In the previous chapter one sermon is completed, in this chapter he starts a new sermon. For he preached this sermon on different days or at different times, not all at once, as I reminded in the beginning. In the previous chapter he announced to them that their captivity would come upon them.
Because of their holiness, that is, because of their idolatrous worship, which they themselves had wrought according to their own will against the revealed word of God. Here he announces the same captivity because of the fruits of ungodliness. For as faith cannot but bring forth good fruits
ungodliness cannot but bring evil fruit, namely avarice, violence, unrighteous judgment etc., all of which the prophet lists here, and the apostle Paul in the letter to the Galatians Cap. 5, 19. ff. Therefore, as in the first chapter he punished hypocrisy and the made-up godlessness, so in this chapter the gross and obvious sins, which lack all semblance of holiness, which must necessarily follow where the heart is godless.
V. 1. Woe to those who seek to do harm.
The Hebrew word XXX is sufficiently known, because it actually means "toil" (dolorem), which is evident from the 90th Psalm, v. 10: "When it comes up, it is eighty years, and when it has been delicious, it has been toil and labor." Therefore [figuratively] in the prophets any iniquity is denoted by this word [because from iniquity comes toil and labor] 1). Therefore also in this passage there is a figurative speech, as if he wanted to say: s "to do harm",] with this you perish on your camp. Since he says: "All your camp", he indicates their striving and endeavoring, so that the opinion is: you deal with it by day and by night alone, that is your thinking and striving, you are only concerned about how you might do harm and act violently against the poor. The same way of speaking is Ps. 36, 5: "He seeks to harm his camp," that is, he deals with it, he spends his effort on it etc. Therefore, the prophet recently says this: You never presume to do evil; it never occurs to me that you are in any way concerned about justice.
That they accomplish it early, when it becomes light.
He indicates a certain time, and in my opinion the prophet is speaking of the evil they commit in judgment and doctrine, that is, that they bend justice with oppression of the poor, that they do not dispense equal justice, and that instead of the word-.
1) Supplemented by us according to the Zwickau manuscript.
tes teach ungodly things. It is therefore the opinion: You deal only with the oppression of the poor, and for this purpose you give laws and change them again, you do not speak equal law. Early you teach the people, you also hold court, but at night you are intent on something completely different, namely, that you use the word of God for your own gain, and by unjust judgments you seek to do nothing but owe the poor that their fields and possessions become a bequest to you. These are the fruits of wickedness. For how should an evil tree bring forth other than evil fruit? Such a picture appears to us in a very special way in the realm of the pope, where nothing else is treated, nothing is taken care of, but that those who are in it live deliciously. All papist laws and decrees are intended to ensure that his so-called clergy do not suffer any lack, that they have an abundance of all things, and so that they do not lose anything, they banish the poor debtors and throw them tenfold into hell. etc.
Because they have the power. 2)
The prophet interprets himself as if he wanted to say: Everything they do, everything they teach is against God, no matter how much they pretend. In the same way, our papists, by pretending to the name of the Lord and the holy apostles Peter and Paul and the holy church, have seized almost all goods; finally, they have received almost everything that there is in the way of money, and they have devoured widows' houses, as Christ says [Matth. 23, 14].
V. 2: They do violence to every man's house (Calumniati sunt virum et domum ejus).
The Hebrews use their word which we render in Latin by vir, as we speak in German when we impersonally express ourselves: "One says thus. The prophets refer to this practice of the wicked everywhere, as we have seen above.
2) Vulgate: HuornaiQ contra vsum 68t inanus ooruiu, because their hand is against God. This is what the interpretation refers to.
V. 3. Behold, I remember evil against this generation.
The Lord opposes his thoughts to their ungodly thoughts, as if to say: You think evil against others, I think evil against you.
From which you should not draw your neck, and not walk so proudly, for it shall be an evil time.
I will see to it that your pride is subdued, that you do not walk proudly with your necks erect and do violence to others, for it is to be an evil time. The Assyrian will come, who will tame you, who are now arrogant and proud etc.
V. 4. At the same time you will be judged and lamented.
[Instead of et cantabitur canticum cum suavitate, dicentium in the Vulgate should read:] et plangetur planctus or lamentabitur lamentatio, that is, the time will come when I will create that you will become the proverb of all; you will become a song to your victorious enemies. But he presents the goal (scopum) or the summa of this song, as if he wanted to say: This is how they will sing about you:
It's over, we are lost. My people's land (par8) gets a foreign master.
[The words in the Vulgate: Depopulatione vastati sumus, pars populi mei commutata est mean:] vastatione vastati sumus, ager populi mei commutatus est.... We have also spoken of this word sparst above in Amos [Cap. 4, 7.]. It actually means a portion of inheritance or a portionem or acre, which is allotted to each one.
When will he restore the fields he has taken from us? 1)
This also belongs to the song. But this passage has a twofold opinion. First, that twice an invasion was made into the country: once by ThiglathPilesser, then also by his 2) son. This has my
2) Weimarsche: "is instead of: esus.
Approval does not. I translate thus: Quomodo extrahet quis mihi, ut rursus agri nostri distribuantur, and so I take the Hebrew verbum as an adverbium. For this is the custom among the Hebrews in such ways of speaking, which can be seen exceedingly clearly from the 71st Psalm [v. 20.]: et conversus vivificasti me; likewise [v. 21.]: et conversus consolatus es me, that is, "And comfort me again," "and make me alive again," etc. Hence the opinion is, All our possessions are gone; who therefore will 3) draw us out of this yoke, that our acres may be restored to us? But this will not happen, they have got another master and owner. And so this song, if it is sung by the enemies, is a [mocking] song, if by the defeated, a lament. This is my opinion about this passage, and I do not think that I am wrong in it, although I differ from others.
V. 5: Yea, ye shall have no part in the congregation of the Lord.
He definitely speaks of the total destruction, therefore not only a part of the people is to be understood, as the reading in Latin reads. As if he wanted to say: The whole nation will perish from the bottom up; there will be no one left who will measure the limits in the assembly or in the congregation of the Lord, that is, in the people where the word of God is. Thus the Lord has set the short epitome of his thoughts against their ungodly thoughts.
V. 6 They say that we should not be put to the sword, for we will not be put to the sword, we will not be put to shame.
At this point [in the Vulgate] everything is translated quite confusedly. But it is a new piece here; the song is now finished, or the short epitome is completed. I translate thus: ne stilletis stillam. For so it is actually in the Hebrew, and the prophets use the word "träufen" for preach; rain means sermon. Recently, then, it is this: He accuses the authorities who hindered the prophets from preaching.
3) Weimarsche: eZo instead of erZo.
and not to prophesy the disturbance of the people whom God had chosen as His own; who therefore accused the prophets of lying and held against them the promises that God had made to the Israelite people, as we said at the beginning of this prophet.
Because such eaves do not hit us, we will not be so disgraced.
These are their words, they say to the prophets. But they can also be understood as a threat, in this way: We warn them that they should not dream, otherwise they will be 'put to shame. Or in this way: They shall not dream such things, for we shall not be put to shame. The prophets lie, God will not so disgrace His people whom He has chosen and to whom He has promised that He will always stand by them etc. Both views are good.
V. 7. The house of Jacob comforts itself thus: Do you think that the spirit of the Lord is shortened? 1)
This is a new saying, as if he wanted to say: This is the defiance of those who, encouraged by a wrong understanding of the promises, despise our threats. Either Isaiah followed Micah or Micah followed Isaiah, for both have this passage. By the way, in my opinion, Isaiah seems to have followed Micah. Isaiah has thus [Cap. 50, 2.], "Has my hand now become so short?" It is therefore the opinion of this passage: You prophets threaten us with calamity; you lie, God is with us, the Lord is our God, we are His people. He has promised that he will be our leader, that he will subdue our enemies; but you prophesy against us that the enemies will prevail against us, you are nonsensical, you speak against the promises of God. So also our papists boast against the gospel that God will stand by His Church until the end of the
1) The keyword in our pattern is according to the Hebrew: ^uu^uid dmturu est in douio daeok. The Vulgate offers: Oieitdorausdaeod: nurn^uid ete. The words viait dornus are rendered thus in the Zwickau manuscript: Vicitur in dorno dscok: Nurnyuid "te. The Hall manuscript also has the reading of our original.
World etc. But the prophets held that not all were Israelites who were of Israel, and that the promises belonged not to the ungodly but to the godly.
Should he want to do this? (Si tales sunt cogitationes ejus.)
As if they wanted to say: "Yes, yes", the Lord does not have such a mind, he will reject us "rightly. According to the Hebrew way they speak like this. [Vulg.: Are then such his thoughts?]
It is true, my speeches are kind to the pious.
The prophet answers and in a few words resolves all their objections and refutes them, as if to say: I do not recognize the ungodly as mine, I do not want you if you are not pious. It is a very clear and distinct passage against our papists, who still do not believe the gospel and oppose it with a reason of proof taken from the crowd, that so many holy men in the church could not have erred for so many years etc. The Lord says: "My sayings are indeed kind", I keep what I have promised, I stand by as I have promised, but only to the pious who trust me, believe my word.
V. 8. 2) But my people have risen up like an enemy.
That is, so much is lacking in it that it should be pious and good, that it is also my enemy. It stands up against me, opposes me.
Because they rob both skirt and coat.
They are robbers, they miserably flay the poor, therefore I will not spare them, I do not recognize them as mine etc.
To those who go along safely, just like those who come out of the war.
That is, you sow strife. Where there is no strife, you seize the opportunity for strife. We have experienced this very well in the realm of Pabst.
2) This verse number is missing in the Weimar one. The following is attached to v. 7 without distinction.
V. 9: You drive the wives of my people out of their dear homes.
Some interpret this saying of the captivity, but it seems to me that it still speaks of the robbing of the ungodly chief priests, as if to say, By harshly collecting the debts you have so afflicted the poor widows and old women that they have been forced to sell their houses; you have trampled them entirely into the dust. Likewise:
You always take my jewelry from their young children.
Our [Latin] interpreter has translated the Hebrew word unrhymed by the word laustem. For it means "actually an adornment or ornament. So it is in the 110th Psalm, v. 3.: In splendoribus sancti, where the same word is, "In holy ornament." Therefore it is thought that so great has been your covetousness, so inflamed are you with the desire to gather riches, that you have taken away even the young children's ornaments; the goods with which the young children were to be adorned you have confiscated, their mothers you have driven away, and these things you have snatched. So you did not care about respectability and justice, and so you took away everything that the damage could never be repaired. And so I think it is a description of the violence against the women and the young children.
V. 10. 1) Therefore get up, you must leave, you shall not stay here.
Because you have driven out the poor women and the young children, this shall be your reward: I will drive you out again, and take away your ornaments from you, as you took away the ornaments of the young children.
For the sake of their impurity they have to be destroyed rudely (et dissipatio erit dura).
Instead of dura [hard], it can also mean fierce or strong, for that is what the Hebrew word [XXX] means.That is, those of you who are now in beautiful
1) This verse number is set in the Weimar edition only to the following section.
Appearances go along in prosperity and splendor, you who are quite extraordinarily pleasing to yourselves, before me you are quite unclean, therefore I will destroy you, and this destruction will be a cruel and terrible one, it will be over with you etc.
V. 11: If I were a spirit and a preacher of lies (Utinam essem vir ambulans vento).
What we read in our [Latin] Bible: utinam non essem, is an error. But it is the same Hebrew idiom above in Hosea [Cap.9, 7.]: vir venti his man of the wind], that is, a void (ventosus). So also here: Would to God that I were a vain man, that I were vain, false, and lying, lest that should come to pass which I so fearfully threaten thee would come to pass.
And preached how they should drink and eat.
I would that I spoke lies, then I would be silent about the cross and vengeance and destruction coming upon you, as your false prophets do; I would also proclaim to you promises and good times.
That would be a preacher for this people (Et erit stillans),
That is, the Lord will send you a preacher whom you will hear. Because you do not hear me, the prophet sent by God, you will have to hear the king of Assyria etc.
