JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (VI)

“Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands to the temple of Your sacredness.”

(Psalms 28:2)

We must do our part in this process of self-redemption, enabled and strengthened with God’s providence that we ask Him with passionate and fervent prayer.

“O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to the mount of Your sacredness, and to Your sanctuaries.” (43:3)

In Judaism, light is an abstract form referred to God’s goodness, truth, loving kindness, grace, compassion, forgiveness and redemption, among other positive and delivering attributes, traits and qualities. These are certainly moral and ethical principles God wants us to be ruled by, for these are inherent in the goodness that is our eternal bond with Him.

The Psalmist is fully aware of this, hence he prays to God in his yearning to live in the freedom these attributes provide, once we let them lead all aspects and dimensions of consciousness. These are also the ways and means to ascend to the realm where God’s sacredness dwells, which is the Temple of Jerusalem in Zion.

In this sacred awareness only praise and jubilation are the expressions of our thoughts, emotions, feelings, passions and instincts.

And I will come to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy; and praise You in the harp, O God, my God.” (43:4)

There is no other way to fathom, live and experience God’s presence but with the utmost joy to praise, for these are the expressions of being before the Creator of all.

“There is a river, the streams that gladden the city of God, the sacred sanctuaries of the Most High.” (46:5)

The Torah mentions the rivers in the Garden of Eden, and some of our Sages comment that one of them flows beneath the Temple of Jerusalem.

Thus we learn that the place of the lost Paradise is the Land of Israel. They also refer to seas and rivers as metaphors of unlimited traits or qualities, due to their size, or the endless flow of waters.

In this verse the Psalmist remarks the enormous joy that gladdens Jerusalem, the city of God. Is there anything more gladdening than the sacredness of the sanctuaries of the Most High? A river of joy and streams of gladness are indeed part of these Divine dwelling places.

JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (V)

“Who shall ascend to the mount of the Lord? And who shall rise in His sacred place?”

(Psalms 24:3)

Again the Psalmist brings up the common trait the Creator wants us to we share with Him in order to dwell with Him, which is sacredness. The verse indicates that our approaching to God is indeed an ascending journey or process through which we detach ourselves from anything different or opposed to goodness as what makes us sacred before Him.

In goodness we not only ascend to elevate all levels and dimensions of consciousness but also rise ourselves to what God wants us to experience in His sacredness. This we are not able to fathom, conceive, discern or assimilate, for God’s sacredness belongs to a level or dimension that we only will be able to grasp when we get there.

“He who has clean hands, and a pure heart, that has not taken My Name in vain, and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his redemption. Such is the generation of they that seek after Him, that seek Your countenance, Jacob, forever.” (24:4-6)

These verses teach us that God associates His Name with the cleanliness, purity and truthfulness of goodness. King David emphasizes once more that the sacredness of goodness is only experienced by living with the ethical principle that it embodies. This means that goodness does not compromise, blend, mix or cohabit with anything different from its ways, means and attributes.

In goodness we are blessed and God blesses us with the righteousness inherent in it, which by definition is our redemption. We understand the latter as the eternal state of consciousness free from the negative traits and trends of an evil approach to life.

The eternal freedom in goodness is the inheritance of those who pursue it as the way to live in God’s promised final redemption. This is the inheritance of the descendants of Jacob who seek to live in God’s goodness for eternity.

“I will wash my hands in innocence; so I may encompass Your altar, O Lord. To hear in the voice of gratefulness, and to tell all Your marvels. Lord, I love the habitation of Your house; and the place, the temple of Your glory.” (26:6-8)

The ascent King David mentioned before requires the innocence that is also inherent in goodness, as it rules all aspects and expressions of life. We must wash and clean our thoughts, emotions and feelings, along with refining our passions and instincts, in order to turn them into vessels to be filled with the goodness of love’s ways and attributes.

In goodness we enable our consciousness to encompass and embrace the highest goodness of all, depicted as the “altar” of God. This knowledge leads us to the gratefulness we owe to our Creator, and in this sublime awareness we will be able to fathom His magnificent marvels and the transcendence of His glory.

In love we also exalt the jubilation of dwelling eternally in God’s house and His glory, as the ultimate state of consciousness for which we came to this world to fulfill the destiny He wants for us when we choose to live only in the permanent awareness of goodness.

In this coming verse, the Psalmist makes us realize that indeed such destiny is what we all should yearn for and ask our Creator.

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord and to visit in His temple.” (27:4)

Once we come to this awareness, we only live to yearn with the ardent desire of being eternally close to our Creator. Hence we pray constantly to be freed from the attachments, obsessions and addictions imposed by ego’s fantasies and illusions that prevent us to embrace the freedom only goodness provides.

The lesson we learn from them is to value and appreciate goodness as the moral freedom that empower our discernment to lead our mind, thoughts, emotions, feelings and instincts with the righteousness inherent in goodness.

JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (IV)

“[May the Lord] Send forth your help from the altar [lit. from the sacred], and from Zion [He may] support you.” (Psalms 20:3)

All comes from God, and He sustains and supports His creation. This principle includes the help we need to fulfill our existence, especially when it is according to His will. In this verse King David is referring to a particular kind of help and support that only comes from the sacredness of God’s presence in this world, which is His chosen place known as Zion.

We realize that the Creator has multiple ways to sustain His creation, ones more sublime than others, as we see it in this verse. We have to be sacred in order to approach God’s sacredness.

This ideal requires from us to detach from the negative traits and trends derived from an egocentric approach to life, by embracing the ways and attributes of goodness that are our bond with the Creator of all. For this we need the help that comes precisely from the highest level of our consciousness also known as the altar of the Sanctuary in Zion.

The verses that follow give us the context of the Psalmist’s plea to God.

“[That may the Lord] Remember all your meal offerings and your burnt offerings forever. [To] Grant you according to [what] your heart [desires], and fulfill all your plans.” (20:4-5)

The offerings we bring to the Temple of Jerusalem are commanded by God to make us close to Him. We have mentioned that the Hebrew semantic root for “offering” is the same for “closeness”.

In this closeness we are actually redeemed from anything that prevents our well being, plenitude and self-realization. Hence our desires and plans must be aimed to pursue only goodness in life, as God wants us to experience His ways and attributes in this world.

“Only loving kindness and compassion shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever [lit. for many long days].” (23:6)

If we paraphrase this verse, we understand that in order to dwell in God’s presence manifest in His house, the Temple of Jerusalem, only loving kindness and compassion must lead every aspect and expression of life.

The previous verses in the chapter quoted here refer to what happens in us when we embrace God’s ways and attributes as the ruling ethical principles and fundamentals to experience life in this world.

The outcome is stated in this verse, as the culmination of living in full awareness of the goodness coming from our Creator.

JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (III)

“That I tell all Your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, that I rejoice in Your redemption.” (Psalms 9:15)

Telling here “all” the praising for our Creator is a major statement that implies the pursuing of not a simple but eternal redemption.

“To tell all” is not a matter of elaborating the endless inventory of God’s deeds and actions, for which we praise Him, but an encompassing approach of God in all levels, aspects and dimensions of human consciousness.

In other words, if we ask for God’s redemption, this has to be done will “all” in us. “To tell all” also means to express entirely all that is in our heart, mind and soul, in a genuine manifestation of what occupies our discernment, thoughts, emotions, feelings and actions. In this awareness we “tell” all the praises to entreat God’s grace and compassion to show us His complete redemption.

This must happen in the “gates” of the “daughter” of Zion, which is another name for Jerusalem. Our oral tradition tells us that the city of God reflects the head of the body; hence “capital” means “head”.

The “gates” are the seven openings in the head, which are the eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth. This means that the awareness we just mentioned must encompass what we see, hear, smell, say and swallow. All our senses and awareness must be in alignment with the sacredness God demands from us to give us His complete redemption.

Jerusalem as the “daughter of Zion” is the highest awareness of God in our consciousness. This highest level of consciousness is the sacredness God wants us to share with Him in the world, and from where He wants to bond with us. This awareness is the prelude to delighting in the jubilation inherent in God’s redemption.

“Who shall give from Zion the redemption of Israel? The Lord will turn the captivity of His people. Jacob will be glad, Israel will rejoice.” (14:7)

In Judaism, the final redemption requires and implies a change in human consciousness. This change is dictated and determined by goodness in order make it prevail in all facets and expressions of life, in total absence of evil.

Thus we assimilate goodness free from any form of evil, for it is the sacredness by which we are redeemed. This sacred goodness that dwells in Zion is from which the captivity of Jacob ends, and the redemption of Israel comes.

Our “captivity” means living in the negative traits and trends we choose as the dwelling fields of our consciousness. God will “turn” our captivity under materialistic fantasies and illusions into the freedom of the positive traits and trends of goodness.

Jacob and Israel are here the innocence, purity and integrity, combined with the self-realization, strength and determination needed to approach and enter the celebration of redemption. This verse introduces the foundation of Hebrew prophecy.

“And many peoples have said, ‘Come and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths’. For from Zion the Torah [lit. Instruction] has come, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3)

In this primordial principle lies the foundation of the knowledge we must acquire to bind with our Creator. Thus we realize that the Torah as the instruction needed to experience God in all aspects and expressions of life comes precisely from the connecting place that Zion/Jerusalem is.

“Who shall sojourn in Your temple? Who’s presence in the mount of sacredness?” (Psalms 15:1)

Again the answer is the sacredness of goodness that God wants us to live and manifest in the world, for God’s presence also dwells in goodness.

This is the ethical foundation that makes us act according with what is just, correct and constructive, for the sake of our individual and collective well being as answered by the next upcoming verses.

“He who walks upright, and labors righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart; that has no slander in his tongue, nor does evil to his fellow, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors they that revere the Lord; he that despises evil and changes not.” (15:2-4)

These qualities embrace the positive means, ways and ends of goodness, completely free from the negative and destructive traits and trends of an egocentric or evil approach to life.