Bellarmine on Psalm 96 : Verse 6

Verse 6

The heavens declared his justice: and all people saw his glory.

Annuntiaverunt caeli justitiam ejus; et viderunt omnes populi gloriam ejus.

According to the first interpretation, “The heavens declared his justice,” because,in considering the sun, the moon, the stars, and their continual changes, men could understand that God is a most just director of the world. As it is also said in Psalm XVIII: “The heavens shew forth the glory of God,”[1] and the Apostle affirms the same thing in Romans i., as does the writer in Wisdom xiv. The words about the heavens declaring God’s justice may also be understood as referring to the Apostles and Prophets, through whose preaching all the people saw His glory, that is, they understood, or indeed were made able to understand the magnitude of the power, wisdom and goodness of God, from which follows on His glory, that is, the brilliance of His name. According to the second interpretation, these words refer to the Angel’s trumpet which will announce from heaven the Judge coming (to sit) in judgement of the whole world, and the severity of His justice towards those who refuse to accept the merciful Redeemer; and then shall all the people see the glory of the Lord, when He shall appear amidst the clouds with His Angels, in all His majesty.Of this coming, the Apostle writes in I Thessal. iv: “For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.”[2] The Lord Himself says in Matth. xxiv.: “He shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice.”[3] And in the Apocalypse, John will write: “Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him.”[4] “Therefore the heavens will declare,” that is, the Angels from heaven, “His justice:” who will render to everyone according to his works; “and then shall all people see,” everyone without exception, “His glory,” when “every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.”[5]

[1] The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands. Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei, et opera manuum ejus annuntiat firmamentum. [Ps. XVIII. 2]

[2] For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ, shall rise first. Quoniam ipse Dominus in jussu, et in voce archangeli, et in tuba Dei descendet de caelo : et mortui, qui in Christo sunt, resurgent primi. [I Thessal. iv. 15]

[3] And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. Et mittet angelos suos cum tuba, et voce magna : et congregabunt electos ejus a quatuor ventis, a summis caelorum usque ad terminos eorum. [Matth. xxiv. 31]

[4] Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him. Ecce venit cum nubibus, et videbit eum omnis oculus, et qui eum pupugerunt. [Apoc. i. 7]

[5] That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur caelestium, terrestrium et infernorum, [Philip. ii. 10]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.