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Psalm 119 — LeGrand Baker — Ritual Combat

Psalm 119 is the longest, and certainly one of the most of the moving of all the psalms. It is a silique that rivals Hamlet in its intensity and power. I have no doubt that my critics will argue that the psalms were never intended to be performed with all the intensity of a Shakespearian tragedy. My response would be that they are arguing from post-exilic evidence. My rationale is simply this: the words of the psalms lend themselves to a dramatic interpretation. The ancient Israelites certainly were as sensitive of their emotions as we are (Song of Solomon is sufficient evidence of that); there are other psalms that carry this same kind of intense impact (we will read some in a few pages). Finally, we have sure evidence that within a few hundred years the Greeks were performing fully developed, intensely dramatic plays—so why not the pre-exilic Israelites. But in the end, our discussion would be stalemate. My critics would have no more solid evidence that my interpretation is wrong, than I do that it is right.

For brevity sake, I can give only excerpts here. My intent that these portions will help define its context and give a taste of its magnificent language. The whole psalm is a prayer to God—spoken in the heat of battle. The psalm was spoken or sung by the prince or young king who is about to die in battle. We can know that he is not a seasoned monarch, but rather he is still in the vigor and purity of his youth. He asks,

9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought thee:
O let me not wander from thy commandments

That the speaker is a prince and commander is this battle, there can be no question. The way he identifies his enemies and his social status make that quite clear:

23 Princes also did sit and speak against me:
but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
161 Princes have persecuted me without a cause:
but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings,
and will not be ashamed.

In words that are reminiscent of Paul, he reminds God that he is learned in the Law, and that he has assess to greater sources of knowledge—for he has understood the commandments “of old” since they were sustained by him when he was a member of the Council in Heaven footnote

72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me
than thousands of gold and silver
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers:
for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients,
because I keep thy precepts
152 Concerning thy testimonies,
I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

The greatest portion of the psalm is a series of reminders to God—and no doubt to himself as he engages in this struggle—of his piety and of his devotion to God. Here is a brief example:

26 I have declared my ways,
and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:
so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted;
that I might learn thy statutes.

Yet, these expressions of devotion are sometimes intertwined with desperate pleas for assistance. Only once is his thought pattern interrupted, and he addresses an adversary, perhaps during an intense skirmish:

115 Depart from me, ye evildoers:
for I will keep the commandments of my God.

The prayer continues amidst whatever action occurs on the stage. His world is coming down all around him, and while he does not cower before the enemy, he is determined to stay alive.

75 I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right,
and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort,
according to thy word unto thy servant.
77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me,
that I may live: for thy law is my delight.
94 I am thine, save me;
for I have sought thy precepts.
95 The wicked have waited for me to destroy me:
but I will consider thy testimonies.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me:
yet I erred not from thy precepts.
116 Uphold me according unto thy word,
that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
126 It is time for thee,
Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.
145 I cried with my whole heart; hear me,
O Lord: I will keep thy statutes.
146 I cried unto thee; save me,
and I shall keep thy testimonies.

Toward the end of the psalm he apparently begins to become surrounded by his enemy, but he does not give in. Rather he assures himself that they are still his inferiors because they do not keep the Law.

150 They draw nigh that follow after mischief:
they are far from thy law.

Then it is all over. His body is at the gates of death, but his spirit is still alive, and his faith in Jehovah is not weakened. In the last stanzas of this scene, he prays that his soul will live on—so that, even in death, he may continue to praise the Lord.

173 Let thine hand help me;
for I have chosen thy precepts.
174 I have longed for thy salvation,
O Lord; and thy law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee;
and let thy judgments help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
(Psalms 119:1-176)

Those last words strike the final cord of his time on the earth, and express the hope that will be the ultimate triumph of the entire festival drama: In his final appeal to Jehovah, as his soul approaches the darkness of death and hell, he pleads: “seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.” That is both his testimony of who Jehovah is, of his knowledge of Jehovah’s ultimate authority, and of his anticipation of the saving power of the atonement. It is also an introduction to the next scenes of the drama which will celebrate the life, death, redeeming powers, and resurrection of the Saviour.

Psalm 82 — LeGrand Baker — law of consecration in the Council in Heaven

The story of Psalm 82 is best understood as an insert into Abraham 3:22-23. There the members of the Council in Heaven make a covenant with Elohim. The covenant sounds remarkably like the Law of Consecration.

22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, [If Psalm 82 goes here then the next phrase is a response to their covenants] and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

Psalm 82 is introduced by a narrator (or a chorus, as in a Greek play.) In the first verse, the narrator or chorus describes what is happening, then Elohim speaks to the members of the Council, then, in the last verse, the Council responds. In my imagination, I am not sure how this was presented, but it seems like there are two likely possibilities. Either there were persons on the stage who represented the Council, or else the audience represented the Council. In the latter case it would have been the audience who made the covenant in verse 8.

The 82^nd psalm reads:

Introduction by the narrator or chorus:

1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
he judgeth among the gods.

Instructions given by Elohim:

2 How long will ye judge unjustly,
and accept the persons of the wicked?
3 Defend the poor and fatherless:
do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy:
rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand;
they walk on in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods;
and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.

The members of the Council respond by making a covenant with Elohim:

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth:
for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Now let’s look at it more carefully. In the first verse of Psalm 82, our narrator is on stage again explaining what is happening.

1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

The Hebrew word here translated “God” is Elohim, who is the Father of the gods who are the members of the Council. They are called the noble and great ones in Abraham 3, and “the gods” in Abraham 4 and 5.

To Judge in Hebrew, means the same as it does in English. A judge may condemn, exonerate, or choose (as a judge in an apple pie contest — only this is more serious than apple pie). Many scholars see this as a court room trial where God is condemning the bad gods. However it appears to me that it fits with Abraham’s “and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers;” indicates that he is choosing. When one reads it that way it becomes an important part of our own stories.

After the narrator’s introduction, the Father of the gods gives his sons instructions about how they are to conduct themselves when they go to the earth. He begins by warning them of a major danger they will face when they come go down to this world. As children, they will grow up in societies where they will be taught to pay homage to wealthy and powerful people. Human cultures teach that prestige, money, education, and fancy toys are evidence that one is in good with God. He warns them that they must shake off that teaching before they can fulfill their priesthood assignments.

2. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?

The language implies they have already judged unrighteously, but if, as I believe, this was instructions about how they are to conduct themselves in this world, then implicitly what it says is this: “When you get to that earth your culture will teach you that you should judge people by the correctness of their speech, their wealth, and education, but you must learn that is not the way to judge.” If this psalm was a part of a stage presentation, and represented instructions given at the Council in Heaven, then, for the audience, it would have been a symbolic sode experience. In that case the question, “How long will ye judge unjustly,” may have been designed to evoke a response like Isaiah’s “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5) As I will discuss in detail below, to be a righteous judge is the greatest power and most lasting obligation of sacral kingship. These members of the Council were kings already – they are called “rulers” and “gods.” But when they get to the earth they will be as vulnerable as everyone else that worldly values will get in the way of their righteous judgements. In addition to the warning about how not to judge, the Father instructs his sons that they must judge in mercy, kindness, charity. Those are the things everyone must do, but for the gods, no matter what other specific individual assignment they might have, to judge righteously is the most important of all.

3-4. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

After the instructions came the reason: the gods will be expected to be spiritual and political anchors to the people, and as such they must first of all be servants. Like everyone else on the earth, the people whom they serve will have forgotten their glorious past in the pre-mortal world. They will stumble in the darkness of forgetfulness, and some will deeply resent the help the noble and great ones seek to give. But that resentment will not excuse the gods from doing their duty. The people on earth must be helped – but not just helped – helped with great compassion. The Father reminds his sons,

5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

Being one whose primary function is to show compassion can be scarey – in fact it can be really dangerous. Elohim reminds his sons that in our world they will be subjected to persecution – even death – but their suffering those things may be an integral part of their assignment. They are gods, but they will all die: some will use up their lives in the service to others; while others, like Abinadi and the Prophet Joseph, will die like princes in battle, sealing their testimonies with their own blood.

6-7 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

At this point in the play on the great stage on the hill near Jerusalem, those representing the Council respond. They invite their Father to stand as a token of the covenant they are about to make.¹ Then, in unison they each swear to fulfill his own assignment in order that the Father’s purposes may be accomplished among all people. They say,

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

It is possible, perhaps probable, that speaking those covenant words was not limited to the people who represented the members of the Council on stage. There is no sure evidence, of course, but it seems likely that the people in the congregation who were participating rather than just watching, also spoke the last words of the psalm. If so, that covenant would have been made between God and every individual man – perhaps every individual person – in the congregation.

In review, here is the 82^nd psalm.

The narrator speaks:

1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
he judgeth among the gods.

Elohim speaks:

2 How long will ye judge unjustly,
and accept the persons of the wicked?
3 Defend the poor and fatherless:
do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy:
rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand;
they walk on in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods;
and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.

The members of the Council respond:

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth:
for thou shalt inherit all nations.

1 For an example of the practice of standing to make covenant see 2 Kings 23:1-3.

Psalm 45 — LeGrand Baker — foreordinations 

This is an early version of my commentary on Psalm 45. For the final version see the chapter in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord.

May 30, 2001

The Psalms, you will recall, are the texts of the ancient Israelite New Year festival. The people in the audience were symbolically participating as though the drama were their personal story. The entire performance was reminiscent of what happened in the Council in Heaven, the creation, the Adam and Eve story, and so on, until the then present time. The then reigning king and queen played the roles of themselves at the Council, of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and so on until they played themselves again in the final coronation scenes.

The 45th Psalm consists of three acts in this great theatrical performance. It takes place very near the beginning of the drama, and depicts events which happened in connection with the Council in Heaven. It is about fore-ordination, and portrays the pre-mortal ordinances and blessings of the then reigning king and queen. It shows their preparations for what appears to be either their pre-mortal marriage, or else a covenant that they would jointly reign when they come to this world. The main characters in these scenes of the play are: 1) the Father-King, Elohim, 2) his wife, the Mother-Queen –this is the only scripture I know where the Mother in Heaven is represented to be speaking. 3) the eternal King of all Israel, Jehovah, 4) the earthly king, and 5) the earthly queen. When I discuss the text of the psalm, my describing the characters will become a bit of a problem. All of the male characters in the drama except the narrator are kings, and all of the female characters are queens. So my simply writing “the king,” or “the King” could get confusing. The people who play the roles of the young king and queen are the humans who reign on earth at the time the festival is performed – whether the king is David or Zedekiah, or anyone in between. The kingly covenant described in the drama is the Davidic covenant. So, for simplicity sake, I shall call the earthly king “David.” But since this discussion is about the probation against adultery, I honestly don’t know whether it would be appropriate to call the earthly queen Bathsheba, so I think I’ll just call her “Janet” instead.

Reading the 45th Psalm is like trying to read Hamlet without any stage directions or any indication of who is saying which lines. All that information has to come from the words which are spoken by the characters in the play. That isn’t as impossible as it sounds. There is a narrator who is clearly identified by the fact that he describes what is happening on the stage. The stage is divided into two parts – on one side is the throne room of the Father-King, and on the other side of the stage is the official residence of the Mother-Queen. The first scene takes place in the throne room of the King. The second scene is in the Queen’s quarters, and the third is back in the King’s throne room. In addition to the narrator, each of the persons behind the other voices can be identified by what they say. (The rest of this paragraph will make a lot more sense if you get out your Bible and look at the psalm as we quickly go through it.) The first voice is that of the narrator, he says he is going to talk about the king (David). V. 2: he does that and says that God (the Hebrew word used there is Elohim) is going to bless the king (David). V. 3-5 is the blessing. V. 6-8: the voice changes. Someone says “thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” It is apparent from the text that the person speaking is the king (David) doing homage to his Kings, first to Elohim then to Jehovah. The easiest way for me to understand this psalm is to envision it as a three act play, and we have just seen act one, it took place in the Elohim’s throne room. We now begin act two with the narrator speaking again, he tells the audience, “the king’s daughters are among thy honorable women.” So our eyes are directed from the throne room to the other side of the stage, where we see the Mother-Queen and her daughter [Janet], together with their attendants. V. 10-12, Now we hear a Mother’s voice say, “Harken, O daughter…” These verses are the blessing, given by the Mother-Queen to her daughter [Janet]. V. 13-15. After her blessing, the narrator speaks again, Through his words, we watch as the young queen [Janet], her Mother, and their attendants go from the women’s side of the stage to the throne room of Elohim. Back in v 9 of our psalm, and continuing through to the end, the entire focus has been on the young queen [Janet]. Now the last two verses are spoken to her. I will discuss who those probable speakers are when we get to that part of the Psalm.

This psalm can be seen as representing a pre-mortal marriage/calling/covenant of the earthly king and queen – for it certainly was something like that – or, it can be understood as a statement about the principle of being a king/priest and a queen/priestess. It most certainly is that as well – and it is that aspect of the psalm on which I wish to focus.

Don’t put your Bible away, because I will write about the individual sections of the psalm, and assume that you will understand their context by using your Bible to keep the flow of the drama in mind.

Act 1, In the throne room of the Father-King, Elohim.

Joseph Smith wrote that the Council in Heaven took place on Kolob.(* see reference below) So the place represented in this psalm’s performance is Kolob; the time is before the world was created; the building in which the action takes place is the Temple; the room in the Temple is the throne room which is the Holy of Holies – I assume that is so because in Solomon’s temple God’s throne was in the Holy of Holies. In this first scene, we are in the presence of Elohim, Jehovah, the king (David), and the other members of the Council. In this psalm, no member of the Council is mentioned except the king (David), but given the importance of the events described, the other members of the Council must also have been present. So in this performance, the people representing the Council are either sitting quietly on the stage, or they were represented as watching from off the stage. I suspect it was the latter. It seems probable to me that at this point, the people who were watching the play are considered as being the members of the Council. If that is so, then, just as the members of the Council would have watched these events as they originally happened in the pre-mortal existence, now the audience in the play – the initiated – watch the re-enactment of those events. If that is correct, the initiated members of the audience consider themselves to be members of the cast in this performance – that is, as they watch, they are not just being entertained, but they consider that each of them were actual participants as witnesses to the events represented on the stage. It is probable that they also considered what was happening on the stage to be a representation of themselves as well.

Verse 1: “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

That first voice we hear is the narrator speaking. He identifies himself as the spokesman and scribe who will keep the record of this wedding. The narrator then addresses the king (David) and says,

2a. “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips:”

An ordinance has just occurred which may have included drinking something. This ordinance may have involved only the king (David) – a preparation for the king’s (David’s) blessing which he is about to receive,- or it may have been an ordinance in which the entire audience participated. Since Jehovah had just been anointed King (I’ll soon show you how we know that), it is also possible that the drinking of something may have been a covenant related ordinance by which all of the members of the Council (David and everyone in the audience – each of us if we were watching) acknowledged Jehovah as King and Messiah.

There is also the possibility the words, “grace is poured into thy lips,” did not refer to drinking at all. It may have been an ordinance of a different kind. Let me give you some examples of what I mean. There was an ordinance performed at the Council, where the servants of God were given the words which they were to speak. That ordinance is described in several different ways. In Revelation 10:1-9 “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: …. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.” That passage is explained by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph this way “Q. What are we to understand by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the 10th chapter of Revelation? A. We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel…”(D&C 77:14)

It is apparent that the person who gave John the little book was the Saviour, just as it is apparent that the Saviour gave a similar book to Lehi. “….the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.” (I Ne. 1:11-12)

Like John, Ezekiel was shown a book and asked to eat it. “And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll [scroll], and go speak unto the house of Israel So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.” (Ezekiel 2:9 – 3:2)

Jeremiah gives a different account of the ordinance. He wrote, “Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.” (Jeremiah 1:9)

Isaiah also speaks of his lips being touched, but he represents the ordinance as a spot of light. “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. “(Isaiah 6:6-8)

It is possible, then, that the phrase, “grace is poured into thy lips” is a reference to “a mission, and an ordinance” which was a specific assignment to the king (David) to represent God as his servant upon the earth.

The Father’s blessing continues:

2b. “therefore [because you accepted this ordinance] God hath blessed thee for ever.”

What follows now is one of the most amazing blessings ever recorded. It takes only three short verses to read it, but it may take me more pages than that to try to explain what it says. The verses read:

3 “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.” 4 “And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.” 5 “Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.”

That blessing incorporates in its few words every important concept of sacral kingship – except one — the blessing of a righteous posterity. That idea is reserved to the end of the psalm in a blessings given to the young queen (Janet).

While the nature of sacral kingship is to be both defender and judge, those roles are frequently given separate names. “King” often refers to his duties as defender, while “priest” refers to his role as judge. Thus Christ is both King of Israel and the Great High Priest. Also, the king (David) is both king in the national and international sense, and High Priest in that in ancient Israel he conducted worship ceremonies, used the urim and thummim, and entered the Holy of Holies to speak with God whenever he chose to.

Thus the function of a king/priest is two-fold. 1) As king he is the defender and protector of his people. That means he must be their representative in international affairs, and if negotiation fails, he must be their commanding general. 2) As priest, he is their supreme judge. A judge does three things. a) He condemns and punishes what is wrong; b) he justifies and upholds what is right; c) and he sustains those who do right. That two-fold nature of kingship is as true of the King Jehovah as it is true of the earthly king (David). Jehovah has covenant name-titles which represent those responsibilities. As commanding general he is Lord of Hosts, that simply means master of the armies. As High Priest, he is El Elyon, the Most High God, the God of Abraham, the Eternal Judge, the Saviour, the Redeemer, the “advocate with the Father.” As the deliver of Israel and teacher of Moses, he is I AM, – the One who is sufficient in himself – in that name-title, he is both King and Priest.

In time, when all the enemies of are defeated, Jehovah’s role of commanding general will become inoperative. Similarly, even though the earthly king (David’s) military duties are temporarily very important, they are ultimately tentative.

However, there is nothing tentative about the King’s duty as Judge. That is eternal. For Jehovah, the atoning Messiah, his role as judge extends from eternity to eternity. By his role as judge evil is purged from all creation (It is as judge that he defines evil, as general he eliminates it); by it all except the sons of perdition will be resurrected to some condition of glory; by it the sanctified are sustained in the eternities just as the members of the Council were sustained before. Similarly, the duties of the king (David) as judge never changes. By it he expels evil from his earthly kingdom, sees that justice is done, and rules with equity and mercy. This role is also eternal. Many scriptures suggest that the final criterion for one’s reaching exaltation, and ultimately being among the gods in the Celestial world, is one’s ability to judge righteously and with charity. If one can’t do that, one can’t be there.

In Psalm 45, the blessing given by Elohim to the king (David) emphasizes both aspects of sacral kingship – to be defender and judge – king and priest. The blessing begins with his duties as king – as international leader, defender and military commander.

3 “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.” That is an obvious reference to preparation for war, but to understand what the verse says, one must also ask, What does “thy glory” mean? and what does “thy majesty” mean?

Perhaps the easiest way is to talk about “majesty” first, then come back and see how “glory” fits into that pattern.

The next verse also uses the word, it begins, “In thy majesty ride prosperously…” That seems to suggest that “majesty” does not mean the dignity of his office, but rather it suggests that the word refers to something the king is actually wearing. That idea would be consistent with others in the Old Testament, where the word “majesty” sometimes refers to sacred clothing. Here are three examples:

In Psalm 93 “majesty” seems to refer to royal garments which Jehovah wore. Its use of the phrase, “established of old” is a reverence to the pre-mortal existence; and “the world also is stablished” is a reference to the creation, so we may assume that the context in which this clothing is described is the Heavenly Council. The first two verses of that psalm read: “The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.”

Psalm 104 also speaks of Jehovah being “clothed with honour and majesty.” This is also spoken in connection with the creation: God “stretchest out the heavens like a curtain” Here, Jehovah’s garment is described the same way Adam’s was before the fall – a garment of light. The first two verses of that psalm reads: “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:”

As Job approaches the veil, he is told that he must put on royal garments before he can know the answer to God’s final question. The Lord’s instructions to Job are: “Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency: and array thyself with glory and beauty.” Then, after giving final instructions about the necessity of being a righteous judge, the Lord adds, “Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.” (Job 40: 10-14)

Returning to Psalm 45:3. “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.” In each of the instances cited above “majesty” is coupled with something else, there are two of them – “honour and majesty,” “majesty and excellency.” In Psalm 45 we have “glory and majesty. In that psalm, the Lord is talking about three things: the sword, “glory,” and “majesty.” “Majesty” is very likely kingly robes. If that is so, then “glory” is also probably something worn. The Israelite High Priest is described as having two kinds of sacred garments, and the Hymn of the Pearl suggests the same thing. It seems reasonable to suppose that “glory” and “majesty” refer to two separate things which the king wears, perhaps an inner garment representing his priesthood, and an outer garment representing his kingship. (One gets that same sort of notion from the story of Captain Moroni, who put on his “armor,” along with his “head plate” (does that mean, flat hat like the high priest wore?), and his “garment,” which is first called his “coat”- suggesting this was an outer robe. On this coat or garment Moroni wrote the covenant title of “liberty.”)

The next verse (Psalm 45:4) reduces all that ever has to be said about the priestly functions of a sacral king into 5 simple ideas. The verse reads:

4. “And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.”

I would like to rearrange that sentence without changing its meaning, then discuss its ideas as they appear in the new arrangement. In the original reading, the king’s riding prosperously was the consequence of his already having truth, meekness and righteousness, so I will just put that idea at the beginning rather than in the middle. The new arrangement would read, “because of truth and meekness and righteousness, ride prosperously in thy majesty ; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible [awesome, majestically wonderful] things.”

I did that to emphasize that the criteria for one’s riding prosperously are: truth, meekness, and righteousness, and the consequence is blessing which is taught by ones own right hand. Lets discuss those criteria one at a time.

I take it that “truth” means the same now as it meant then. Truth is a knowledge of reality. “Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” (D&C 93:24) I know of only three ways one can obtain that kind of knowledge. 1) Being a member of the Council and in on the plans when the plans were made 2) being a human who is invited to return to a vision of the Council, so he can be shown what those plans were – a SOD experience as in Isaiah 6, and 1 Ne. 1. If you don’t understand SOD, I explain it later as we go). 3) Being resurrected in the Celestial world and having access to all truth. If that is correct, then the word “truth” here in the 45th psalm, promises that when he arrives on this earth, the king (David) will come to know the decisions of the Council and therefore to know the part he is to play in the eternal scheme of things. The idea that a legitimate king must have been chosen in the Council is a fundamental belief of ancient near eastern religions. (For example, it is the idea, in Alma 12-13, with which Alma convinced Zeezrom that he must not participate in the plot to overthrow the government and its rightful ruler. ) So the first criterion given here for sacral kingship is to have “truth” – which suggests to me, not only knowing the beginning, present, and future, but also knowing one’s place in the beginning, present, and future. That is the first criterion established in this blessing from the Father.

The psalm says the other two criteria are meekness, and righteousness.

The meaning of “meekness” is clearly defined in the Psalms. In Psalm 37:11, we learn, “The meek shall inherit the earth: and shall delight themself in the abundance of peace.” D&C 88:17 says the same thing, that the earth was created so “the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it.” The Saviour paraphrased the 37th psalm when he spoke the Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” And in the Beatitudes the idea of peace comes after one sees God.

Who the meek are, is clearly described in Psalm 25: it reads:

8 “Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.” As we have discussed elsewhere, “The way” usually refers to the sequence of the ordinances, and is often symbolized as the “way” or “path” by which one climbs the “mountain,” (temple) or the way one lives after one comes down from the mountain. There is a subtle, but I think very real differences between teaching “sinners in the way,” and teaching the meek “his way” as described in the next verse. 9 “The meek will he guide in judgment: [“judgement,” I presume is a reference to their ultimate sacral king/priest function] and the meek will he teach his way. [It appears from the verses which follow that to “teach his way” may be a reference to a SOD experience. I will point that out when we get there.] 10 All the paths [temple code word] of the Lord are mercy and truth [reference to his eternal judgeship] unto such as keep his covenant [“covenant,” we will soon be told, is another reference to the SOD] and his testimonies.” [Scholars are not quite sure what “testimonies” mean. Some (Mowinckel, Johnson and others) have suggested that it seems to be something worn – perhaps an stitched copy of the Ten Commandments – that, they acknowledge, is just their guess. In any case, “testimonies” seems to be a reference to something worn which contains a symbol of the covenants one has made.] 11 “For thy name’s sake [another instance of covenant-name being used to represent the covenant itself. The meaning of that phrase would remain the same if the word was changed so it read: “For thy covenant’s sake], O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”

12 “What man is he that feareth [honors] the Lord? him [the man] shall he [the Lord] teach in the way [same temple code word path] that he [the Lord] shall choose.” 13 “His [the man’s] soul shall dwell at ease; and his [the man’s] seed shall inherit the earth.” [This is the notion of eternal family. Here the seed of the meek, rather than just the meek, shall inherit the earth.] 14 “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him [those who are meek before the Lord]; and he [the Lord] will shew them [the meek] his covenant.” Those words define the “meek” to put everything else in the 25th Psalm into its proper contest. The word “secret” here is translated from the Hebrew word “SOD” or “SODE” if one is using Strong. It refers to the deliberations of a council, and especially to the council’s secret decisions. Many Old Testament scholars believe that as it is used here and elsewhere, it is a reference to the secret decisions made by the Council in Heaven. When one returns to the Council to review those decisions, it is said one has a SOD experience, as in Isaiah 6 where he returns to the Council. That is, he returns to the Council to be re-taught about the assignment he received when he was a member of the Council, and to re-affirm the covenants he made there.

The idea in v. 14 which says “The secret [SOD] of the Lord is with them that fear [honor] him; and he [the Lord] will shew them [the meek] his [the Lord’s] covenant,” fits well with verse 10 where we learned, “All the paths [code word] of the Lord are mercy and unto such as keep his covenant. The literal meaning of the word “meek” is not lost here, but in this context, “meekness” has to do with being meek before the Lord, and has nothing whatever to do with being meek before men. Thus it could be written, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3)

Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that in this context, the “meek” may be defined as those who keep their eternal covenants – keeping on earth the covenants one made at the Council. So in the 45th psalm, the idea that the king rode meekness most probably means, the king kept the covenants he made at the Council. If that is correct, in the phrase, “because of truth and meekness and righteousness,” then “truth” refers to what one learns in the Council, “meekness” refers to one’s keeping the covenants one made at the Council. And “righteousness” refers to how those covenants are kept.

The third criterion for riding prosperously, “righteousness,” is the Hebrew word “zadok” or “zedek.” As far as I can tell it means “High Priestly”- doing the right things, in the right way, using the right words, dressed the right way, in the right place, with the right authority. It is part of the name, Melchizedek. Melchi is king, zeded is righteousness, so it means king of righteousness. Perhaps it may denote King and High Priest – but that’s only my conjecture; I have no authority to cite for that suggestion.

Two statements in the Doctrine and Covenants suggest to me that the powers of a king as described in Psalm 45 closely parallel the powers of the Melchizedek priesthood. These passage are not the same as the statement in the psalm, but the messages seem to be the same. They emphasize the powers of the Melchizedek Priesthood in terms of “truth, meekness, and righteousness,” as I have tried to describe them here. The first one reads: “And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries [in the Old Testament “mysteries”would probably be SOD] of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. [SOD experience?] Therefore, in the ordinances thereof [In Isaiah, the word “ordinances” would probably appear as the code word “ways”or “paths”], the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live [It think that is clearly a SOD experience]. Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God;” (D&C 84:19-23)

The second reads: “The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church – To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries [SOD] of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them [SOD experience], to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn [Council in Heaven], and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. (D&C 107:18-19)

To return to the blessing which the Father-King gives to the young king (David) in Psalm 45. It says, “And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness.”

“Prosperous” is also a code word. The Lord uses it when he talks to Nephi, and I presume its meaning is the same there as it is here.

1 Ne. 2:19-22 “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher [king and priest] over thy brethren.” Here, to prosper is the opposite of being cut off from the presence of the Lord. That idea is used the same way elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, but the phrase is “prosper in the land” Just one example is Lehi who explained, “For the Lord God hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.” (2 Ne. 4:4)

If that meaning of “prosperous” holds true in our psalm, then “And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness;” literally means something like this, “Ride in the presence of the Lord, because you know the truth of the Council, you keep the covenants you made in the Council, and you act correctly in your highpriestly functions.”

Then the promise is given, “and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible [awesome] things.” That is the same promise which the Lord gave Job: “thine own right hand can save thee.” (Job 40:14) After giving that promise to Job, the Lord taught Job the answer to the final question, and Job responded, “I have heard thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” (42:5)

Now consider the impact of that entire verse without my comments getting in the way: “And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.” Wow! What else is there for one to be taught!!

After the part of the blessing which deals with the king as priest, the Father-King gives the young this final blessing:

5. “Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.”

It is my opinion that this third part of the blessing is not a returning to the first idea of the sword and war, but it is a new idea, not expressed here before. It appears to me to be an absolute assurance that the Lord guarantees that the king (David) will be able receive the promised blessings, and will have the power to keep his own eternal covenants. I see it as a promise that in his (David’s) trying to do so, that even though he (David) will find himself surrounded by enemies, he will remain invincible until his covenants are fulfilled and his mission accomplished. It is the promise that he will be king among kings. It is the same idea which concludes the first chapter of Ephesians, after Paul has talked about our relationship with our Father in Heaven, and the covenants and instructions we received before we left home.

If that is what the blessing means – the powers of political and warlike kingship, the priesthood powers to be a judge, and the absolute assurance of success – then the blessing to this king/priest is complete, and there is nothing left to be added, except a word about his posterity.

After the king (David) has received the blessing from Elohim, we now hear another voice. It appears to be that of the king (David) himself. As I envision the scene on the stage, Jehovah is standing beside Elohim as he gives the young king (David) a blessing. Then, as the hands are removed from the young king’s (David’s) head, he (David) kneels and does obeisance to both his Kings. That is the way it should be: the servant-king bowing before the master-King, and swearing allegiance to him. So we hear the young king (David) first speak to Elohim, then to his own immediate superior, Jehovah.

To Elohim, he (David) says,

6 “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.”

The word, “right” appears to be a symbol of righteous judgement. The Strong definition, (# 4334) is “justice,” “equity.” That is interesting, because if I understand that correctly, then the sceptre of the Father is a symbol of his judging righteously, and not a symbol of military might. I like that, because it is the way I would have expected it to be.

Then the king (David) turns to Jehovah and says:

7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, [the God of Jehovah is Elohim] hath anointed thee [Jehovah] with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 8 All thy [Jehovah’s] garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

When High Priests were anointed in Israel, (and we may presume this was true of their kings also) they were dressed in sacred garments and then anointed with special perfumed oil over the garments. The formula for the perfumed oil is given in the Old Testament, along with the command that this kind of oil may be used for no other purpose.

In the verses just quoted, it is apparent that Jehovah had just been anointed in that same manner. When the young king (David) acknowledges that Jehovah’s garments still smell of the fragrant perfumes of the anointing oil, he also gives us the formula by which the sacred oil was perfumed: “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.” This is a very meaningful formula. The oil is, of course, olive oil, the product of the fruit of the olive tree, which in Israel represented the Tree of Life. Myrrh is a perfume made from the sap of a small tree. Aloes is a perfume made from the heartwood of another tree, and cassia is a perfume made from the bark of still a different tree. So Jehovah has been anointed with a sacred oil which represents all the parts of a tree – acknowledgment that Jehovah is the Tree of Life.

Up to this point, virtually everything in Psalm 45 has talked about the young king’s (David’s) role at Council in Heaven. We have heard the blessing given to him by Elohim, and we have seen him express his subservience to both Elohim and Jehovah.

Now the psalm shifts it focus, and the narrator calls our attention to the other side of the stage, where we see the women’s quarters – probably the Queen’s reception or throne room.

The narrator says:

9a “Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.”

This first “thy” is intriguing. It is addressed to someone who is not on the woman’s side of the stage. It might be addressed to the men, but since its purpose is to call the attention of the audience to the women’s side of the stage, it is probably addressed to the audience. This is the best evidence that the audience are actually considered to be members of the Council. If they are our honourable women, then this is not just play-acting entertainment. It seems to be suggesting that the men in the audience are represented as being on the men’s side of the stage and the women present as being on the stage with “the queen in gold of Ophir.”

The second “thy” (“upon thy right hand”) is an address to the young princess who is about to marry the young king (David). It is the same kind of introduction which we found in the narrator introduced him. This princess-queen the woman whom we will call Janet. Janet’s character in the drama is played by the real, then present, queen. She will also play the part of Eve, when the time comes, then herself again, when the king is anointed. Just as the David character is played by her real husband, the then present king, who will soon be playing the part of Adam in the Garden.

So, if addressed to the audience, that introduction might read: “On the right hand side of the princess-queen (Janet) did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.”

The exact location of Ophir is no longer known, but it was probably in east central Africa. It was the source of the finest gold in the ancient world. In our drama, this queen who is dressed in gold of Ophir can only be the Mother-Queen, the wife of Elohim, and the Mother of the princess (Janet).

At this point in the 45th psalm, we hear a new voice, it says, “Harken, O daughter….” That can only be spoken by one of two persons – either the princess’ (Janet’s) Father who is in his throne room on the other side of the stage, or her Mother who is standing beside her. So I assume these words are spoken by the Mother-Queen, the wife of Elohim. The words she speaks are a blessing to the young bride-to-be (Janet) The blessing is strikingly similar to, and yet quite different from the blessing which Elohim gave to the young king (David)

It seems appropriate to me that this, the only place I know of in the scriptures which represents itself to be the words of our Mother in Heaven, should be a blessing to her daughter.

The Mother’s blessing reads:

10 “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house;

11 “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship [honor and love] thou him.

12 “And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.”

I wish to examine this blessing as closely as I examined the other one.

The Mother’s blessing begins with instructions. That is not unusual. I suspect there are few Patriarchal Blessings which do not contain a great deal of instruction. In this case the instructions are:

10. “forget thine own people and thy father’s house.”

There is nothing unique about that principle. Adam expressed it from the man’s point of view when he said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh . . . Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:23-24) That is the obvious meaning of the instructions to the young princess (Janet), but given that the time and place of the blessing is the Council, and the event is a preparation for her coming to this world, the instruction may mean something else as well. Among the writings of modern prophets, there is probably none more relevant to our subject than the following editorial written by John Taylor in the newspaper, The Mormon , which he published while he was in New York City. Elder Taylor, then a member of the Twelve, called his editorial the “The Origin, Object, and Destiny of Women.” Because it is very relevant to our subject, and because it is beautiful to read, I quote it in full, rather than only excerpting only a small part of it.

THE “Latter Day Saints” have often been ridiculed on account of their belief in the pre-existence of spirits, and in marrying for time and for all eternity, both being Bible doctrines. We have often been requested to give our views in relation to these prin­ciples, but considering the things of the Kingdom belonged to the children of the Kingdom, therefore not meet to give them to those without. But being very politely requested by a lady a few days since, (a member of the church) to answer the fol­lowing questions, we could not consistently refuse;-viz., “Where did I come from? What is my origin? What am I doing here? Whither am I going? and What is my destiny, after having obeyed the truth, if faithful to the end?”

For her benefit, and all others concerned, we will endeavor to answer the questions in brief, as we understand them. The rea­son will be apparent for our belief in the pre-existence of spirits, and in marrying for time and for all eternity.

Lady-whence comest thou? Thine ori­gin? What art thou doing here? Whither art thou going, and what is thy destiny? Decl­are unto me if thou hast understanding? Knowest thou not, that thou art a spark of Deity, struck from the fire of his eternal blaze, and brought forth in the midst of eternal burning?

Knowest thou not that; eternities ago, thy spirit, pure and holy, dwelt in thy Heavenly Father’s bosom, and in his pre­sence, and with thy mother, one of the Queens of heaven, surrounded by thy bro­ther and sister spirts in the. spirit world, among the Gods. That as thy spirit be­held the scenes transpiring there, and thou growing in intelligence, thou sawest worlds upon worlds organized and peopled with thy kindred spirits, took upon them tabernacles, died, were resurrected, and received their exaltation on the redeemed worlds they once dwelt upon. Thou being willing and anxious to imitate them, wait­ing and desirous to obtain a body, a res­urrection and exaltation also, and having obtained permission, thou made a covenant with one of thy kindred spirits to be thy guardian angel while in mortality, also with two others, male and female spirits, that thou wouldst come and take a taber­nacle through their lineage, and become one of their offspring. You also choose a kindred spirit whom you loved in the spirit world, (and had permission to come to this planet and take a tabernacle) to be your head, stay, husband, and protector on the earth, and to exalt you in the eternal worlds. All these were arranged, likewise the spirits that should tabernacle through your lineage. Thou longed, thou sighed, and thou prayed to thy Father in heaven for the time to arrive when thou couldst come to this earth, which had fled and fell from where it was first organized, near the planet Kolob. Leave thy father and mother’s bosoms, and all thy kindred spirits, come to earth, take a tabernacle, and imitate the deeds of, those you had seen exalted before you.

At length the time arrived, and thou heard the voice of thy Father, saying, “go daughter to yonder lower world, and take upon thee a tabernacle, and work out thy probation with fear and trembling, and rise to exaltation. But daughter, remem­ber you go on this condition, that is, You are to forget all things you ever saw, or knew to be transacted in the spirit world; you are not to know or remember anything concerning the same that you have beheld transpire here; but you must go and become one of the most helpless of all beings that 1 have created, while in your infancy; subject to sickness, pain, tears, mourning, sorrow and death. But when truth shall touch the cords of your heart they shall vibrate; then intelligence shall illuminate your mind, and shed its luster in your soul, and you shall begin to understand the things you once knew, but which had gone from you; you shall then begin to under­stand and know the object of your crea­tion. Daughter, go, and be faithful in your second estate, keep it as faithful as thou hast thy first estate.

Thy spirit filled with joy and thanks­giving rejoiced in thy Father, and ren­dered praise to his holy name, and the spirit world resounded in anthems of praise and rejoicing to the ‘Father of Spirits. Thou bade father, mother, and all, farewell, and along with thy guardian angel, thou came on this terraqueous globe. ‘The spir­its thou bad chosen to come and tabernacle through their lineage, and your Head ha­ving left the spirit world some years pre­vious.) Thou came a spirit pure and holy, thou hast taken upon thee a taber­nacle, thou hast obeyed the truth, and thy guardian angel ministers unto thee and watches over thee; Thou hast chosen him you loved in the spirit world to be thy companion. Now, crowns, thrones, exaltations and dominions are in reserve for thee in the eternal worlds, and the way is opened for thee to return back into the presence of thy Heavenly Father, if thou will only abide by and walk in a celestial law, fulfil the designs of thy creation, and hold out to the end. That when mortality is laid in the tomb, you may go down to your grave in peace, arise in glory, and receive your everlasting reward in the resurrection of the just, along with thy head and husband. Thou will be perm­itted to pass by the Gods and angels who guard the gates, and onward, upward to thy exaltation in a celestial world among the Gods. To be a Priestess Queen unto thy Heavenly Father and a glory to thy husband and offspring, to bear the souls of men, to people other worlds, (as thou didst bear their tabernacles in mortal­ity,) while eternity goes and eternity comes; and if you will receive it, lady, this is eternal life. And herein’ is the saying of the’ apostle Paul ful­filled, “that the man is not without the woman in the Lord, neither is the woman without the man’ in the Lord.” “That man is the head of the woman, and the glory of the man is the woman.” Hence, thine origin, the object of thy creation, and thy ultimate destiny, if faithful. Lady, the cup is within thy reach, drink ,then the heavenly draught, and live. (John Taylor, editor, The Mormon N.Y. August 29, 1857)

If I had quoted only a few lines from President Taylor’s editorial, they would have been these: “thou heard the voice of thy Father, saying, “go daughter to yonder lower world, and take upon thee a tabernacle, and work out thy probation with fear and trembling, and rise to exaltation. But daughter, remember you go on this condition, that is, You are to forget all things you ever saw, or knew to be transacted in the spirit world; you are not to know or remember anything concerning the same that you have beheld transpire here.” That provides a possible meaning for the instruction, “forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.” Given the fact that the play which is Psalm 45 represents covenants made in the pre-mortal world in preparation for one’s coming to this world, it is possible that the Mother-Queen’s admonition, “forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house” was about that forgetting. However, it seems more probable to me that the intent of the Mother-Queen’s instruction cannot be separated from Adam’s statement, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

I believe President Taylor’s editorial helps provide the fuller context into which one must put the Mother’s blessing. (The fact that about 3,000 years separate the author of the psalm from President Taylor’s time seems irrelevant to me. If something is true once, it is true again, never mind when it is written.) The editorial also helps explain the meaning of the part of the Mother-Queen’s blessing which reads,

11. “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship [honor, love] thou him.”

I will not pursue that meaning now, because it can best be understood in light of the young king’s (David’s) covenant which appears at the conclusion of the psalm. So I will wait until we get there to comment on it.

The Mother-Queen’s blessing is not only about the her (Janet’s) relationship with her husband. It is also about her own (Janet’s) role as priestess/queen. The last verse of the blessing reads:

12 “And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.”

No doubt, the phrase, “daughter of Tyre” is intended to be more symbolic than real. In Solomon’s day, Tyre was the richest and most powerful city on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Its king, Hyrum, supplied Solomon with both the skilled workmen and the wood from giant trees necessary to build his Temple and palace at Jerusalem. The idea “the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift”makes its point by calling attention to the power and importance of that city. In much the same way, someone in our grandmother’s day might have said “your dresses will be admired by all the women of Paris.” The mentioning of Tyre has the same kind of connotation as the mentioning of Paris. But this is not talking about admiring dresses, it is about receiving “gifts.” That is very different and very important. These gifts are not wedding presents, they are the kind of gift a subordinate king gives to his superior king. These gifts are tribute – an acknowledgment of the queen’s (Janet’s) high state and queenly superiority. The meaning is that the Mother-Queen has just promised the princess-queen (Janet) that she would not only reign in her own country, but that she would be a queen among queens. It is the same blessing which the young king (David) received from Elohim, that he could not be hurt by his enemies – that he would be a king among kings. Like the blessing to the king (David), it is the absolute assurance that the queen (Janet) will be have the power to make a difference and to keep her eternal covenants.

The final part of the Mother-Queen’s blessing reads: “even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.” The Hebrew word translated “favour” is “used in a great variety of applications” (Strong # 6440), and almost all of them have to do with a persons exercising the authority of justice, mercy, and judgement. Here again, the most important function one has on this earth – that of being a righteous judge – is the conclusion of the Mother-Queen’s blessing to her daughter, just as it is the most important part of the blessing her young husband received from his Father.

