Psalm 120 is the first of fifteen 'Songs of Ascents' which were recited while going up the fifteen rising steps to the Temple in Jerusalem. They are very personal with strong words and themes that express love for the Lord and joy in worshipping Him.

This psalm pleads for deliverance from lying lips and a deceitful tongue. It is unclear whether the psalmist refers to others who torment him or whether this is about his own vices. Whatever it may be, the spiritual meaning concerns our own distress in discovering our human faults.

There are a number of very powerful spiritual representations in this short psalm. When in crisis, we should follow the lead of the psalmist and cry out for help to the Lord. This sounds simple, but it is actually quite profound. If we cry to anything else or look to see where fault lies, we will complicate things. The 'lying lips' and 'deceitful tongue' are examples of human duplicity which cannot be trusted. The Lord never tries to trick us; He is perfectly open and manifest.

The middle two verses bring out the critical point that evil inflicts damage on itself. What can be given to the false tongue which speaks with sharp arrows? Sharp arrows will be given, not in revenge or pay back but in consequence. The life of dispatching sharp arrows of insult and condemnation only foster the same things in the heart, mind and life of the malevolent archer. (See Apocalypse Explained 357)

The burning coals are hot to the touch and capable of inflicting pain. Fire generally corresponds to love but it can turn to hatred. The broom tree represents the cleansing, sweeping nature of truth to restore integrity. Thus, the coals of the broom tree stand for the penalty of evil burning itself out of existence. (See Arcana Caelestia 3195:2)

The third section of the psalm points out, through names, the idea of feeling far from home. Both Meshech and Kedar are elsewhere mentioned in the Bible as being places far from the land of Israel. This represents our sense of spiritual displacement. It can also stand for our very real understanding that, as followers of the Lord, we have a long path to walk. (See Apocalypse Explained 724:17)

59. The reason only edible and green plants are mentioned here as food for the natural man is this: While a person is being regenerated and becoming spiritual he is involved constantly in conflict, which is why the Lord's Church is called militant. For before regeneration started, evil desires were in control, since the whole person consisted entirely of evil desires and resulting falsities. During the process of regeneration his desires and falsities cannot be done away with instantly, since that would amount to destroying the whole person; indeed he has not acquired any other life for himself. So for a long time evil spirits are left with him to activate his desires, and so release them in countless ways. Indeed the spirits are left there to do this in order that those desires may be turned by the Lord towards something good, and in this way the person may be reformed. In the hour of conflict evil spirits are present who absolutely hate everything that is good and true, that is, every element of love and faith in the Lord - elements that alone are good and true because they contain eternal life. These evil spirits leave a person with no other food than that which is compared to edible and green plants. But the Lord gives him a food as well that is compared to the plant yielding seed and to the tree in which there is fruit. These are periods of peace and calm attended by their forms of delight and happiness. This cycle occurs repeatedly.

[2] If the Lord did not protect man moment by moment, and in every shortest instant, he would immediately perish, for there is such murderous hatred reigning in the world of spirits against all forms of love and faith in the Lord as to defy description. I can positively declare that this is so, because for several years now, although still in the [physical] body, I have also been in the next life in the company of spirits. I have been surrounded by evil spirits, even the worst of them, sometimes by thousands, who have been allowed to pour out their venom and molest me in every possible way, but who nevertheless could do no harm to the tiniest hair on my head, so well did the Lord protect me. From all these years of experience I have become thoroughly informed about the character of the world of spirits and also about the conflict which people who are being regenerated must inevitably undergo if they are to attain the happiness of eternal life. But because nobody from just a general description can be so well informed as to have a faith free from doubt, these matters in the Lord's Divine mercy will therefore be noted in greater detail later on.