“Why look ye envy, ye mountains of peaks, at the
mountain God has desired for His habitation? Yea, the Lord shall dwell therein
forever.”
(Psalms 68:17)
We have said often that mountains
symbolize immutable ideas, values, beliefs or principles. The higher these are,
the harder to move, change or modify. In this verse we see a comparison between
all kinds of them to the one that represents God’s ruling principle for His
creation.
Envy is what we feel when
something or someone else has what we desire the most. The only remedy for it
is to be or become what we covet. Not to have what we lust but to become our
own object of desire.
This may sound as a narcissistic statement but it isn’t,
because this is not about possessing what we desire as confessed predators of
it. If we covet abundance, we have to become the source of abundance, and so
on.
The mountains envy being the
dwelling place of the Creator, and we understand it as the mountain or destined
ruling principle to direct life in this world.
In this sense, anything that is
not goodness wishes to be goodness, for it is the source of all existence. We
are talking about something indeed eternal, as the second part of the verse
points it out.
“Out of Your temple in Jerusalem, where kings shall
bring presents to You.” (68:30)
In this particular psalm 68, we
read that all that God has created is summoned to acknowledge, recognize, praise
and revere Him for what He does; mountains as principles, and kings as rulers that
direct our consciousness in regards to what we think and do.
Once more is reiterated that everything
that we believe, value, appreciate and cherish must be inspired, sustained and
nurtured by the positive ways, means and attributes of goodness as the temple
where we honor and bond with our Creator with the best in us.
All these that comprise our
consciousness are the “kings” that rule in what we are, have and do, and
certainly are the highest offerings we elevate to the Source of goodness. In
this awareness we revere Him.
“Revered is God in Your sacred places, the God of Israel. He
gives strength and power to the people [of Israel]. Blessed be God.” (68:36)
God’s sacred places are His ways
and attributes (Exodus 34:6-7) with which He relates to His creation, that
proclaims Him as the God of Israel. As we have frequently indicated, He is the
ruling principle by which the people of Israel define and manifest their
identity, for in this identity they find their strength and power to make
goodness prevail in this world.
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