Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of II Samuel Chapter 22
Metaphysically Interpreting II Samuel 22:1-51
22:1And David spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 22:2and he said,
Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;
22:3God, my rock, in him will I take refuge;My shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my high tower, and my refuge;
My saviour, thou savest me from violence.22:4I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised:
So shall I be saved from mine enemies.22:5For the waves of death compassed me;
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:22:6The cords of Sheol were round about me;
The snares of death came upon me.22:7In my distress I called upon Jehovah;
Yea, I called unto my God:
And he heard my voice out of his temple,
And my cry came into his ears.22:8Then the earth shook and trembled,
The foundations of heaven quaked
And were shaken, because he was wroth.22:9There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
And fire out of his mouth devoured:
Coals were kindled by it.22:10He bowed the heavens also, and came down;
And thick darkness was under his feet.22:11And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly;
Yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.22:12And he made darkness pavilions round about him,
Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.22:13At the brightness before him
Coals of fire were kindled.22:14Jehovah thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered his voice.22:15And he sent out arrows, and scattered them;
Lightning, and discomfited them.22:16Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were laid bare,
By the rebuke of Jehovah,
At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.22:17He sent from on high, he took me;
He drew me out of many waters;22:18He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.22:19They came upon me in the day of my calamity;
But Jehovah was my stay.22:20He brought me forth also into a large place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.22:21Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.22:22For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.22:23For all his ordinances were before me;
And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.22:24I was also perfect toward him;
And I kept myself from mine iniquity.22:25Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness in his eyesight.22:26With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful;
With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;22:27With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure;
And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward.22:28And the afflicted people thou wilt save;
But thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.22:29For thou art my lamp, O Jehovah;
And Jehovah will lighten my darkness.22:30For by thee I run upon a troop;
By my God do I leap over a wall.22:31As for God, his way is perfect:
The word of Jehovah is tried;
He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him.22:32For who is God, save Jehovah?
And who is a rock, save our God?22:33God is my strong fortress;
And he guideth the perfect in his way.22:34He maketh his feet like hinds' feet,
And setteth me upon my high places.22:35He teacheth my hands to war,
So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass.22:36Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation;
And thy gentleness hath made me great.22:37Thou hast enlarged my steps under me;
And my feet have not slipped.22:38I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them;
Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.22:39And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, so that they cannot arise:
Yea, they are fallen under my feet.22:40For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle;
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.22:41Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me,
That I might cut off them that hate me.22:42They looked, but there was none to save;
Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not.22:43Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth,
I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad.22:44Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people;
Thou hast kept me to be the head of the nations:
A people whom I have not known shall serve me.22:45The foreigners shall submit themselves unto me:
As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.22:46The foreigners shall fade away,
And shall come trembling out of their close places.22:47Jehovah liveth; And blessed be my rock;
And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,22:48Even the God that executeth vengeance for me,
And that bringeth down peoples under me,22:49And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies:
Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me;
Thou deliverest me from the violent man.22:50Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations,
And will sing praises unto thy name.22:51Great deliverance giveth he to his king,
And showeth lovingkindness to his anointed,
To David and to his seed, for evermore.
September 13, 1896: II Sam. 22:40-51
The psalms of David are remarkable for the Spirit of Love which they breathe. This must be so in the nature of the case, because written by David or Love. Even the warlike and imprecatory Psalms are full of Love and thanksgiving. This particular alternating and even blending of imprecation and thanksgiving is proof that David is not hurling his maledictions against his fellows, his brothers according to the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but against his only enemies, the “foes within” his own breast, enemies of his Divine Self, whose destruction Spirit demands.
The only great battles we have to fight are those within our own world of thought, for “a man's foes are they of his own household;” we have no other foes.
“There is but one victory worth the struggle, there is but one world to conquer; the victory over self, the world within” – Mackey. To view these Psalms in any other light is to make God inconsistent with himself. God is life omnipresent, Love omnipotent and Truth omniscient, eternally Good, impartial and unchanging.
40. Only in such warfare can we say of Infinite Love, “thou hast girded me with strength to battle; these inner foes that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.”
41. We cannot consistently, with the Christian idea of our Divine Sonship and the brotherhood of all men, rejoice and thank God that we tread on the “necks” of our brother man, even though enemies according to mortal thought. Such a display of carnal thought is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of Love and peace to all men, whose Divine command is “love your enemies, bless them that curse you.” But if, in the destroying them that hate me,” I am battling with my own carnal thoughts – in the truest sense my only enemies – the case is very different; it is holy warfare. Like Saul, we are commanded to “go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, our own sinner thoughts.
42. In this, the only righteous warfare, there is no deliverance possible to these domestic foes, when under God's direction, we inveigh against them with the full force of our consecrated will, even though these sinners “look unto the Lord,” for God heareth not sinners.” Prayer that God hears comes not from the sinner self, but from the interior Divine Self. Of the Sinner Self Christ says, “I never knew you.”
43. Under the dispensation of the Gospel of Love, no man can possibly rejoice with thanksgiving, that he has “beat” his human enemies “as small as the dust,” and “stamped them as the mire of the street.” It were the height of blasphemy to ascribe such carnage and vindictiveness to God. But where these enemies are our own temptations and thoughts, we can consistently thank God for their utter annihilation.
44. It is the recognition of the Divine within that “delivers me from the strivings of my people” (warfare of thoughts), making me “head of the heathen” thoughts. These “people which I knew not,” which “shall serve me,” are my error thoughts redeemed; for every false thought is the perversion of Truth. To persistently see only Truth, and practice the Christ doctrine of non-resistance and nonrecognition of evil, will redeem all error thoughts.
45. Because these thought “Strangers,” foreign to my True Self, can only be known to my True Self, and “submit” and “be obedient unto me,” not by seeing the false but by seeing only Truth, see only Good, and the false will disappear; the false is a misconception. When we see the True side (the True Idea) the misconception “submits unto me”; misconception disappears.
46. They must “fade away” as unrealitites, “out of their close places” of cowardly hiding, in such a revealing of truth, by my coming into true understanding.
47-48. It is because the “Lord liveth,” the “blessed Rock of my salvation, “whom I “exalt,” that I am righteously “avenged” of my adversaries within; it is the recognition of present Divine Principle, “that bringeth down the people under me,” giving me absolute dominion in my thought world.
49. This realization delivers me from all temptation, and lifts me up on high above (these thoughts) that rose up against me,” above my carnal self, “the violent man.”
50. “Therefore can I give profound thanks unto thee, O Lord.”
51. I am “his King,” for I “reign with Christ in his kingdom.” In Him I find my high “tower of salvation”, perfect defense, in my Kingdom of the consciousness of Love (David).
– UNITY magazine
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 11-08-2013
