Psalm 140:7
the seed of the church
As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell. (Psalm 140:7 DR)
The probationary nature of our existence in this world is such that we never fully arrive, as it were. That is, in this life we will never cease to face temptation or trials, for as we make progress in or overcome one kind of temptation, there are always other areas in which openings in our armor emerge.
The Psalmist offers a commentary on this reality in this somewhat obscure passage. Its sense derives in part from the previous thought, wherein the wicked whose heads were fattened are brought to shipwreck upon the rocks, and the Psalmist’s prayer against the desire of the wicked prevails over them. It was also noted that there is a prophetic import here in reference to Christ as the stumbling stone.
This thought is now expanded in that the thickness of the earth is broken up; this is an expansion of the thought of his words prevailing, and the thickness of the earth is a parallel to the fatness of the heads of the sinner. He is thus moving from the micro to the macro, pulling out to a 50,000 ft. view, as it were. The words which prevailed over the wicked is not an isolated instance, but is expansive and universal; that is, the righteous prayer against the desire of the wicked will prevail over all the earth; thus the thickness of the earth is broken up. This naturally accords with the prophetic identification of Christ as the rock and thus of His Body the Church, which spreads throughout the whole earth, breaking up the ground. St. Augustine notes this import:
What means, “the fatness of the earth is spread over the earth?” We know that everything that is refuse is the fatness of the earth. The things which are, as it were, contemptible to men, enrich the earth... “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” As it is contemptible to the world, so is it precious to the husbandman. For he knows the use thereof, and its rich juice; he knows what he desires, what he seeks, whence the fertile crop arises; but this world despises it. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 140, 10.)
St. Augustine thus takes the view that the Psalmist is describing this breaking of the wickedness of the world in the sense of plowing a field to make it ready to sow crops. The persecutions of the martyrs is what tills that soil and breaks up the fallow ground, and their blood becomes the seed of the Church:
Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed. (Tertullian, Apology, 50.)
This leads us to the second half of the verse which seems to increase the obscurity, for what are we to take from the notion that our bones are scattered by the side of hell? After all, if the prayer of the righteous has prevailed over the desires of the wicked, then why are the bones of the righteous so scattered?
Hell in this instance is in reference to the abode of the dead generically rather than to eternal condemnation, and thus the Psalmist laments that even though he has seen the destruction of the wicked upon the rock, his is nevertheless brought to the gates of death. St. Robert Bellarmine explains:
Such and so numerous are the temptations that surround us, that “our bones,” which represent our strength and courage, are so scattered, weakened, and debilitated as to be brought almost nigh to the gates of hell, to the last extremities. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 140, 7.)
It was noted in the beginning that it is proper to the probationary nature of this life that we never fully arrive; that is we, are never clear and free from temptation. Part of the spiritual struggle is to constantly war against the world, the flesh and the devil and to overcome. St. Peter likens our necessary vigilance to defending against a prowling lion (cf. 1 Peter 5:8). Predators like lions are strong in and of themselves, but will generally single out the weakest or feeblest of the herd and then work on separating them to make them easier prey. In our spiritual life the world, the flesh and the devil look for our weak areas in which to tempt us, especially after we have prevailed over another temptation and feel strong.
But we must remember that temptations will always come and we must therefore always be vigilant. Tertullian notes that the cruelty of the wicked is a temptation to the martyr, by which he means it is certainly a temptation to apostatize, but conversely when overcome is the means of victory. God thus allows trials and temptations to befall us so that we can prove ourselves in battle, as it were, to strengthen that which is weak (cf. Isaiah 35:3-4) and to grow in charity towards God. For when we resist and overcome temptation by the power of his grace and Spirit within us, we demonstrate charity towards God and a contempt for the things of this world, which enlarges our capacity for charity. Without our bones ever being scattered by the side of hell, we would never have the opportunity to grow in charity towards our Lord. It is this love which compelled the martyrs to witness to the end and brought about the triumph of the Church:
Do you not know that “God has chosen the contemptible things of the world, and those which are not, like as those which are, that the things which are may be brought to nought?” [1 Corinthians 1:27-28] From the dunghill was Peter lifted up, and Paul; when they were put to death, they were despised: now, the earth having been enriched by them, and the cross of the Church springing up, behold, all that is noble and chief in the world, even the emperor himself, comes to Rome, and whither does he hasten? To the temple of the emperor, or the memorial of the fisherman? (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 140, 10.)
This animation was fairly straightforward I suppose. I found a nice image of a lava flow from a volcano and brought it into After Effects. I created a new Solid and applied Trapcode Mir to it, which makes these cool mesh deformations. I modified the parameters to get something kind of bubbly looking and then animated the evolution of the Fractal deformation. I also applied a fun Heatwave effect to give it some more distortion.
Pretty simple but I liked how it turned out.
Enjoy.
As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.
(Psalm 140:7 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: