Preface to Micah.
When the destruction of the Jewish people was imminent, and a new time and a new kingdom were approaching, namely through Christ, who was to come, many and excellent prophets were sent by God, who were to cry and lament about the future destruction of the whole people, so that at least some, after they had heard the sermon about the impending disaster, would believe and convert, and, thus converted, would be preserved and endure that terrible and lamentable destruction. Thus prophesied at one and the same time Amos, of whom I believe that he was the first, then Hosea, who is to be put after Amos, likewise Micha. At the same time also Isaiah prophesied, although he was the last of these. All of them prophesy that the old people will be destroyed and a new one will be established, that the external kingdom will be taken away and a new and spiritual one will be established through Christ. For after the physical kingdom was finished, the spiritual kingdom of Christ followed. For it was impossible that the carnal and external kingdom should exist with the spiritual kingdom, therefore the external one had to be taken away. This happened according to God's miraculous counsel, since He had His people led away captive, who surely boasted of the outward kingdom and the outward righteousness. And yet the dear God preserved Himself after
In this scattering, as great as it was, he had some remnants of the people gathered again from both parts, namely from Israel and from Judah. But a greater part from Judah than from Israel was added to these preserved remnants, so that there would be some with whom this new kingdom would begin. For it was promised that from them Christ would be born, that from them the Savior and the new word of the new kingdom would come forth. Therefore, so that God would stand by His promises, He has obtained some, though very few, in whom He would fulfill what He had promised and would be found to be true. Thus the prophet Micah was sent to proclaim that the destruction of all the people was imminent, but all the prophets cried out in vain.
Nowadays we have received the Gospel loudly and abundantly full of God, and there is no doubt that some great disturbance and change of all things is imminent. The dear God warns lins according to His goodness, as He also warned the Jews through many prophets and abundant proclamation of the Word. He calls us to repentance, but just as they have been contemptuous of everything, so have we. For the princes rage against the gospel and its preachers, persecuting the preachers, capturing them, throwing them into prisons, killing them. The bishops, who are
*) In the Altenburg manuscript, this scripture has the title: Scholia in Micheam Prophetam Ex Lectione Lutheri Excepta. Wittembergae mense Martio MDXXV... At the end: ^VittnnüsrAas VII. Xpi-Ms LIVXXV.
The same is printed first in the Erlangen edition, nxsK. OM., tom. XXVI, x. 151; then in the Weimar edition, vol. XIII, p. 299. We have translated from the latter.
who are supposed to promote the gospel, also persecute it to the utmost and confirm the ungodly nature against God's word etc. And therefore, without a doubt, the same thing that happened to the despisers, the Jews, will also happen to our despisers.
But the prophet Micah, in his prophecy, has completely the same thing in mind as Hosea. They saw that in vain so many prophets were sent, in vain the word was proclaimed so abundantly; they saw that the prophets were despised, yes, killed, and therefore they preached that both kingdoms should be disturbed, which nevertheless had a clear promise of God, namely that the kingdom of David would be eternal 1) that a duke should not be taken away from the seat of David until the Messiah came. For this the promise clearly says. This was certainly in appearance against the prophets, who threatened and foretold that both kingdoms should be disturbed, and also the godless Jews harassed the prophets with these prophecies of the kingdom of Judah. (Our people do not have such a clear word with which they, like the Jews, could oppose the Gospel). And yet God miraculously kept His promise. As miserable as He destroyed both kingdoms, He was not unmindful of His promise, for the kingdom did not completely fall away, because King Jechaniah, who was taken away to Babylon [2 Kings 24:15] and thrown into prison, was nevertheless preserved and finally set in honor and exalted above all the kings who were at Babylon, 3) as the sacred histories report [2 Kings 25:27]. But the flesh does not pay attention to this, so that God fulfills what he promised, even if only in one man. This is his way. Paul also says Rom. 11, 1, proving that God has not rejected His people: "Has God rejected His people? That is
1) Instead of sxtsrnuru in our original we have assumed astsruuiu, because this is how it must be read according to the consistent testimony of all the different relations.
2) "Babel" set by us instead of: ^.ss^rinm in our template.
3) So set by us instead: L.88^riorurn. This and the preceding error seem to have been taken from the Zwickau manuscript.
far away! For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham" etc. For a good part of the innumerable people was preserved. So also Isaiah says [Cap. 10, 22.], "For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet shall the remnant of them be converted." But the Jews understood the promises differently, therefore they did not want to suffer the prophecy of Hosea, Micah and others, who prophesied that both kingdoms should be disturbed. Our people today do not have such a word, even though they boast that they are the Church that God will not abandon. But they may look at the example of the Jews, be frightened, and stop being so confident. God can preserve His Church everywhere in the whole world, one and the other, soon in this city and soon in that city, while in the meantime all princes perish, the pope and all bishops, just as He miraculously preserved the Kingdom of Judah, since almost the entire kingdom had been destroyed. Thus God acts miraculously, so that the wicked are disgraced and blinded and perish. And sometimes he acts in such a way that the prophets seem to contradict each other completely, which is especially evident in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, where Jeremiah prophesies about Zedekiah, the king of Judah, that it will happen that he will be captured and delivered into the hands of the king of the Chaldeans, where he adds [Jer. 32, 4. f.]: "He will speak to him verbally and shall see him with his eyes, and he will lead 4) Zedekiah to Babylon" etc. Ezekiel prophesies of the very same king thus (Cap. 12, 12. f.]: "His face shall be covered, and he shall not see the land with his eyes; and I will bring him to Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans, which he shall not see" etc. Thus he prophesies (apparently against Jeremiah). Ezekiel had predicted that the king would not see the land, and rightly so, for his eyes were plucked out before he was taken away to Babylon. And Jeremiah had predicted that he would see the eyes of the Babylonian king, and quite rightly too, for he is
4) Instead of äuesut in our original, the Vulgate will read "tuest,.
had been led to the king before his eyes were plucked out etc. And by this contradiction, as it seemed from the outward appearance, the godless Jews were annoyed, so that they completely
accused of nonsense, since they contradict themselves. But God has this way, when He wants to make us fair; and so He acts against the presumptuous, who are too sure etc.