Blessed is he who fears the Lord.
In the previous psalm, the prophet taught about the two states, namely, the world and the domestic regime; here he also acts almost the same, but in a different way. For although here he also connects the domestic regime with the world regime and asks for blessing and peace for both, in this psalm he looks more at the domestic or marital regime, because this is, as it were, the source and origin of the state. For the boys whom we raise and educate in the home become those who come after us,
once have as regents of the state. For this is how it happens: houses or families become cities, cities become countries (provinciae), countries become kingdoms. It is therefore rightly said that the household is the source of the world's government, because if the household is disrupted, neither dominions nor cities can be founded, just as if the individual beings (individuis) are gone, neither species nor genus can exist. Therefore, we want to give this psalm the title that it is a kind of epithalamium and wedding song.
through which the prophet comforts the spouses and asks and promises them all happiness from God. This can then be transferred, as it were, from the species to the species, to the state; for just as God wants to bless through marriage, because the marriage state is a divine order and a state that is extremely pleasing to God, so also the authorities are appointed by God and have the certain promise of divine blessing.
But in this psalm it will become apparent how good a poet and speaker the Holy Spirit is, who knows all the rules how to speak and convince in the best way. For he most carefully covers up what is burdensome or hateful in this state, and with great diligence selects and compiles only what is very suitable for convincing, and what alone and truly is good in marriage. The world does it differently, for it not only does not know the proper goods of marriage, but if it sees them, it covers them up with the existing difficulties. Therefore it is not to be wondered at that, when ungodly men speak of this state, they are wont to use words quite different from those which the Holy Spirit is wont to use. For they follow only the sense of the flesh, and see in both the worldly and domestic regimes nothing but what is burdensome, burdensome and troublesome, and not only that, but the truly divine goods that are in these states, they pay no attention to, because of the little troubles of the flesh. Hence these sayings have arisen: There is no city without hardship, that is, without women; likewise: A woman is a necessary evil, and similar invectives against the female sex, of which there are many among the Greeks. Thus one cites a vituperative saying of a Greek poet: Vwdlxa βάπτειν χρεΐσσόν έστω η γα- μεΊ\) [it is better to bury a woman than to have one free], and also a Roman said: if we could be without women, we would be rid of a great trouble. The cause of this judgment is that the flesh is so corrupted by original sin that it cannot bear these penalties of sin with equanimity, but seeks only what is pleasant, but flees troubles and toils. Therefore it avoids the
He either completely abuses marriage and public offices, as the Epicureans do, or abuses them only for his own pleasure. It is so blinded by original sin, by the lust for pleasure, honor and wealth. Therefore it was necessary to add a remedy for the corrupt nature, and to hold down the horny flesh a little by these troubles, which are in the state of marriage as well as in the office of authority.
Since we read this praise of marriage in the Holy Scriptures, we must contrast it with the judgment of men and add this correction, that this is true according to the Holy Spirit, but not true according to the flesh. When he then says of a godly husband [v. 2], "Blessed art thou, thou hast it good," the flesh takes quite a different view of it, and judges that marriage is something quite wretched, and that the husband is in a very bad way, because he is compelled to provide a livelihood by hard work. For the world does not understand that which is of the Holy Spirit, and does not see the goods that are both in the household and in the world's government, but only clings to the creature; but God, who created, governs and blesses it, does not see it. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, looks at the Creator; and the blessings of the Lord, however much they may be covered with many a tribulation, he exalts most gloriously; but the troubles he either passes over (dissimulates) altogether, or makes them exceedingly small; this the world cannot do.
Thus, we see in the histories that the wiser the people were, the more they were careful about dealing with public affairs and the government. The same thing happens in the marriage state. Young people find it very difficult to put on this yoke, as the old man says in the comic poet: Omnes, qui amant, graviter sibi uxorem dari ferunt falle Bühler go reluctantly into the marriage state. And if some, moved by love, bend their necks under this yoke, then, if afterwards everything does not go according to their will, but other and other inconveniences occur, which they, blinded by love, did not foresee, bitter complaints follow, and they regret all too late what they have done.
1976 n. 113-115. Au[1. on the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 128. w. iv, 2728-2731. 1977
And it happens that others can much more easily bear all the infirmities of a harlot or an adulteress than a husband can bear them of his wife, just as a wife, if she is not particularly righteous, more easily overlooks the gross faults of her adulterer than the minor impulses which the husband gives her, because nature cannot suffer these fetters indifferently, unless hearts, instructed by the Word and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, look up to the Creator, who has established both the world's and the house's government, and wills that both be governed by this wretched flesh. Those who do not have this knowledge, or have it in such a way that they only think of it above, are easily moved to impatience if everything does not go well. Therefore, the minds of the godly must also be instructed, admonished and raised up so that they should look a little beyond the difficulties that first fall into their eyes, and that, setting aside the judgment of the wise men of the world, they should look at the true and highest goods that God has hidden in these states and take them deeply into their hearts: then it will happen that they will both more easily endure these difficulties and also gladly obey God, who tempts them in many ways. And to this end, let us now interpret this wedding song, so that we may see the spiritual goods that God hides in the marriage state and marvel at them, lest we become like the world, which sees the works of God and yet does not understand them, which hears the divine blessings and the sweetest promises and yet does not believe them.
V. 1. Blessed is he who fears the Lord and walks in his ways.
First of all, notice that the prophet does not immediately go on with the promises of marriage, as if they had been given for the sake of marriage, but he starts from the first table and praises the blessed one who fears the Lord. But he does it for the sake of showing that the world does not understand what it is to become a spouse or to take a wife. That is why, when difficulties arise, it cannot bear them with equanimity;
Therefore she is not blissful but miserable. But whoever fears the Lord, whether he enters the government, if he has been called to it, or takes a wife, he is blessed, however it may go in the marriage state or in the magisterial office. For it may happen that even those who fear the Lord do not prosper in marriage, but are united either with wicked or with strange wives, or are oppressed by other burdens, such as the premature death of a good wife, or degenerate children, or a childless and barren marriage. If there is a godly and God-fearing heart here, it will easily get over these troubles and think: "Behold, you have been given a wife who is troublesome to you in many respects, with whom another could not live a day in peace; but God has given you this, that you may know that God is your Creator and Father, and learn to bear His will in patience. 2c. With this gift, the little thing, 1) a sad marriage, is balanced, since this gift helps to overcome not only the troubles of marriage, but also other evil bonds.
Now the prophet begins this wedding song like this: If thou wilt that it may go well with thee, and that thou mayest be blessed, and thou hast set thy heart to enter into marriage, thou shalt know this: God will give you a wife, he will give you a house, he will give you children, and other things; but let this be your first concern, that you fear God, and in the name of the Lord begin this state. This is a useful teaching, which the Holy Spirit brings forth immediately in the beginning, that the one who is not given to abstain, begin marriage from the first commandment, and beg God for help, come before God and say: Dear Lord God, you say to me in your words that you want to be my Lord and God: now you have created me as a man, and you have also created the woman; this is your creature and work; I did not make myself this way, nor am I prepared this way by chance. Give now to your creature
l) In the original: leve, which the editions have changed in Isvi. The old translator has connected "lev" with 00mxevsutuM est and offers: "well repaid."
thy prosperity, and grant that I may be a happy husband, that I may be a happy wife 2c., that we may thus begin in the fear of God, not being sure or presumptuous, nor rushing impudently into this state like peasants and unwise people, but calling upon Him who created us for this state; then it will come to pass 'that all may go forth happily.
Now the Holy Spirit begins his wedding song in a different way than other poets. For he exhorts that we should first call upon GOD and take up a trust in his goodness in our hearts. For God will not listen unwillingly that you call Him your Creator, but will again acknowledge that you are His creature, and will not deny that He has given it to you to be a man or a woman. He has forbidden presumption, and does not want you to begin this state on your own advice, but wants your counsel to be suspicious to you, and thinks that God will not let it go out happily if you do not take it to counsel. He therefore rightly says, "Blessed is he who fears the Lord." For we have the examples daily before our eyes, that at first there is a very fierce love among the spouses, which is afterwards very easily extinguished, that they either live with each other entirely in enmity, or one leaves the other. Sometimes they are so drowned in pleasure and wealth that they live completely without any fear of God; this is a twofold greater misfortune and misery. But this happens to them rightly, for why do they not also add that they fear God?
Therefore, learn here that you live in the fear of God, who created you so that you could be a husband or a wife, and also wants to govern your marriage. If you do not want to allow him to rule, and even your wife and servants rule according to your will, without prayer to God, it will happen that you will either ruin everything, or, having become senseless through continued success, you will fall into greater misfortune. God wants to be feared and revered, that is, He wants us to confess that we cannot begin or govern anything blessedly without His help and counsel.
It is useful to have this teaching of the Ju
I want to inculcate this in them so that when they become husbands and wives, they will learn this and follow it. The reason is this: Because marriage is in the world and in the flesh, that is, in the midst of devils, the flesh soon grows weary of the woman, as a certain old man, who was a mischievous man, said to the bridegroom, who at the wedding kept looking at his bride, "Dear friend, do not look at her so often, for after a few months it will happen that you would rather sleep with your maid than with your wife. What is the cause of this? Certainly this, that marriage has to do with the flesh, which is completely corrupted by sin. The devil inflames this afterwards either by hatred from the slightest causes or by jealousy. Therefore, if you do not look to the will of God, marriage can neither last nor be long-lasting.
Therefore, the youth must be taught properly about marriage, so that if anyone takes a wife, he may live with her in God's grace and blessing, and say: Dear Lord, you have given that I should be a man; you have also given me this wife; but we are both in the world and in this exceedingly weak flesh, and in the midst of the devils, the interrupters of conjugal love: therefore give your blessing, so that even if there is any offense, your blessing and the admiration of the gifts that are in the state of marriage may overcome it. 2c. This is the reason why he begins this song with the fear of God, so that he may take away our presumption, lest we think that everything will happen in the way we have imagined in our hearts. For it will not happen that way, or if it does, it will be to the greater misfortune, namely, to the suppression of the word and knowledge of God. The middle way, however, is to fear God and trust Him, and to begin the marriage in the name of God with humble prayer, be it as it may.
Under the pope, they have profaned the marriage extraordinarily. They called it a secular state and instructed the spouses to list marital intercourse among their sins in confession. Therefore, among the school theologians
a disputation on the "venial sin between spouses" and the mortal sin in carnal intercourse (copula carnali), as they called it. But these were useless and foolish disputations, in part also godless, to which Augustine seems to have given the occasion, since he says somewhere of the venial sin that it is equal to the sin of the spouses, for whom one prays: "Forgive us our debt". It is true, of course, that this intercourse of husbands and wives must be moderate in order to quench the heat of the flesh; and just as one must be moderate in food and drink, so godly husbands and wives must not indulge the flesh too much. For that lust of the flesh and the shameful lust by which the flesh burns is sinful. Therefore, as a punishment for this lust, the wormwood of very many worries and concerns is added, because of the food, because of the children, because of the administration of public affairs; likewise, agruments with the servants, with the neighbors 2c. This is added, as it were, as salt, to dampen the will of the flesh, whose weakness God wanted to counsel through marriage; he did not want to stir up the flesh's ardor. Therefore he also wanted the members to be suitable for the production of offspring, just as he created other members for other uses: for the nourishment of the child the breasts, for carrying the arms 2c.
This, then, is the first doctrine, if otherwise the marriage is to be a happy one, a sweet one, and one that pleases God, that the spouses should fear God, that is, that they should lay aside presumption in their counsel, and lie down in humble prayer, asking for a pious spouse who is chaste and obedient; likewise for success in other things; and if anything should come to pass contrary to their will, that they should bear it with equanimity, that their hopes and thoughts should be deceived.
But he does not demand this alone, which is required in the first commandment, that they render to God his service, that is, fear God and trust in his goodness, for this is the reverence we owe to God, but he adds, "Blessed is he who walks in his ways," that is, who also performs the works of the second tablet, who gives to parents and
who is obedient to the authorities, who does not kill, who does not injure others, who does not defile himself with fornication and adultery, but for this reason takes a wife, so that he may live chastely and guard against such sins.
The papists have sung this psalm and still sing it today, but they do not understand it. They follow Jerome, who quite unchristianly and clumsily makes this conclusion against marriage: If married couples are blessed, then it follows that Isaac before his fortieth year, and other saints who did not have wives, did not share this blessedness. But we know that this Psalm does not speak of those who were given a special privilege (de privile- giatis), as Jeremiah had the commandment not to take a wife [Jer. 16, 2.], and John the Baptist also abstained from marriage for specific advice, as did Christ. These may go their way and keep the course given to them by God; But the others, who do not have this gift, and are without this privilege that these supreme people had, let them learn this song, that is, to become husbands and wives in the fear of God, and to walk in the ways of the Lord, and to know that in this state they can so live, that they may fear God and walk in His ways, contrary to the vain and ungodly delusion of the monks and of the whole papacy, who pretend that the married state is such a state that is contrary to religion or does not fit in well with it.
V. 2. You will feed on the work of your hands; prosper, you are well off.
create the house, then the wife and the plowing ox. For he wills that one first choose a certain dwelling place, where one can live with
wife and children, then to seek a wife, but so if you have a plowing ox, that is, if you have the host with which to feed yourself and yours. For although neither our effort nor our labor is sufficient to feed the family, yet God uses our effort and labor as a means by which He wants to bless us. Thus, leather does not provide the shoemaker with what he can live on, nor sowing with the farmer, nor preaching with the teacher, and yet by these things, or rather with these things, GOD provides sustenance. Therefore, He wants every husband to live by the sweat of his brow and to toil in labor to subdue the flesh and to kill the lusts of the flesh. For those who live in idleness do not walk in the ways of the Lord, but of the devil. For they are not and do not live in the order of God, for God has ordered work.
And here see the intention of the Holy Spirit. Work is also one of the inconveniences of married life, but how beautifully he conceals this inconvenience, since he first shows that work is God's commandment, and then promises that God wants to bless through work, however burdensome and unpleasant it may seem to be. This means to mix wormwood with sugar, as Jesus Sirach [Cap. 7, 16] also adorns work with this name, saying that God created it and that it is pleasing in the eyes of God. But this reminder is also necessary because of our corrupt nature. For it is true what the comic poet says, that all men are by nature so constituted that they have more inclination to pleasure than to work. That is why it was the custom of some immoral peoples to expose their wives and children to shame, just so that they could live in idleness.
So this wedding song reminds the bridegroom and bride at the wedding, first, that they should fear the Lord and believe Him, nor be presumptuous because of their wealth or wisdom; then, that they should know that they will have this hardship, that they will have to work, and that they will not be able to do it.
eat their bread from the work of their hands. Now the fact that pleasure is mixed into the flesh that unites the spouses is not the most important bond, as it is soon severed by other troubles. But these are the true bonds of marriage, that one may know that this work of the hands and the care for the family are also a sacrifice pleasing to God; that the woman, when she gives the child her breast, the man, when he toils his body with domestic work, so that the sweat runs from his brow, render such a service to God, which is far more glorious than all the services of the monks and than all the exercises, however arduous. For, beloved, behold what the prophet says: "Blessed art thou, thou art well."
Is not this a very great and exceedingly sweet price of labor and of the whole married state? You are a husband, he says, and you work so that you may feed yourself and your family honestly; hear what this work of yours is: it is an exceedingly holy thing in which God is pleased, and through which he will bestow his blessing upon you. This praise of work should be written on all the tools of the laborer, on the forehead and the nose that sweats from the work. For the world does not think that work is a blessing, therefore it flees and hates it. Hence come the complaints and the terrible imprecations which godless husbands and wives utter out of impatience when they are compelled to do one thing and another. But the godly, who fear the Lord, work with a cheerful and joyful heart, because they know God's command and will. Thus a godly farmer sees this verse written on his wagon and plow, the shoemaker on leather and awl, the craftsman on wood and iron: "Blessed art thou, thou hast done well." The world turns this around and says, "You are miserable, it is bad for you. For these things must always be suffered and borne; but happy are they who in idleness pass their lives, and without labor have that by which they can live, as Martial praises the goods which are not obtained by labor, but by inheritance. The devil scatters such invectives about marriage more than about the worldly authorities, for even though there
Even if there are some difficulties, ambitious people can easily eat them up (devorant), because they gain honor and dignity.
Therefore, this consolation is necessary against the world's trouble, that the spouses know that God has ordered this state in which they have to sweat and work and bear the curse of original sin, which is imposed in paradise; then, that they also know that the Holy Spirit says here that those are blessed who do their duty and work diligently. This is something so great that the godly will easily bear the discomfort of work. For what more do you want? First of all, you hear that through work God wants to give you food and other things that are necessary for the preservation of life through His blessings; then you also hear that He is pleased with your work and approves of it, and that He wants to accept it as a sacrifice and an extremely pleasant service to God, since it is not work per se, but a work of obedience or profession. The wicked do not know this, so they either indulge in idleness or are impatient with the necessity of work, because they do not see with the eyes of the Holy Spirit, but judge according to the eyes of the flesh; but these eyes see nothing but inconveniences and troubles, and rightly so. But the Spirit raises up the godly and comforts them, that God wants to bless through work (for although He gives something to the idle, He gives it to them to ruin), and that this sweat and work pleases God. This twofold advantage stands against one disadvantage, which the flesh alone sees.
But here it must be remembered that "labor" is not only called that by which the limbs are weary, but also the affliction and worry. For the prophet uses such a word, which not only means to work, that one does something with one's hand, but it also understands the troubles that we suffer under work, as such things occur very much in the household. Often, when the husband is doing his duty with great effort, the wife is peevish and begins to quarrel, the children are taken ill by sickness, and the husband is not able to do his duty.
The servants not only fail through negligence, but are also often disloyal and secretly steal money or household utensils. Even in hard times, the authorities burden them with taxes and service. We do not call these things work, but burdens, and yet the prophet includes both in the word "work," so that when we find ourselves burdened either by doing or by suffering, we may bear this with equanimity, and remember that God did not create this life for pleasure. For this is why He says to the woman [Gen. 3:16], "I will cause thee much pain when thou art with child; thou shalt bear children with pain." For even the time before birth is exceedingly full of the greatest troubles, but birth itself is very little different from death. Thus he said to the man, "Cursed be the field for thy sake; with sorrow shalt thou feed thereon all the days of thy life." Here you hear that not one day, not one year is set aside for sorrow and labor, but the whole lifetime.
Therefore, you say, because the matter is so, it is better to lead a celibate life and to fornicate. Try it, and see if you can thus wriggle out of these troubles; rather, you will get more entangled in them and be left with graver dangers. For in this way you will bring upon yourself an angry God and an evil conscience, and will condemn yourself and your life. For while you pursue the lust of the flesh and the pleasures of the flesh, you fall into bitterness of spirit; what that is, you will know in its time. For one drop of evil conscience, that I say so, consumes a whole sea of worldly joy. What will happen if you have to bear an evil conscience through your ungodly life, not just for one day, but for many years? On the other hand, where there is a happy conscience, which is sure of God's favor and blessing, there is also eternal joy, which absorbs and consumes those little drops of human inconveniences and complaints as the sun consumes the dew at noon.
Is it not shameful, then, to fear and flee those little drops and sparks of labor, seeing that God has filled them with honey?
That is, in this psalm he says to all who labor and bear the common hardships of marriage, "Blessed art thou, for thou hast it good. That is, that you are in this state, that you labor, that you are challenged in various ways, and that you accept (devoras - swallow) sometimes this, sometimes another hardship, not only pleases me, but is also useful to you, so that in this way the flesh is killed and original sin is subdued, and that you learn in marriage as in a school this most perfect worldly wisdom, that you bear God's will patiently, and have a thousand opportunities to show your patience and love, which you would not have apart from marriage in an unmarried life. Those who live in this way in marriage, even if they are completely burdened with all kinds of accidents ((calamitosissimi), are nevertheless truly blissful, and on the other hand those who do not live in this way are truly unhappy. For the labors and troubles, without which one cannot be in this life par excellence, bear them in such a way that they heap pain upon pain. That is why quarrels arise even among spouses. Hence comes the weariness of not being able to walk, talk, eat, drink together; that is quite a devilish life. Therefore, this admonition must be diligently learned and practiced, that we bear the work and all troubles with equanimity and overcome them by patience, content with this gift, that we know that God is pleased with our state and will bless us for his sake. In this way, the family can be governed with a good and cheerful conscience and overcome all troubles.
V. 3. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine around your house, your children like the olive branches around your table.
We have heard two praises of holy matrimony when the spouses fear God and walk in His ways, namely, that this life is pleasing to God and that He will bless it. Therefore, one must bear with equanimity the hardships and labors that God has placed on this state for its own sake, so that the infirmity and sickness of nature may be healed all the time, while it is healed by such hardships.
is subdued, humbled and kept in check. For the fact that the monks have pretended from their thoughts (philosophati sunt) that one must flee from work and seek rest and a solitary life, this psalm proves sufficiently that this is not pleasing to God; but that it is pleasing to Him that we are thrown into work and hardships, and think that we are set by God to endure these active and suffering labors, which then, of course, marriage brings with it, as he says: "You will feed on the work of your hands. He does not say that one should live in idleness and feed on the labor of others' hands, as the saints of the Pope do, that is, the epicureans and tender martyrs.
Furthermore, I have touched above that Jerome and after him also others dispute from this Psalm, why David praises so much the life of the blessed man, if he has a wife, since in the holy scriptures there are so many saints who have lived celibate, such as Elijah, Elisha and similar people were, although one cannot claim this of them with certainty; of Jeremiah one can. In the New Testament, however, there is a far more respectable example of almost all bishops, especially if one looks at later times, even of some married couples, as is reported of King Henry and Cunegund, who abstained from carnal intercourse (a copula carnis, as they say) and lived chastely. Then they say: Are not all these blessed, since the Holy Spirit praises here only the married couples blessed? Jerome here turns to the secret interpretation and follows his master Origen, and makes of the wife the church, as afterwards this opinion was common, since Paul says [1 Tim. 3, 2.], "There shall be a bishop of one wife's husband," that they interpreted it: that is. Of a church; likewise [v. 4.], "Who hath obedient children with all respectability," that is, respectable disciples or hearers. In this way these people answer. Now when some see how ridiculous this is, they resort to saying that the prophet spoke according to the manner of his time, where marriage was more common. But even this cannot be enough for an intelligent person.
1988 xx, I26-I28. Au[1. on the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 128. w. iv, 2744-2717. 1989
We therefore answer thus: This psalm is only about instructing godly people about this state that God has established, but it is not about forcing or commanding everyone equally to take a wife, but that those who are free or want to be free may recognize what they have when they have wives, so that they remain free to live both without marriage and in marriage. For who would compel him to marry who has no need of marriage? Those who are such people that they can grasp this word [Matth. 19, 12] may remain celibate and boast in the Lord, just as those who are not called to the office of government remain private citizens, and those who are not called to the office of preaching remain among the listeners. Here it is quite the same. If they are not compelled by the weakness of their nature to marry, but belong to the number of those who can do without marriage, they do right to abstain from marriage and not to burden themselves with the burdens they can do without. On the other hand, those who, by a gift of God, are not so strong, but are aware of their own weakness that they cannot live chastely and outside of marriage at the same time, must value their need more highly than the inconveniences and discomforts of marriage.
Now the answer to this disputation is not difficult, if one first states that the Psalm only expresses and praises this gift, not urges and compels to marriage, so that we are not senseless, like the first swarm spirit, 1) which arose in our school. He wanted to prove from the passage in the letter to Timothy [1 Tim. 3, 2/ that no one can be a pastor if he is not also a husband; as if you wanted to say that no one can be a prince or a person in authority if he does not have a wife. This is neither the opinion of Paul nor of this psalm, in which the Holy Spirit praises marriage and teaches how those who are in it can use it properly. By the way, the same one shares
1) This is the name Luther gave to Carlstadt, who, during Luther's absence from Wittenberg, had publicly presented the doctrine mentioned by Luther here on June 20, 1521. Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XX, Introduction p. 6.
Some spirits give their gifts to some in this way and to others in another way. We are indeed in one body and are adorned by one and the same spirit, but not in the same way. Therefore, those who cannot live chastely without marriage may take a wife, and should know that they have a high and glorious gift created by God to help their weakness, as Scripture calls the woman [Gen. 2:18] a helper of the man. But those who have the gift of chastity may live without marriage, so that, although we are unequal in gifts, we may each serve God with our gifts and live without sorrow for the benefit of our neighbor.
This is therefore the correct solution: that this psalm praises this state. He therefore does not deny that those are blessed who have lived a holy and chaste life apart from marriage, but he obviously resists that marriage is censured. The eye, of course, is a more precious organ than the ear, and yet the service of the ears cannot and should not be despised. Thus it would be inconsistent for a theologian to praise his profession in such a way as to condemn the profession of lawyers. So also a jurist must not emphasize his profession in such a way that he thereby disparages medicine, or a poet in such a way that he disparages the profession of an orator; the gifts are different. Therefore, let each one praise and honor God in his gift and use it for the common good, and let others also help the community in their own way, to the best of their ability. A theologian is certainly greater than a grammarian and an astronomer, but for this reason he should not despise a grammarian and an astronomer, much less speak ill of them. They should love each other as brothers, and be a godly family of the highest house-father, and each in the way of his profession serve the Lord. This is not known to those who think that David, while praising and beatifying the married couple, is denying blessedness to others who live holy lives apart from marriage. For the Holy Spirit praises the gifts of God in a pure way, without reviling other gifts, and does not beatify the married couple in such a way that he should condemn those who do not live in marriage.
But since the married state is reproached in the world in many ways and its right praise is obscured, first of all by the mind of the flesh, then also by the devil's inducements and the mockeries of the world, the Holy Spirit wants to elevate and magnify this gift, which is so despised by those who have it, but in such a way that it does not take anything away from other gifts. Let widows, let virgins remain in their state. For the Holy Spirit did not intend now to speak of widows, not of virgins, but of marriage, so that those who are in marriage may know their gift.
That Jerome now in a very clumsy way makes the objection: Abraham, Isaac and other holy patriarchs took wives at a rather advanced age, and lived in marriage for many years without children, so they were, according to this psalm, not blessed: there the conclusion is to be disputed. For Abraham, Isaac and others were blessed even before they took wives and had children, just as all who believe and are baptized, both widows and virgins, are blessed. But as for the psalm, it simply speaks and teaches about the gift, does not penetrate to the gift, but emphasizes the gift that is so defiled in the world. Therefore, it does not follow from this psalm what those who have a certain hatred for marriage try to bring out. It is true that the monks pretend that they flee marriage for the sake of it [because they love chastity, but they do it in order] 1) that they may be regarded as loving chastity; but it [their pretense] is not true. Rather, one must believe St. Paul, who says that they will reject marriage through the spirit of error, not out of love for chastity [1 Tim. 4:1, 3], especially since a law is now given by which they forbid marriage. Many things indicate that Ambrose voluntarily abstained from marriage; his example may have been followed by others for certain reasons. But Jerome speaks so vituperatively of marriage that he cannot be excused at all, as even nowadays
1) Inserted by us, because apparently the relation is not quite right.
not our papists. So also Gregory cannot be excused, who spread the law of the celibate state and annulment of marriages also in other churches. Both of them are liars when they say that they abhor marriage out of love for chastity, because they are not chaste, nor can they be, as their daily shameful deeds show, but they strive to be free and safe from those troubles, and at the same time, through beautiful appearances and hypocrisy, bring about the opinion among the great multitude that they are holy, so that they are regarded as if they were something worthy of admiration (spectacula) and angels in the world, not men, and therefore worthy of feeding on the work of other hands. This is especially our papists, monks, chasubles and nuns sacred (sacra), that is, cursed chastity.
Those who abstain from marriage in this way are in truth antichrists according to the saying of Daniel, who says that this is an outstanding characteristic of the Antichrist, that he will not respect the love of women [Dan. 11, 37]. This also explains the gloss 2) of the Antichrist, with these words: that he will pretend chastity (simulaturus sit), in order to be able to deceive the easier. But we also add the cause: so that this soft kind of people may escape the trouble, sorrow and distress that marriage brings with it; but this cause suits a godly man well if the Lord gives it to him. But those who can do without marriage without sin may enjoy its gift without reviling those who do not have it. But all others, before they should live in impurity without marriage, should rather choose conjugal chastity, which is purer and better and more pleasing to God than the chastity of all papists can be, even if they abstain entirely from intercourse with women; but how they do this is known. Therefore, if there are some who have the gift of chastity, so that without marriage they do not feel the heat of the flesh, let them remain in their gift. On the other hand, they,
2) This is the Zlossa oi-äiuarm much used in the Middle Ages.
1992 L. xx, iso-iss. Au[1. on the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 128. w. iv, 271v-27.n. 199z
Those who are in heat should give counsel to their weakness according to the words of Paul [1 Cor. 7:9] and the ordinance of God [Gen. 2:18], who intended that the woman should be a helpmate to the man, so that even though the gifts are different, we may still remain servants of the same Lord, keeping a good conscience and giving no one trouble.
Thus marriage is a holy, praiseworthy, good and useful state, therefore it deserves to be praised, as the Psalm does here, although the flesh and the world cannot praise it because of the difficulties it has, but rather admires and praises the celibate life. But this is not following the word of God. For the flesh praises and distinguishes the gifts according to its judgment, and holds that one serves God better and purer in the celibate life than in marriage, as Jerome does in the pernicious books against Jovinianus, who, it seems, had more learning and judgment in one finger than Jerome had in his whole body. For he should not have praised virginity in such a way that he thereby reviled the married state, but rather should have said that those who find virgins should serve God in their gift, therefore marriage is not to be rejected, but to be praised as a state that God created, even at the time when nature was still unharmed and not yet corrupted by sin. But Jerome did not have so much godliness nor judgment, but broke out plainly, as the unlearned monks still tend to do: It is good for man to be thus [1 Cor. 7, 1. 8. 26.], therefore it is evil to be married. Likewise: The virgin Eustochia 1) is a precious jewel to the church. Dear, what kind of word is that? The jewel of the church is that one believes in Christ, is baptized and placed in the fellowship of Christ, but virginity is not the same.
1) In Latin: Lonuni rnonilo ecreiesine LustoviiM, in all editions. Here Imstoelriurn is in any case the nominative. Also in the Tischreden, Cap. 57, tz 12, Aurifaber has the form Eustochium, which is changed in the editions to Eustochiam. Compare our edition vol. XIX, 1564, note - The old translator, Stephan Agricola, has here: "Item, die Jungfrawschafft, dear Eustochium ist ein köstliche Kleinod der heiligen Christlichen kirchen." (Wittenb. Ausg. Bd. VIII, Bl. 91b.)
To be a wife or to be married, these are different gifts, which are equally pleasing to God. For what they oppose in regard to marriage: that such people will have bodily tribulation [1 Cor. 7:28.], we readily admit. But this is not the fault of marriage, but of sin, which is also the fault of those who are not married, Gen. 3:18 ff.
This is what I wanted to answer to the opinion of Jerome, who, with his Origen, fools and fabricates spiritual fathers and children by unrhymed secret interpretations. By these speeches they have given the pope the opportunity to make himself the bridegroom or husband of the church. Thus one error gives birth to another. But I would rather that this bridegroom be buried in hell hanging on a tree with Judas than that he should take his name from Christ in this way. For only one is the bridegroom and husband of the church, Christ Jesus; all other saints are friends of the bridegroom, as the Baptist calls himself [John 3:29]. The church is the bride or the wife, the children are the believers who are added daily. These also become the bride through faith, because they have a share in the goods of the bridegroom, and obtain the righteousness and the merits of Christ through faith. If the pope is good, he is in the number of these people, not the bridegroom, not the husband, but the bride who receives from the goods of the bridegroom; but if he is evil, he is the bridegroom of the devil and the friend of Judas.
So the sum of our answer is that this psalm does not force marriage, as if it were necessary for everyone to live in marriage, for it is not contrary to the words of Christ, who says, "Let him who can grasp it grasp it," but simply praises marriage against the flesh and the corrupt examples of the world, which all challenge this state for the sake of the hardships that befall the married couple. Those who have set themselves to flee from them defile themselves with fornication and adultery, and so also do harm by their example. The psalm fortifies the hearts against these viper's tongues and evil examples of the world. The world calls woman a necessary evil, and Peter calls her an evil for the sake of the world.
for the sake of certain causes, yet without dishonor, a weak instrument [1 Pet. 3:8]. But see what the Holy Spirit says here, how he adorns and praises the woman, comparing her to a fruitful vine, and the children she bears to her husband to olive branches. But say, whether there be in any scriptures such dainty and significant and lovely similes as these two are? yea, is it found in other places of the holy scriptures? For he takes the two noblest trees, the vine and the oil tree, from which two exceedingly delicious liquids are gathered, and with these he compares those things despised in the sight of the world, the woman and her fruit, the children. If you look at their nature, the woman is a weak buttock, and her sex is far below what the male sex is able to do, especially if you make the comparison in the things that are directed by men, but cannot be directed by women. But the Holy Spirit looks at the gift, and under the richness of the gift hides all that is difficult in the female sex, and showers it with the most glorious parables.
But in order to see to some extent the reasons why the Holy Spirit praises this sex so much, we must imagine that we all are not married couples, since the world abhors the married state, but celibate people; indeed, let us imagine that there is neither a man nor a woman, but a certain individual being who is sexless, so that therefore the celibate state could be thought of as all the more perfect: Dear, what would arise from such a world and the happy and pure sexless state? How long would this sex (species) last? Would not within twenty years the whole world have the appearance of a desert and a vast wasteland? What use will gold be? What use will silver be? Yes, what will be the use of the sun, the moon and everything that grows on the earth, since suddenly the human race will cease, when in this way marriage will be abolished and, if it pleases the gods, the blessed celibate state will be established? Yes, look here, where will the preaching ministry be then? What fruit will the good deed of Christ produce?
Why then do you praise the celibate life in such a way as to diminish the dignity and exceedingly great fruits of marriage? Rather, praise both according to their dignity and merit, and especially see in this passage how the Holy Spirit teaches you to regard your wife, namely, not as a weak flesh that (with permission, for I am forced to speak so because of the blasphemous despisers of God's creature) pees, sweats, and does other natural things. For why do you not do the same with the vine? Why don't you despise it because of the dung that is brought to the roots? Do you not take more care of the sap that is brought out of the vine in this way? In the case of the oil tree, no one is offended by the pungent taste of the bark and the fact that the root has to be provided with manure and fattened, as it were. For we all look primarily at the fruits. Who, therefore, should not be seriously displeased that the prudence of men is such that in other things, which are inferior, they choose the best, and either cover up or disregard the evil, because of the greater good or benefit, and yet do not do this in the case of the noblest creature of God, the woman? as if women could not also blame such detestable things (for so [foeditates] these tender people call it) in men.
With the children, we can make a distinction between the children and the dung, festering and diseases, and whatever else it may be. For who throws away a child because it is defiled with dung? Yes, who throws it away because it is either disfigured by dung, or afflicted with the plague or some other contagious disease? Is the dung not washed off? Is it not carefully cared for in sickness, that it may be preserved to us? Thus we cover the natural infirmities with the greatness of the good, which, as we think, is in the preservation of the children. Who would not laugh at him, who would not curse him, who would say that for the sake of manure or because of an illness, even the most serious one, a child must be thrown away? how these fine and tender people would not have the services in spite of themselves.
1996 XX, I3S-I37. Au[1. on the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 128. w. IV, 2785,-2787. 1997
The way that husbands provide for their wives without burden when their state of health requires it. Should we not remember that she is God's creature and partaker of the benefits of Christ, and that she is given to us by God to be our helpmate?
Therefore, these are devilish words with which the wicked mock the intercourse of husbands and wives, so that they may be considered men and rightly despise these things. For if such people were worthy of becoming fathers, they would realize that it did no harm even to a father of high dignity to kiss his sick child and wait for him to fester. For if the children, either sick or polluted with dung, should be thrown away, I pray you, where would I be, where would you be? Therefore the world is exceedingly blameworthy, that even in the best things it is wont to look only at the infirmities, and not also at the good (virtutes), and since it cannot do without the custom of this good, and has it daily, as it were, in its hand, yet is so blind that it cannot see the same. But this is original sin, that one is blind even with respect to the most glorious creatures, and does not understand what good there is in them, but rather stumbles at far lesser difficulties, so much so that it is necessary to teach against this blindness, and yet people hardly believe it.
Therefore, one must do here what Cicero says that he did when he had to conduct matters in court, namely, that he covered up what was bad, but where there was something good about the matter, he emphasized it, moved completely in it and, as it were, lived there. For who would want to take less care of his body for the sake of it, because he has either a swarm on his chest or some other ailment in another part of the body? Do we not for that reason wait for the body with all the greater care? Yes, you see our courtiers: if they, well fed, carry around a body full of excrement, they do not pay any attention to the disorder, but despise it, and go along in gold and silk, as if their whole body were pure balm. Thus we carefully conceal the infirmities,
but what is respectable we let be seen. But why do we not do the same in the state of marriage, that we cover up and conceal the infirmities and look at the advantages and benefits? Here we all do the opposite, not because things are to blame, but because of original sin: it makes people's hearts so blind that in the best and holiest things we pick out only what we can slander. We do the same with the word of God and in all things that belong to the kingdom of God. For since God gives the sun, grain, a healthy body, healthy eyes, etc., no one pays attention to them, no one gives thanks for these gifts. But as soon as a plague breaks out, or a lack of grain, or even only a tooth hurts, then it happens that this one center or point of pain obscures or completely takes away the whole scope of God's benefits. Such is the world and our reason: it is more moved by one evil than by a thousand good things, as our papists also tend to do. From the best gifts and virtues that our churches have, they pick out only that which they can slander; they do this to such an extent that they overwhelm all the virtues of the Word with it.
But the Holy Spirit does the opposite: he covers the infirmities, and what is good in a thing he adorns with the praise it deserves. Therefore, he paints the woman in such a way that he commands her to be regarded as a vine planted and given to you by the Lord in your house, whose fruits are in truth God's plants, far more lovely to look at and better to use than the olive trees. For although some are degenerate and evil, it cannot be denied that they are God's gift; this must be acknowledged. That is to teach a married person rightly. But those who have the gift of chastity may be without this vine, and may enjoy their other tree and other fruits. But we are now about to praise this state; in it the woman is like a vine, and the children like oil trees, for so the Holy Spirit teaches us, and the thing itself testifies the same, though the holy Scriptures do not teach it. For the Gentiles also have
The German songs of our people also testify to this, in which the fidelity of the married couple is praised with the highest exaltations, because this life has nothing more lovely and more glorious than a woman who loves her husband. All men of understanding confess this with one mouth, not because of the lust of the flesh, which is greater in fornication, adultery and defilement, for there the lust is kindled, but in marriage it is extinguished, but because this is the highest lust, that the woman has a fatherly, motherly and filial love for her husband, that is, the very highest love. This is the excellent gift, and worthy of admiration and praise in women, of which those swine know nothing, who think that woman is only a sour puddle of dung for pleasure. She is a far better and more worthy instrument, which God has planted to be in your house like a fruitful vine. Therefore, men should love their wives and children more than their lives.
Therefore this glorious praise belongs against the poisonous tongues of the devil and of men, with which they attack this state, as well as against the judgment of our corrupt flesh, by which it happens that we are provoked either to weariness or to impatience, because our eyes are blind, so that they cannot measure the advantages, and only hang on the infirmities and troubles. But not even the more sensible of the heathen did this. For they saw the natural affection for the children and the mutual love and faithfulness of the spouses toward each other, and praised both with glorious testimonies. Thus, through the small number of understanding people, God also overcame the great multitude of viper's tongues against this state. But how much more does it behoove us to protect marriage, since the Holy Spirit invites us to do so with such clear and glorious parables, by which He shows that God is so pleased with married life that He not only gives His blessing to sustain life, but also "blesses the breasts and bellies," as Moses calls it [Gen. 49:25]. God would certainly not do this if He had
hated the husband and wife. But to Adam he said [Gen. 1, 29]: Everything that grows out of the earth shall serve as your food. After the flood of sin he also allowed the use of pure animals, yes, to the married state he also gives everything that there is in the world of goods and treasures, and everything that has this nature at all. These are all living testimonies that God approves of this state, even if the Holy Scriptures do not show it. Finally, who does not see that even the procreation of the sex was created and ordered by God? Therefore, we should be mindful of these parables against the slanders of our own thoughts, the devil and the viper's tongues, which exalt their void nature and their exceedingly great impurity, but undeservedly reproach these highest gifts of God.
Behold, the man who fears the Lord is blessed.
Hitherto we have heard the glorious prize of the married state, which the Holy Spirit holds forth to fortify and comfort those who are placed in that state, that they may patiently suffer the troubles, trials, and afflictions of the married state, and not follow the judgment of the world, which follows the carnal sense no differently than a mule and an ass, and suffers to be hindered by those hardships, but does not recognize the good that God has given, but sometimes even curses and abhors it. Thus, you will find many who find the great number of children disagreeable, as if marriage were used only for sour pleasures, not also for the sake of the exceedingly delicious services with which we serve GOD and man when we wait for and raise the children that GOD has given. These do not realize the exceedingly lovely thing that marriage has. For what is greater than the love of children? especially since you hear here that children are the most important part of the divine blessing.
But here again faith is necessary. For the world does not consider it a blessing that it must seek nourishment through work, that it must bear the burdens of wife and children, 2c., of which there are many. All this holds the world and the
The Holy Spirit praises all that he has said so far with this very sweet name. But in order to fortify the hearts of the godly, the Holy Spirit praises all that He has said so far with this exceedingly lovely name and calls it blessings, so that He may awaken us to rightly recognize God and His gifts, so that we do not, as the world is wont to do, which always looks at the present with distaste and desires what is not there, fall into overindulgence in the midst of God's gifts. Therefore, we must pay careful attention to this emphatic expression (emphasis) that he calls this life, which is miserable and full of misfortune according to reason, a blessed one, since he says: "Behold, so the man is blessed," as if he wanted to say: What more do you want? This, that you have a wife, that you have children, that you nourish yourself with the work of your hands, this is truly God's blessing. Therefore, not only should you not be offended by it, but you should also thank God for His blessings.
But how few are there who believe this? And even if some believe, they are often distracted from this faith by their weakness, and forget the blessing as if they were under a curse, and become impatient. Therefore, it would be desirable for the godly to have this word of the Holy Spirit as an exceedingly great comfort always before their eyes and ears. For how can a more certain reason be given for proving that the life of the spouses is pleasing to God than that their whole life should be a blessing? It is true that they are often challenged with sins of impatience, for the sake of the sins of the servants and the children, and also with hatred against the neighbors, but what is the matter with that? In this weakness, everything cannot be so pure and perfect that one would not often have to experience faults or shortcomings in the house or outside the house. But these sins of impatience are erased by the daily prayer of the godly, and godly spouses must always hold on to this consolation that they firmly believe that they are sitting in the blessing and have a life blessed by God. The firmer and richer this faith is, the more joy there is. For even though there are many hardships, even though sins sometimes overtake us
Even though the word of the Almighty God is not in dispute, the word of the Almighty God is there, and therefore those who faithfully keep it are victorious in all disputes.
Therefore, one must take hold of these words as if God Himself were speaking them down from heaven, and one must become accustomed to holding this state in due honor, since God Himself has poured out His blessings so abundantly upon it. This must not only be understood in such a way that we praise it with words and recommend it to other people, but we, who are in marriage, should, each for himself, praise it to ourselves, so that we, may poverty, or sickness, or accidents in the household, or other hardships befall us, bear it with equanimity, satisfied with the exceedingly rich comfort that the Holy Spirit calls it a blessed life. And this is experienced, known, and done by those who fear the Lord and serve Him in truth, as it is said, "Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord." For the true service of God is to fear God, to trust in God, and to put all hope in God. These movements of the heart are followed by obedience in our profession and in other things that are commanded to us by God, for all this comprehends the fear of God in itself. Those who do not fear the Lord do not understand this; neither does the Holy Spirit sing about them here.
V. 5 The Lord will bless you from Zion, that you may see the happiness of Jerusalem all your life long.
After this excellent praise of marriage, the Holy Spirit adds a very glorious prayer, in which he asks that God bless this blessed state even more, and also for the sake of such spouses make the worldly regime a peaceful one and give happiness to it. Furthermore, all such prayers also contain the promise that it will happen as we ask. For it is not necessary to think that the Holy Spirit either prays or prescribes to pray such things that are not approved by God and that he does not want to hear. But that he expressly adds: "The Lord from Zion", he does this because at that time the service in Zion was
was. Therefore, those who wanted to pray did not only look with their hearts to this place, as we have shown above several times, but they also turned their faces there [Dan. 6, 10.], because God had promised that He would dwell there and accept the prayers and sacrifices [Ps. 132, 14. 2 Chron. 6, 6. 7, 14P Hence come these expressions: "praying before the LORD" [Ps. 5, 3.], "offering before the LORD" [2 Chron. 7, 4. 1 Kings 8, 62.], "appearing before the LORD" [Ex. 23, 15.], that is, in the tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat were, to which God had committed Himself that He would be found there. Therefore they called this place strength, kingdom, glory, honor, beauty or adornment, likewise the rest of the Lord, as can be seen in the Psalms and the other prophets.
After Christ appeared and the gospel was preached in all the world, this place ceased. Therefore we do not sing now: "The Lord will bless you out of Zion" or his holy temple, but: through Christ our Lord. For he is our true mercy seat, of whom he was the shadow or model in the Old Testament. For in Christ the Godhead dwells bodily [Col. 2:9]. Therefore, when we pray to God, we ask that we may be heard in the name of Christ, just as, according to the example of the ancient Church, all public prayers were concluded with these words: Through Christ our Lord. But we have said this several times above, although it cannot be emphasized enough. For this is the Christian knowledge and wisdom, that we have not (that I say so) flying and scattered thoughts, but that they are gathered together upon one object, that is, from Christ. For as in the Old Testament the people were gathered to the Ark of the Covenant or the Tabernacle, and were not permitted to sacrifice in Dan, Bethel, Gilgal and other places (which the godless idolaters chose against the Word), so today one must not seek a way to God through the invocation of the saints or any other worship and works, but only through Christ and in Christ, according to the saying [John 16:23]: "If you ask the Father anything in my name, I will give you all the things you need.
he will give it to you." For the hearts must hold on to the fact that God is not in the monasteries, not in the places of pilgrimage, not here, not there, not even in heaven, but is found and worshipped only in this one person, who was born of Mary, that is, in Christ Jesus. This is the right seat of grace and the certain throne of the Godhead, where the Godhead dwells bodily and is found, as the sayings of the Gospel teach [John 14:6]: "No one comes to the Father except through me." "I am the life, the truth and the way."
Those who do not have this object, their hearts wander and wander about in innumerable opinions, as is evident from the example of the monks: some have chosen Franciscus, others Dominic, others Benedictus, others still others protectors, by whose rule they would like to come to life as in a certain way. What have all these done? Search their hearts, and they will tell you as if from one mouth that they wanted to seek God; but they thought that God in heaven was such that He would hear them and be gracious to them if they were dressed in a robe, if they abstained from eating meat, if they lived without marriage, if they did not touch money 2c. Thus they have forsaken the right and one way, which is Christ, and have gone astray, each in his own way, according to the same manner as the Jews. Although the one way was presented to them how they should find God, namely when they went to the tabernacle, worshipped and sacrificed there, they left this one and right way and ran here and there, to groves, valleys, rivers 2c. There they suffered twofold harm. For since they thought they would find God, they were mistaken, and since they thought they would reconcile God, they offended Him even more, as the revealed sayings in the prophets state, in which God says that He rejects the ways they choose for themselves and that He will not let them find Him. For why do they not remain on the right and infallible path shown by God's Word?
This is what I am saying so that we can get that, that he is saying:
2004 H' It4-146. Au[1. on d. 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 128. w. IV, 27<j5-27<n. 2005
"The Lord from Zion" without taking offense at it. For he mentions this place with necessity to prevent idolatry. For God had revealed that he wanted to be worshipped in this one place. Therefore, under the cover of the promise, they also worshipped Christ there, whom the promise included. But now that Zion is buried and destroyed, the treasure is opened, namely Christ, who was then hidden in the promise as in a cover. Therefore you should be aware that such passages must all be drawn to Christ, as experience also teaches us that in temptations there is no consolation by which hearts can be lifted up, not even in God, except the One Consolation in Christ. For it is not only dangerous but also frightening to think of God apart from Christ. For besides the fact that the devil can then very easily overpower us through the splendor of God's glory, there is also danger for this reason, because God does not want to be taken in these ways. Therefore, we must cling to that one object in which God shows Himself and His mind to us, in Christ. But those who seek something else besides Christ will learn in their temptation, at their peril, how little that is certain.
But, do you say, how will the LORD from Zion continue to bless? 1) Namely, "that you may see the happiness of Jerusalem," that is, the Lord will give worldly peace for the sake of good husbands and wives who fear God, which is useful not only to make it easier to obtain food, but even more to raise children properly. And this was the reason in the beginning that cities were built in order to ward off the violence of men and wild animals with united forces, and so that they could nourish themselves and their own in peace. After that, since there was not enough protection in one city, several joined together. Thus principalities and kingdoms came into being, only for the sake of peace, which is necessary for the spouses, and reason imagines that nature has arranged and taught it this way, but the Holy Spirit shows here the right cause, i.e., that the people of the kingdoms and of the kingdoms are not the same.
1) Erlanger: UensäieU instead of: dLueäioet,.
The first blessing is that of fearing the Lord, the second that of having a wife and children, and the third that of enjoying worldly peace. They must acknowledge that the first blessing is to fear the Lord, the second to have a wife and children, and the third to enjoy worldly peace. What do you want more than that? Thou shalt therefore think that for thy vine and for thy olive branches, which thou hast in thine house, the Lord will give kings, princes, judgments, laws, and all things necessary for the preservation of the commonwealth and of peace.
Therefore, we are rightly reminded that it is certain that the princes and authorities serve the fathers of the house, but that they are entitled to the good for this service, that they are given womb and customs and the like, which the authorities need, since they watch over the preservation of peace. For they are "servants of God," as Paul also calls them [Rom. 13:4], who are given by God so that you may enjoy peace. How great a blessing peace is, however, is testified to by a common saying of the Germans, in which they say that a householder who has two cows should give one so that he can enjoy the other in peace and keep it. For what good is it if you have a house full of goods and cannot protect it against robbers or thieves? Now, since this is done by the authorities, indeed, since courts and laws restore to the rightful lord that which has been unlawfully snatched away, honor is rightly due to it, and it is rightly paid womb as the steward of the blessings of God which He has given to husbands and wives. For this is enumerated here by David as the third blessing of the married state, that through marriage they shall see the happiness of Jerusalem, that is, that they shall see Jerusalem flourish, first, through right worship and pure doctrine, second, through good government. For these are the goods not of one house only, but of all Jerusalem. Thus the Holy Spirit praises the gifts of God to us in the most beautiful order. The first is the fear of God; this comprehends in itself what belongs to the first table. Then, for the sake of the fear of God, God gives and sustains the house and the household. Finally, for the sake of the well-ordered and in the fear of God
For the sake of God's guided stewardship, the third blessing also follows, namely, a blissful world regiment.
Furthermore, the flesh judges these blessings in the world regime in quite the same way as it judges housekeeping. For it does not want to suffer any laws. Therefore, from the ropes of the great crowd come hatred, imprecations, and vituperations against the authorities, even if they perform their duties with the utmost care. For when is the great multitude not exceedingly impatient when taxes are imposed on them even for the most just reasons? as if, in fact, that were the only thing with which the authorities have to deal, that they collect money and use it for their own pleasure without any difficulty or burden. Dear, who is there who serves for free without pay? What ingratitude is this, then, that one does not want to give to the authorities, who serve the community with the greatest danger and in an extremely arduous condition, what their work deserves! Or do you think that this service should be rendered to you in vain, that you should dwell in this or another city, enjoying peace, jurisdiction and the church, without any cost? The godly truly do not demand this, but recognize that the authorities are instituted by God for the sake of peace, therefore they are willing to pay them honor, lap and duty, as angels of peace who guard us and watch over us.
Therefore, the Scripture reminds us of a more serious duty and imposes it on us, namely, that we should also pray for the authorities. Those who do not do this, and even bear the public burdens unwillingly, deserve to have tyrants instead of good princes, who force them to bear even heavier burdens, and impose extraordinary burdens, since they either take the ordinary ones upon themselves with impatience or pay them unfaithfully. These are just punishments for disobedient citizens and for the great multitude who, in danger, take refuge in the authorities alone, and against them, as it were, spew forth what hurts their souls and is annoying to them. The authorities have to leave their own business in the queue and
The most important thing is to listen to the complaints of each individual and to seek redress for them, and it is then that the greatest concern arises when public complaints have to be resolved. Are not therefore those worthy of tyrants, and of such lords as are wasteful and negligent, who will not give thanks to a godly and careful authority? For the tyrants afterwards bring it about that such people learn what a good authority is, so that they punish themselves that they have sinned by disobedience, that they have sinned by paying the ordinary taxes unfaithfully, by blaming the authorities 2c. If God does not punish this in this way by tyrants, He does it by rebellion and war, so that these sows do not go unpunished for not having been obedient and not having honored the authorities. For as the sows are only bent on satisfying their greed, so the peasants think that they are only born to enjoy peace, to gather goods and to satisfy their avarice; but that they should give away something of the goods they have gathered for the common good, they do this either unwillingly or unfaithfully.
Therefore, we should be accustomed to learn to recognize and be grateful for these benefits that come to us through the authorities, so that we do not, like the rabble, resent the burdens that we should gladly take upon ourselves for the sake of the commonwealth; then, that we learn that this benefit of a good authority is bestowed upon us for the sake of godly husbands and wives, after which the wicked also enjoy it, like swine their food, without thanksgiving. For just as the destruction of Sodom was postponed for the sake of Lot, so the Lord often blesses a whole community for the sake of a godly house or two, and the Lord gives happiness to a whole empire for the sake of a godly ruler or two.
V. 6. and see your children's children. Peace upon Israel.
The gift of children is given to many in the world, but many do not receive it. Therefore, we have rightly said above that it is a price, not a promise, that each individual receives.
2008 L. LX, 148-150. 1. about the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 128. w. IV, 2771-2773. 2009
but the whole estate. Thus it happens to some that they see their children's children or grandchildren, some have a barren marriage, as the Lord distributes this to everyone for his own good; and yet one must wish this for godly married couples, and it usually happens to them. And it is worth admiring, especially in the case of old people, the special love they have for their grandchildren. For they love them more dearly than their own children. Since the psalm is concerned with glorifying the married state and wishing the spouses all the best, it adds this as the highest delight, that they should keep their offspring even in the distant future, so that it does not omit anything of what is given by God to the spouses, even if not to all, but to most of them. Although we have said above that such prayers also include promises, it is known how it is with the bodily promises, namely that the Lord gives them in such a way as is useful to each individual. Therefore, we will draw this promise, which is included in this wish, to the whole estate, not to individual husbands and wives, that godly and God-fearing husbands and wives will have a great posterity, and that the blessing will flow over to the whole nation for their sake, as he adds: "Peace upon Israel," that is, all salvation will come to Israel for your sake.
Thus this psalm praises us the marriage state against the blasphemies of the flesh, which only judges according to its feelings. As it is annoyed by the difficulties and burdens of marriage, so it is also annoyed by the world order, where one must obey the laws, pay taxes and take other burdens upon oneself. For it would like to live in such a way that it could enjoy everything that is very good in the marriage state and in the world regime completely and without all troubles.
As we see that people of pleasure (delicatos) enter into marriage for the sake of it, because they, not knowing life, think that there is only love and pleasure in it. In the same way, people can be found whom dignity and the pursuit of honor make so nonsensical that they seek or enter into it only out of ambition for offices of authority. But since afterwards in marriage innumerable hardships have to be borne, and in the magisterial office envy, hatred, curses and insults, they cry out that they have been deceived in their hopes. This is how it must necessarily come about, because they regard as nothing that which is noblest and best in both states, namely, the blessing of the Lord. Therefore, one must look at the blessing and have the will of the Lord and His word before one's eyes, and because everything else is full of dangers, tribulations and plagues, one must rest on the will of God. It is the same in the Church. Dear, is not everything full of the most oppressive troubles with such a large number of godless and worldly-minded (profanorum) people? But all this is easily borne and overcome by looking to the will of God.
In the state of marriage, we should also consider first the word of God, secondly the gift that the Lord gives when He gives a wife and children, and thirdly the blessing of the world's government and peace; for these gifts, which we recognize, we should also give thanks afterwards. Thus it will happen that God will be provoked to continue to give His blessings; but where this does not happen, God will thereby be challenged to take from us again also the gifts that we have. In this way, great empires, cities and communities could flourish longer, but because they do not give thanks to God and despise His word, they perish because of their ingratitude. We should therefore learn to be thankful, and the blessing of the Lord will be abundantly upon us. Amen.