In this last chapter, the prophet concludes his entire prophecy in general by punishing the perverse and godless customs. He proclaims the captivity and the future salvation. He is anxious for the people. He anxiously does everything to convert the people to the good, as a faithful shepherd is wont to do. He compares himself to a vine dresser or to the one who visits the vineyard and gathers the remains, and still does not find what he desires. This passage is taken from Genesis, and so in other passages, Isa. 5, 7. The gatherer or vineyard keeper is the prophet who goes through the people etc. and finds nothing but the wicked.
V. 1.4) [Oh, I am like one who is slackening in the vineyard, where no grapes are to be found].
4) The following his V. 3. is in the Weimar edition without indication of a verse number still drawn to the introduction of the chapter.
det to eat, and yet would like to have the best fruit]. 5)
As those who gather figs, Autumnus [Herbstl does not stand here. In Amos 6) [Cap. 8, 1. f.] the same word is [XXX]: Behold, a container, since the fattening cattle are gathered in the container etc. Ficus [figs] or that which is gathered. Similarly, summer also means. [It has happened to me] like [one who] seeks grapes in the harvest, that is, I have become like
5) Vulgata: Vae mihi, quia factus sum sicut qui colligit in autumno racemos vindemiae: non est botrus ad comedendum, praecoquas ficus desideravit anima mea.
6) In the text, both here and in the Hall manuscript, instead of "Amos" it says: in Ossa, but erroneously. What is meant is the passage we have indicated. For in the Zwickau as well as in the Altenburg manuscript this passage is interpreted as follows. In Hosea there is no such passage.
a husbandman and a father of a family who visits his vineyard and wants fruit etc. Notice what is said about the cursed fig tree [Matth. 21, 18. ff.] etc. Quite similarly it is said in Isaiah, Cap. 5, 2: I thought I would find berries and grapes etc. but I have been deceived etc. "Would that there were a good man among them!" So much is missing, that so many berries would be there, that I could squeeze a grape. I desire the firstfruits, that is, I have not found so much that I could give the firstfruits to the priests; hardly do I find that I can eat myself. He understands combs that are full of berries etc. This is not to be understood of the supernumeraries: he finds absolutely nothing but combs of grapes and leaves without grapes etc.
V. 2 [The pious people (sanctus) are gone in this land
They are expressive words. "Holy" (sanctus) is he who has obtained mercy. He opposes truth to hypocrisy; [he means one who is] holy before God and righteous in his walk etc. Thus love is extinguished, that each seeks his own, and cares not that his brother perish. They are full of hatred and envy, which takes place where love is not. Each one seeks to drive his brother out of his possession.
Each one chases the other to destroy him. 1)
Mortem, that is, that he banish him (anathema); [this happens when] something is made nothing, and irretrievably. The banished was not loosed, 3 Mos. 27, 28. f. That is, never shall it rise again or flourish again. He does not find the firstfruits, that is, true saints, but hypocrites. He did not want them.
V. 3. and think they do well when they do evil.
Not that they were so extraordinarily foolish that they would have considered the robbery something sacred etc. He is talking about the thoughts and actions of the hypocrites. That is, according to the truth they are not holy, but they are
1) Vulgate: Vir tratrsm suum aä martern venatur.
have the ambition [ to appear holy, they pretend], 2) which is absolutely not according to the truth. In that of which they most boast, they are most to be blamed etc. [Matth. 7, 18.:] "They come in sheep's clothing" etc. In Isaiah [Cap. 5, 20.] it says: "They turn light into darkness" etc. That, in which God has the most abomination, that they praise the most.
What the prince wills, the judge will speak.
The prince demands, and the judge adheres to him in his decisions (adhaeret in reddendo), he collects the new taxes etc. Another sense is this: the prince, any one who is among them, is a promoter, a distresser; they do not serve the commonwealth, they do not protect the good etc. But the judge est in reddendo, that is, he takes gifts. The princes are wolves, the judges unjust, because they judge according to what is given to them; they look to gifts. The judge is after gifts, that is, if you give him, he will give you justice; if you do not give him, he will not give you justice. See the tenth Psalm, which is about the Antichrist.
s[The mighty counsel according to their will of courage.]
The great ones order what they want, they do not benefit the people etc.; they corrupt the people spiritually and physically.
[And spin it any way they want.]
[Et conturbaverunt or] perplexam fecerunt, [they have it] "gewirret in each other". Thus it is written in the 2nd Psalm, v. 3 [: "Let us cast away from us their cords], and elsewhere [Ps. 118, 27.]: in condensis. 3) This people is completely without order and law, they do what they want. The people are without law, the princes without fear etc. A proverb:
V. 4. The best of them is like a thorn, and the most upright like a hedge.
"Like a thorn." Are they all evil? etc. Matth. 7, 16. s: "Can one also read grapes
2) Added by us according to the Hall manuscript. In our original the sentence reads: 86Ü kubsnt stuüia, Hua.6 muito minus sunt vsru.
3) Compare the note in the previous paper Col. 1249.
He is preaching to you as if to say, "Your prophets speak things that please you, proclaiming that there will be peace and safety; but I say that there will be no peace, for the kingdom will be disturbed, you will go as captives to Assyria. And yet there will be peace, but a different peace and in a different way than you hope it will be. Before this peace comes, you will be miserably afflicted; you will first suffer the violence and vengeance of the Assyrian who will trample our palaces. But you have not recognized the way of peace. This peace will be spiritual. I preach to you an eternal duke and an eternal kingdom, but in vain you hope that this king will come while you remain in the fleshly kingdom, for you will be taken away first.
For seven shepherds and eight princes shall be raised up over him.
He will indeed take revenge on you, he will afflict you miserably, but afterwards we will retaliate against him again, he will be subdued again. We will send against him seven shepherds and eight common officers 1) (praefectos gregario). This seems to be an extraordinarily foolish prophecy, that against such an exceedingly powerful kingdom seven shepherds and eight common or lowly (plebeios) officials are sent. For these shall again destroy the kingdom of the Assyrians. But everything goes to the spiritual kingdom, that is, we will not attack the Assyrian (eum) by force of arms, not with auxiliary troops supported by mighty princes of the world, but we will send to them shepherds, some uneducated chiefs of the people, who will preach the gospel, and by their preaching will subdue that whole kingdom, that is, I will send to them apostles, lowly and common men, not mighty. And this is it that he saith, Eight leaders of men out of the people, that is, lowly and base. For that others interpret it from the leaders of the Persians, and I know not what others, is nothing. Then believe
1) Luther has this translation in the Zwickau manuscript.
I think that the prophet used a certain number for an indefinite one to indicate that through a small team, through very few, despised and lowly people, the exceedingly powerful empire of the Assyrians should be converted to the obedience of faith etc. For the same expression is found elsewhere, in Ecclesiastes Cap. 11, 2: "Divide out among seven and among eight," that is, "Always surrender."
V. 5. 2) Who destroy the land of Assyria with the sword.
Pascent in gladio, that is, with the word of God, your sword of the Spirit, as the apostle [Eph. 6:17.] says.
And the land of Nimrod with their bare arms.
I will rather translate the Hebrew word by sword [than by in lanceis]. But the opinion of this passage is the same that Christ expressed Matth. 10, 34. in other words: "I did not come to send peace, but the sword. For I am come to stir up man against his Father. "etc. So he says here: I will send them the word; if the same be believed, they shall convert one another; the father shall attack the son, the son the father. And "so shall we be delivered from Assyria", that is, if we have been led away into captivity by the Assyrians before, if we have gone entirely to reasons, then again the Assyrians will be overcome after this new king has come and the new kingdom has been set up, and it does not take place that we hope this king will come if you have not been led away into captivity before etc.
V. 6. The rest of Jacob will also be among many peoples.
Having indicated the vengeance that was to be inflicted on the kingdom of the Assyrians because of the captivity of the kingdom of Israel, he now describes by what power this vengeance was to be carried out, namely by the overriding of the kingdom of the Assyrians.
2) Here the verse number (v. 6. according to the Vulgate) is missing in the Weimar.
from Jacob. He describes the power and the ministry of the apostles and the other first preachers of the gospel, what kind of people they would be, first among the Jews, from whom they were taken, then among all peoples in the whole world. - Among many peoples", because at that time the synagogue was populous, since many Gentiles had also converted to Judaism, as can be seen from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. And this prophecy certainly looks to the day of Pentecost, when, after the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven, the apostles spoke in many tongues, as the book of Acts shows.
Like a dew from the Lord.
That is, they will be sent by the Holy Spirit, not by men; the thing will be done from heaven without human counsel or human action. Encouraged by the Spirit, they will drip the sweet gospel, just as the dew comes down from heaven on the seeds and flowers, watering and moistening the earth without our knowing it. So also they will preach after the Holy Spirit is sent from heaven etc. Paul interpreted it 1 Cor. 3, 6. thus, "I planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the flourishing" etc. [v. 9. "For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field work and God's building." Thus the gospel is a dew sent down from heaven, and the apostles are called a dew by the gospel which they preach, because they water the grass, that is, they water the people by preaching the word of the gospel etc.
That waits for no one.
That is, it does not wait for the hand of man, it is not added by the works and efforts of man, but it comes forth by itself without any processing. It shows the effectiveness and power of the believed gospel, against the preachers of the law, who know nothing else than that they press and force with their preaching. They cannot give the power to fulfill the law or a willing heart, but rather they refuse to do so.
they increase wrath and sin through this compulsion. The same comparison as here is also in the 72nd Psalm, v. 16: "It will be green in the cities, like grass on the earth", that is, only through the word, and filled with the Holy Spirit, they will bear fruit voluntarily without human work and contribution, not forced by the fear of punishment, like the people of the law, who are forced by force and laws. The prophet says the same thing here: the gospel will be enough for them, the Spirit will teach them all truth, they will not need to be taught the doctrines and statutes of men, but of their own free will they will be good, the others from Jacob dropping dew on them. This happened on the day of Pentecost, when Peter and the other apostles were preaching. Thus he distinguishes the people of the law from the people of the gospel, who are a willing people, who do not have to be forced by laws or statutes, but are carried away by the impulse of the Holy Spirit out of free cords to do good. For they are driven by the Spirit of God, as the apostle says [Rom. 8:14].
V. 7. 1) [Yes, the remnant of Jacob will be among the Gentiles among many peoples].
They will be such people also "among the Gentiles", that is, in the church of the Gentiles, not only among the Jews, as we said above. And this is the spiritual conquest of the Gentiles by the word of the Gospel. For the apostles and the other first preachers of the gospel, who were taken from the Jews, are the heads and the foundation [Eph. 2:20], or made princes of the earth, as the Psalm says, that is, they are the foundation of the church in the whole world, both among the Gentiles and the Jews.
Like a lion among the animals in the forest.
These are figurative speeches with which he indicates the power of the Word and the power of the Spirit, as if to say: Just as a lion robs, takes flight, throws down, when he
1) This verse number (according to the Vulgate V. 8.) is missing in the Weimar one and the following section is attached to the preceding one without distinction.
If the word of the gospel breaks into the herds of cattle, it will also subdue everything. For the gospel has broken through with the greatest power and force, tearing apart and destroying the kingdoms of the Gentiles, so that they could not escape its power and destruction. For the kingdoms, however mighty and great, have been converted as that of the Assyrians, Romans etc. It is completely the same as what he said above Cap. 4, 13: "I will make you horns of iron and claws of brass" etc. So the prophet often repeats the same thing, but with different words and prophetic images, and out of the fullness of the Spirit.
