The first chapter.
The first chapter contains the prophecy of the devastation of both kingdoms by the Assyrian Sanherib. For though he was cut off by the angel from the gates of Jerusalem, and his own suffered a tremendous defeat, yet he greatly afflicted the kingdom of Judah.
The cause of this calamity, he says, was idolatry, that they forsook the true God and the temple appointed for the holy services, sacrificed to idols, and chose unholy places, as the histories of the
Kingdom of Israel and Judah at the time of Ahaz.
This teaching is useful for our times. For the idolatry, which was manifold, even infinite, in the papacy, has been brought to light by the gospel. Therefore, those who do not reject it, but insist on it, as the godless crowd of bishops and sophists do, will undoubtedly bring devastation upon themselves, as the examples of the churches are before our eyes, which the Turk, Christ's enemy, most cruelly destroyed.
This chapter contains a particularly noteworthy saying [v. 7] that the goods of the whore shall again become the wages of a whore, that is, that one idolater corrupts another, just as today those who want to be considered the highest defenders of papal dignity plunder the monasteries and church goods acquired through idolatry.
The second chapter.
The second sermon contains a severe accusation against avarice, which is the source of injustice and violence. But the Lord also threatens the miser with destruction.
And here, above all, the security of the ungodly is to be noted, even in manifest sins. For the Jews thought that they could sin all the more licentiously because they were the people of God, and were puffed up by the promises. But the saying of the prophet is well to be remembered. "My sayings," says the Lord [v. 7.], "are kind," or promise good things to the good. Since you are evil, how can evil remain longer far from you? Therefore, the judgment stands firm that God will punish sinners if they do not repent and turn from their sins.
After this legal sermon, the prophet adds a promise of Christ all, whom he presents as a shepherd who gathers the rest of the faithful [v. 12]. He also calls him [v. 13] a "breaker" who will destroy the kingdom of the devil, death and sin, and gives the consolation that it will happen that the church, since Christ goes ahead, protects and helps, will overcome all these evils, and thus break through from the misery of this life to eternal life. But also this is to be noted, that he attaches to our Lord Jesus Christ the ineffable name of God [Jehovah].
The third chapter.
As he has accused avarice in general in the second chapter, so he punishes here in particular the avarice of the authorities, both secular and ecclesiastical. But he threatens [v. 4] that it will happen that, when they come to the
He will not hear them, that is, he will give them up to the sword and hand them over to the enemy, who will rage against them again as they raged against their subjects.
And in this sermon there is an excellent comparison of the false prophets with the right teachers [v. 5 ff]. The latter are full of the spirit and freely punish the sins of the rulers and the people. The latter close their eyes against sins for the sake of gain, and promise all good things even to the impenitent.
The fourth chapter.
This is a glorious prophecy of the kingdom of Christ. First, the place is named that this kingdom will begin in Zion [v. 1 f.].
Secondly, he promises that it will happen that the Gentiles also will seek this kingdom [v. 2].
Thirdly, he says [v. 2.) full of the king's office, that the king himself will teach his ways by a new word and a new law, that is, by another than that of Moses. For this accuses the sins and threatens the sinners. But this, Christ's word, forgives sins and promises the Holy Spirit through Christ's merit and death.
Therefore (this is the fourth) this teaching is followed by peace of conscience and manifold fruit, as the prophet says here [v. 4]: "Every man shall dwell under his vine and fig tree," that is, every man shall enjoy in his station and office the various and exceeding good fruits of faith.
Fifth, he teaches that this kingdom will have its enemies in the world, since each individual nation will walk in the name of its God, but the church will walk in the name of our God. But he promises that this kingdom will not be oppressed, but it will be an eternal kingdom. For "we" he says (v. 5), "will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
To this comfort also belongs what he says [v. 6. f.) about the lame and the outcast. For although we have explained this in the interpretation of the remnant of the kingdom of Israel among the Gentiles, there is nothing to prevent us from applying it to the whole church.
which is despised and afflicted in the world, as Zephaniah does in the third chapter, v. 19, who calls the church by this very name.
But because before this promise of the kingdom of Christ was fulfilled, the people were to be led away captive to Babylon, the prophet comforts the godly so that they will not forget this king. And at the same time he adds this comfort [v. 13], that it will happen that they will not only be delivered from the Babylonian captivity, but will also rule over the Gentiles through the gospel, who will accept the word.
The fifth chapter.
This is a promise of Christ and his kingdom. In the beginning [v. 1.] it shows the place where Christ should be born.
Secondly, he teaches of the person of Christ that he did not begin to be only when he was born of Mary, but was from eternity, that is, the Son of God.
Third, he teaches of the ministry [v. 3 f.] that he will feed his people and they will dwell safely. For through Christ the kingdom of the devil and of sin is destroyed, and this victory of Christ is brought to the believers by the gospel.
Fourth, he teaches that this kingdom also belongs to the Gentiles. He gloriously praises the ministry of the word, comparing the ministers of the gospel to dew and rain, threatening those who oppose the gospel with destruction, as he also says that the synagogue should be destroyed.
The sixth chapter.
This is a sermon of the Law, in which he accuses the people of supreme ingratitude, and condemns the ungodly services with which they hoped to propitiate God.
But what is exceedingly beautiful, he shows [v. 8.] in what services God is pleased, namely obedience to the word, mercy to the poor and patience and hope in adversity.
Seeing that these services were being neglected by his people, and that avarice and other vices were increasing with idolatry, he threatened them with utter desolation.
Here are excellent pictures with which he depicts avarice, which Chrysostom seems to have imitated to some extent in the fifth chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians, where he says:
ðïëëÜ÷éò ôÜ åßòåíå÷äÝíôá ÷á÷þò ïëßãá, ôÜ ÷á- ëþæ ÷åßìåíá ÝîÝâáëå ðïë,ëÜ äíôá, ïõäÝí ãÜñ óáäñüôåñïí ðëåïíåîßáò, ÷Üí ôçí ÷ëÝßí Ýðéäçò ôéñ ôïéïýôù ôáìéåßù, ÷Üí äàñáí ÷Üí ìï÷ëïý, åß ÷áß ðÜíôá ðïéåßò, ðëåïíåîßáí Ýíäïí ôïí ÷áëåðþ- ôáôïí ëçóôçí Üðï÷ëåßóáò, ÷áß ðÜíôá äõíÜìåíïí ÝîåíÝã÷åéí. This we have translated simply but little daintily thus: often a small gain brought about by fraud has destroyed great goods legally acquired. For there is nothing that more easily corrupts all things than deceit. Even though you have guarded your box with a lock, a door and a bolt, you do it in vain, since you have locked fraud inside, the most violent robber, who takes away everything he finds.
A similar saying is also in Isocrates, for he instructs the pagans by their own experience that evil gained good corrupts evil.
The seventh chapter.
This sermon is, as it were, a conclusion of the previous sermons. In the beginning it contains the complaint that he teaches the impenitent in vain.
After that, he admonishes the godly not to let themselves be diverted from the right path by these aversions. For even though they should suffer the common punishments, he exhorts them to look to the kingdom of grace that will be established through Christ, which he gloriously praises as being a kingdom of forgiveness of sins, grace and eternal life. The rest is very abundantly explained in the interpretation.