1. from David.
2. David has to see too much things through the fingers.
Why David did not build the temple.
4. from Judah Maccabaeo.
5. from Esau and Ishmael.
6. from Job.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were poor, afflicted people.
8. revelation of the holy prophets.
9. from Isaiah, why he was killed.
10. from Elijah.
11. from the prophet Jonah. '
The prophets' sharp sermons against hypocrisy and idolatry.
The word of the prophet is important.
14 Knowing false prophets.
15. the history of the prophet Jonah.
It is difficult to interpret the prophets.
17. why David took Bathsheba in marriage.
18. of Abraham's legends.
19. from Job and David.
20. from Adam.
21. from Jacob.
22. from Hagar, Abraham's concubine.
23. David a rhetor.
24. from David's suffering.
25. from Simei penalty.
26. from Ezekia.
27. from Elisäo.
28. from David.
1. from David.
(Cordatus No. 1573. 1574.)
The example of David is full of adversity, for this holy man fell into adultery, then into the most shameful murder and blasphemy. For this reason he was afflicted when the people and his own son fell away from him, as did his counselors. He became nothing, who before had the highest reputation and fortune. All kings feared him because they saw that God was with him. Now not only all the wicked rebel against him, but also the most lowly boast against him, like Shimei, and he, who before was called by the prophet [Isa. 15:5] a three-year-old heifer, that is, full of strength, whom none of the kings could overcome, now seems to be able to be overcome by all, because all set themselves against him.
This trouble has always been in the world, that the godly have always been very unhappy, and on the other hand the godless happy, as we also see today that the bishops and godless princes sit in the greatest honor and goods, while the godly are poor and despised.
2. David has to see through the fingers of many things.
(The first movement in Cordatus No. 1284.)
David was a good king, could well lend one a good bill. So he saw Joab, his cousin and uncle, also to and through the fingers, because he could not turn it all to bolts. David must have had worse devils than we do, for he could not have had such a great revelation and knowledge of God without such great temptations, for they are too great. He made psalms and sang them. How can we not do it?
(This paragraph at Cordatus No. 1634.)
David was an excellent man, that he preached so bravely against his son the worship of his people [1 Kings 2:1 ff], and yet he could not resist, by force he could not exterminate the sacrificers, the false teachers 2c. and since he could do nothing else, he sang a little song to our Lord God in the Psalms.
Doctor Martin Luther said: All tragedies apud Graecos are nothing compared to the history of David. 1) How great a thing it is!
1) Cf. §19 of this chapter.
that his own son slept with all his wives, 2 Sam. 16, 22, so that he had to be an undying widower for the rest of his life. After that our Lord God gave him another wife when he was old. How much of an outrage it will have been among the Gentiles, 1) that among God's people this should happen to a father from his son! It is a wonder that the other brothers, who were the children of other women, allowed it.
(The following at Cordatus No. 1408.)
Many kömge of the Jews, of whose life it is apparently written that it was godless, I believe, have become blessed through faith in the promise, and because great estates cannot keep themselves free from great sins and necessarily often lack. And therefore this is a kind word: He fell asleep with his fathers; they have all gone to heaven. The word "fell asleep" has a good meaning in Scripture, but those who are written as having been killed by their enemies or consumed by wild animals and birds are condemned.
Why David did not build the temple.
Doctor Martin Luther was asked why David did not have to build the temple, since God had told him to do so beforehand. M. Luther answered and said: "That is why he shed much blood and wielded the sword: not that he did wrong in this, but that he could not be Christ's figure or type, who should have a peaceful kingdom without sword and bloodshed; but Solomon had to do it, who is called in German Friederich, or peaceable, who had a peaceful and quiet kingdom, through which Christ's kingdom was signified.
4. Judas Maccabaeus.
Now in our time it is just like in the time of Jude Maccabee, who protected and defended his people, and nevertheless was able to defeat the enemies.
1) Cf. § 24 of this chapter, last paragraph.
not subdue nor suppress those who held the regiment at that time; and his own people did him the greatest harm. I think he often desired to die, in so great disloyalty and ingratitude; for these two pieces make one weary.
D. M. Luther spoke of the legends of the holy patriarchs, how far and high they surpassed the holiness of all the saints, for they went about in simple obedience to God, in the works of their profession, doing what came before their hands, according to God's command without distinction; therefore Sarah, Abraham's wife, also surpassed all other wives.
Psalms were read over the table in the evening: "Lord, help your people" 2c., Ps. 28, 9. item Ps. 68, 21: "We have a God who helps, and the Lord Lord who saves from death" 2c. Then someone asked D. M. Luthern: How could it be that David, who was set and ordained king by God, had so many troubles and plagues, as his psalms indicate, which are songs of lamentation and mourning, that he did not have many good days? M. Luther answered and said: He has been so plagued by the godless and false teachers. He has seen that the people have set themselves against him and have suffered much upheaval and indignation; this has taught him to pray. Apart from the temptation, he was reckless and safe, as seen in the adultery and death of Uriah.
Oh, dear Lord God, that you would let such great people fall! This David had six wives, no doubt wise and understanding, like the wise Abigail: if they were all so, David had excellent wives. Over and above these he had ten concubines; nor did he become an adulterer.
We would gladly reign: if then we come into the reign, it is toil and trouble: then help our Lord God, who began the play, that [it] may go forth well.
5. from Esau and Ishmael.
Doctor M. Luther said: That the repudiation and rejection would have been only temporal. For the hatred against Jacob, his brother,
would not last forever, but only for a time. And I believe that Ishmael and Esau were saved, because many of them accepted the word of God. They did not sin as much as Israel and the Jews who crucified Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
6. from Job.
(Cordatus No. 481 and 1047.)
Job had very great temptations from his friends, who laid it hard for him, therefore this is also said in the text, which soon appears in the fourth chapter. But then his friends roared most against him when he said that he knew he was not an adulterer, murderer 2c.; but at last he overcame them with silence, as if he wanted to say: lick me in the mire.
Job is an example of God's mercy and shows that a man, be he holy, can finally fall into the most severe temptation, but that the saint is not abandoned, but is redeemed by God's mercy. But I believe that he lived in the time of Solomon, and I believe that his book is a history; therefore I do not believe that everything that is written happened in order. I also believe that it [the Book of Job] is put in this order by a good teacher and in conversational form. But there were many wise and holy men under Solomon who delighted in writing such books.
7. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob find been poor, afflicted people.
(Cordatus No. 1565.)
Abraham's enemies were richer than he, as can be seen from the clogging of the wells, and Isaac was the most miserable of all. Like his father, he was accused of being a stranger. That was a belief, and I wonder how they could have grasped it; they had to suffer much mischievousness. And I believe that those people deserved not their sin against God, but against Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he had them driven out of the country, chased away and strangled.
8. revelation of the holy prophets.
(Cordatus No. 598.)
To those who ask me about the revelation of the prophets and their boasting. 1) That they always said, "This is the word of the Lord; did God speak to them personally?" I answer, "They had the most holy and spiritual and certain word of God, therefore God, while they were thinking about it, spoke in their conscience the most certain things, and this certainty they considered to be a truly divine revelation, as it was, which the following fulfillment proved.
9. from Esaia, why he is killed.
(Cordatus No. 1343.)
In the writings of the Jews one reads that Isaiah was killed by Ahab because he said [Is. 6, 1.]: "I saw the Lord sitting", and it is probable. For he held up to him the passage [Ex. 33:20]: "No man shall live who sees me," and they could not stand anyone who said that he had seen or done greater things than Moses.
10. from Elijah.
(Cordatus No. 1499.)
The story is terrible that Elijah, such a great man, requested so many years of drought; he must have been truly angry when he saw that the pious and the preachers were killed. Therefore, when he saw that they were not converted by any preaching, he requested such a heavy thing, as if to say: That St. Velten. 1) come to you! Therefore they also said [2 Kings 18:17], "Thou art he that confoundeth Israel." Before that he often threatened them, but at last he did it, and at the same time he suffered want and hunger with them.
11. from the prophet Jonah.
(Lauterbach, Jan. 16, 1538, p. 11.)
Christ is called the sign of the prophet Jonah. The sign is the gerin-
1) Instead of glorificatio it is better to read gloriatio.
2) St. Valentine was called as a helper against falling sickness. Sometimes this name also stands for the falling sickness itself. (Wrampelmeyer.)
righteous and a shadow of the thing depicted. So Jonah was greater than Christ because he was the thing pictured by the sign. This argument is triggered by grammar because it is a Hebraism. For sign [signum] is taken in twofold sense, active and passive. Here the word sign is taken passive, i.e.: it is signified. Luther exalted the glory of the prophet Jonah, who alone converted a whole kingdom, and said, "Therefore he is rightly a sign of Christ, who reigns in weakness. It is probably annoying that Christ should only commemorate this history with three words. (Matth. 12, 39.) But so does Moses, who goes over the creation, the history of Abraham and great mysteries in so few words: but of the tabernacle, of the sacrifices and entrails, of the fat on the kidneys, of the filth, he spends much time, because he sees that the world values those outward things, but forgets the spiritual mysteries. But this history of Jonah is so great that it is almost unbelievable and seems more inconsistent than any fable of the poets. If it were not in the Bible, I would laugh it off as a lie. For if one wants to think about it, how he was in the big belly of the whale for three days, since he should have been digested in three hours and become flesh and blood of the whale. But he died a hundred times under the earth, in the sea, through the whale: doesn't that mean living in the midst of death? so that the miracle of the red sea is nothing compared to this miracle. It also happens foolishly. After that, when he was freed, he began to be angry and to complain about a very small thing, about a blade of grass. It is a great mystery. I am ashamed of my interpretation, that I have touched the subject [statum] 1) of this miracle so weakly.
The prophets' sharp sermons against hypocrisy and idolatry.
The harsh, sharp words on which the prophets speak are to the blood. For when the prophets say, Jerusalem shall be desolate
1) I.e. what it is about this miracle.
This preaching was even heretical to the Jews, they could not stand the Jews. So I say to D. Luther that the Roman church will fall and perish; this is not to be believed nor suffered, for it is impossible to believe: for it is written in the article: I believe a holy Christian church. So many kings have perished in the land of Judaea before Jerusalem, as Sennaherib 2c. And when Jeremiah saith, Jerusalem shall be destroyed: if I had heard this of him, I would have cut off his head myself. Nevertheless the Holy Spirit spoke it through Jeremiah, and it was done and came to pass.
If the pope could have brought up only one argument against me, as the Jews had against Jeremiah and other prophets, I could not have remained. The pope argues and disputes against me not from and out of the right, but with the deed and the sword. He does not need described rights, but the law of the fist. If I did not have an argument against the pope, because de facto, from the work, then I wanted to hang myself tomorrow. But Jus, the right, is my Disputatiön.
The word of the prophet is important.
(Cordatus No. 1488.)
The prophets have spoken the weightiest things with small and little words. They reach in with sharpness and when they say [Ps. 2, 10.]: "So now let yourselves be wise, you kings", he [David] does not speak with shooters [ABC students], nor with drunkards, but with the most powerful, wisest 2c. But the world does not consider these words and believes that they have passed away, only spoken to Herod, Pilate, Caiphas, but now they are powerless, 'therefore they surely go hunting, or snoring also.
14 Knowing false prophets.
The saying Deut. 18, 15. about the new prophet, whom God promised to raise up from among their brethren: the same is actually to be understood of Christ JEsu, Son of God and Mary. For no prophet has been like Most. Now Moses died, and his grave is nowhere to be found. And in the same
In the first chapter, the proud, presumptuous, hopeful prophets are confuted, condemned and denounced, whereby they are to be recognized. But Christ is the prophet to be heard, who also disgraces the Antichrist and all heretics with the spirit of his mouth, and fights against the great dragon 2c.
False prophets are very harmful, because the word "their", where Christ says Matth. 7, 20: "By their fruits you shall know them", has a great emphasis, has much behind it, on which one must pay good attention. For as they are regarded as pious, devout, sincere and decent, conscientious, peace-loving and sensible people, and are held in high esteem by everyone, such virtues are the fruits of the people, not of the prophets, whose teachings are to be regarded first, not only their lives.
15. history of the prophet Jonah.
Righteous, pious Christians are like Jonah, who was thrown into the sea, even into hell, saw the great fish open its mouth, and lay in its dark belly for three days without decay. Just think how he must have felt.
This story is supposed to be our greatest comfort and a sign of the resurrection of the dead, but it is very false: I would not believe it myself if it were not written in the Holy Scriptures. Thus God is wont to humble his own. But he became much worse after that, wanted to master God, became a great death-slayer and murderer, who wanted to destroy such a large city, in which there were so many people. This is a saint to me.
It is difficult to interpret the prophets.
(Cordatus No. 487.)
The translation of the prophets will become the best after the Hebrew, and has also become truly sour to us, we come once of it, want to leave it well.
17. why David took Bathsheba as his wife.
One said, David did not repudiate Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, but married her.
Therefore he did not repent properly. Then said D. M. Luther said, "I mean, he has repented, how could we bear it? But that he kept her for marriage, that he had to do, forced by the law, why did he disgrace her? Therefore, he had to help her regain her honor, and God pleased him with such a marriage. However, he let the first son, begotten in adultery, die soon, as a punishment because of the anger.
18. from Abraham's legend.
From the time of the apostles on, no one understood Abraham's legend correctly; indeed, the apostles did not praise Abraham's faith and mark it out according to its dignity and greatness, as it would have been worth, and I am surprised that Moses remembers it so badly.
19. from Job and David.
Job loses ten children at once, and all his cattle are punished in body and goods; yet it is nothing compared to David, who goes far beyond, who has the promise that cannot fail nor be deceived, namely, you shall be king, but God well salts his kingdom away. Above David there is not a more wretched man. There is nothing at all with the Greek comedies and histories. 1)
20. from Adam.
It was asked whether Adam had also begotten more children than three, who are remembered in the Bible. Luther answered: "Yes, of course; but that Seth is soon remembered is because of the line of the Lord Christ, for Christ was born from the same line. He, Adam, will undoubtedly have had many sons and daughters. I think that they must have had about two hundred children. For Adam became very old, nine hundred and thirty years; Cain will have been born some thirty years after the fall, since they were comforted again. For I hold entirely that they were often comforted by angels, otherwise it would not have been possible for them to sleep with each other; for the fright and
1) Cf. § 2 of this Cap.
The sorrow has been too great for them. After thirty years at least, they began to have children.
Eve will surpass all women in sorrow and misery at the Last Judgment, for no more wretched, sorrowful woman was ever born than she. Therefore let the women with their misery be silent before Eve; she has seen that we must all die because of her. When Cain came to do it, she hoped he would be the right seed; he would do it, but he beat Abel, his brother, to death, and was cursed. This is a case.
Then said one, Some would have Cain conceived before the promise of the seed that should bruise the serpent's head. But Martinus said, "Certainly not. I do not think that it lasted half a day, that the promise came to pass after the fall; for the hour about noon they went into the garden to eat: then they longed for the apple, and the fall came to pass about two o'clock.
21. from Jacob.
I think that Jacob must have been a miserable man. I would like to make Laban out of the rich man in the Gospel of Luke, and Lazaro out of Jacob, if I could. For Jacob is Lazarus, who lies in front of the door; the rich meager food, who lives in pleasure, is Laban. And D. Pommer said, I like Rachel to sit on the idols with her buttocks, and to throw them into the mouth, to the father's displeasure.
22. from Hagar, Abraham's Kebsweibe.
One of them said: Abraham has rejected Hagar, his concubine, with his son Ishmael exactly with a very small veneration, gives her only a bottle full of wine. M. Luther said: Yes, it is true, but she might come back for more. It is only a sign of good will, not of the inheritance; she should know that she would not have to claim anything from the inheritance, but what would be given to her would be out of good will, not out of obligation nor by right.
The text Gen 25:9 says: Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham. Therefore, it appears that Ishmael was not always with his father, and was raised and nourished out of the kindness of his father. It is because of this that he wants to lead Christ through the line, therefore Ishmael is set apart, like Esau, Solomon.
23. David a rhetor.
No Cicero, Virgilius, Demosthenes has been such a rhetor and eloquent as David: as is seen in the 119th Psalm, where he gives one opinion in two and twenty ways, and yet is only one sentence and sense, only that the words are changed. Therefore, he had a great gift, was highly graced by God. Therefore, I also think that God made him do such a terrible thing, so that he would not become too proud.
Moses and David are also the highest two prophets. What Isaiah has, he takes from David, and the other prophets also. We are all poor disciples compared to them; we may have a spirit, but the gifts are nowhere as great.
Item: When the 119th Psalm was read by 22 little laws or silences, D. M. Luther said: "Who can show me a Latin or Greek historian or speaker who is as rich in words as David? M. Luther: "Who can tell me about a Latin or Greek historian or orator who is as rich in words as David? He has a psalm of 22 verses, in each of which § verses are made, and yet is only of one opinion in all of them; namely, he wants to say, your law and word, Lord, is good. But he is so rich in words that he always repeats and repeats.
In sum, nothing is lacking in the Holy Scriptures except that they do not bear money; but God intended it so that one should not handle it and become rich.
Item: David was able to strike out a thing with words, if he wanted, as one sees in the 119th Psalm. He could also be short and summarize the whole religion and doctrine in one psalm, as in the 110th psalm.
24. David's suffering.
David had to suffer much, none of us could have endured such things. For him not
Only the concubines have been defiled, but also all the wives, and, what is great, in a holy place. It is a great thing that it should happen to such a holy man. Certainly no thing on earth has hurt him as much as this. If God has so afflicted anyone except His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, I am amazed.
Jehoshaphat and Ezekiel had more fortune and more glorious victory than David, who waged war with his great danger and difficulty.
David's Historia is the most wonderful, a real tragedy, although it finally becomes a comedy. The anger of the pagans must have hurt him cruelly, that the pagans were angry with him, 1) because they saw that his own son had brought down his mother. This has made him so cold and taken away all his strength. I do not hope that all his wives were still alive, because the Scripture says nothing about it. If they are still alive, it is a great thing.
25. from Simei penalty.
The question was asked, "Was David right in commanding Solomon his son to punish Shimei, who had cursed him and thrown dirt at him in his flight from Absalom? M. Luther said, "Yes, he did right, for the office of the authorities is to punish the wicked and guilty offenders. One of them said, "Didn't David swear to him before that he would not harm him? Answer: Yes, because he was still alive.
David had to see a lot through his fingers in such a whimsical, turbulent, evil regiment, as it was all mixed up, that one almost did not know who was cook or waiter, as they say; but after that, now that there was peace in Solomon's time, he punished him through Solomon.
One must see many things in the regiment at turbulent times, when it is going through each other so strangely, that one must not do when it is quiet and peaceful, as one also speaks in German: One must always give the devil two lights.
1) Cf. § 2 of this Cap.
The evil must be punished in the end, since only one thing can be put out of God's sight. For David says: Maledixit mihi maledictionem malam: the knave has cursed me evil.
26. from Ezekia.
Ezekiel was a very pious king, full of faith, but he fell. For God does not like it that one trusts in his work. No one must go to heaven; he must have forgiveness of sins. .
27. from Elisäo.
Elisaeus, when he had the forty boys torn apart by two bears, because they called him bald: in this he was justified, for they mocked not him, but his God. As this also is a mockery of Elijah, whereof it is written, Thou man of God: therefore came fire and consumed them. 2 Kings 1:10 ff.
28. from David.
There are many strange things in the books of kings. To the mind and to the eyes of the flesh, they seem to be bad, simple books, but in the spirit they are great. Dear David suffered much. Saul tormented him for ten whole years. But he believed that the kingdom was his, and he remained steadfast in it. I would have thrown myself into the breach 2) and run away, saying: "Lord, you deny that I am the king and that I will be martyred. It will also have confirmed and strengthened Saul very much that he had such great luck and that it went according to his will. But David is like a wall, a pious man, and will not lay his hand upon the king, and might well have done so: for he had the word, and when they had the word, they smote him.
This was followed by Muenzer. He saw that David, Moses, Abraham and others struck. Yes, it is another thing, the work, than the person. The first is the word, which makes the person: the person makes and judges.
2) d. i. Pants.
the work; that's what he was about. O it is a great thing, because the person has the word, on which he does everything.
Then said one, David loved Jonathan; he must have been a godly man? Answer: Yes, he was a godly man, and not without faith. He saw that the kingdom was David's, and that it was David's; therefore he besought him, and would not cut him off, nor his own. Jonathan also did signs, when he went over the mountain with his armor-bearer, and smote many Philistines by himself; for he
said to himself: "The Lord who overcomes with many can also overcome through me alone", 1 Sam. 14, 6.
Then M. Antonius Lauterbach said: "He nevertheless perished miserably. Yes, said D. M. Luther, so often the pious in the church must pay for evil, yet the Son of God was not spared. But I am surprised at David's history, how he could be so cruel that he ordered the rest of Saul's tribe to be exterminated.