Psalm 67:2
putting the devils to flight
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face. (Psalm 67:2 DR)
As St. Bellarmine relates, the words of this verse
…were the words used by Moses on the raising of the ark when the people were about to proceed on their journey, containing a prayer to God, that as the ark was raised and was carried before the people, he too may deign to rise up and defend and protect his people on their journey. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 67, 1.)
The Psalmist looks back over this history of his people and sees the myriad ways in which God has intervened on their behalf, His presence signified in the ark of the Covenant. The ark went before the people, leading them in their journey and ultimately in their conquest of the Promised Land. For God to arise thus entails a subsequent action on the part of His people.
The Psalmist, however, both looks back and looks forward towards the end spoken of in the opening verse, that end being Christ Himself and His glorious resurrection:
David, then, in imitation of Moses, and having a prophetic knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, through which his human nature was to be raised, and to make him the future leader of all the elect to the land of promise, exclaims, “Let God arise.” Let Christ, who is God, arise from the dead, and precede his people to the heavenly Jerusalem. (ibid.)
The promise of resurrection is thus not limited to the historical event of Christ rising from the dead, but is the firstfruits (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20) of the resurrection of the elect, those who will follow Christ to eternal life. St. Paul continues that train of thought and seems to have this Psalm somewhere in the background as he continues:
And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But every one in his own order: the firstfruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming. Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue. For he must reign, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet. And the enemy death shall be destroyed last: For he hath put all things under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15:22-26 DR)
The typology of the people of Israel arising with the ark to enter and conquer the Promised Land is thus brought to consummation in Christ who rises from the dead and conquers death and sin, opening the gates of Heaven (the fullness of the promised land) and leading His people the Church there.
The enemies to be scattered are manifold in their identity, with St. Augustine and others seeing it as historically referring to those who conspired to put our Lord to death and thus were literally scattered throughout the world, but the ultimate meaning is closer to St. Paul’s description of Christ’s overcoming of sin and death through His resurrection, breaking the power of the demons and putting them to flight. St. Athanasius (with the Psalms, and perhaps with this verse in mind) instructs Marcellinus:
Let each one, therefore, who recites the Psalms have a sure hope that through them God will speedily give ear to those who are in need. For if a man be in trouble when he says them, great comfort will he find in them; if he be tempted or persecuted, he will find himself abler to stand the test and will experience the protection of the Lord, Who always defends those who say these words. By them too a man will overthrow the devil and put the fiends to flight. (St. Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus, concerning the Psalms)
This very great power in the words of God, but especially of the Psalms, is a great comfort to God’s people, and a bulwark against temptation and a hope of triumph in the end:
Let his enemies, the demons now conquered and routed, fly before the face of God, now in triumph, and proving by his resurrection that he is the real true God. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 67, 1.)
For this animation I kept it simple in design. I created a bunch of small boxes and animated them so that as the large box drops they scatter away as if from a shock wave. They come back in as the box re-ascends, mostly so I could get the loop.
Enjoy.
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face.
(Psalm 67:2 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: