Bellarmine on Psalm 96 : Verse 5

Verse 5

The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.

Montes sicut cera fluxerunt a facie Domini; a facie Domini omnis terra.

According to both interpretations, the Prophet explains here God’s power through its effect: and he persists with the image of fire; for just as wax cannot survive when next to fire without immediately melting and disappearing:  so the mountains, however massive and durable they might be, indeed all the earth, which is the most solid of all the elements, cannot sustain the force of divine power, if God should suddenly wish to consume them and reduce them to nothing. Others explain that the mountains melt like wax in appearance only, for they seem to become fluid and be consumed, although in truth they are not consumed. Others would understand mountains to signify men who are proud, who on judgement day melt through fear, like wax in the presence of fire. The words omnis terra / all the earth, are represented in Greek by πάσης τῆς γῆς, of all the earth; this is how St. Augustine reads it, and it fits in with the Hebrew reading, which St. Jerome renders thus, at the presence of the Lord of all the earth. It may be that our reading was changed by an error of the scribes, which could easily happen: but either reading is true and this variation is not of importance.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.