according to the Altenburg manuscript. *)
Held in January 1525; printed in V. Dietrich's adaptation 1536; after the Altenburg manuscript 1884.
Newly translated from the Latin.
The commentators are not unanimous about the time when the prophet Obadiah prophesied. They have different opinions about it, 1) because in the beginning of his prophecy he did not specify the time and the king under whom he prophesied, which 2) can be seen in the books of some prophets. Jerome says that it was this Obadiah who fed the hundred prophets in the caves under the godless Ahab and Jezebel, as it is written in the first 3) book of Kings, [Cap. 18, 4.], and therefore the gift of prophecy was given to him. But this is similar to the dreams of old women, as also most other things of Jerome, when he judges from his own head about holy things. The Jews judge differently in their interpretations. I, however, am completely in favor of the fact that he, after 4) the Babyloni-
1) D. begins thus: It is not certain at what time Obadiah prophesied, since he etc.
2) D. continues: what the others generally tend to do.
3) In our submission: 4th RsZurn.
4) D.: "at the time of" etc. This, however, has been in the manuscript, but crossed out and replaced by our reading.
He prophesied already in captivity and took his prophecy from Jeremiah, 5) which is indicated by several passages in this prophet, 6) and certain circumstances prove that he was a contemporary of Jeremiah. But he directed his prophecy 7) against the Edomites, who rejoiced and took the greatest pleasure in the desolation and removal of the Jews at the time of the Babylonian captivity. This may be seen in the 137th Psalm [v. 7.], "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who say, Pure off, pure off, unto their ground." That is, Remember, O Lord, and avenge that mockery of the Edomites with which they mocked thy people in the time of adversity, when they were led away captive; remember how they were then when Jerusalem was disturbed. This is
5) D. f: especially from the 49th chapter.
6) D. continues: These not dark circumstances prove that etc.
7) D.: so arranged: first, that he might comfort Judah, which was carried away captive to Babylon, for it would come to pass that it would be brought back to Jerusalem; then that he might prophesy against the Edomites*) etc.
*) Weimarsche: xropdstat instead of: xropketet.
*) Also this prophet we give again after the Altenburger manuscript with addition of the more important deviations of Dietrich in notes, and also here we refer to the first note to the first relation of the prophet Joel, which gives information about everything, which concerns also this writing. According to the Altenburg manuscript it is first printed in the Erlangen edition, opp., tora. XXV, p. 509 and (with many improvements) in the Weimar one, vol. XIII, p. 215. Veit Dietrich's adaptation is found in the Latin Wittenberg edition (1552), tom. IV, toi. 530 and in the Jena edition (1603), tom. Ill, toi. 518. The same was translated into German in 1555 by 21 Stephan Agricola, preacher at Hof in the Vogtland and subsequently at Merseburg, and first appeared in the German Wittenberg edition (1556), vol. VIII, p. 441; subsequently in the Altenburg, vol. VI, p. 1036; in the Leipzig, vol. VIII, p. 309 and in Walch, vol. VI, 2568. At the end of the Altenburg manuscript is written: H).XXV. I. ckis l^tzkrnurii. From this results our determination of the time. We translate according to the Weimar edition. Dietrich's deviations are marked with D., an addition with f. The Altenburg manuscript has the motto: 'Ek tov KapTrov rd dMpov yiv^GKETai and begins: 1525. "The prophet Obadiah interpreted by !). Martin Luther."
it is what, as I have said, moves me to think that Obadiah was a contemporary of Jeremiah. The summa of this prophet is: He prophesies that God's vengeance will befall the Edomites because at the time of the Babylonian captivity they took pleasure in miserably tormenting and leading into captivity the Jews, with whom they should have had compassion because they were brothers. After that, when the Gentiles, who had disturbed the kingdom of Judah by God's judgment, had been disturbed again, 1) he passes on to the kingdom of Christ, which is to come through the gospel, in which the remnant of Ephraim, Israel are to flourish etc. 2) And so the transition will not seem hard, and everything will agree quite well with each other, which otherwise is quite hard with other interpreters.
Thus says the Lord God of Edom: "We have heard from the Lord that a message has been sent to the nations.
He uses images taken from warfare to frighten the Edomites and make their future misfortune great. But this image is taken from the way in warfare, where envoys are sent for great matters, 3) which divided friends tend to get along with each other, as if he wanted to say: The other kings and princes settle their matters through their envoys, but I accomplish them through myself, through my spirit.
Come, and let us fight against them.
These are the words of the messenger by which he provokes the Gentiles to battle, whose labor and service he would use against the Edomites to destroy them.
V. 2. Behold, I have made you low among the Gentiles and greatly despised you.
He deprives them of their confidence and lowers the power and pride of Edom, with which they used to puff themselves up against the Jews.
1) The words: "after - warm" are missing in D.
2) The last sentence is missing in D.
3) Instead of the following, the D.: should make alliances against some common enemy.
For there was a mutual, very bitter hatred on both sides, as hatred and rancor are wont to be between brothers. The Edomites waged an irreconcilable feud against the Jews, not only because Esau had been deprived of the blessing by his brother Jacob, but also because they were forced to be under the yoke of Israel, which they could not shake off from their necks, because they were weaker than Israel. Therefore the opinion here is as if the Lord wanted to say: I will raise such a great power and such a mighty army of the Gentiles against you, that you will hardly appear as a fly compared to them, and they will despise you against themselves and consider you as nothing; they will devour you, so that you shall be nothing anymore.
V. 3. The pride of your heart has deceived you.
He adds the reason why he wants to expose the Edomites to ridicule and hand them over to the enemy army for destruction: because, he says, you are so perfectly at ease in. your opinion and in your powers, puffing yourself up, not distrusting your things, as he also adds:
Because you live in the crevices of the rocks.
He shows the cause of this arrogance, namely the well-fortified country, the cities and castles 4) move them to be so hopeful. For it is also known from Moses that this land of the Edomites is mountainous, as Deut. 2:3, 4: "You have now surrounded this mountain enough. You will pass through the border of your brothers, the children of Esau, who live in Seir" etc. The Latins call it Arabia petraea, which takes its name from Sela [xxx], a glorious and famous city of stony Arabia. Sela, however, in Hebrew means a. Rock. A good part of this Arabia is the land of the Edomites. Therefore the meaning of the passage is: You trust in your power, in the fact that your country is mountainous, that the entrance is not open to an army, therefore it will be difficult to conquer.
4) Instead of sZro8, which provides our template, probably ai-668 should be read according to D. and the Hallische Handschrift.
812 L. XXV, 5I3-5IS. Interpretation of Obadiah (1.), V. 3-5. W. VI, 2574 f. 813
Hope I will snatch from you. But he alludes in Hebrew to the famous city of Petra, as if to say, "You have a royal and strongly fortified city, namely, a rock in whose clefts you think you will be safe; but your hope will deceive you, for so much is lacking for you to be safe in these clefts of the rock that even in the most hidden places, indeed, in your whole country, you will not be able to hide yourself from the army that will come against you. - Exaltasti sedem [you have made your dwelling high], that is, you have fortified castles in the mountains.
Who wants to push me to the ground?
He describes their arrogance 1) and their pomposity and their confidence in their powers, namely that they did not trust high in the help and protection of the Lord, but in their fortifications and rocks. But listen, he says, however much you may be fortified by your powers and fortifications, yet I will snatch away all hope from you, you shall be made nothing at all, so much so that
V. 4. if thou shalt soar like an eagle, and make thy nest among the stars etc.
So even the Almighty God 2) cannot suffer our confidence in ourselves; he hates the carnal confidence, pride and pomposity of ungodly hearts, as is seen everywhere in all Scripture, that he turns us away from the carnal arm, from trusting in ourselves, so that we should hope in him; then we would be safe etc.
V. 5. When thieves or disturbers will come upon you by night.
3) The summa of this passage is: You should rather wish that thieves and robbers have a
1) D.: kaetuin instead of: kastum.
2) The following in this passage reads with D.: the hopefulness and presumption not suffer, that there is no such great power, which he should not overthrow, if men blow themselves out with it. But these passages teach us about the fear of God against the security and presumption of godless hearts etc.
3) Instead of this paragraph and the first sentence of the following, D.: I would prefer that this s instead of as an assumed case: si kures veuisseut.s in affirmative
They have invaded your land and taken the spoils from it (for you would still have something left, they would not steal everything), than that I should come against you, who will search everything and also search the most hidden things in all the caves of the mountains, so that nothing will be left for you, so that everything will perish and all of you will also perish at the same time.
How are you supposed to come to naught like that.
This verb is used in many ways in the Scriptures, and the commentators have also rendered it in many ways. It is in the fourth chapter of Hosea [v. 5, Vulg.], "I have made thy mother silent." And in the 49th Psalm [v. 13. 21.], "When a man is in dignity, and hath no understanding, he leadeth away as cattle." Likewise, Ps. 4, 5: "Speak with your heart in your camp, and wait" But it really means: to silence something and make it nothing, to destroy a kingdom or a people in such a way that hardly any traces of it are to be seen, that they must be silent and not dare to murmur etc., as the Germans say of someone who has become wise through his harm: "He has become so finely silent." Here it is entirely the same opinion, as if he wanted to say, "Well, I will make you fine small, you shall become quite quiet." For this thy calamity, when I come against thee with my army, shall be such that the injuries of thieves and robbers, however great they may be, shall not be considered injuries or robberies in comparison. 4) You would have wished
I will be read in a wise (atkrinntive) way: If by night thieves and spoilers shall come against thee, how much shalt thou be spoiled! for they shall steal enough*). etc. But he calls the Chaldeans thieves, because they robbed Edom, like a thief by night, though they were thieves in truth before God, being no better than the Edomites. For it usually happens that one thief attacks and punishes another, one robber another, one murderer another. Furthermore, the word which the prophet uses here, and which the Latin translates by o,onti6ui8868 , has been rendered by the commentators in various ways. It is written in the 4th chapter etc.
4) The following sentence is missing from D.
*) In all editions tirmavuntur instead of niruvuntur. In the Vulgate: novue turuti "gsent? which Luther wants sLrrnutivv rendered by turuvuutur.
that you would be attacked and overpowered by thieves, but this is not to be compared with the destruction when I come etc. For I will not leave thee a berry; all that is hidden will I draw out, whether it be money or men, which thou hadst hoped to obtain. So nothing will get away when I devastate.
V. 7 All your own covenanters will push you out to the land (usque ad terminum emiserunt).
It is the same expression that is found in Isa. 5, 8: "They will bring one field to another until there is no more room" (usque ad terminum loci). Hence the opinion: They will drive you out and push you out to the borders or ends of your land; they will throw you out of your land altogether, so that you will have no more borders.
The people on whom you place your comfort will betray you.
He takes away all their confidence: there will be nothing they can rely on when the devastation comes, that not only the most fortified cities and castles will be of no use, but also the neighboring nations allied with them will betray them and not stand by the alliance.
Before you know it.
Non est prudentia, that is what we say in German: "You fool, you do not realize", you do not realize that you trust in vain in a carnal arm, because it will be a cane for you; if you lean on it, you will fall. No wisdom, no counsel, no strength will avail thee; I will also make fools of thy wise men, so that those in whom thou hast confidence that they will stand on thy side will change their mind and set themselves against thee. This is what Ezekiel says, Cap. 23:22: "Behold, I will raise up against thee thy lovers, of whom thou art weary, and I will bring them against thee round about. "etc. And Jer. 30, 14: "All thy lovers forget thee" etc. Exactly the same thing happened to those at Constantinople: since they had
1) they became tributary to him shortly thereafter. In our times it often happened with the emperor and the pope that, while the emperor was confident that the pope would keep it with him, because an alliance had been concluded, when it came to the meeting, the pope changed his mind and opposed the emperor. etc. The same thing happened to the Jews when they sought the friendship of the Romans and thought that they would be victorious against all the Gentiles: those whom they had sought as helpers they soon invented as their masters. And this is what the Latins very finely say: one must seek friends among one's equals, and beware of those who are more powerful.
V. 8: At that time I will destroy the wise men of Edom and the prudent men of Esau.
He threatens that he will not only take away the external protection, weapons, force and fortifications, so that they cannot be safe, but also the wise men who would help with advice in these troubles. For this land had wise 2) and prudent men, as Esau also was, but all these, he says, he will make fools and destroy. Here belong many passages that are found from time to time in the holy scriptures about the condemnation of human wisdom and carnal counsel. In the 107th Psalm it says, v. 27: "They staggered and swayed like a drunken man, and knew no more counsel." And Ps. 33, 10: "The Lord makes void the counsel of the Gentiles." The flesh cannot help itself by its counsel and wisdom in times of trouble.
V. 9. for your strong ones in Theman shall tremble.
Instead of timebunt it should more correctly read: Thy strong ones shall tremble (pavidi erunt), "become fugitive and timid". For he be-
1) D. continues: there they invented him as a cruel lord.
