Psalm 65:8

O bless our God, ye Gentiles: and make the voice of his praise to be heard. (Psalm 65:8 DR)

In some versions of the Old Latin the previous passage concludes with a Diapsalma—semper in St. Jerome’s Hebrew translation. This Diapsalma—which was more or less equivalent to the Hebrew Selah—was understood in various respects by the ancient fathers of the Church, often as a pause indicating a change in understanding.

St. Gregory of Nyssa accepts this understanding and expands upon it:

We accept the meaning of diapsalma occurring in the following psalms provided that it is another illumination of the Holy Spirit in David’s prophecy and an occasion of grace with respect to knowledge for the benefit of persons amenable to prophecy. Diapsalma contains [David’s] own voice and gives an occasion for us to understand the content of his thoughts through God’s enlightenment. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Chapter 10.)

He goes on to explain that in these pauses of silence in the diapsalma were times when David:

…[Y]ielded his attentive soul to listen to the Spirit, silenced his physical ear to be filled with [divine] thoughts and again explained his experience by combining his words with singing. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Chapter 10.)

In this manner the diapsalma is a time of inspiration, the pause and silence a moment to be open to the wisdom of the Holy Ghost as He speaks through the Psalms. And just as David yielded himself to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, so these moments afford the opportunity to be attentive and drink deeply of the wisdom found in the Psalms.

This change in understanding brought about by the diapsalma is now brought to bear. For after having recounted the terrible works of God that God performed on behalf of his people—which began with His deliverance of them from captivity in Egypt and culminated in them taking possession of the Promised Land—the Psalmist now expands his vision to the entire world. For these works were not done in secret or in some esoteric sense; rather, they were real events that God performed for His people in the sight of all nations. They were done out in the open, as it were, and all people could see and know what God had done for His people.

This renown of what God had done extended to even the pagan nations surrounding the people of Israel in the Promised Land, and even centuries later these terrible works were still known:

And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord was come into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth rang again. And the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, and they said: What is this noise of a great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, saying: God is come into the camp. And sighing, they said: Woe to us: for there was no such great joy yesterday and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high gods? these are the gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert. (1 Samuel 4:5-8 DR)

In this passage the Philistines are not in doubt about what God had done for His people, and while they had a mistaken theological apprehension of God’s relation to His people, they nevertheless understood the works He had done and thus were made fearful when they heard the voice of His praise coming from the camp of the Israelites.

Unfortunately for Israel, they also had a mistaken notion of their relationship to God, and they seemed to have understood the ark of the covenant coming into their camp as almost a totem or talisman, as if their proximity to the ark required God to act on their behalf. The Ark was not a totem, but rather a witness of the covenant between God and His people, as well as the place whereon He manifested His presence in the Tabernacle. For them to reduce it to a totem to carry into battle meant that they had more or less taken on the mentality of the surrounding nations, and for this reason—and for the wickedness of the priests—the Ark was captured by the Philistines shortly thereafter.

It was then once again by God’s own initiative and power that it was returned after wasting the land of the Philistines for seven months:

And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? tell us how we are to send it back to its place? And they said: If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty, but render unto him what you owe for sin, and then you shall be healed: and you shall know why his hand departeth not from you. (1 Samuel 6:2-3 DR)

In this episode we see the Psalmist’s words come to fruition, that the Gentiles will bless God and make the voice of His praise to be heard. For even though they had very mistaken ideas about God and all the rest, they nevertheless recognized God’s hand at work. Even the astrologers and diviners seemed to have a moment of diapsalma where they could enter into wisdom and give glory to God:

And you shall make the likeness of your emerods, and the likeness of the mice that have destroyed the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel: to see if he will take off his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land. Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? did not he, after he was struck, then let them go, and they departed? (1 Samuel 6:5-6 DR)

The Psalmist’s words here also carry a prophetic quality to them, for the Gentiles blessing and giving glory to God is prophetic of the Gospel coming to the Gentiles so that the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles would be torn down in the unity of Christ’s mystical Body:

For which cause be mindful that you, being heretofore Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands; That you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the conversation of Israel, and strangers to the testament, having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world. But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace; And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, killing the enmities in himself. And coming, he preached peace to you that were afar off, and peace to them that were nigh. For by him we have access both in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:11-18 DR)

In the previous passage the Psalmist exhorted humility, that those who provoke the Lord be not exalted in themselves. This applies to the wall of separation that St. Paul speaks of, for—under the Old Covenant—the Gentiles were strangers to the testament, without hope and without God. In the earliest controversies of the early Church was the sticking point of whether the Gentles needed to be circumcised to be part of the Church, which was a proxy for the duty to keep the entire Old Covenant. The Church as led by the Holy Ghost determined that this was not necessary, for, as St. Paul says here, the law of commandments are made void; that is, the particulars of the Old Covenant like circumcision have been superseded in Christ and peace has been made between Jew and Gentile.

Because of this incorporation into the Body of Christ through the blood of Christ, the difference and enmities between Jew and Gentile in the flesh was done away with in the flesh of Christ. Now the Gentiles can truly bless our God, and make the voice of His praise to be heard, for the gift of grace that He freely gives is given to all who are in Him:

Bless our God, you nations. Behold, there have been driven back they that are bitter, reckoning has been made with them: some have been converted, some have continued proud. Let not them terrify you that grudge the Gentiles Gospel Grace: now has come the Seed of Abraham, in whom are blessed all nations. Bless ye Him in whom you are blessed, Bless our God, you nations: and hear ye the voice of His praise. Praise not yourselves, but praise Him. What is the voice of His praise? That by His Grace we are whatever of good we are. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 65, 15.)

And since anything good in us is because of grace, we have no ability to be exalted in ourselves, for without Christ we are nothing:

Where is then thy boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. For it is one God, that justifieth circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we, then, destroy the law through faith? God forbid: but we establish the law. (Romans 3:27-31 DR)

The law of works was circumcision and other such things by which the people of God were set apart from the surrounding world. But as St. Paul and St. James both describe, such works had not the ability to justify. But Christ fulfills and consummates the Old Covenant within the New in His own Body, as the law which was written on tablets of stone is now written on the heart by means of the charity of God being poured into the soul by the Holy Ghost. The renovation of the soul goes deeper than a physical sign like circumcision, and—as only God can do—this very sign is fulfilled and brought to completion in that the physical sign of Baptism—which corresponds to circumcision—becomes the means of that interior renovation through the grace it effects:

And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power: In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made by hand, in despoiling of the body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him up from the dead. (Colossians 2:10-12 DR)

It is thus because of the riches of God’s grace poured out in Christ that all the nations of the earth—even those that were far off but now brought near in Christ—can bless our God and make the voice of His praise to be heard.

There is an interesting construction to this phrase, in that the Gentiles are to make the voice of His praise to be heard. The emphasis is on the mode of hearing; that is, the sound is to be such that it will be heard, which gives the sense of something loud and unmistakable. In a sense the noise or sound of this praise is to be such that it cannot be avoided or cannot help but be heard, which of course corresponds to the commission of our Lord to His apostles to preach in all the world. The Psalmist elsewhere compares this to the unmistakable witness that the heavens give forth by virtue of their being:

There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world. (Psalm 18:4-5 DR)

St. Paul employs this very passage and applies it to the proclamation of the Gospel:

Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world. (Romans 10:17-18 DR)

In this manner the Psalmist prophetically looks forward to the establishment of the Church, for in her as the mystical Body of Christ all the nations are brought unto the laver of salvation and by His grace enabled to make the voice of His praise to be heard.

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I found this fun vintage image of a bugler and isolated it in Photoshop. In After Effects I drew a simple flare-ing shape coming from the bugle and applied Wave Warp to it, and then Mirror to create a mirror image. I then brought in an abstract texture and used the warp shape as a Matte for that that.

I used Stretch and Turbulent Displace on the matted texture to give it the appearance of movement, and then added in some overlay textures, color correction and camera shake.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: