1. interpretation Who the prophet Nahum,
according to the Altenburg manuscript. *)
From lectures which began in June 1525 and ended on July 4, 1525. First printed in 1552, then after the manuscript in 1886.
Translated from Latin.
Preface on the Prophet Nahum,
and what the same is about.
To this prophecy also the name of the prophet agrees. For Nahum in Hebrew means a comforter or a comforted one. In this prophecy he does justice to this name in all respects. For in it there is nothing but comfort for the rest of the people of Judah, who had been saved from the destruction of Israel. For above in the preceding prophets we have seen the disturbance of all Israel, and Israel has been so miserably afflicted and oppressed and led away captive that it has never been brought back again. Also Jonah, as we have seen above, is sent as a prophet to the Assyrian kingdom.
to reproach the Assyrians for their ungodliness; and the matter turned out happily. For by his preaching he brought the whole kingdom of the Assyrians to repentance, which the Lord would otherwise have destroyed if they had not repented, as we have abundantly discussed above in Jonah. Since they repented, the punishment was postponed. But, as the hearts of men siud: when the punishment ceased, so also the repentance ceased. They fell back into the same ungodliness they had suffered from before. For it is impossible that men, when they are well, should not behave more wantonly than is right, since they are
*This writing also belongs to your chclus of Luther's lectures on the minor prophets, which he held in the years 1524 to 1526. In the Altenburg manuscript it has the title: OUristiunissimi kutris v. 2Iurtini Outliori Llariti novi OoMruSnturius in Kalium kropwotani. ^VittomkorAuo. LI.D.XXV. On June 13 had been Luther's wedding. After the completion of the lectures on Micah (ain April 7, 1525) there had been a longer break. Because of the peasants' revolt, he went to Thuringia and preached there in many places to establish peace and quiet, established a school in Eisleben, wrote there his book: "Ermahnung zum Frieden auf die zwölf Artikel der Bauerschaft in Schwaben" ("Admonition to Peace on the Twelve Articles of the Peasantry in Swabia") and was sent from there to the dying Chur-
The kingdom of the world has not been able to make modest use of prosperity, which, by the way, as the latter has said, touches the hearts of the wise. And this has been the ruin of all the empires, that they have not used the wealth modestly. Thus the Assyrians have perished; thus the Persians by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, the Romans by the Goths. And today the pope is killed by the word of God. This has also been seen by sensible people, who otherwise were far from godliness, because they said: What is great does not stand for long. For it is not possible that the hearts of men, when it is well with them, should keep themselves in their bounds, and not be puffed up. The same thing, as I have said, happened to the Ninevites, since they returned to their old ways through riches that came to them and happy success in their affairs, however much they were taught better by Jonah. And therefore they also threatened Judah with the lower ferment, as before they had led away all Israel miserably captive, and had the confidence that they could do it easily. For the people of Judah were small and weak, the smallest part of the kingdom, so that, as it stood, the Assyrians had no doubt at all that they could
would easily devour the small number. And for this purpose the prophet Nahum and the one who followed Nahum were sent to comfort and encourage these small and weak remnants of God's people and the lowest yeast of the people, so that they would not despair when the Assyrians attacked them, but would believe that God would see to it that they were preserved.
Therefore, in sum, this prophet deals with keeping Judah, which was still left from the exceedingly great disturbance, in faith against God, to make the hearts quite firm and certain that this kingdom would remain in the word and service of God, that the promises of God would have to be fulfilled, and that it would not cease but last until the coming of Christ, who was to be born out of Judah, as the prophecies indicate. And so there is nothing else in the prophet but the teaching of faith. For he teaches us to trust in God, and most of all, when we despair of all human help, human powers and advice, may the Lord help his own, protect his own against all attacks of the enemy, however powerful they may be etc. But here faith is needed that believes this etc.
When Luther arrived in Wittenberg on May 6, the prince had already passed away (on May 5). His body was brought from Lochau to Wittenberg, and on May 9 and 10 Luther preached at his funeral in the collegiate church. At the same time he wrote his second book: "Wider die mörderischen und räuberischen Rotten der Bauern. Around the same time, Carlstadt, Luther's enemy, was kept hidden by Luther in his house (See St. Louis Edition, Vol. XX, Introduction, p. 24 sf.). The ftonio inissr in Luther's letters to Johann Brismann, dated July 3, 1525, is Carlstadt (the letter in De Wette, vol. Ill, p. 21 f., is not to be dated post n866N8ioni8,'but 1. kor. po8t vi8itntioni8 sXlnrinos, as ibick. Vol. VI, p. 481 is noted, but Seidemann errs in understanding Cellarius by this. De Wette himself says vol. Ill, p. 21, it is Carlstadt the üoiuo un86r). Our writing is found in the Latin Wittenberg edition (1552), torn IV, col. 613; according to the Altenburg manuscript in the Erlanger, oxe^. oxx., torn. XXVII, -p. 59, and in the Weimar, vol. XIII, p. 371. The Jeuaische edition did not include the same, perhaps because doubts were entertained as to whether this writing was to be attributed to Luther, perhaps merely because it was not overlooked and acknowledged by Luther himself; but for the fact that the interpretation itself is to be attributed to Luther, the three manuscripts which have come down to us, the Zwickauer, the Altenburger, and the Hallische, vouch. The Wittenberg edition and the Altenburg manuscript are based on the same original, for both, with the exception of a few variants, agree word for word. The Altenburg manuscript was not available to the Wittenberg edition, but probably the manuscript that had come to Veit Dietrich from the printer of Joel, Amos and Obadiah, Joh. Albert in Strasbourg, from which Dietrich produced the Altenburg manuscript. For even the additions and extensions made in the text of the Altenburg manuscript have not been transferred to the Wittenberg edition. Incidentally, the deviations of both redactions from each other are extremely small. For example, on the first two pages of Nahum in the Weimar edition (which account for about four "columne" in our edition) there are only two variants that are of concern, namely alioyui instead of uliyui and pr688i instead of proko88i. In both cases, the reading of the Altenburg manuscript deserves preference. We therefore reproduce the text according to the Weimar edition. According to the Wittenberg edition, the writing was translated into German in 1555 by Stephan Agricola and is found in the Wittenberg edition (1556), vol. VIII, p. 529; in the Altenburg, vol. VII, p. 662 with the incorrect date 1541 (which Seckendorf, who always used this edition, repeats, Hi8t. I.utü., Ub. Ill, 8oet. XXIV, 8 X6II); in the Leipziger, vol. VIII, p. 448 and in Walch, vol. VI, 3040. The old translation, although good on the whole, is nevertheless defective and arbitrary in many respects, and therefore no longer sufficient for our time; therefore we have translated it anew.