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)

96. The correspondence of the two kingdoms of heaven with the heart and lungs is the general correspondence of heaven with man. There is a less general correspondence with each one of his members, organs and viscera, the nature of which will also be noted. In the Grand Man, which is heaven, those in the head excel others in every good, for they are in love, peace, innocence, wisdom, intelligence and the consequent joy and happiness. These inflow into the head and into those things belonging to the head with a man, and correspond to them. In the Grand Man, which is heaven, those who are in the breast are in the good of charity and faith, and they, in like manner, inflow into the breast of man and correspond to it. Those, however, who in the Grand Man, or heaven, are in the loins and the organs devoted to generation are in conjugial love. Those in the feet are in the lowest good of heaven which is called spiritual natural good. Those in the arms and hands are in the power of truth from good. Those in the eyes are in understanding, those in the ears are in attention and obedience, those in the nostrils are in perception, those in the mouth and tongue are in the ability to converse from understanding and perception. Those in the kidneys are in truth, searching, separating and correcting. Those in the liver, pancreas and spleen are in various purifications of good and truth; and so with the rest. Those inflow into the like things of man and correspond to them. The influx of heaven is into the functions and uses of the bodily members; and since the uses are from the spiritual world they take on a form by means of such things as are in the natural world, and thus present themselves in effect. From this is correspondence.