Ariel Ben Avraham – JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (XII-XIV)
JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (XII)
“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.
JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (XIII)
“For God redeems Zion, and builds the cities of Judah; and they have dwelt there, and have it in possession. And the descendants [lit. seed] of His servants inherit it, and those who love His Name dwell in it.”
(Psalms 69:35-36)
These verses underline the eternal bond between God and Israel. No matter the separation and destruction, He promised to redeem the traits, ways and attributes that both share. These are the “cities” as values and principles where we dwell, which are also our inheritance and possession.
We can understand our descendants as our “seed”, not only as children and grandchildren, but also as the goodness we create with our actions. Thus we assimilate that by being and doing goodness we love God’s Name, which is also the goodness where we are destined to dwell forever.
“Remember Your congregation that You acquired long ago, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance; this mount Zion, [where] Your presence comes.” (74:2)
Again, the promise to redeem Israel is mentioned as the long time God’s acquisition to prevail in goodness as His inheritance. All this happens in Zion as the bonding time and space between God and Israel, where His presence “comes”.
Let’s notice that no matter where Zion and Jerusalem are mentioned in the book of Psalms, every verse quoted is a continuous affirmation of the same principle and message. The verse in 74:2 is the continuation of what is said in 69:35, as it happens with all the remaining quotations.
“Lift up Your steps to the perpetual desolation. Defeat all the evils of the enemy in the sacredness [of Your temple]. Your foes roared in the place where You have met with us. They set up their banners as signs. They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground. They have desecrated the dwelling place of Your Name.” (74:3-4, 7)
King David cries up to God for His complete final redemption from those that pretend to occupy His dwelling place, and to make their lower traits and trends conduct every aspect and expression of consciousness. These are indeed perpetual desolation as the predicament of self-centered materialistic fantasies and illusions.
The verse continues to indicate that only in the sacredness of the goodness that dwells in God’s sanctuary we can defeat all forms and expressions of evil.
By embracing goodness as our essence and true identity, and as the sanctuary where we bond with the goodness of our Creator, there is no evil that we can overturn and transform into something positive to make life even much better.
In order to return to goodness, not only as our real identity but also as our constant redemption, we must begin to remove the labels, banners and signs that define us as what they represent.
These are the negative and destructive traits that desolate what we once believed were the best in us. These are the evils that burn our bond with goodness as our essence and true identity that comes from the goodness that speaks of the Name of God.
JERUSALEM IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS (XIV)
“And behold, in Shalem is His Tabernacle and His dwelling place in Zion. There He has broken arrows of a bow, shield, and sword, and war, forever.”
(Psalms 76:3-4)
The foundation of God’s presence, the love of His goodness, is peace as the place where He completely reveals His promised redemption, the beginning of living forever in His ways and attributes.
Shalem means wholeness, completion, fullness and the totality where there is no lack and nothing is missed, for all is contained in it. This realization makes us aware of peace, shalom; and Zion the awareness that in this completion we live permanently in God’s presence, for His oneness encompasses everything.
Thus we learn about our need to build the Temple of Jerusalem as the Tabernacle by which we connect and bond with our Creator.
We are the ones who have to rebuild the Temple, for it is up the yearning and desire to return to the goodness from which we were created. The love of goodness is the foundation of our bond with God.
Our Sages say that idolatry, murder and incest led to the destruction of the First Temple; uncalled for hatred caused the destruction of the Second Temple; and that uncalled for love will build the Third and final Temple that will last forever.
We have to recognize goodness as our essence and true identity, for goodness is what will bring us together and will show us new ways and means to experience it, once we live it as our permanent connection with God’s love.
This is the awareness that goodness doesn’t dwell with negative traits and trends, represented by arrows and bows, shields and swords that herald disputes, conflicts, confrontations and wars.
“But [He] chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He has loved. And He built His sanctuary [lit. sacredness] as a high place, like the earth which He has founded forever.” (78:68-69)
As we know, Judah is the tribe that remained faithful to their God, in spite of the divisions, confrontations and disputes among the children of Israel. This is why they have been known as Jews, for they are the descendants of Judah.
In His prophetic awareness, King David knew this, and wrote these verses to praise them as the bearers of the transcendental responsibility of building the Third Temple that, like the Earth, will last forever.
In the second verse, we see that the promised revelation of God’s presence in Zion is a two-way event that demands the participation of the Creator and the Jewish people. He will establish (“build”) His sacredness in a “high place” that can only exist in the highest level of our consciousness.
Hence we understand that in such place dwell our best traits and qualities nurtured only by goodness for the sake of goodness as the purpose of God’s creation, for it is its foundation by which we build the eternal bond with Him.
Ariel Ben Avraham
Kochav Yaakov, Safed, northern Galilee, IsraelAriel Ben Avraham (f. Zapata) was born in Cartagena, Colombia in 1958. After studying Cultural Anthropology in Bogotá moved to Chicago in 1984 where he worked as a television writer, reporter and producer for 20 years. In the 1990’s he produced video documentaries related to art, music, history and culture such as “Latin American Trails: Guatemala” distributed by Facets.org. Most of his life he studied ancient spiritual traditions and mysticism of major religions, understanding the mystic experience as the individual means to connect with the Creator of all. Since 2004 he studies and writes about Jewish mysticism and spirituality mainly derived from the Chassidic tradition, and the practical philosophy of the teachings of Jewish mystic sages. The book “God’s Love” is the compilation of many years studying and learning Jewish mysticism. The messages of his book are part of the content, exercises and processes of a series of seminars, lectures and retreats that he facilitates in Israel.
