V. 1. ff. And if thou shalt obey the voice of the LORD thy God, that thou shalt keep 2c.
As this chapter is the longest, it is also the easiest, for it contains nothing more than a large heap of blessings and curses, by which he continues the previous chapter.
and explains. Therefore, we have nothing concerning history that we can interpret here, 2) only that we say that one must consider it from the heart (affectu),
2) In the Erlanger: ooininenüslnur instead of: eomme-ntsinur.
how terrible it is to be under the law. For these curses, or those that resemble them, are borne by the conscience that serves sin, that feels anguish and shame in all things, for "the wicked have no peace" [Isa. 56:21], and no place is safe, no hour tranquil (secura), no creature reliable. Again, these and such blessings are enjoyed by a pure and godly conscience, to which everything is lovely and favorable (applaudunt).
Hence, also, after all the curses, gathering them, as it were, into one main sum, he describes the evil conscience, saying [v. 65.], "The Lord will give thee a trembling heart, and faint eyes, and a soul withered through sorrow." For thus the consciousness of sin by its nature makes fearful men, so that they are startled even by the rustling of a flying leaf, Deut. 26:36. and, as the poet says, He blanches at any lightning. Then it makes the face sad and pale; for as a merry heart makes a merry face (as Solomon [Proverbs 15:13] testifies), so a sad spirit digs wrinkles in the forehead, so that the poet again calls happy the one who does not blanch because of any fault. Moses calls such a face here "languishing eyes", because the eyes are the most prominent part of the face, in which cheerfulness or sadness is most evident. But the soul, withered away by sadness, is all life in the outward senses, sad, depressed, sullen, and morose, so that the man has no desire to live, and yet is afraid to die, as follows:
V. 66. f. And your life will hover before you. Night and day you will be afraid, and you will not be sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "Oh, that I might live to see the evening! In the evening you will say, "Oh, that I might live to see the morning!
I have not yet seen a passage that expresses the sorrow of an evil conscience more clearly, with such puffing and appropriate words and sayings. For so stands the heart which has offended God, that is, which is tormented by the consciousness of sin. It also fears there (as the psalmist [ille
Ps. 53, 6.] says), where everything is sure. But Isaiah has summed it all up in One Word and says [Isa. 57, 20.]: "The wicked are like an impetuous sea that cannot be still." Thus the wicked are driven by the storms of thought, fear, distrust, despair, so that in truth they can be compared to a turbulent sea.
But it is not necessary to think that he wants the whole people to be subject to all these curses, and everyone to every curse, just as it is not to be understood that the whole people should be honored with all blessings, namely, that everyone should receive every blessing, but it is enough that all this is fulfilled in such a way that one takes a part for the whole (per synecdochen). While all blessings are given to the godly, this is done in such a way that they are distributed: one gets these, another those, the whole people and all get some; likewise some [blessings] at always another and another time: so also the curses must be distributed among persons, oerters, times, and a certain number (numerum), so that some are given to all (as captivity, desolation, servitude), some for a time (as tribulation among the enemies), some to some people (as pestilence, diseases, expulsion). 1) And this is the reason why the wicked do not feel their curses enough, again, the godly seem to be subject to many curses, while we do not see in each one all the individual blessings.
According to the secret interpretation, by these bodily curses are signified all the damages and destruction that human statutes and twisting of the Scriptures produce in the wicked. There is lack, hunger, thirst, fever, heat (ardor), festering, various pestilences, gluttony (devoratio) of children, imprisonment, servitude, disgrace, ignominy, futile labor and loss of all goods. But while all this happens and is carried out, it will not be felt before the rage and frenzy of the mind, which is enchanted by those abominations. It will
1) This last bracket is set by us for the sake of uniformity.
but are felt afterwards. And here is not a distribution of the ills according to places, persons, times and number, but every soul suffers all these ills at the same time and forever.
Again, those bodily blessings signify the heavenly blessings with which we are
to be blessed in Christ. Here is abundance, supply, riches, health, strength, salvation, victory, honor, glory, and the fullness of all goods, and even these are not only distributed in part (per synecdoche) to persons, places, times, and numbers, but everything is available to all always and everywhere.