To review, the Mother-Queen’s blessing to the young queen (Janet) is in all respects but two the same as Elohim’s blessing to the young king (David). The two exceptions are: 1) the Mother’s blessing includes the idea of the sanctity of the marriage relationship, the Father’s did not. [Again, I delay commenting about that until we get to the last verse of the psalm.] 2) The Mother’s blessing leaves out the part about being a protector anda commanding general in time of war. But the other functions of her (Janet’s) being queen are the same as his (David’s) functions of being king. The difference is that she is queen under the umbrella of his protection and he has to provide the umbrella. In both the Mother and the Father’s blessings, each place heavy emphasis on the most important temporal – and eternal – function of sacral kingship – the responsibility, power, and blessings associated with being a righteous judge.

That is not all, we will now watch as the queen (Janet), her Mother, and their entourage leave the quarters of the Mother-Queen, walk across the stage to enter the throne room of Elohim. There the young queen (Janet) will receive a blessing from her Father, and a covenant of devotion from her young husband (David.)

So the next voice we hear in the 45th psalm is that of the narrator. As he speaks, our eyes follow the princess-queen (Janet) as the leave the Queen’s quarters, cross the stage, and enter the Holy of Holies, where Elohim, the young king (David), and the members of the Council (all of us) wait for her. The narrator says:

V. 13-15. “The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.”

The last two verses of Psalm 45 are spoken to her (Janet) after she enters the Holy of Holies, but as elsewhere in the psalm, the speakers are not identified. To me it is apparent that v. 16 is a blessing from her Father Elohim. It is an addition to, and the necessary conclusion of the blessing the princess-queen received from her Mother. It is not about her (Janet’s) functions as a queen, but is about her blessings as a mother. This blessing is exclusively hers (Janet’s), for there is no parallel idea in the blessing which her Father gave to her young husband (David).

As I envision the portrayal of this drama on the stage, I see the daughter (Janet) entering the Holy of Holies. Her Father, laying aside protocol, walks over to her in affectionate greeting. She, keeping to protocol, kneels before her Father- King. He places his hands upon her head, and gives her this blessing:

16. “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.”

To say that blessing is extremely important would be a severe understatement. Only the queen can make a prince or princess. Only she knows who the child’s father is, therefore it is entirely up to her whether her husband’s heir, the next king, is a true son of her husband or the child of a usurper. (For that very practical, legal reason, in most countries where there was a reigning monarch, a queen’s adultery was high treason for both her and her lover. You will recall, for example, that Queen Elizabeth I’s mother and uncle were executed on those charges.)

Her (Janet’s) importance is best illustrated in cases of polygamy where there were more than one wife (such as with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon). In those instances, it was the rank of the mother which determined the rank of the child. Only the son of the ranking queen could inherit a crown. The blessing that Elohim gives to his daughter is “…thou mayest make princes in all the earth.”

The last verse of psalm 45 is a covenant. As is true elsewhere in the psalm, the speaker is not identified. This verse may be read as the conclusion of the blessing in the previous verse, but I would be very surprised if it were intended to be read that way. It seems more reasonable to me that this final statement – the happy ever after high point of the play we have been watching — is, as it should be, a covenant of devotion, spoken by the young king (David) to his princess-queen (Janet). It is a marriage vow, but more important, it is his promise that the blessings she has received from her Mother and her Father will be fulfilled because of his (David’s) integrity, rectitude, and love.

17. “I will make thy name be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.”

Here, as elsewhere, the word “name” is covenantal. “Queen” and “priestess” are sacral names. But I suspect that if one is to ultimately discover the meaning, one must go to the Beatitudes which describes the most sacred of all human names: “for they shall be called the children of God” – the name which is the temporal and eternal fulfillment of all promised blessings. In the young king’s (David’s) covenant to his bride – “I will make thy name be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.”- we find the balance – and the meaning of the Mother-Queen’s blessing to her daughter, “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship [honor, love] thou him.” (I understand the eternal nature of this balanced sacral marriage relationship to be symbolically represented by holding hands – the man from within the veil at the time of marriage, but then but then the other side is presented when the woman extends her hand from within her sacred space during prayer.)

Conclusion: If the 45th Psalm represents the ancient Israelite belief in the eternal sanctity of marriage, as it appears to do, then there are a number of conclusions one may draw about what that belief was.

The man had the kingly responsibilities of being a protector, and the High Priestly responsibilities of being a judge. The woman had the queenly authorities derived from his protection, and the High Priestess responsibilities of being a judge. In addition, the woman had the powers of motherhood. It is she, not her husband, who makes her children “princes in all the earth.” The children may inherit from their father, but their identity and birthright as “children” is determined by the word of their mother. In the husband and wife’s responsibilities to each other there is balance. The woman is to “worship” [honor, love] him. He is to “…make thy name be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.”

In a legal, earthly context, if either of them breaks those covenants, the kingdom toters. In an eternal, heavenly context, if either of them breaks those covenants, the consequences are even more severe.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

Footnote: In February 1843, at the request of W. W. Phelps, the Prophet Joseph re-wrote the vision which is the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants in poetry form. It was published in the Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843, and republished in the Millennial Star, August, 1843. The part which I referred to, which identifies the place where the Council was held as Kolob, reads as follows:

For thus saith the Lord, in the spirit of truth,

I am merciful, gracious, and good unto those

That fear me, and live for the life that’s to come:

My delight is to honour the Saints with repose,

That serve me in righteousness true to the end;

Eternal’s their glory and great their reward.

I’ll surely reveal all my myst’ries to them —

The great hidden myst’ries in my kingdom stor’d;

From the council in Kolob, to time on the earth,

And for ages to come unto them I will show

My pleasure and will, what the kingdom will do

Eternity’s wonders they truly shall know.

Psalms 34:2-22 — LeGrand Baker —  Psalm 34 teaches Atonement

Many ideas associated with coronation are scattered throughout the psalm. I can most easily point them out by rearranging them and pulling them together into separate categories. My artificial grouping of the following verses is only to point out similarities of ideas, and I apologize for the injustice it does to the poetry. For example, there are some lines that speak of the physical senses of both God and man.

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their cry.” (V. 15)

“I will bless the Lord at all times:

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (V. 1)

“Keep thy tongue from evil,
and thy lips from speaking guile.” (V. 13)

This psalm contains many of the same ideas that are found in the Beatitudes and other scriptures.

“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.”
“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (V. 16-17)

The Beatitude reads, “Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (3 Nephi 12:3)

As I understand it, the “poor in spirit” are those who have made the sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit.¹ “Who come unto me” is a reference to one’s being in the place where Christ is. “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” I take it that means the kingdom belongs to them – they are sacral kings and queens.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (V. 8)

The Beatitude reads, “And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” (3 Nephi 12:6) This seems to be about the fruit of the tree of life, and the waters of life, and the blessings to those to receive them. One wonders if Alma had his psalm in mind when he said, “…after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect? …. And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.” (Alma 32: 35, 40)

“The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants:
and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” (V. 22)

In the Book of Mormon, in Job, and in this psalm, the word “redeem” means to be brought into the presence of the Lord (Ether 3: 13-17; Helaman 14:17; 2 Ne. 1:15, 2:2-4; Job 19: 25-26)

In the Beatitudes the ultimate power and responsibility of kingship is represented in the words, “And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” In the sequences which assumes one has learned how to do that, the next words are, “And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” and “blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (3 Nephi 12:7-9) Being called “the children of God,” corresponds with the royal new name given to the king in Psalm 2 (discussed below). The clearest tie between verses 8 and 9 in the Beatitudes is Ether 3:13-14.

And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you. Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.”

Our psalm reads:

“Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.” (V. 11)

The other Beatitude most prominently represented in this psalm is the one that depicts one’s adoption as a child of God, and final coronation to be sacral king or queen. “And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (3 Nephi 12:9-10)

In Moroni 7, Mormon bridges the gap between a peacemaker and being one of whom it can be said with finality: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Mormon addresses those who “are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven.” I presume that means they have, and can again see their Saviour. He knows this “because of your peaceable walk with the children of men.” He explains that their next steps are to perfect faith (“Now faith is the substance [tangible reality = “assurance”] of things hoped for [the promises the covenant], the evidence of things not seen [the covenant” Hebrews 11:1.]); hope (living as though the covenant were already fulfilled); and charity (the ultimate power that seals the covenant). Then he concludes: “But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.”

1I reach that conclusion by combining two other statements by the Saviour:

19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled. (3 Nephi 12:19)

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. (3 Nephi 9:20)

I reach that conclusion by combining two other statements by the Saviour:

19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled. (3 Nephi 12:19)

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. (3 Nephi 9:20)

Meaning of “Meek” in Psalm 25:

Keeping One’s Eternal Covenants,

LeGrand Baker

A friend describes meekness as the ability to accept offence without being offended. That is an enjoyable perspective, and it works well in many scriptures. However there is another meaning of “meek” that makes it one of the most significant words in the subtextual language of the scriptures. It is one of those “code words” that was never intended to be a code word, because that meaning of “meekness” is clearly explained in the Psalms. In Psalm 37:11, we learn, “The meek shall inherit the earth: and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” The Savior paraphrased that psalm when he spoke the Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” He may also have been referring to it with the Beatitude that reads, “And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” In D&C 88:17 he explained much the same thing, that the earth was created so “the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it.” Those ideas are all amplified in the place where one finds the most complete discussion of what meekness means, the 25^th psalm.

It expands the blessings of meekness to include the doctrine of an eternal family—it promises that not just the meek, but also the children of the meek, will inherit the earth. It is that psalm that gives us the best explanation of who the meek are.

Psalm 25 is an intensely personal statement. The speaker may have been a single individual, or the psalm may have been sung by everyone in the congregation. The individual who sings it (even if there are many who sang simultaneously) is so very human that whether the psalm were sung by one person or the entire congregation would not change the personal nature of the hymn. The Lord’s statement, “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads” (D&C 25:12), can be true whether one is singing alone, with a congregation, or just listening.

Most other scriptures that tell about the Council in Heaven make it seem very distant and detached because the accounts are about supermen like Abraham, Isaiah, or Lehi. Psalm 25 is not just about the king, but it is about Everyman. It seems to bring the Council home to the fireside where its covenants are a central part of ordinary daily lives. It is a prayer in which one lifts one’s soul (not just one’s hands) as an evidence of one’s worthiness. In the prayer, the person unabashedly exposes his inner Self, making himself vulnerable to all those who can know the meaning of his words. He is one who has unbounded faith in the Lord—one who knows he had made some very serious covenants in the Council—and one who is trying to keep those covenants while muddling through the dreariness that is life in this lonely, dark world. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi’s psalm in 2 Nephi 4 is so much like Psalm 25 that one wonders if Nephi may have been reflection on its meaning when he wrote his own.

The Psalm reads:

1 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed

One would be ashamed if one had borne testimony of God’s covenant, but God didn’t keep them. The next lines suggest that the covenant he was asking God to keep is the promise that God would make a way for the psalmist to keep his own covenants:

let not mine enemies triumph over me

“Triumph,” in the context of this psalm, suggests that they would be able to prevent him from keeping those covenants:

3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed:

let them be ashamed which transgress without cause

The word “wait” appears three times in this psalm. Each is translated from the same Hebrew word that means to anticipate, “to look for eagerly.”¹ The shame mentioned would only come if the Lord did not appear and the person who waits is disappointed. The blessings of waiting on the Lord is taught by Isaiah, where he writes:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).

That the psalmist had that same idea in mind is clearly demonstrated by his next phrase, where his words “ways” and “paths” have the same encoded connotation.

4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me

for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Psalm 25 is set in the context of our premortal covenants, and the next verse contains a word that brings those covenants into a deeply personal friendship/relationship. The word is translated “lovingkindnesses” and is from the Hebrew word hesed.² The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament shows the power of that friendship/relationship:

We may venture the conjecture that even in cases where the context does not suggest such mutuality it is nevertheless implicit, because we are dealing with the closest of human bonds.³

An explanation and clarification of their phrase, “dealing with the closest of human bonds,” is found in a new edition of Strong’s Concordance:

hesed, unfailing love, loyal love, devotion. kindness, often based on a prior relationship, especially a covenant relationship.⁴

Even though the hesed relationship described in this psalm is between the king who speaks the words, and Jehovah to whom he addresses them, it must be remembered that in the Israelite temple drama the king represented every man in the congregation. Therefore, the hesed relationship described here also evokes the terms of the covenant between Jehovah and each worthy man. That being so, it follows that this same hesed relationship also exists as an eternal, fraternal bond of each man with Jehovah, perhaps with their prophet/king, and most certainly each other. Consideration of the this-worldly continuation of those fraternal relationships brings us back to Peter’s assurance that “brotherly kindness” (philadelphia) is prerequisite to making one’s calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:1-11).

6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses [hesed, plural];

for they have been ever of old.

Here is another example of where the phrase “of old” is a reference to the Council.⁵ The prayer bears testimony that he knows that his and Jehovah’s hesed relationship is now even as it was in the beginning, at the Council in Heaven, and remains forever—unchanged:

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:

according to thy mercy [hesed] remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

It is apparent that the author of this psalm had an almost boundless knowledge of the whole plan of salvation, yet is burdened by his own human frailties as he asks the Lord to remember their former hesed relationship. Nephi’s psalm echoes a similar lament:

17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.

19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted (2 Nephi 4:17-19).

The 25^th Psalm continues

: 8 Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way

Here again, “the way” is the frequently used code in the psalms that refers to the sequence of the ordinances and covenants, and connotes the “way” or “path” by which one climbs the “mountain” that is symbolic of the Jerusalem Temple Mount, and/or the “way” one conducts his life after leaving the Temple. The generic “in the way” implies the introductory ideas taught to the initiate there. There is a subtle, but very real difference between teaching “sinners in the way,” and teaching the meek “his way,” as appears in the next verse. “Sinners,” apparently, are people who have yet to be taught to understand—adults who were repenting, or young adults who typically had been so absorbed in growing up in this world that their premortal covenants were not only lost from memory but also from seeming importance. As they mature such “sinners” must be taught “in the way”—the generic principles that have universal application. Then in “his way, as the focus of the prayer moves forward and the singer recounts his own spiritual maturation:

9 The meek will he guide in judgment:

In these words, we begin to understand the meaning of “meek.” That he will led them in judgment evinces that the singer has learned, and is still learning, to judge righteously. That represents the essence of the powers of both priesthood and kingship. The qualities of that judgment are described in the next verse and are enshrined in the Savior’s words, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”

and the meek will he teach his way

The person who sings this prayer is no longer taught in the generic “the way,” but is taught God’s way. He has learned how to judge with “mercy and truth,” and therefore can be taught what he otherwise could not know:

10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy [hesed] and truth

unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies

In the phrase, “the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,” “mercy” is hesed and emphasize that covenant friendship relationship; “truth” is that criteria upon which the judgment is made.

“Covenant,”is another reference to the covenants made at the Council, sode in v. 14.

Scholars are not quite sure what “testimonies” mean. But it seems to be a physical testimony (a pistis⁶) of God’s covenants with man. In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant is frequently called the Ark of the Testimony,⁷ and Johnson suggested that our verse is a reference to an embroidered copy of the Ten Commandments the king wore on his person.⁸ So verse ten might read, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his commandments.”

If that is correct, it appears the meek are those who keep the covenants they made at the Council (and that they re-made here), and also keep the commandments they receive in this world. One gets the same idea from psalms where the “testimony” is related to the experience on Sinai: “He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them” (Psalm 99:7). Keeping the commandments associated with the testimony seems to be a kind of authorization or ratification on the part of men and women, so that God can bless them according to those covenants:

11 For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

“For thy name’s sake” is another instance of the covenant-name’s being used to represent the covenant itself. The meaning of that phrase would remain almost the same if the word were changed so it read: “For thy covenant’s sake.”

It is significant that at this point in this psalm that celebrates man’s eternal success, there is an expression of one’s total dependence upon the principle of repentance and the Savior’s Atonement:

12 What man is he that feareth the Lord?

him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose

That reads: “What man is he that feareth [honor, respect] the Lord? him [the man] shall he [the Lord] teach in the way [same temple codeword as path] that he [the Lord] shall choose.”

That is different from “in the way.” This is no longer the generic teachings, ordinances, and covenants taught to “sinners.” Rather, it is the “way” the Lord “shall choose”—it is individually a teaching from the Spirit, designed to enable one to fulfill the covenantal assignments made at the Council:

13 His [the person’s] soul shall dwell at ease;

and his seed shall inherit the earth

This is the promise of eternal family. Here is the covenant that the children of the meek, rather than just the meek themselves, shall inherit the earth. As discussed above, the new name given to the dead in the coronation passage of Isaiah 61 is another example of the Old Testament teachings of eternal increase.

14 The secret [sode] of the Lord is with them that fear him;

and he will shew them his covenant.

The word “secret” is translated from the Hebrew word sode, so the verse reads, “The secret [sode] of the Lord is with them that fear him [“Fear” means respect, honor, revere]. The verse says: Those who honor the Lord will know the secrets of the Council; and the Lord will show them [the meek] his [the Lord’s] covenant. That is, he will show them the covenants they made with him at the Council. Such information is an ultimate empowerment. One can not know where he is going unless he knows where he as been and what purpose he has in the journey.

As we have already observed, a sode experience is when an individual has a vision in which he is returned to the Council in Heaven to be re-taught about the assignment he received, and to re-affirm the covenants he made there. But, as the scriptures make clear, the Lord need not take Everyman back to the Council in order to teach each his premortal covenants—that was what the New Year festival temple drama was for; and of course, among other things, that is what the Holy Ghost is for.

The whole meaning of the 25^th psalm is focused on that single verse. Indeed, the whole meaning of the New Year festival drama may also do so. Those words define the “meek” and put everything else in the 25th Psalm into its proper context. Verse 14 fits well with the ideas in verse 10 where one learned, “All the paths [codeword] of the Lord are mercy [being a righteous judge] and truth [knowledge things as they were, are, and will be] unto such as keep his covenant [the covenant made at the Council].”

The meek, then, are those who keep the covenants they made at the Council in Heaven. In that definition, the ordinary meaning of the word “meek” is not lost, but in these contexts, “meekness” has only to do with one’s being meek before the Lord, and has nothing whatever to do with being meek before men. Thus it was written of the prophet who defied Pharaoh and defeated all the armies of Egypt, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). What that meant was explained by the Lord to Miriam and Aaron, in the next few verses. The King James Version gives a somewhat muddled translation of that explanation, but the Tanakh makes that explanation very clear:

The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward; and He said, “Hear these My words: When a prophet of the Lord arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the Lord. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!”⁹

The important statement is that Moses “is trusted throughout My household.” The “household” of God would be the same as the “household” of a king. That is, it would consist of not only his immediate family but also his official entourage—the inner circle of his counselors and court leaders. In the case of God, his “household” would be the members of the Council in Heaven. So the Lord’s statement that Moses “is trusted throughout My household” is a reference to the fact that Moses was originally called—and is presently sustained—by the other members of the Council. The statement that “Moses was very meek, above all the men,” simply means he kept with care and rectitude the covenants he made with God. One of the best examples in the Book of Mormon of a prophet who was truly meek is Abinadi standing before King Noah, defiantly asserting that Noah cannot have the power to kill him until after the prophet has delivered the message the Lord has sent him to deliver!¹⁰

To return to Psalm 25; the verse we are discussing reads:

14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him;

and will shew them his covenant.

That verse posits that the sode—the secret decisions of the Heavenly Council, made, sanctioned, and sealed by covenant in the presence of the Lord—is made known to those who honor him because the Lord would show them what that covenant was. That was done in generic form during the festival temple drama. Thereafter, by the power of the Holy Ghost each individual could be led to understand the intent of the specific covenant he had made. Then he might know what to do and how to live to fulfill that covenant.

An excellent illustration is the story of Jean Wunderlich.¹¹ At the end of World War II, he was called to be the first post-war mission president in West Germany. His assignment would be to find the remnants of the Saints there and help them come together and make the church a viable organization again. After receiving the call, he and his wife traveled to Salt Lake City where he was to be set apart by President David O. McKay. When they entered the prophet’s office, President McKay stood, came from behind his desk, welcomed his guests, and invited them to sit down. Jean’s wife sat in a chair by the door. Jean sat in a chair that the prophet had moved to the center of the room.

President McKay placed his hands on Jean’s head and began to give him a blessing. Here, Jean stopped his narrative, his eyes lit up, and he said, “When the prophet has his hands on your head, you listen—and I was listening!” However, Jean said that President McKay had spoken only a few sentences when he gave a command that introduced Jean into the most powerful spiritual experience of his life. He saw a beautiful light, and other things which he did not describe. Jean said he again became aware of the prophet and the room, only when the blessing was finished, and he felt President McKay’s hands lift from his head. Baker recalls, “Jean said that was the most significant experience of his whole life, and his telling me became one of the most significant conversations of mine. He said he was not telling me a story, he was giving me a gift. The gift he gave me was the words of the command which the prophet spoke, which initiated Jean’s profound experience. Those words were these: ‘Be true to the Law of your own Being.’”

Jean commented that in LDS theology “law” has an eternal connotation, and the command to be true to that law suggests that one might also apostatize from it—that one may be at variance with who and what one really is. As Jean understood it, “the law of one’s own being” is simply what one IS—the individual personalities we each have developed and nurtured from the beginnings of our premortal cognizance.

He suggested that sin is simply one’s being in violation of the eternal law that is one’s Self—defying the law of one’s own being. He said that there are some things which none of us can do without doing violence to our Selves, such as stealing, blaspheming, and hurting other people. These generic sins are all covered by the basic commandments. But there are also things that are specific sins to only one individual, and are not sins to everyone else. He said he believed that a chief function of the Holy Ghost is to help one bring one’s earthly life into perfect accord with that law.

The phrase “law of one’s own being” is not found in the scriptures, but the concept is there, and the word “law” is used in connection with that concept.¹² It seems that if one is to comprehend the law of one’s own being, one must first seek to understand its origin, objective, and primary consequences—its relationship to the preliminaries of one’s foreordination; its relationship to one’s keeping the laws and commandments of the Lord while we were intelligences, then spirits, now in this life, and again in the next. It appears that is what the psalmist meant when he wrote:

14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him;

and will shew them his covenant.

During the presentation of the festival temple drama, for each individual the basic covenants were the same, but for each the individual meaning was specific, and the expanse of those covenants was among the biggest ideas one’s mind could reach around. It was probably in response to the bigness of the idea, that the next line recalls the Lord’s covenants of invulnerability, and expresses thanks for the fulfillment of those covenants:

15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord

for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

The “net” would be the people or other obstacles that seek to entangle one’s feet to prevent one from “walking” in the “way” and from keeping one’s covenants. Those impediments are very real, and once again, in this psalm which is a celebration of the blessings of eternal life, one is brought face to face with the difficulty of just muddling through this lonely, dark world.

We have wandered so far in our discussion of the 25^th Psalm, that it seems a good idea to read it again without all the interruptions, and also to add the concluding verses which evoke the promises of the covenant of invulnerability. The Psalm reads in full:

1 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed,

let not mine enemies triumph over me.

3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed:

let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me:

for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses [hesed];

for they have been ever of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:

according to thy mercy [hesed] remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

8 Good and upright is the Lord:

therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

9 The meek will he guide in judgment:

and the meek will he teach his way.

10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy [hesed] and truth

unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

12 What man is he that feareth the Lord?

him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

13 His soul shall dwell at ease;

and his seed shall inherit the earth.

14 The secret [sode]of the Lord is with them that fear him;

and he will shew them his covenant.

15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord;

for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me;

for I am desolate and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged:

O bring thou me out of my distresses.

18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain;

and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many;

and they hate me with cruel hatred.

20 O keep my soul, and deliver me:

let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me;

for I wait on thee.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles (Psalm 25:1-22).

The final three verses return the audience to the place where the psalm began. It is a prayer for strength to retain one’s integrity, so that the Lord can keep his part of the covenant.

1Strong 6960.

2Katherine Doob Sakenfeld of Princeton University Seminary wrote a dissertation on “hesed” in which she argued that it meant “to do what is expected of one.” With regard to the covenant, God does what is expected (keep his covenant promises); man should also maintain “hesed” (keep his covenant promises).

Katherine Doob Sakenfeld, The Meaning of Hesed in the Hebrew Bible: A New Inquiry (Missoula, Montana; Scholars Press for the Harvard Semitic Museum, 1978).

3G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, eds., trans. Davod E. Green, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 15 vols. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1986), article about hesed, 5:45-48). The Greek equivalent is Philadelphia, fraternal love, as explained in fn 905, p. 680.

4John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson, The Strongest Strong’s, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), Hebrew dictionary # 2617.

5Examples of scriptures that use the phrase “of old” as reference to events in the Council in Heaven are: Deuteronomy 32:7-8; Psalms 25:6-7, 68:32-33, 93:1-2, 102:24-25, Micah 5:2 is another example. The most convincing modern example is this statement in the 76^th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: “And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old.” (D&C 76:6) When the Prophet Joseph wrote a poetic version of his vision, he made its meaning even more clear.

I’ll surely reveal all my myst’ries to them—

The great hidden myst’ries in my kingdom stor’d;

From the council in Kolob, to time on the earth, (Joseph Smith, “A Vision,” in Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843.)

6See the chapter called, “Meaning of Faith—pistis.”

7Examples are: Exodus 25:16, Numbers 7:89, and Joshua 4:16.

8Johnson, Sacral Kingship, 23-24.

9Tanakh, Numbers 12:5-8.

10“Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time” (Mosiah 13:3).

11The story is as LeGrand Baker remembers Jean told it to him. Jean died several years ago so we cannot ask him to check the details.

12Many of these scriptures also emphasize free agency: D&C 88:28-33, 93:29-38; 2 Nephi 2:11-30, 9:14-16, 26:10; Alma 13:3, 40:24-26, Alma 42:7; Moses 4:3-4; Moroni 7:15-17; Ether 12:27-35; Moroni 10:32-33; 2 Ne. 10:23-24 Abraham 3:22-28. At the funeral of Jedediah M. Grant, Heber C. Kimball reported: “He said that after he came back [from the spirit world] he could look upon his family and see the spirit that was in them, and the darkness that was in them; and that he conversed with them about the Gospel, and what they should do, and they replied, ‘Well, brother Grant, perhaps it is so, and perhaps it is not,’ and said that was the state of this people, to a great extent, for many are full of darkness and will not believe me.” (Journal of Discourses 4:136).

Psalm 23 — LeGrand Baker — A Temple Text

Twenty-Third Psalm

The 23^rd Psalm is very short, but remarkably complete:

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Its surface text is almost universally acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful poems ever written. Its sub-text is awesome. The sub-text is not hidden, it is only not apparent to those who do not know the language. It is a short play, divided into three acts: 1) the pre-mortal existence; 2) “the valley of the shadow of death;” and 3) “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Act One

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Almost all of the accounts we have of fore-ordinations contain the principles and promises expressed in these words. The Lord is in charge. It is he who gives instructions and foreordains one to a specific task; he and his Father make enabling covenants regarding the fulfillment of those tasks; and it is by his sustaining power that one is enabled to perform one’s task and keep one’s covenants – “The Lord is my shepherd” – the one whom I shall follow.

The second part, “I shall not want,” is the same assurance as Paul’s, which was also set in the context of the covenants of the pre-mortal world: “ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” (Ephesians 1)

Jeremiah is a good example.

Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations. (Jeremiah 1:9-10)

Not everyone is set over the nations, but everyone is given an equivalent guarantee of success – and perhaps an equivalent guarantee of “easy” success. King Zedekiah didn’t like Jeremiah and caused him to be lowered into a pit of mire up to his neck. He was left to stand there until he was exhausted, when it was expected he would simply sink into the morass and drown in the mud. (Jeremiah ch. 38:5-6) Someone pulled him out and he didn’t die then, but it is reported he was later taken to Egypt and murdered there. The point is, he wasn’t drowned in the mud, but lived to fulfill his mission. The Lord hadn’t promised his assignment would be a piece of cake, only that he could not be prevented from doing it.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

There are two likely meanings here which easily merge into one. The first meaning is explained by Nephi as a declaration of the Saviour’s ultimate kingship.

v. 25 And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.

v. 26 And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth. (1 Ne. 22:21-31)

The second probable meaning is deduced from what follows:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

The waters of life are moving, living, tranquil waters.¹ They give life as rain, rivulets, and great rivers, but they are never stagnant and never salty. Nephi wrote that the waters of life and the fruit of the tree of life represent the love of God. If that was so in Nephi’s day, it would have been so in Adam and David’s as well. The symbolism of the tree and waters of life are fundamental to the Feast of Tabernacles drama. In the 23^rd Psalm we do not have a tree that sustains life because the symbolism is of sheep, rather than of people. So in conjunction with the waters of life we have “green pastures” instead.²

He restoreth my soul.

In section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, when the Lord was explaining resurrection and exaltation, he used the word “soul,” and in that context defined it as the body and spirit of man. (D&C 88:15) But elsewhere – almost everywhere else – in the scriptures the “soul” is the spirit which animates one’s physical body and gives it life.³ It seems that both ideas are the same, and that a “soul” is an intelligence clothed with a body. Whether that body is a spirit, or both spirit and physical, the definition still holds.

The “soul” in the 23rd Psalm is “restored.” But this happens before it falls from the world of light into the world of darkness in the valley of the shadow of death. So this “He restoreth my soul” happened in the pre-mortal spirit world. In that life we could sin, as is evinced by the seriousness with which a third of the hosts of heaven sinned. Then as now, the consequence of sin was uncleanliness, and no unclean thing can be in the presence of God.

Our options before we were born into this world seem to have been about as complex as our options are now. The eternal importance of free agency and of the value of experience suggests that if one had the option of choosing some wrong thing at every point along the way, as one has in this life – Well, I, for one, probably made some really stupid choices there, just as I have here. But notwithstanding whatever I did wrong back then, I was born into this mortal world as an innocent baby, pure and clean. I brought no baggage and no sin from my pre-mortal life. I was an innocent baby because the atonement made me innocent. In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord explains how that was done.

Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, man became again, in their infant state, innocent before God. (D&C 93: 38)

So we were “innocent in the beginning” – that would be when we were born to our heavenly parents as spirits. And we become innocent again, a second time when we are born to our earthly parents. In order for us to become innocent again, something had to happen to make us un-innocent after “the beginning.” It’s easy to know what. Free agency is meaningless unless there are real choices. Experience in knowing the difference between correct and incorrect choices is necessary for growth, even though making wrong choices subjects one to the laws of justice. That is what repentance is for, and notwithstanding the wrong choices we made in the pre-mortal spirit world, the atonement made it possible for us to be born into this world as innocent little babies. I don’t know if that was what King David had in mind when he wrote, “He restoreth my soul,” but that’s what I think when I read it.

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

“Paths of righteousness” are the “way,” the system of steps, ordinances and covenants, through which one must pass in order to return to God. As mentioned above, the word “righteousness” (zedek) identifies the path as the ancient priesthood and temple ordinances and covenants. We have already discussed that, but may I quickly review.

“Righteousness” is a key word which has popped up again and again in our discussion. In English, its root means to be “right,” to be at “right angle” to something, to be square with, plumb with, literally to bring something to the square. The Hebrew word which is translated “righteousness” means the same thing, being altogether just, justified, true, square, but it also has singular and very important priesthood and temple connotations. It is the same word as the name Zadok, the High Priest in the days of David and Solomon. Throughout the history of Solomon’s temple, tradition says, only Zadok and his descendants could hold the office of High Priest, enter the Holy of Holies and officiate in the sacred temple ordinances. So as an adjective, zedek has to do with that kind of priesthood propriety. So “righteousness” does not mean just doing nice things, it means doing appropriate temple things with legitimate priesthood authority, which is the authority of Zadok, Melchizedek, and other High Priests. As one examines the use of the word “righteousness,” in the Doctrine and Covenants, it is apparent that the Lord used the word there the same way it is used in the other scriptures, with strong connotations of priesthood propriety. For example the phrase, “robes of righteousness” has a specific and consistent meaning throughout the scriptures. In the phrase “works of righteousness” are the quintessence of obedience. Such works were obedience to correct laws, principles, covenants, ordinances, and rules of clothing. For one to do “works of righteousness,” he must do precisely the right thing, in precisely the right way, for precisely the right reason, dressed in precisely the right clothing, in the temple and with precisely the right priesthood authority. Its meaning is fully brought into play in the Beatitudes in the phrase, “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness….” Alma explains this principle, not only in terms of being unclean, but also in terms of eating the wrong food and drinking the wrong water, in contrast to his frequent mention of the fruit of the tree of life and the waters of life.

But behold, an awful death cometh upon the wicked; for they die as to things pertaining to things of righteousness [Note: Alma does not say, “die as to righteousness,” he says, “die as to things pertaining to things of righteousness.”]; for they are unclean, and no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God; but they are cast out, and consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup (Alma 40:26).

The “paths of righteousness” in the 23rd Psalm are the way by which one may come unto Christ, but the context is still in act one, which is the pre-mortal existence. Speaking of that, President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote that there were “ordinances” in our pre-mortal life.

During the ages in which we dwelt in the pre-mortal state we not only developed our various characteristics and showed our worthiness and ability, or the lack of it, but we were also where such progress could be observed. It is reasonable to believe that there was a Church organization there. The heavenly beings were living in a perfectly arranged society. Every person knew his place. Priesthood, without any question, had been conferred and the leaders were chosen to officiate. Ordinances pertaining to that pre-existence were required, and the love of God prevailed.⁴

In support of the idea that there was a church organization with enabling ordinances in the pre-mortal spirit world, President Smith quoted Ephesians 1:3-4.⁵ He might also have used I Nephi 20, Isaiah 61:1, D&C 93:21-23, Alma 12-13, Isaiah 6, and lots of others. So there was, in the pleasantness of the world of “green pastures” and “still waters,” a clearly defined “way” which King David calls “the paths of righteousness.”

for his name’s sake.

As mentioned above, “name” is another key word. New covenants are almost always associated with new names. Abram received the “Abrahamic covenant” and his name was changed to Abraham. Jacob made a covenant and the Lord changed his name to Israel. In First Nephi 20, when the people who were called Jacob made a covenant with the Lord, their name was also changed to Israel. In many instances in the scriptures the word “name” can be replaced by “covenant” without changing the meaning of the statement.

The paalm’s “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake,” is about as straightforward as it can be. “Paths” equal ordinances, “righteousness” is zedek, and name is “covenant.” “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” might read, “He leads me through the ordinances of the priesthood for the sake of the covenants we have made together.”

Act 2

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

There is not a voice change here, but there is a change in the way the king speaks about God. Throughout act one the king is rehearsing the story of his own past, and God is spoken of as “He.” But when one enters the world of “the valley of the shadow of death,” the psalm becomes a prayer, and God is addressed as “thou.” That prayer is an expression of hope and confidence that God will fulfill his part of the covenant so the king may fulfill his: One’s assignment may be difficult, but in the fulfillment of that assignment, one is never alone.

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

As observed above, a rod is a symbol of kingship.⁶ It is the same as the royal scepter which is the branch of the Tree of Life. An ancient tradition says that the rod of Moses was a branch of the tree of life – an interesting idea, since he received its power at the time he saw the burning bush.

Aaron’s staff was a symbol of priesthood authority. When Aaron’s authority was challenged, he put his staff in the ground and the next morning it had blossomed. Thereafter that staff was kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.

“Comfort” is the same word used in Isaiah 61:1-3 to introduce the coronation sequence: to wash, anoint, clothe, crown, and give a new name. That coronation may be a this-world re-play of the earlier “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. “

So what this verse apparently says is, “Even though I am in the darkness of this world, I have no reason to fear, for I am enthroned by the symbols of kingship (rod) and of priesthood (staff).”

Thou preparest a table before me.

The table prepared is the temple feast. Its symbolism is much older than the Law of Moses, and it represents something far more important than a temporal meal. A possible example is when Melchizedek met Abraham returning from rescuing Lot. He received tithes from Abraham and brought bread and wine to serve to him. Melchizedek was High Priest of Salem. Not only did he build a temple there, but he also gave the city a new name, Jerusalem, city of peace.⁷

Perhaps the most remarkable example of this feast was with Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink (Exodus 24:1-18).

The meal in the 23^rd Psalm might also refer to the meat that was taken from the seething pot at the temple in Jerusalem. There the people who offered the sacrifice sat with the priests and ate the meat of the sacrifice. If these are the meals David refers to by the words, “Thou preparest a table before me,” then he is probably talking about symbolically eating in the presence of the Lord – a royal banquet, where Jehovah confirms the rule of the king.⁸

In Third Nephi, after the Saviour came to the temple and gave the lecture (Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount), the people brought bread and wine and it was multiplied so that it filled all those present (3 Nephi 18:1-12). Then on the following day, Christ himself provided the bread and wine that satisfied an even greater multitude. (3 Nephi 20:5-9) That is the same sequence as the 21^st and 22^nd days of the New Year festival, and probably the same ceremonial feasts.

Thou anointest my head with oil.

That is a clear reference to the kingship coronation rites.

My cup runneth over.

To have one’s cup run over is to have so many blessings that there is not room enough to receive them. That blessing is a logical – even necessary – conclusion to the anointing and the sacred meal.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life

These are the words which constitute the conclusion of Act 2. In English, goodness has to do with how one acts, and mercy has to do with how one judges. Dan Belnap tells me, that the word for mercy in Hebrew is hesed, but its meaning is debated. He said that some scholars believe it is the Hebrew equivalent for the New Testament concept of charity – “Eternal lovingkindness.” In his video, Faith of an Observer, Hugh Nibley says the law of the gospel is to repent and to forgive⁹ – it’s that idea.

Barre and Kselman translate the line as: “Henceforth may only (your) covenant blessings pursue me all the days of my life.”¹⁰ However, Freedman believed that “goodness and mercy” were proper actually name-titles, and probably represented guardian angels who were members of the Council and who had covenanted to come to the earth to assist the king during his lifetime. The quote reads:

The association of the divine virtues…here is distinctive and exceptional. . . . In the background is the mythological picture of the principal deity accompanied by lesser divine beings who . . . will leave their posts in the heavenly court, and accompany the Psalmist throughout his life (1980: 297-98). ¹¹

all the days of my life

If “goodness and mercy” are the blessing the king receives, then the words “all the days of my life” are a promise that God will bless one that he may have sufficient opportunity and resources to fulfill the covenants he made at the Council. If “goodness and mercy” are the characteristics of the king, that he may bless others, then the promise is essentially the same. But there is also another connotation which cannot be ignored: “all the days of my life” sounds very much like “endure to the end”– and that also fits, no matter which way one interprets “goodness and mercy.”

Act 3

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

As is frequently the case in the scriptures, act three and the end of act two are represented by the same words. “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” is the perfect ending for act two. But “forever” lasts longer than this earth life, so that same sentence also stands for all we need wonder about act three.
—————————–

FOOTNOTES

1 James Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. #4496: peaceful, quiet, rest.

2 Please note my earlier comment that in Israelite tradition the most frequent symbol of the tree of life is the Olive tree. However grape vines, palm trees, and an ear of wheat were also used as symbols of the tree of life. One finds this in: Ad de Vries in Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery (London, North-Holland, 1974), 474.

3 For examples see: Alma 29:16, 36:15, 40:11, 41:2; Matthew 10:28; 2 Nephi 1:22; D&C 59:19).

4 Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection (Genealogical Society of Utah,1949), p.50-1.

5 Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection (Genealogical Society of Utah,1949), p.50-1; and also his Doctrines of Salvation, Salt Lake City, 1954, Vol. 1, p. 66

6 James Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. #7626: “a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (fig) a clan: – correction, dart, rod, sceptre, staff, tribe.”

7 Josephus, the Essential Writings, translated by Paul L. Maier, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1988, p. 367.

8 In an extended discussion of the question, Barre and Keslman write that “… the banquet scene is properly a royal banquet, where the (divine) overLord reconfirms the rule of his vassal-king….” Michael L. Barre & John S. Kselman, “New exodus covenant in Psalm 23,” in Carol L. Meyers and M. O’Connor, ed., The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth, Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday (Published for the American Schools of Oriental Research by Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana 1983) , p. 104-106.

9 Nibley doesn’t say where he came up with that idea, but it seems to say it in the first few verses of the Sermon on the Mount. See 3 Nephi 12:21-24. The rest of the sermon goes through the remainder of the sequence, so it is reasonable to suppose that is correct.

10 Michael L. Barre & John S. Kselman, “New exodus covenant in Psalm 23,” in Carol L. Meyers and M. O’Connor, ed., The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth, Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday (Published for the American Schools of Oriental Research by Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana 1983) , p. 89-100.

11 Michael L. Barre & John S. Kselman, “New exodus covenant in Psalm 23,” in Carol L. Meyers and M. O’Connor, ed., The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth, Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday (Published for the American Schools of Oriental Research by Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana 1983) , p. 102. (The parts left out of the quote are explanations of Hebrew words.)

They give as their source: David N. Freedman, “The Twenty-Third Psalm.” Pp. 275-302 in Pottery, Poetry, and Prophecy.’ Studies in Early Hebrew Poetry. 1980 [Originally, 1976, pp.139-66 in Michigan Oriental Studies in Honor of George Cameron. ed. L. L. Orlin et al. Ann Arbor, MI: Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan.), p. 297-98.

They also include a footnote (# 18, on p. 117) about guardian angels. It reads: “So also J. H. Eaton, Kingshzp and the Psalms. Studies in Biblical Theology 2/32. London: SCM, 1976: 153: “A tendency to personify the covenant-graces appears fairly clearly in a number of passages; they take the form of angelic beings commissioned by God to accompany and guard his king.” In addition to Ps 23: 6, Eaton cites Pss 21: 4; 40: 12; 42: 9; 43: 3; 54: 7; 59: 11; 61: 8; 91: 4. On Pss 40: 12 and 61: 8, see below.”

The full quote from David Noel Freedman, “Twenty – Third Psalm,” in Pottery, Poetry, and Prophecy, Studies in Early Hebrew Poetry (Winona Lake, Indiana, Eisenbrauns, 1980), p. 275 – 302, reads as follows:

In Ps. 23, the situation is reversed: the Psalmist will be accompanied by divine goodness and mercy. We may compare this passage with Ps. 43:3, where the divine attributes, “your light and your truth” will guide the poet. In the background is the mythological picture of the principal deity accompanied by lesser divine beings who serve him as retinue and bodyguard. The pre Israelite tradition has been preserved almost intact in Hab. 3:5 where Pestilence (deber) and Plague (res>p) are described as marching before and behind the Deity. Elsewhere the accompanying figures have been demythologized in the form of divine attributes, as e.g., in Ps. 96:6

Honor and majesty are before him

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

In Ps. 23, there is a further adaptation. The divine virtues will leave their posts in the heavenly court, and accompany the Psalmist throughout his life. There is a hint that something approaching divine honors is being accorded to the Psalmist. Perhaps we have here an early form of the later doctrine of guardian angels.