Psalm 9:23

two different kinds of fire

Whilst the wicked man is proud, the poor is set on fire: they are caught in the counsels which they devise. (Psalm 9:23 DR)

When we are faced with either sufferings in the life or with a lack of perfect justice—as will inevitably be the case in this fallen world—we are brought to crossroads of decision. For while we cannot control our circumstances, we have the choice of how we will respond. Our reaction to things we cannot control often displays our inner character just as much or perhaps even more than what we proactively choose to do, for while the latter arises from a certain determination of mind predicated on an intentional ordering of things, the unexpected or sudden thrust of circumstances draws out more immediately what exists deep down inside our hearts.

In the account of Job we find two very different reactions to the same circumstance. When Job loses all his wealth and most of his family and finally his health, his wife views the situation cynically and with despair, counseling him to die so as to be done with the seeming failure of his life. Job, on the other hand, chooses to accept what he receives from the hand of God:

And his wife said to him: Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? bless God and die. And he said to her: Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women: if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? In all these things Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:9-10 DR)

There is a fascinating irony here that is resolved near the end of the story, for the text preserves the circumlocution bless God by which bless is meant curse, but the ancient scribes were loathe to use the term curse as a verb modifying the noun God (similar to how they would use Adonai in place of the tetragrammaton for God’s name). However, Job does not curse God but in the end ends up actually blessing God even int the midst of his suffering:

I know that thou canst do all things, and no thought is hid from thee. Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge. Hear, and I will speak: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me. With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee. Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes. (Job 42:2-6 DR)

As the Psalmist continues his seeming shift in theme from the Church Triumphant to the Church Militant, he perceives the manner in which the wicked seem to be exalted in the world while the poor or the righteous (in this case, the Church) are set on fire.

There are somewhat divergent interpretations of this passage which I suggest are two sides of the same coin, as it were, of the choice of how to respond to evil circumstances and the prosperity of the wicked in this world. There is the potential for scandal on the one hand and the potential for further purification of will, both of which correspond to this being set on fire. The real question then becomes—in what manner are we going to burn?

St. Robert Bellarmine takes the approach of scandal in respect to the meaning of this passage, positing that the seeming triumph of the wicked becomes a scandal to the Psalmist:

Rather a difficult verse, but the sense would seem to be, “Whilst the wicked man is proud,” that is, while in his prosperity he appears full of vain boasting, “the poor is set on fire;” that means, is scandalized, and lights internally with anger: “They are caught in the counsels which they devise;” that is, both one and the other are caught; the impious man, by attributing all his happiness to himself, and thus deceiving himself; and the just man, seeing such prosperity, and not understanding it, equally deceives and involves himself. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 9, 22.)

This account corresponds to the advice of Job’s wife to Job, that the scandal of the evils which befell him should provoke him to bless God and die, and instead of accepting with gratitude and thanksgiving what comes from the hand of the Lord, he should rather puff himself up in pride as the wicked do and cling to what he perceives to be his, even after having lost it.

This, after all, is what scandal does to the soul and how it sets it on fire. We have the perception of how a thing should be, but then an injustice occurs which seems to turn everything on its head. But instead of clinging to the principle of justice we allow the evil to overcome the good by fixating on the greatness of the evil and thus let the evil into our hearts, sometimes little by little, until we assimilate that evil into ourselves. Of if not that evil then some concomitant evil which sneaks past our defenses which have been set on fire.

This is why our Lord condemns in no uncertain terms those who cause scandal to others, for he knows the spiritual danger which it can cause:

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6 DR)

St. Augustine, on the other hand, provides the flip side of scandal in that it can be the means of purification for the righteous, as it can cause the love of God in their hearts to burn even hotter:

“Whilst the ungodly vaunts himself, the poor man is inflamed.” Wondrous it is and true with what earnestness of good hope the little ones are inflamed unto an upright living by comparison with sinners. In which mystery it comes to pass, that even heresies are permitted to exist; not that heretics themselves wish this, but because Divine Providence works this result from their sins, which both makes and ordains the light; but orders only the darkness, that by comparison therewith the light may be more pleasant, as by comparison with heretics the discovery of truth is more sweet. For so, by this comparison, the approved, who are known to God, are made manifest among men. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 9, 20.)

St. Augustine alludes to St. Paul’s teaching to the Corinthians that heresies are necessary to demonstrate who is and who is not approved (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:19) and uses this as a framework for interpreting the Psalmist’s words. Scandals and the like are inevitable (cf. Matthew 18:7) but the righteous man’s response to it need not be one of being scandalized. The righteous man will—like Job—be inflamed even more in charity towards God, and the increase in evil in the world will draw out even further the contrast with the righteous:

He that hurteth, let him hurt still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is just, let him be justified still: and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still. Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works. (Apocalypse 22:11-12 DR)

That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:15 DR)

In this manner the scandals that arise from the wickedness of men and their seeming prosperity and blessedness is a merciful chastisement. After all, the Psalmist mentions that “they” are caught in the counsels they devise. This of course applies to both those whose being scandalized causes them to fall away and to those who cause scandal. But for the wicked their seeming to get away with it is in fact God’s judgment upon them, for their wickedness brings about condemnation and becomes, as it were, a shackle to their sin:

They are taken in their thoughts, which they think: that is, their evil thoughts become chains to them. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 9, 21.)

Instead of allowing the fires of envy to ignite our souls with the flames of hell, we must allow the purging inferno of suffering to cleanse away the dross of all attachments to this world. The pain on this discipline from our Lord is never pleasant, but it is the only means by which one can grow in the spiritual life and increase in sanctification.

---

I wanted something with a fiery feel for this one, and so I used Trapcode Mir to create this flame-lish looking mesh. I mostly just played around with the parameters until I found something I liked and then duplicated the object and repositioned it for more depth and then added in the text and color correction.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: