Bellarmine on Psalm 96 : Verse 3

Verse 3

A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about.

Ignis ante ipsum praecedet, et inflammabit in circuitu inimicos ejus.

According to the first meaning, here are signified the admirable power, efficacy and speed with which God  punishes the wicked when He wishes to do so in this world. “A fire shall go before him,” that is, whenever he wishes to judge and punish the wicked, he will send forth a fire from His throne, that is, a most speedy and efficacious power  which of a sudden “will burn” and consume “round about,” everywhere, so that no trace is left, “all His enemies.” By fire can also be understood (His) ministering Angels; for, as it says in Psalm CIII: “Who makest thy angels spirits: and thy ministers a burning fire.”[1] Of this fire, it is said in Ps. XVII: “A fire flamed from his face;”[2] and it says in Daniel vii: “A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him.”[3] According to a second interpretation, it refers to that fire which will precede the Judgement, and will consume everything on earth, men, homes, gardens, vineyards, animals and so on: of which the apostle Peter writes in the last chapter of his second Epistle: “As in the time of Noe the world was flooded with waters and perished, so at the coming of Christ at the (day of) Judgement, the earth and all the things in it will be burned,” and consumed.”[4] But the Psalm says only the enemies of God will be burned by that fire, because, it says, that fire will harm only those who have indeed their treasure and their heart in this world. It will bear upon them most grievously, being destroyed by that fire , along with all the earthly things they loved: but it will not hurt the just, who have already spurned the goods of this world, and who will see themselves taken up to better things after their death.

[1] Who makest thy angels spirits: and thy ministers a burning fire. qui facis angelos tuos spiritus, et ministros tuos ignem urentem. [Ps. CIII. 4]

[2] There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it. Ascendit fumus in ira ejus, et ignis a facie ejus exarsit; carbones succensi sunt ab eo. [Ps. XVII. 9]

[3] A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened. Fluvius igneus rapidusque egrediebatur a facie ejus. Millia millium ministrabant ei, et decies millies centena millia assistebant ei : judicium sedit, et libri aperti sunt. [Dan. vii. 10]

[4] For this they are wilfully ignorant of, that the heavens were before, and the earth out of water, and through water, consisting by the word of God. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.  But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of the ungodly men. Latet enim eos hoc volentes, quod caeli erant prius, et terra de aqua, et per aquam consistens Dei verbo : per quae, ille tunc mundus aqua inundatus, periit. Caeli autem, qui nunc sunt, et terra eodem verbo repositi sunt, igni reservati in diem judicii, et perditionis impiorum hominum. [II Pet. 5-7]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.