209. 'And miserable and poor' signifies that they are without truths and goods. By the 'miserable and poor' in the spiritual sense of the Word are understood those who are without cognitions of truth and good, for they are spiritually miserable and poor. Those are understood by them also in the following places:-
I am miserable and poor, O Lord. Remember me Ps. xl 17 [H.B. 18]; lxx 5 [H.B. 6].
Bow down thine ear, O Jehovah, and answer, for I am miserable and poor Ps. lxxxvi 1.
The wicked lay the sword bare, and bend their bow, to cast down the miserable and poor Ps. xxxvii 14.
The wicked pursued the miserable and poor [man], for the slaying of the dejected in heart Ps. cix 16.
God shall judge the miserable of the people, He shall save the sons of the poor: He shall deliver the poor [man] who cries, and the miserable Ps. lxxii 4, 12, 13.
Jehovah rescues the miserable from him who is stronger than he, and the poor from those who spoil him Ps. xxxv 10.
The wicked [man] devises crimes to destroy the miserable by lying words, even when the poor [man] speaks judgment Isa. xxxii 7.
The miserable shalt have joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel Isa. xxix 19.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Matt. v 3;
besides elsewhere, as Isa. x 2; Jer. xxii 16; Ezek. xvi 49; xviii 12; xxii 29; Amos viii 4; Ps. ix 18 [H.B. 19]; lxix 32, 33 [H.B. 33, 34]; lxxiv 21; cix 22; cxl 12 [H.B. 13]; Deut. xv 11; xxiv 14; Luke xiv 13, 21, 23. By the 'miserable and poor' are understood chiefly those who are not in cognitions of truth and good and yet desire them, since by the 'rich' are understood those who possess cognitions of truth and good (n. 206).
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