Cap. 2, 5. But wine deceives the proud man.
It should be a new chapter. So it is to be read: But how the wine deceives. A proud man is like the wine that deceives, cheats or makes easily contemptible. He wants to say in this way: The wine makes the man reprehensible and bad. So it must be translated: As wine makes someone contemptible, as there are the drunkards, the gluttons; as it happens to those who have such a demeanor before too much wine that they are also mocked by the children, because they load themselves up with too much wine, so it will be with my proud man, that is, with the king of the Chaldeans. They are drunk with wine, that is, they have filled themselves with other people's goods, with other people's work; "it will go with them" according to the proverb, "A full house spits out the host." Because you have filled yourself too much, therefore you will not be adorned, you will not remain powerful. This expression is ambiguous, XXX means to dwell or to make beautiful palaces. Therefore, it is applied to the beautiful. In the Song of Moses [2 Mos. 15, 2.] it is said: I will adorn (ornabo), that is, I will make Him an adorned temple and a beautiful tabernacle. In this way it may be taken here also. - "The man," that is, the king with the people will not remain in their palaces, but will be spit out. 1) They are drunk. This he interprets: For they have filled themselves after the manner of a drunken man.
Who locks out his soul like hell.
He describes that drunkenness in figurative speech. It is insatiable. They rob what belongs to all peoples. "The soul," that is, its desire, like hell, which is said in Scripture to be insatiable, as it is said in the Proverbs of Solomon (Cap. 30, 16] and in Isaiah, Cap. 5, 14. Death
1) Here the Erlanger has: sruovsntur; the Weimarsche: 6voin6ntur. We have followed the latter reading.
does not say: It is enough. He has an insatiable maw that could not be satiated. He has seized the possessions of all peoples, their riches, their possessions. "That is to say, he has drunk his fill of wine." But he will not remain, because no violence lasts forever. He lays out how he will not stay, how the house will spit him out.
V. 6. But what is the point? All these will make a saying of him.
He wants to say: They will seize a saying, a proverb, which refers to this king, a Räthsel. "Räthseln," propono, in the Psalm. In the book of Judges (Cap. 14, 12.fj, where Samson said, I set before you a riddle. The tongue puts forward a question. One will speak against the king, who is drunk with the goods of all nations, and exceedingly boldly they will speak out. In one word the prophet has taken away the whole kingdom, saying that they will sing of it in proverbs. And the regions where Troy was, - so that [poet] makes a proverb out of the whole kingdom. As if 2) the destruction had already happened; this will be the proverb:
Woe to him who increases his wealth with the wealth of others!
Badly won, badly lost. What arises quickly, passes quickly. The foreign property, "how well it is received by him," as the grass is received by the dog! The other part of the proverb:
How long will it last? And only loads a lot of mud on itself.
Densum lutum, "mud," void things. A figure of speech of the Hebrews. You do not cease to heap up "mud" against yourself, that is, the hatred and displeasure of all the nations you afflict. An excellent proverb. What has he achieved by this piling up?
2) Weimarsche: quuru; Erlanger: quarr". We have followed the latter reading.
brought? Nothing but that he has brought mud upon himself. He whom many fear must fear many. So take that again for it, that the peoples and cities hate you, as those 1) said: They may hate, if they only fear. A rule, which is attained by friendship, is stronger than that, which is brought about by force. All nations will be forced to serve you, but when the opportunity presents itself, they will immediately rise up against you and destroy you. Thus, God threatens the princes through the peasants. They will not be moved, they will not acknowledge the benevolence of God who has punished them, but will provoke Him to be even more angry. God will cause an uproar in a short time etc. All these words of the prophet we can apply to our times. "How will it come to pass?"
V. 7. O how suddenly those who bite you will wake up, and those who push you away will awaken! etc.
He presents the likeness of a sleeping tyrant who is fearful by nature, who is afraid of the crash of a board or fire. So it threatens you. Thou sleepest securely now, and knowest not that suddenly some one cometh etc., namely, the kings of the Persians and Medes; suddenly, as thou thinkest it not, as thou sayest, It is peace and safety. They shall awake, whom thou thinkest to be asleep, and hold it with thee. These will come and bite you, as, the king of the Persians.
You have to give it to them.
To rob. As you have robbed them, so they will rob you.
V. 8. for you have robbed many Gentiles etc.
This is the mud that will press you down. This will happen because of your main sin, which is:
For the sake of the blood of the people, and for the sake of iniquity in the land and in the city.
The prophet makes the Babylonian captivity the main sin by which he took Judah and Jerusalem. The prophet does this for the comfort of the weak people.
1) Erlanger: 6aIiAii1a (Lust. 6al. 30).
The Lord has not forgotten you, but will punish this sin of the king. The Lord has not forgotten you, but will punish this sin of the king. You are the first whom the Lord will avenge; you should be sure that this kingdom will not last. This was unbelievable, as it is unbelievable today. The kingdom that was so flourishing was nothing, so quickly it perished. See the book of Daniel at the end [Cap. 12, 10.]; they did not believe what was prophesied, yet some believed. The prophet here emphatically calls Jerusalem "the city", as if only this One city was in the whole world, where the worship and the word of God was. So far he has spoken of the first sin, now the second follows.
V. 9 Woe to him who is stingy to the detriment of his house.
The first sin was the suppression of the word of God, which is the highest sin of all; the other is avarice, which made all the nations weak and sucked them dry. For the prophet indicates that the king and princes of the Chaldeans were exceedingly stingy, since they burdened the people with excessive tributes in order to fortify the cities in which they could remain secure against all enemies, but they did nothing. - "To the misfortune of his house," that is, this stinginess will finally be to the detriment of the house.
That he may lay his nest on high, that he may escape the accident.
You wanted to make this city so high that you would live exceedingly high and be safe against all nations, and for this you used unjust extortion. - "Accident." See how God looks at hearts. You build beautiful nests for yourself, that you may be safe. The tyrants do not trust anyone. Now they seek very safe oerters, that they may be safe against all accident. This did not take place etc.
V. 10 But your counsel will be a disgrace to your house.
The counsel will turn against your head, against all the people and the princes of the Chaldeans. Since you have oppressed many nations, you have sinned with all your might (pec-.
cator anima tua). 1) "The soul" denotes such a sense as when someone sins with all his heart, therefore because the soul is full of selfishness 2). Moses says of the king Pharaoh [2 Mos. 15, 9. Vulg.]: "I will draw out my sword, and my soul shall be satisfied", "I will cool my little mill". "All thy little weary [thou] hast cooled" in sinning. You have sinned from no other cause than pure wickedness. The following saying proves that this is the opinion.
V. 11. For even the stones in the wall will cry out.
The prophets "have just seen" the heart movements. Nothing is certain to a tyrant. A rustling leaf frightens them. He flees from "a crash" in the bedchamber. When we are alone in the sleeping chamber, when the buildings are lowered, there is a noise and a crash. When those who are careful hear the cracking of a beam, they are immediately frightened and think that there is a large number of enemies. And this happens because they have an evil conscience, because it occurs to them: this is brought about by the sweat of the poor. That which they did not want to glorify so many preachers before, causes a crash afterwards. We say: "The world is too narrow for him", since stones and walls seem to speak, since everything seems hostile. On the other hand: a field or a meadow laughs, it seems to address us with its loveliness, the beautifully embroidered curtains (aulaea) wish you happiness. These are personal poems. So here is a poetic speech that makes the stones and the beams talk, because they accuse your conscience that the wall was built with injustice.
And the bars on the locked will answer them.
Augustine calls the wood suscudes, by which one rod is joined to another, that one rod is joined to another, that one rod is joined to another, that one rod is joined to another, that one rod is joined to another, that one rod is joined to another, and that one rod is joined to another.
I ) In the Erlanger is here still in the text: "German: du bist ein bub in der haut", in the Weimarschen it is missing. Perhaps it is only a marginal gloss.
2) Here the Erlanger; kRilistei, the Weimarsche offers: "?Ui1i8tu6i s?p'. .We have assumed IMilantinK.
3) So set by us. The Erlanger has: "knZit enim . . .the Weimar one: "kngit a kregen".
holds. That is, in your camp you will hear the crashing of the buildings, whether they be of wood or stone. And this will frighten you, you will think: This has been acquired unjustly. The third sin:
Woe to him who builds the city with blood!
That is, by murder. This is a still more terrible robbery, that he not only extorted taxes in a miserly way, but also "with blood", that is, that you killed many, made widows and orphans, and shed blood. The prophet speaks against the whole empire, that such people were in it, who accused the innocent, so that they could build beautiful palaces by robbing them of their possessions. This is what tyrants do everywhere, including ours, and they do not pay attention to how great a sin it is.
And wrecks the city with injustice.
Through unjust judgments, by which you have extorted many things.
V. 13. [Is it not so, that it shall come to pass from the Lord of hosts? That which the nations have wrought for thee must be burned with fire; and that which the people are weary of must be lost]. 4)
The Lord will repay you for this injustice you have done to other peoples and to your own. What? That your nations will labor in much [fire], in shame and famine. I believe that it will be the same as Jeremiah 5) [Cap.
4) Vulgate: Nnm^uiä non üuee 8unt u Domino oxoreitnum? Dukorukunt onim p'opnii in mnlto iM6, 6t Mnt68 in VN6NNM, 6t äoüeient. - Our original is in such a state here, which looks like nothing less than an "edit" < Compare the note Col. 1551). The Erlangen offers: Nun 1u88uskuntj. äeüoient M6ÜU8 per etc. The Weimar one: nun 1n88nkunt, üeüeienb me1iu8. Dro etc. These words cannot be accommodated as they stand. Nonne iu88ndunt is not a keyword, and üeüoient is found in the Vulgate, so cannot be said to be the better reading. We put it to ourselves that nenne is the explanatory word to numHni.], and 1n88nünnt is an explanation of 12)P., or perhaps an improvement to Zeüeient. From the text we leave these words away, after we have given this explanation here.
5) Here the Erlanger again has Diero^n^mn] instead of Hi6r6^mia8l.
50, 32. and 51, 58.] says: I, the Lord, will set Babylon on fire, your nations will work, but in vain. One punishment is that the kingdom, set on fire, will perish; the other is that they will quench it in vain. All this is said for the comfort of the weak, that they may know that the Lord is with them and will deliver them from this kingdom.
V. 14. for the earth will become full. 1)
A whimsical threat.
From the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
You have a similar saying Isa. 11, 9: "For the land is full of the knowledge of the Lord." This is what Isaiah says about the time of Christ, that there will be such a rich knowledge that it seems to be more than a flood of sin. Wherever the gospel may be, the land of the knowledge of God will be full. Here he adds "the glory". And it seems that the prophet does not speak of the time of Christ, but of the destruction of Babylon, as also Gen. 14:21: "As I live, saith the Lord, so shall all the earth be filled with the glory of the Lord." This must be understood to mean that he will kill all who murmur, and that he will display his glory abundantly. Ex 9:16 says, "That my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." Just as after Pharaoh was slain God was glorified and exalted in the heart, so after Babylon is destroyed I will cause all nations to give me glory and say that it was by the hand of the Lord that it was destroyed.
The last sin:
V. 15: Woe to you who pour out your neighbor's drink and mix in your anger.
For he speaks of the king of the Babylonians.
And make drunk that you see his shame.
This is quite a poetic picture. The Jewish fables are nothing. Lyra says the
1) The following interpretation of v. 14. has been inserted by the Weimar edition into the preceding inset (but with square brackets).
Babylonian king had made Hezekiah drunk. 2) The Jews have the gift of making their glory great more than the Greeks. The cup and the drink denote wrath and vengeance. [Likewise] fire, snow, hail in the Psalms. As if to say, "He will pour you out." Thou hast drunk the cup of the Lord to the bottom, says Isa. 51, 17. "Take this cup of wine full of wrath from my hand, and pour out of it to all the nations," [says the Lord to] Jeremiah, Cap. 25, 15. Therefore there "to drink" is nothing else than to suffer wrath; ["to pour" is] "to give a good distemper; I have earned that, doggedly." There they say, "He drinks it." Therefore, the prophet indicates the excessive severity and cruelty of this kingdom. Understand it from the general drinking of all nations, and from the particular one of the people of Judah. "Woe to you," that is, you have given him the cup of suffering. Christ also speaks in this way. So you mixed your wrath into this cup. I was only a little angry; those added more, as it says in Isaiah [Cap. 54, 7. 8. Zech. 1, 15. The king thought that God's chastening was a destruction. The prophet does not say: You have poured on your neighbor, but: Thou hast added thy fury (furorem, not fel [gall]). That is, you have done more than I commanded. I wanted all the nations to drink from the Babylonian cup, and so you made them drunk. You have not only poured, you have plagued, but you have made too much of it.
That you see his shame.
This likeness is taken from a drunkard who lies exposed to his shame. Thus thou hast made thy people drunk, that nothing of honor and goods is left. "Thou hast taken [it] away altogether." Thou hast made them full of shame, and without glory, that thou alone mightest be.
2) According to the Latin: Lad^lonena ro^in in6kriÄ886 ^MeNiuna can be both the king of Babylon and Hezekiah the one who makes drunk. We have assumed the latter because it is called a nonsensical Jewish fable through which the Jews seek glory.
V. 16: You also drink so that you stagger.
(et consopire).
I will comfort you who suffer from the king; "he will drink again". - Consopire. One does not see what [in Hebrew] has such a meaning. [It should read:] circumcidere. I will make thee drunk again, that thou shalt lie there uncovered, that all the Gentiles may circumcise thee, as they that shall be circumcised are uncovered.
[For you will be surrounded by the cup in the right hand of the Lord.]
"The cup in your right hand." I will not only pour the cup into you, but a great calamity will befall you, which will surround you. The cup is not just a man's cup, but God's cup, which you will not be able to resist.
[You must spit shamefully for your glory.]
I do not know what the word [, which in Latin is rendered by vomitus, in Hebrew] means. [Therefore I follow the reading of the Latin interpreter,] 1) that it means a shameful spitting. Just as one who spits shows that he has taken too much, so you will show your misery by your exposure. 2) This is so that it may be seen that he is referring this to the land of Judah, to which the Babylonian 3) was exceedingly hostile because he hated the word of God.
V. 17 For the iniquity committed in Lebanon shall overtake thee.
Iniquitas Libani, the outrage, not that Lebanon committed, but that he suffered. That is, the wrong you committed against Lebanon will be amply repaid to you. The land of Judah is called by familiar names in distant places, as in Psalm [42:7], "In the land of Jordan and Hermonim," etc. Thus here "the iniquity of Lebanon," that is, which thou didst commit in the land of Lebanon.
1) Supplemented by us according to the Altenburg manuscript.
2) Perhaps already here the 17th verse is to be put as a keyword.
whole prophecy goes against the Babylonians.
that is, which is around Lebanon. It is too forced to say that it was because of the altar that was made of the trees of Lebanon. Disturbance will come upon you who have disturbed everything. Hitherto he has prophesied what he will punish the Chaldeans for the sake of his people. Now follows a kind of mockery.
V. 18. What then will help the image that his Master has formed?
The last section of the second chapter is still left. Up to now we have heard the prophecy, which expresses threats against the kingdom of the Chaldeans, because of its various shameful deeds, by which it has deserved [punishment. At the end he adds a mockery in which he almost imitated Moses, Deut. 32, 37. where he enumerated the misfortunes that would befall the Jews etc. "Where are now thy gods?" [v. 38. .ff "Let them arise and help you." After this example, the prophet mocks the king of the Chaldeans, as if to say, All these evils will come upon you. If then thou hast a God, call upon him; let him arise and protect thee, in whom thou shalt put thy trust.
And the cast image,
Which you have worked perfectly, let it help you.
The wrong picture.
The one who made it relies on it, that is, the king, the kingdom, the Chaldeans made themselves an idol in which they trusted. Now that the calamity is coming, they may trust. It is a mockery, "dumb idols." Thus the Jews used to mock the other nations, Ps. 115, 3. f.: 4) "Our God is in heaven", "the idols of the Gentiles" etc.
V. 19 [Woe to him who says to the wood, Awake! and to the dumb stone, Arise].
"Woe," namely, to the king and the kingdom. "To the wood", to the God who is made of wood
4) In text: Malm. 113. In the Erlanger and in the Weimarsche in the margin: Ps. 114, 4.
is made. As the Jews say to their idol, Arise, you who sleep, so say also to him, and see if he arises. Your idol is a dumb stone. With force and emphasis it is spoken that he calls their God so. Here he makes a comparison. Call upon him to give counsel, that thou mayest escape and advise thy things. Behold that he is dumb wood. In trouble they will leave thee when they should help thee most.
[And is no breath in him.]
Omnis spiritus means according to the Hebrew: There is absolutely no breath in him, that is, there is no life in him at all, he is a dead stone.
V. 20. (But the Lord is in His holy temple?
But our Lord is in heaven, he dwells in his palace. He compares the true
God with the God of the king of the Chaldeans. He lives in such a way that the whole earth is forced to be silent before him, that is, it must fall silent before him, cease its boasting and put its finger on its mouth. Isaiah says (Cap. 41, 11, when the Lord speaks, they are silent. This short word comprehends the Old and the New Testament. This God is known before the preaching of the gospel. The face of the Lord ("before him" - a facie ejus) indicates his knowledge or future.
Through the gospel the face of the Lord is revealed and known as he himself is present, and before this knowledge of the presence all the world will cast off pride; then all boasting of idols will cease. 1)
1) Instead of: tki 6688akuut seulptilia jaetautia in our original we have assumed: idi co88udit Voulptilium Metantia. The Hallic manuscript offers: 60ram eo 66886t ornuis aÜ6na ückuoia^