V. 9: In that day, saith the Lord, will I put away thy horses from thee.
He adds this to indicate that he is not speaking of the physical kingdom, but of the spiritual kingdom, otherwise it does not fit with the preceding, in which he promises victory against all the Gentiles, which certainly cannot be understood of outward power or weapons, but spiritually, through the preaching of the Gospel, which is a power of God. Thus he says here: You will be subject to all the Gentiles, you will subdue all, but you will be inactive in all the earth, you will have nothing in the way of weapons, not horses, not castles, not fortifications and counselors to rely on, and yet you will overcome all the Gentiles through the Gospel, namely this is the power and might of God etc. But meanwhile the apostles are as it were destined to die, as it is said in 1 Cor. 4, 11: "We suffer hunger and thirst and siud naked and are beaten" etc. Likewise 2 Cor. 6, 4. f.: "In great patience, in tribulations, in distresses, in beatings, in prisons" etc. [v. 10. .:] "As the poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing in themselves, yet having all things." Hence the opinion of this passage: I will put away thy horses from thee, I will take away thy chariots, that is, I will make thee so minded as to despise all splendor and all powers of the flesh; I will give thee another power, other weapons, by which thou shalt prevail against all the heathen. You shall not rely on human strength, but from the
Heaven I will send you strength and power to subdue everything.
V. 11. 1) And will cut off the sorcerers from you.
There are many words in Hebrew that mean soothsayers. Moses, in the fifth book, Cap. 18, 10. f., brought almost all of them together; we have made a distinction as much as we could, so that they would be understood. And I translate the Hebrew word, which our Latin translation has given by maleficia, by the word augur; but it means those who tell fortunes from the flight of birds and foretell future things. And instead of divinationes, which we read, I translate conjectores, that is, those who interpret signs, whether in the heavens or on earth, as, strange births and other such things. With these words, however, he covertly pulls through the false prophets and stabs them, as if he wanted to say: I will cause you to no longer use the counsels of men, since they are vain, as the Psalm says (Ps. 94, 11.sh I will take them away from you, since they have nothing certain and firm; they only assume, they cannot determine anything certain. But this one thing must certainly take place, that we may be quite certain in our consciences about the word which we either teach or by which we are taught, which human teachings cannot accomplish. For the conscience is still uncertain about the will of God, and the teachers of human statutes cannot strengthen and establish dismayed and frightened consciences. Thus says the 14th Psalm, v. 3: 2) "They know not the way of peace." Likewise (v. 5. Vulg.], "There they fear, since there is nothing to fear." But the gospel makes the conscience certain and gives it peace etc. So everything is said here comparatively, as if he wanted to say: Now you rely on your castles, your fortifications and your power of arms, likewise on idolatry and carnal counselors, but I will take all that from you, I will make everything completely firm and certain for you.
1) Here a verse number is missing in the Weimar.
2) According to the Vulgate. Compare St. Louis edition, vol. IV, 904.
V. 12. 1) That you should no longer worship the work of your hands.
That is, the idols. This way of speaking is also frequent in Moses. Also those worship the work of their hands who trust in their works and in the righteousness of the flesh, for this is making an idol. Otherwise, without this trust, an idol is nothing, as the apostle says [1 Cor. 8:4], but that in which I trust, in which I rely, and to which I ascribe righteousness, is in truth in the place of God, as we have said above quite abundantly of the image of God. In short, I will destroy your groves and destroy this false worship and the powers of which you now still have much and on which you rely. Then the complete and right worship will be there through the Word and the Spirit.
V.14. And I will take vengeance with fury and wrath on the nations that will not obey.
1) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
He adds a threat; he threatens the despisers with misfortune, so that the greatness of such a great good deed is not left unnoticed, as if he wanted to say: Although this is the highest grace and eternal life, it will still happen that few will believe; will not be accepted. For though the gospel is the power of God, yet it is an offense to the Jews and a foolishness to the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 1:23. But I will not suffer it to be despised with impunity, for I will avenge it on the despisers. Therefore he said this for the terror of the wicked, who despise and persecute the word of the gospel, that they would suffer punishment from him; then also for the comfort of the preachers of the word, that they may persevere in their profession and carry out their ministry faithfully, however much they may see that the gospel is despised by the world. Likewise, they should suffer the persecutions of the wicked and take vengeance for despising the word of God, following the example of Christ, who reserved vengeance for the one who judges righteously, 1 Pet 2:23.