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.