the Word in the literal sense, for upon this the Divine truth in heaven, which is the Word in the internal sense, reclines and as it were stands; the former truth is signified by footstool in David, Psalm 99:5. AC 9166.

The footstool of jehovah, towards which they should fall prostrate, is the Divine truth in ultimates, thus the Word. AC 9406.

Verse 6. Moses and Aaron among his priests. Moses signifies the Divine law, or the Word, in the internal sense, and Aaron the doctrine thence derived, when they are named together. By the Divine law which Moses represents, is meant the Word such as it is in its internal sense, thus such as it is in the heavens; but by doctrine is meant the Word, such as it is in its literal sense, thus such as it is in the earths; how much they differ, may be manifest from what has been heretofore explained as to the internal sense of the Word. Let the ten precepts, which are specifically called the law, serve for illustration; the literal sense of these precepts is, that parents are to be honoured, that murder is not to be committed, nor adultery, nor theft, etc. but the internal sense is, that the lord is to be worshiped, that hatred ought not to be maintained, that truth ought not to be falsified, and that no one ought to claim to himself what is the lord's; thus are these four precepts of the Decalogue understood in heaven, and the rest also in their manner; for in the heavens they know no other father but the lord, therefore by parents being to be honoured, they understand that the lord is to be worshiped; neither do they know in the heavens what it is to commit murder, for they live for ever, but instead of committing murder, they understand to bear hatred, and to hurt the spiritual life of any one; neither do they know in the heavens what it is to commit adultery, wherefore instead of committing adultery they understand what corresponds to it, namely the falsification of truth; and instead of stealing, they perceive the taking away any thing from the lord, and claiming it to themselves, as good and truth.

Such is that law, and also the whole Word in the heavens, thus such in the internal sense, yea it is still deeper, for several things which are thought and said in the heavens do not fall into the words of human speech, because in the heavens the Word is spiritual but not natural; and those things which are of the spiritual world transcend those which are of the natural world, in the same manner as immaterial things transcend those which are material; but whereas material things correspond to immaterial, the latter may be expounded by the former, thus by natural speech, but not spiritual; for spiritual speech is not a speech of material expressions, but of spiritual expressions, which are ideas modified into expressions in the spiritual aura, and represented by the variegations of heavenly light, which light in itself is nothing but Divine intelligence and wisdom proceeding from the lord. From these considerations it may be manifest what is meant, in its genuine sense, by the Divine law which Moses represents, and what by the doctrine which Aaron represents. AC 7089.

Verse 7. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar. In the Word it is often said that jehovah appeared in a cloud, and that he was girded with a cloud, also that beneath his feet was a cloud; in which passages by cloud is meant the obscurity of truth specifically the literal sense of the Word, for this sense, in respect to the internal sense, is the obscurity of truth, see preface to Gen. xviii. also AC 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752; this was signified by the cloud, when the lord appeared to Peter, James, and John in glory, Luke 9:34; when from Mount Sinai to the people, and when to Moses upon his going in to him there; Exodus 19:9, 20:18, 24:15, 16, 17, 18, 34:5; and also by this circumstance, that the lord so often said that he would come in the clouds of heaven, Matt 24:30, 26:63, 64; Mark 13:26, 14:61, 62; Luke 21:27. The literal sense of the Word is called a cloud, because the internal sense, which is called glory, cannot be comprehended by man, except he be regenerated, and in such case illustrated. The internal sense of the Word, or Truth Divine in its glory, if it appeared before a man not regenerated, would be as thick darkness, in which he would see nothing at all, and also by which he would be blinded, that is, would believe nothing. From these considerations it may be manifest what is signified by a cloud by day, namely that it is the obscurity of truth, and where the Word is treated of, it is the literal sense. It is said in a pillar of a cloud and of fire, because by a pillar is signified firmament, which supports, as Jer 1:18; Psalm 75:3; Rev 3:12; Job 9:6; and it is predicated of the natural principle, because the natural principle is like a firmament or basis to the spiritual; for the spiritual closes in the natural, and there rests; hence it is that the feet of the angel descending from heaven appeared as pillars of fire, Rev 10:1, for by feet is signified the natural principle, AC 2162, 3147. AC 8106.

The reason why jehovah, or the lord, appeared or went before in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, was because by those things was represented the state of heaven, for in heaven there are perpetual variations and changes of state, for the angels are continually perfecting, which cannot in any way be effected without perpetual changes of states; in general those variations and changes are as the vicissitudes of times in the world, namely as the vicissitudes of the times of the year, which are spring, summer, autumn, winter, and again spring; and as the vicissitudes of the times of the day which are morning, mid-day, evening, night, and again morning; when it is morning and mid-day there, there is illustration of the understanding from the lord, but on this occasion the illustration is tempered by the obscurity of truth, as by a cloud, and when it is evening and night there, they have obscurity of understanding, but this is tempered of the lord by the good of love, as by a fire which illuminates. These are the things which were represented by the pillar of a cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, attendant on the sons of Israel in the wilderness. AC 8108.