2) In the Erlanger, apparently due to the return of the word supientes, these words have fallen out: Hui eonsitio uäsint rnotidus istis. Havuit euina üuee terra sapientes sta.
actually denotes the despondency that befalls an army that is to be cut down in war, namely when they do not see how they can escape. And what in our [Latin] translation is rendered by an appellative [namely a meridie] should be read as a proper name: "to Theman". For so he calls this country, to which the grandson of Esau, Theman, had attached the name Theman after his name (as princes and kings sometimes are wont to do). He is remembered in the first book of Moses [Cap. 36, 11, 15, 42].
That they may all be cut off in the mountain of Esau by the murder.
In Hebrew it is [sttatt ut intereat]: by slaughtering etc. I will thus see to it that the people of the mountain Esau are exterminated, so that no one remains. By the way, it is far more expressive in Hebrew, so that it cannot well be translated into another language, as if he wanted to say: "There will be a mob here and a mob there"; everywhere in the cities they will be killed, if some want to resist, and your wise men will be so frightened by this miserable murder, 1) that they will lose their minds completely etc.
V. ii. At the time when you stood against him.
This is the reason why he is so angry with them. And from this it is clear what I said at the beginning of this chapter about the time of the prophet, that he prophesied about the time of the Babylonian captivity.
Since the strangers led away his army captive. 2)
"His army", more correctly: his goods and chattels. And this passage moves me to think that this prophet worked at the time of the Babylonian captivity, because Jerusalem was never conquered before that captivity by the Chaldeans.
1) In our template: eonterrentur. D.: oonterrekuntur. The Weimar edition suggests aonterentnr. Both readings amount to the same thing, but D.'s reading is confirmed by the Zwickau manuscript.
2) According to the Vulgate.
V. 12. You shall no longer see your lust like this.
Instead of: Et non despicies, the Hebrew reads: Therefore you shall not see. But this Hebrew word does not mean merely "see", but what we say in German: "Thou shalt no more see thy lust", thou shalt no more tickle thyself with thy brother's misfortune.
And thou shalt not speak with thy mouth so proudly in the time of their fear.
You shall no longer mock him in the time of tribulation, since the hailstorm of calamity will fall on you as well.
At the time of their wailing (in die perditionis).
There are only two words here in Hebrew, but the Latin interpreter, who has taken pleasure in a variety (copia) not well placed, translates it soon by perdition, soon by fear, soon by doom etc. 3)
V. 14. You shall not stand at the crossroads (Et non stabis in exitibus).
The Hebrew word means both: deliverance and desolation, as can be seen from the 50th 4) Psalm, v. 22.: "That I should not even be carried away, and there should be no more savior." So also here both can be understood. But the meaning is: You, Edom, were not satisfied with robbing your brother, with snatching his possessions from him, since you were sent against him according to my decree with the rest of the heathen, but you also stopped and hindered those who wanted to save themselves by fleeing, and were pleased that those who were thus stopped were killed.
You shall not betray his others (Non concludes).
That is, you oppressed and harassed those who could not escape, so that they would all be killed. 5)
3) This section is missing from D.
4) This citation is erroneous, because in the quoted passage there is not a form of but the synonymous ^'^2. - The Zwickau manuscript has as keyword: üt non studis snxta tiderutionern [Thou shalt not stand in the way of their liberation], whereas the Hallic: ^s^ne stadis in vastitate [Thou shalt not stand to disturb them].
5) This section is missing from D.
V. 16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain.
He threatens all the Gentiles with desolation, as if to say: I will boil you and all other Gentiles into one another; you shall be devastated together as you devastated my people. You have devoured and drunk my goods in my sanctuary, but I will make other nations in turn consume and devour all that is yours. Thus, after His miraculous judgment, the Almighty God always punishes the old sins of any kingdom through the new sins of some whom He awakens, as we see here. It was the Gentiles who sinned, who miserably afflicted the people of God. Here the Lord threatens vengeance for this sin: it will happen that other Gentiles will come against these robbers, and so that old sin will be punished by a new one. Thus the Tartars and the Goths came with new sins against the old sins of the Romans, which had oppressed the people of the Jews in an extraordinary way. Nowadays the Turk is powerful, but if the world will not perish soon, a stronger one will come who, awakened by God's judgment, will subdue the Turk etc. Up to here the first part of this prophecy goes from the threat of the destruction of the Edomites by other pagans, 2) under which I understand the Romans.
V. 17. But on Mount Zion some shall yet be saved.
This is the last part of this prophecy, in which, after the Jews are led into captivity and the Edomites are again disturbed, who had mocked the Jews, he promises another kingdom, which cannot be understood differently than the spiritual kingdom of Christ, which has been made manifest among all Gentiles through the gospel. 3) The Jewish people was divided into two kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel, which was
1) D.: N16O instead of: Miro.
2) The following words are missing from D.,
3) D.: propnMtunl instead of: propalatruD in the manuscript.
The kingdom of Judah, which is transformed into the kingdom of Christ, should never be restored after it has been disturbed. It is most necessary that those know this who read the prophets, in whose books these two kingdoms are frequently mentioned. And so it is important to know that the prophet is speaking here of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, which even the letter compels us to believe, because he says:
The house of Jacob shall possess its possessors, he indicates, that the house of Jacob shall regain for itself a kingdom and spread out, and subdue those whose dominion it has previously suffered. This is indicated by the word in Hebrew which our interpreter has given by the word possidere, but he has not rendered the meaning of the Hebrew word, for it actually denotes what the Germans express by the word "to take." 4) This so glorious word can fit neither to the external kingdom of Judah nor to Israel, since the Israelite kingdom was never to be restored, which is quite clear from the sacred histories. Therefore, this contradiction forces us to understand it as referring to the spiritual kingdom of Christ, namely, that apostles and other disciples of Christ would come from the Israelite people, who, through the new preaching of the Gospel, would subdue the whole world and thus establish a new and eternal kingdom. And this is what he says:
On Mount Zion there will be an escape or a new salvation, that is, to Zion such a sermon will go out, which, if believed, will deliver from death, from sin and from hell. And this sermon would first come from Zion, as also Isaiah Cap. 2, 3. says: "From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And Joel 3, 5: "At Jerusalem there will be salvation. 5)
4) Here D. continues like this: But because he connects the kingdom of Judah with the kingdom of Joseph or Israel, which has never been restored, and says that both shall regain their former power, this contradiction forces us etc.
5) D.ß: And in the 110th Psalm, v. 2.: "The Lord Will send the scepter of Your kingdom out of Zion."
They are supposed to be sanctuary.
That is, they will no longer be able to be defiled by the Gentiles as happened before. 1)
V. 18. And the house of Jacob shall become a fire etc.
With this general subjugation of all Gentiles, he says, also the Edomites shall be subjugated to this kingdom. All this is inconsistent and contradicts the history, if we wanted to understand a physical subjugation. For what rhymes less than that the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, 2) and that Hans Esau, that is, the Edomites, shall be straw to be consumed by the flame? Moreover, the house of Joseph never returned after the Assyrian 3) captivity, nor did the house of Judah ever possess the Edomites. Finally, it is the most strange thing that he, after having prophesied before that all Edomites should perish and be made nothing, should finally say here that they should also be consumed by fire. Therefore, this absolutely compels us to understand it of the preaching of the gospel by the apostles and by other disciples from Israel among all the Gentiles. By this preaching they consumed them, that is, they spiritually incorporated them into the kingdom of Christ, so that they could no longer be torn out of Christ's hand, as Christ says in the Gospel [John 10:28]. For when the gospel has been accepted in truth, Satan does not easily retain the upper hand. This is what happened, as history testifies. For the stony Arabia, where the Edomites were, was a place of holy people before others, according to the revelation of the gospel; 4) there was St. Anthony and several other holy fathers.
1) D. 1: because forgiveness of sins is brought through the gospel. Where this is, no sins can harm, no condemnation can harm. Moreover, they have the Holy Spirit, who in the saints daily kills the flesh and drives to holy works.
oava to read, because the house of Joseph is the kingdom of Israel, which was never in Babylonian captivity.
4) Instead of the following D. has: what also Isaiah promises.
That nothing may remain for the house of Esau.
He will so subdue the house of Esau that not even a remnant will remain; there will be nothing that could be against this kingdom of Christ. For through the gospel Christians become masters of all creatures. This is what is said about the power and effectiveness of the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles.
V. 19. And they that are toward the south shall possess the mountain of Esau etc.
Here is an extraordinary contradiction, if nian wants to take it according to the letter and understand any external kingdom. First, he says: they [those at noon] shall possess; then [v. 20]: they shall be possessed. 5) The kingdom of Israel was divided into twelve tribes and was diligently warned by the law of Moses that the tribes should not be mixed with one another, which can be seen in Moses. Since he now clearly says here that those who dwell toward the south, that is, those who dwell toward the south, are to possess the mountain Esan etc., 6) it must be understood quite differently than the letter reads. Therefore the opinion is: The Christians, the apostles and other disciples, who will be at noon, namely on the mountain Zion, on which the gospel is preached first, these, I say, will create fruit with the Edomites by their preaching.
And the reasons will possess the Philistines.
(Instead of campestria should be read more correctly humilia, the lovely 7) valleys between the mountains, "the reasons"). This never happened physically after the Babylonian captivity. Because also the whole kingdom could not overcome the Philistines and make itself subservient. Therefore, it must be understood from the spiritual subjugation through the Gospel.
5) D. t: Likewise, "Those in reasons will possess the Philistines." Furthermore, which is the greatest, the kingdom of Israel etc.
6) Instead of "rc. has D.: Likewise: "Benjamin will possess Gilead", contrary to how'') according to God's command the land was divided by Moses and Joshua etc.
7) Instead of nmoeni in the manuscript will have to be read with D. uinok.
*) According to the Erlangen and Weimar editions, the original should read contra, quern. But it seems to us that with the Wittenberg and the Jena contra qurrln should be read.
Yes, they will possess the field of Ephraim.
This is also against the law. Therefore this was done by the apostles when they went to Samaria to preach the gospel. 1) Likewise also that which follows:
Benjamin will possess the mountain range of Gilead.
Benjamin is on this side of the Jordan, but Gilead is on the other side of the Jordan in the tribe of Gad. Therefore, the necessity forces us to relate everything to the preaching of the Gospel.
V. 20. And the exiles of this army of the children of Israel etc.
But this is even more inconsistent than the preceding, namely that they should possess the whole land of the Cananites, 2) who nevertheless were led into captivity and never returned. What can be said more inconsistent than this, looking only at the letter? The same is what follows of the exiles of the city of Jerusalem, that is, the captives from Israel would possess the cities of the south, that is, the cities located around Jerusalem and in Edom.
As far as Zarpath.
This is the same word as that which is used in 1 Kings 17:9 of the city of Sidon where the widow was who fed Elijah. But what Lyra, 3) I do not know what kind of antics, brings forward here, and France wants to understand, does not seem to me to fit at all; it is a violent and twisted gloss, which does not even have the appearance of truth. In the same way, in our [Latin] translation, the interpreters err in the word "
Bosphoro. 4) Jerome cites the testimony of his Jew, from whom he learned the Hebrew language, that the Emperor Constan-
1) Here D. continues in this way following the following passage, but with the keyword omitted: Therefore this text must be diligently remembered as a clear and certain testimony that the law, when Christ came, was to be done away with through the gospel. For Benjamin etc.
2) Instead of pr688uros we have assumed xo88688uro8 with D. and with the Zwickau manuscript.
3) D. 1: who followed the rabbis,
4) This is written in the 'Vulgate instead of: "Sepharad".
tiu the Jews to Bosporus in Thrace, and that they expect to set up the kingdom again in that place, and I do not know what other little things; but the good man is deceived by the Jewish fiction. We see that the prophet is definitely talking about the Easterners who are in the land of Canaan, where Christ's kingdom first began through the gospel. By the way, in Hebrew it says:
that is, at Pharad, which we have nowhere else in the Bible. Therefore the Jews also invent all kinds, namely that it is Spain; but this does not fit at all, and I do not believe that any Jew knows what it is. And our interpreters, deceived by the consonance of the name, have explained xxxxx by Bosporus, which is ridiculous. 5) Therefore, some insignificant city in the land of Canaan must be understood, which has become unknown through the course of time, so that today we cannot know what is in this place. For the Jnden's little tales are silly and like old wives' tales.
V. 21. and saviors will come forth.
He calls the leaders "saviors", as it is written in the book of Judges [Judges 3:9], because he sent many saviors to them, that is, leaders who were to lead them and preside over them, preceding them when they had to fight with the enemies. Thus the apostles and other disciples are called "saviors", namely such people who, by proclaiming the good news of the gospel, set them free from all temptations of the devil and the gates of hell, and judged them in faith, ruling over them in righteousness and judgment, thus establishing an eternal kingdom for the Lord. 6)
To Christ be praise.
Wittenberg, 1525 on the first of February.
5) From here to the end of the section, D.: Therefore, either some city or region of Assyria must be understood where the people were held captive.
6) D. 1": But it is a glorious passage by which we are commanded the ministry of the word and the servants of the word. Since we receive such great benefits from them, it truly behooves us not to be ungrateful, otherwise we will suffer punishment for our ingratitude. End.