Psalm 67:9
make it rain
The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel. (Psalm 67:9 DR)
The Psalmist continues to recall God’s action in the history of his people, following the thought begun in the previous verse. The pillar of cloud and fire led God’s people in the desert, and this leading and direction was accompanied by equally extraordinary signs.
The first is the shaking of the earth; that is, it’s “being moved” at God’s presence, recalling the descent of the presence of the Lord on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exodus 19). This descent was preceded by a three day period of consecration of the people in which they washed their clothes and abstained from sexual relations. On the morning of the third day God’s presence descended and the mountain trembled. The Psalmist doesn’t mention this, but in the narrative of Exodus there are repeated warnings that the people not approach the mount beyond certain limits, lest they die.
The Psalmist then speaks of the heavens dropping, which seems to have a double meaning. In the narrative it seems to refer to the thick cloud and smoke of thunder and lightning which enveloped the mountain. However, there is a sense in which it also refers to the manna by which the people were fed, which will be more apparent as this thought is expanded in the next verse. St. Bellarmine explains:
It was moved when it began to tremble at the sight of God descending on mount Sinai, as we read in Exodus 19, where it is said, “And all the mount was terrible,” the Hebrew for which means trembling, or leaping. He is God of Sinai, by reason of his having appeared thereon. “The heavens dropped,” when manna fell from them; “at the presence of the God of Israel,” to show it was for the use of the people that the heavens did so drop. (St. Robbert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 67, 7-8.)
St. Augustine understands the moving of the earth in an allegorical sense in that the earth in this instance refers to men, and thus the movement of these men is the stirring up of them to faith. It will be remembered that after their liberation they started complaining about a lack of food and were prepared to rebel against Moses, but the giving of the manna was a reason for their subsequent desire to be consecrated to the Lord and receive His law. The giving of the manna precedes this episode on the mountain, thus St. Augustine sees the giving of the manna as the means of stirring up their faith, thus anticipating the Psalmist’s words:
“When,” then, “You went by in the desert,” when You were preached in the nations; “the earth was moved,” to the faith earthly men were stirred up. But whence was it moved? “For the heavens dropped from the face of God.” Perchance here some one calls to mind that time, when in the desert God was going over before His people, before the sons of Israel, by day in the pillar of cloud, by night in the brightness of fire; [Exodus 13:21] and determines that thus it is that “the heavens dropped from the face of God,” for manna He rained upon His people… (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 67, 8.)
Thus we should take the good things that God rains down on us as a means of stirring ourselves to faith, not longing for the captivity from which we came but prepared in heart and mind to receive His Word and to consecrate ourselves to Him.
This animation was pretty simple. I found a great miniature of the giving of manna and cut out all the figures and background elements and clone-stamped out all the manna. I then cut out a few pieces of manna for use as sprites in After Effects. I placed them in a precomp and set each one to be one frame each and then used this precomp as the sprite source for Trapcode Particlar. The rest was just setting up the particle animation the way I wanted it and adding some slight animation to the trees.
Enjoy.
The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel.
(Psalm 67:9 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: