Cap. 2, 5. But wine deceives the proud man.
According to the Hebrew it is said: As wine makes someone bad or reprehensible, so will it be with the proud man. That is to say, as wine makes men become lavish, ungodly and impudent, as gluttons do who get drunk on wine, so will my Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans, be with his own.
who are already drunk with wine, that is, have overloaded themselves with exceedingly great goods and have filled their dens to the top; but what will happen to them is what is commonly said in the common saying: "A drunken house spits out the host again," as he recites here:
That he cannot stay.
[Instead of: Et non decorabitur] it should be much
more correct name: therefore it will not
There is no new superscription in Latin here. We have placed it because we follow the division of our Bible, but also because Luther preceded us in the previous interpretation.
remain or non ornabitur. That is, they will not remain in their palaces, in this abundance of all things. With them the supremacy will no longer remain, but will be taken away from them, they will become lowly on earth etc.
Who unlocks his soul like hell.
He gives the reason for the preceding and interprets the exceedingly great drunkenness of the king of the Chaldeans, namely his immense avarice and insatiable greed, as if to say: he could not get enough, he robbed, he robbed as long as he could, never could he rid himself of this greed. "His soul," that is, he has a mind (affectum) like hell, which cannot be satisfied, as it is said in the Proverbs of Solomon [Cap. 30, 16.]. A similar passage is also in Isaiah [Cap. 5, 14.].
. But gather to himself all the heathen.
That is. The possessions of all peoples, the wealth and the very best kingdoms of the world. But this power of his will pass away, he will not be able to endure, since an all too great power falls by its own mass, as he said, and as one is in the habit of saying: No act of violence is long-lasting, as he soon adds here:
V. 6. But what is the point? All these will make a saying of him.
That is, they will seize a joke word or a mocking speech 1) or a proverb with which they will mock him, they will throw up proverbs against him and will quite brazenly and publicly poke fun at him, sparing nothing. Thus the prophet describes the very miserable and lamentable disturbance of the kingdom of the Chaldeans, as Ovid 2) says of destroyed Troy: Now the seed stands where Troy was, and must be cut off with the sickle etc. Now he adds one of the proverbs:
1) Marginal gloss cm original: The Hebrew word actually means a riddle, as is clear from the book of Judges [Cap. 14, 12.z: "Put your riddle before us," they say to Samson.
2) In the Zwickau manuscript: VlrZilius.
Woe to him who increases his wealth with the wealth of others.
That means: Badly won, badly lost. That which comes quickly, quickly passes away. "It will be to you as the grass is to the dog."
And only loads a lot of mud on itself.
In Hebrew it is only One word, which our [Latin] interpreter translated by two [namely lutum densum], but it means "mud". He punishes the king's avarice. Since he does not cease to gather together many kingdoms, they will at last be a burden and ruin to him. For he compares them to mud and says that he will be weighed down by it. This is what he said in a fine and wise way: He whom many fear must necessarily fear many. Therefore, "to bring much mud upon oneself" is to rule in such a way that one must fear. Thus it happens, as Ennius said: They may hate, if they only fear. 3) The prophet indicates that all the kingdoms will revolt against the king, since he has obtained dominion by force.
V. 7. O how suddenly shall they awake that bite thee.
He explains by a simile taken from a sleeping tyrant, who is fearful by nature, how heavy the mud will be. As if he wanted to say: You are now safe. Since things are still going well, you have confidence that you will remain in your kingdom and in your tyranny. But soon, since you do not think of it, those will rise against you who will bite you, namely those whom you now think are on your side. You will become a robber, they will rob you as you robbed them and made them tributary to you by force.
V. 8.4) For the sake of men's blood, and for the sake of iniquity in the land and in the city.
The prophet indicates in this the chief sin, namely, that he led away captive the people of God and laid waste Jerusalem, the city of God, in which was the word of God. For
3) In our original: nistuunt, but in the other relations and also elsewhere (e.g. St. Louis edition, vol. V, 871, 8177; vol. VIII, 1631) mstuant.
4) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
He emphatically calls Jerusalem "the city", as if it was the only city on the whole earth where the word of God is. The king of the Chaldeans fought against this, and this was his first sin, which the prophet puts on him here. All this is said to comfort Judah, which the prophet wanted to strengthen so that it would not despair, but would believe that the kingdom would remain unharmed until Christ came. But, as I have said, he prophesied something incredible to both the Jews and the Chaldeans: salvation and the preservation of the kingdom to the former, and destruction and ruin to the latter, as indeed it came to pass. For Cyrus king of the Persians disturbed the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans etc.
V. 9 Woe to him who is stingy to the detriment of his house.
He points to another sin, namely, the great avarice of the king and the princes, by which they made all the nations weak and helpless, by burdening them beyond measure, by imposing intolerable burdens on the subjects, so that they might build themselves very strong and beautiful castles in which they could dwell safely. etc. He says of this avarice that it will bring misfortune to the house, as if he wanted to say: This avarice will finally be harmful and evil for your house.
V. 10 But your counsel will be to the shame of your house.
That is, all this will be to the shame of your house, all that you have feared will pass over your head.
And you have sinned with all your might (Et peccavit anima tua).
By the term anima [soul] the whole devotion is indicated, that is, the ardent and complete desire. Thus Moses says of Pharaoh [2 Mos. 15, 9.]: Et implebitur anima mea etc., that is, "I will cool my weary on them." The same way of speaking is here: With thy soul thou hast sinned, that is, out of pure wickedness thou hast sinned, "that thou shouldest cool thy little weal." And that this is the right opinion is proved by what follows:
V. 11. For even the stones in the wall will cry out.
A tyrant has so little courage that he is not safe anywhere. He does not trust anyone even among his own; he is also afraid of a flying leaf. He says exactly the same thing here, as if he wanted to say: You will fear so much for yourself that, when the lowering buildings crack, you will think that a misfortune is threatening you. Because he alludes to it, since he says of the screaming of the walls. For it will soon be remembered that all these buildings and riches were obtained by evil artifice, namely from the sweat of the poor, and so they will accuse your conscience that you have ungodly brought about your riches by violence and robbery. etc. For this is what such men do when their conscience makes them guilty, that they think their sin is manifest to all creatures, as it is commonly said, "The world is too narrow for him." Likewise, "Methinks the walls look upon me." Thus the prophet spoke in a poetic manner. For poets are wont to describe thus: The happy seeds and the laughing meadows etc.
Woe to him who builds the city with blood.
He describes the third sin, in which he declares the king and his kinsmen guilty not only of avarice, namely, that they collected and extorted taxes by force, but also that they accomplished many things by blood, that is, that they killed many innocent people, whose possessions and goods they then seized. They had oppressed many innocent people, against whom they had exercised unjust justice and had pronounced unjust judgments, so that they, by condemning many, might take property, as he says here: "You judge the city with injustice," that is, with unjust judgment.
V. 13. What the nations have worked for you must burn with fire.
That means, for this your godlessness you will receive this reward: You will suffer this punishment from God, namely that Babylon and your whole kingdom will be set on fire, and thus everything will perish by conflagration.
will. Meanwhile, the inhabitants will struggle miserably to extinguish the flame, but will be unable to do so; they will be deceived in their efforts. Therefore, they will be tormented in two ways: that their goods and everything they have will be set on fire, then that they will be lacking in their great effort and endeavor, wanting to preserve theirs while they are unable to do so.
V. 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters that cover the sea.
A similar passage is in Isaiah [Cap. 11, 9.], where he describes the glory that shall be revealed through the gospel, namely, that it shall come to pass that throughout all the world, where the gospel is preached, there shall be abundant remission of sins etc. But here the prophet does not speak of the revelation of grace, but, as other prophets are wont to speak, of the knowledge of the Lord's vengeance on the wicked, which he visited home, as [Num. 14:21]: "As truly as I live, so shall all the earth be filled with the glory of the Lord." And as the Lord says to Pharaoh in the second book of Moses [Cap. 9, 16.]: "Therefore have I raised thee up, that my power may appear in thee, and that my name may be declared in all lands." The prophet says the same thing here, as if to say: Just as the Lord was glorified by killing the godless Pharaoh and others against whom he proceeded with punishment, so he will cause, after Babylon is destroyed, all nations to glorify him, to give thanks to him, and to ascribe to him the attainment of victory.
V. 15 Woe to you who pour out your neighbor's drink and mix in your anger and make him drunk so that you see his shame.
The fables of the Jews, which they bring up about this passage, are null and void: the king of the Chaldeans gave Hezekiah a potion to make a covenant with him, and I do not know what else, as the Jews are extraordinary artists in making their things great. But it is a figure of speech that is common in Scripture. For by
the cup and the drink the Scripture denotes wrath and vengeance, as it is said in the Psalm [Ps. 11, 6. Vulg.]: "A weather (spiritus procellarum) is the theil of their cup." Very frequently Jeremiah and Isaiah used this idiom. "To drink the cup" therefore means to suffer misfortune and punishment; but "to give to drink" to inflict punishment, to afflict someone. He therefore speaks of the excessive cruelty and tyranny of the king, namely, that he had exercised excessive tyranny against those whom he had conquered in war, had afflicted them more than the Lord wanted them afflicted, as he said above in the first chapter, v. 12: "Let them be to us, O Lord, only a punishment; let them, O our guardian, only chasten us. "etc. The HErr was intent only on chastening, not that he would destroy, but the king was intent on disturbing. And this is what he calls here: "to mix in the wrath".
That you see his shame.
This image is taken from a drunkard who lies bare, exposed to the eyes of all, like Noah. It is therefore the opinion: All wealth, all power, all goods you have taken from them, so that nothing else is left to them but shame and the highest poverty etc.
V. 16: You also drink so that you stagger (et circumcidere).
For so it is to be read according to the Hebrew, and the opinion is, I will make thee drunken again, that thou shalt lie bare and shameful, so that as a drunken man all the heathen shall utterly cut thee down, that is, that, being thus afflicted and cast down, they shall plunder thee again, and rob thee of all that is thine.
For you will be surrounded by the cup in the right hand of the Lord.
That means your misfortune will be very great.
And must spit shamefully for your glory.
^Instead of vomitus ignominiae] in Hebrew is only One word, which our ^Latin^ interpreter translated by two. But I confess that I do not know what the Hebrew
word actually means. Therefore, for the time being, I follow the interpretation of our interpreter, that it means: a shameful spitting, a shameful and not a respectable one. Therefore the opinion is: Just as someone who spits shows that he has drunk too much or eaten too much, so all will bear witness of you that you are already deprived of all your glory, all goods and all honor, while you were both exceedingly rich and exceedingly glorious until now, namely, you had eaten so much. etc.
V. 17 For the iniquity committed in Lebanon shall overtake thee.
He says that the most prominent cause of the disturbance of the kingdom of the Chaldeans was that they had set themselves against Judah, the people of God, and raged terribly against Jerusalem, against the city of God, where the Word of God reigned. For this is how Satan uses his powers most where he sees the Word of God reigning. But he calls Judea "Lebanon" according to the way of the Scriptures, because in distant lands Judea was called after the name of famous mountains or rivers, as can be seen from the Psalm [Ps. 42, 7.]: "I remember you in the land by the Jordan. "etc. -
And the disturbed animals will frighten you.
That is, you laid waste the land, you carried away all the cattle. According to your will you have exercised tyranny against the people you have conquered. The same will happen to you etc.
V. 18. What then will help the image that his Master has formed?
So far we have seen prophetic threats against the kingdom of the Chaldeans. At last he adds here a kind of mockery, imitating in it Moses, who similarly mocked the idolatrous children of Israel, who had departed from the true God and the service of the true God, saying [Deut. 32:37.], "Where are now thy gods?" etc. According to this example, the prophet here also mocks the king and the kingdom of the Chaldeans, as if to say: Behold, I have given you the
You will be disturbed, you will lose the kingdom, yours will be taken away captive, because all your sins deserve this. But now may your gods help you, whom you worship and adore as true gods. Call upon them, now may they deliver thee from this ruin etc. But how will they be able to help you, since they are mute images, stones that cannot speak? With great emphasis he calls their idols "dumb idols" and stones that cannot speak, as if he wanted to say: Now finally you realize that your idols are not true gods, since they, where your affairs are extremely desperate, cannot help you where they should help the most. So the Jews also mocked the other nations, as it is written in the Psalm [Ps. 115:3-6]: "Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths and do not speak; they have eyes and do not see; they have ears and do not hear. "etc. [V. 3.:] "But our God is in heaven, He can create whatever He wills." Thus the prophet also adds a comparison here; for he compares the true GOtt with the idols of the heathen.
V. 20. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.
That is, our God lives in such a way that even all the world trembles and is silent before him. That is, it falls silent, it does not even dare to murmur before him, as it also says in Isaiah [Cap. 41, l.]: "Let the islands be silent before me" etc. This is indeed a short word, but, short as it is, it nevertheless comprehends very great things in itself. For it embraces both testaments, the old and the new. The face of the Lord in Scripture means the knowledge or future of the Lord when He is made known and revealed to us. Therefore, before the revelation of the Gospel, God is known throughout the world, but much more is He known after the revelation of the Gospel. Gospel. And before this knowledge of God, every man lays down his hope (ponit cristam), so that no one has anything to boast of except the Lord etc. This is what the prophet calls here: that all the world is silent before the face of the Lord.