Bellarmine on Psalm XLV: Verses 6 & 7

 Verse 6

Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down: he uttered his voice, the earth trembled.

Conturbatae sunt gentes, et inclinata sunt regna : dedit vocem suam, mota est terra.

He foretells in plain words what he had predicted previously in a figurative way, namely the destruction of the Church’s enemies, leading to universal and perpetual peace. What he had previously said of the earth and mountains he now says openly about peoples and kingdoms. “Nations were troubled,” he says, because their demise was approaching; “and kingdoms were bowed down,” that is, because cast down from their heights and prostrate on the ground. “He spoke with His voice,” that is, God thundered from heaven, “and the earth trembled,” that is, it shook greatly, and the earth was dissolved and made desolate: for the Hebrew word mug, means to melt and be dissolved. What is here said of the destruction of earthly kingdoms was foretold more clearly by Daniel in chapter ii. of his book: “ the kingdom of Christ shall consume all these kingdoms;”[1] and it was explained by the Apostle in I Cor. xv. In these terms: “Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue.”[2]

Verse 7

The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.

Dominus virtutum nobiscum; susceptor noster Deus Jacob.

In all these ruins of the nations and of kingdoms, God’s people will not be afraid because they will be able to say: “The Lord of armies is with us, our protector.,” that is, He who protects us to keep us safe is the God of Jacob. Now he says the Lord of armies because all the angels, who are most numerous and powerful, obey His orders, as it says in Psalm cii.: “You that are mighty in strength, and execute his word.” [3] Not only are the angels His soldiers, but every single one of the things He created: for “Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds which fulfill his word,” as it says in Ps. Cxlviii,[4] and as it says in Psalm cxviii: “for all things serve thee.”[5] And so two reasons are adduced in this verse as to why God’s people should fear nothing: firstly, because almighty God, for whom all things serve as soldiers, is this people’s helper. Secondly, because this same Lord is not only able to help His people but He wants to do so, because He wanted to be called the God of Jacob, that is, God of this people, that holy patriarch Jacob, close friend of God, from whose descendants the Lord deigned to take flesh.

[1] But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever. In diebus autem regnorum illorum suscitabit Deus caeli regnum, quod in aeternum non dissipabitur, et regnum ejus alteri populo non tradetur : comminuet autem, et consumet universa regna haec, et ipsum stabit in aeternum. [Dan. ii. 44]

[2] Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue. Deinde finis : cum tradiderit regnum Deo et Patri, cum evacuaverit omnem principatum, et potestatem, et virtutem. [I Cor. xv. 24]

[3] Bless the Lord, all ye his angels: you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders. Benedicite Domino, omnes angeli ejus, potentes virtute, facientes verbum illius, ad audiendam vocem sermonum ejus. [Ps. Cii. 20]

[4] Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds which fulfill his word: ignis, grando, nix, glacies, spiritus procellarum, quae faciunt verbum ejus; [Ps. Cxlviii. 8]

[5] By thy ordinance the day goeth on: for all things serve thee. Ordinatione tua perseverat dies, quoniam omnia serviunt tibi. [Ps. Cxviii. 91]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.