V. 12: But I will gather you, Jacob, completely.
Until now, the Lord has opposed his thoughts to the ungodly thoughts of the high priests and priests who had taken over the reign. Now he passes in a transition from the Israelite kingdom to the eternal and spiritual kingdom of Christ. For all the prophets have the way, which we have also seen above in those whom we have interpreted, that after they have sufficiently prophesied of the disturbance of the people and the outward kingdom, they pass over to the spiritual and eternal kingdom of Christ, of which they had foretold that it would be after the outward kingdom had passed away. It is very important to
note this with the prophets. For this passage can by no means be understood of the restoration of the entire outward people, as the words admittedly read. Therefore, the text itself will oblige us and certainly convince us that it must be understood of the spiritual kingdom. For it was quite certain that the kingdom of Israel should never be brought back and restored, nor is it read that it was ever restored, as the sacred histories show, and yet the prophet preaches, after the kingdom had been utterly destroyed and laid waste, that Jacob should be brought back. By this name, however, he certainly understands the whole people as a whole. Therefore, we are forced to admit that the prophet is speaking of a spiritual gathering that will come about through the proclamation of the gospel in the whole world, through which the scattered Israel will be gathered together etc. "Jacob wholly"; these words read entirely as if he would gather the whole people, whereas they have not been wholly gathered. This is also how the promise of Christ reads: In you all nations shall be blessed, while not all nations are blessed. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to this in the prophets, otherwise careless readers will stumble and cannot help but take offense at such passages. For it is quite another thing for all nations to be blessed than for all nations to accept or believe this promise of their blessing. For just as blessing is promised to all, so it is also offered to all through the gospel in Christ. God keeps what he has promised, but not all receive this blessing, not all believe him, therefore they do not obtain it. The same thing the Lord says in this passage, as if he wanted to say: I have spread my net over all Israelites by sending the gospel word of Christ, but not all obey this word, they do not want to be gathered into this sheepfold of Christ, therefore they are not gathered. That is why he speaks of the ministry of the word in this passage, as do all the prophets in similar passages, which is highly necessary for all prophets.
And bring the rest of Israel in heaps.
This is the same as what he already said about the gathering of Jacob through the ministry of the gospel.
I will put them together like a herd in a stable, and like a flock in its hurdles.
That is, I will gather them into One flock, into One sheepfold, and into the same pasture. "I will gather them finely into one flock, I will sound the gospel to them, and one spirit etc.
That it should sound of people.
That is, so great will be the abundance and the multitude of those who believe the gospel that there will be a great noise and a great multitude and a very great crowd of those who will come. And here is a clear text of the conversion of the Gentiles.
V. 13. a breaker shall go up before them, they shall break through, and go out to the gate, and their king shall go before them, and the Lord before them.
This is too weak, what we have [in the Vulgate]: pandens iter [who breaks the way]. The Hebrew reads thus: before them shall arise a breaker, therefore they shall break through, and pass through the gate etc. This passage is extraordinarily beautiful and exceedingly comforting. There is in it an indication of the cross, as if to say, I lead them to the pasture and to the sheepfold, as Christ says [John 10:28.], "I give them eternal life." But this is very important, since it is not a path that has been trodden; many things stand in the way so that the elect cannot break through, namely the devil, sin, the law, death and the whole of the old Adam, but I will make it so that nothing can withstand you, I will promise them a breaker who will break through and remove every obstacle; he will prepare the way for them, and so the passage will be easy. By the way, as I have said, this passage is not pleasant to the flesh, because the whole flesh must be killed. The world, sin, the devil, and our entire Adam oppose me from breaking through.
that we should not follow this our breaker. But Christ says [John 16:33]: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world", I have broken through; and you too, since there is nothing more in the way, shall break through, that is, this gate which was bequeathed by sin, the world and the law, but you shall break through into eternal life. And so the Lord is our Head, that is, our
Leader and Victor; as he has broken through, so shall we also break through etc. And so under the leader and prince Christ Jacob is completely gathered. Although this text seems obscure, it is quite clear from it that Christ is God and man, that he died and rose again, that he ascended to the Father and reigns forever etc.