V. 1. a psalm of David, to be sung on strings. 1)
To my mind, this is an exceedingly dark psalm, and hardly any other has been interpreted so differently. This great diversity proves that the right understanding of it has not yet been made manifest.
First, let us consider once and for all the title, which we will have more often from now on. Before Jerome's translation, it was translated by the elders: in finem, which they indeed unanimously declared "upon Christ", whom the apostle Rom. 10, 4. calls "the end of the law" (finem), saying: "Christ is the end of the law, he who believes in him is righteous". This "end" they again take to be twofold, that Christ was raised up (intentus) from the law as it were to the end and summa, and that he himself made an end of the law, so that we owe him nothing more, or, as the Peripatetic philosophers speak, he is finis quo and gratia cujus. But what this is to serve as the title of the psalm, I cannot see, unless you tear this apart quite forcibly, and put others together. For not all psalms that have this heading speak of Christ, unless this means speaking of Christ when speaking of some work of God's grace, because without Christ we have neither great nor small things. But then one would have to put this heading over all the Psalms.
After that Jerome translated: "To the victor" (victori); followed by: "To the victory", from which Lyra draws the opinion from Rabbi Solomon 2) that the psalm was made for the singers, the Levites, to sing in alternate choirs (al-
The Vulgate offers: In tinnin in ourininidns, I^Unnnj Vuvlü.
2) In the Erlanger: "Hubdi Sul."; Baseler and Wittenberger: "liuln LiU"; Jenaer: "Nutzi suli". That we have correctly resolved, about it compare Walch, St. Louiser Ausg., Vol. I., IM, § IM; idüi. Col. 370, z 2l9. The Weimar offers: ÜuUi [aiomonn.
ternis choris) should be anxious to overcome each other, perhaps by measuring (mensus) the holy, sweet song of David, which was used for the praise of God, according to the custom of the exceedingly large screamers, who are called canons (chorales) in our cathedral churches. To whom these may sing I do not know, I only hear that they roar for the stones and for the wood. And then, trying to reconcile this with the fact that others have written about it in finem, he says that this is the end (finem), the victory, namely in the shouting, which the choir, who would be victors in the singing of this psalm (namely at the behest of the prophet), has sought. Can then also these foolish antics be taught with such great seriousness?
But we read in the first book of Chronicles, Cap. 16, 19-2t., that three kinds of singers were ordered by David; the one who should sing with harps (nablis),3 ) that is, init psalteries; the second who should sing with the zither, or, as the interpreter is also wont to say for it, with the lute (lyris); the third who should sound brightly with brazen cymbals. To these were added at times the drums and the trombones. And of the third 4) kind it is written there [v. 21.], with zithers an octave higher (super octavam) lenazeach, which one [in the Vulgate], translated epinicion, that is, a victory song. Hence it is perhaps from this that lamnazeach is translated: To victory, that a psalm designated with such a title should be a song of victory.
Here I confess my ignorance. For if this is so, I do not know why the title: "A song of victory" should not also be written to all other psalms, which either have the same or also greater things des-.
3) In the Vulgate, the Wittenberg, the Jena, the Erlangen and the Weimar: "nnkUs"; in the Basel: "undilis".
4) In the Bible, v. 21, it is the third kind; but in the order as Luther has indicated it here, it is the second kind.
The psalm and its like contain the same kind of victory. Then again, there will be a difference in what kind of victory is sung in the psalm, since some celebrate the victory of Christ, but others the victory of any Christian who is in suffering or temptation.
Johannes Reuchlin in his Septena translates: Ad invitatorium, which means that
Such psalms are a kind of stimulus to awaken and exhort the spirit of man, and the origin of this word fits extremely well. For, he says, it means: He stops, he urges, he compels, he urges, as Ezra 3,1 ) 9. [Vulg.]: "To drive the workers who did the work of God," and again [v. 8.]: "To drive the work of the house of the Lord." But even the content of the psalm is not contrary to this, because in my judgment it is only an exhortation to do the work of the Lord, that is, to suffer the cross and death. But whether this cause of the title is constant and continuous in all psalms, I leave to the reader to investigate and judge.
I gladly accept that a song of victory and an invitatory are one and the same, because such songs of triumph tend to inflame and incite the hearts to war in an extraordinary way; the psalms also encourage the faithful of Christ quite powerfully both to the wars and to the victories of the cross. And so I can also harmonize everything with each other: To the victory, the victor, to the incitement, to the end, because everything has its purpose, that we, encouraged by this incitement of the Spirit, may be victorious, and attain the end of all enemies and of all ungodly (peccatorum), so that nothing is left but the triumph of glory.
"On stringed instruments" (in organiz); here the genus is no doubt taken for the species, that is, [stringed instruments) for zithers. For it has already been said that the songs of victory were sung to zithers, 1 Chron. 16, 28. [Vulg.] For it is "strings" at this point in Hebrew a general term for any musical instrument.
1) Wittenberg, Jena and Erlangen: Lgäru" 4.
I am silent of the praise and power of music, since this is abundantly dealt with by others, only [that I will note] that here it clearly appears that the use of music was formerly sacred, and adapted to divine things, but that in the course of times (like everything) it has been put into the service of lavishness and pleasure. For by the same the evil spirit of Saul was driven out, 1 Sam. 16, 23. and to Elisha the prophetic spirit was given, 2 Kings. 2) 3, 15.
This very dark psalm has been interpreted (as I have said) in various ways. Augustine believes it to be either the words of Christ after his resurrection, or of a man in the church who believes and hopes in Christ. I pass over Lyra and Burgensis; the former understands it as spoken by David against the followers of Saul, the latter that it is spoken against the idolaters. Jerome thinks that it must not be understood differently than by Christ. All (singulae) interpretations of these people go beyond my concepts; I will follow my: spirit and let my sense rule, but let everyone his opinion.
These are my thoughts that this Psalm is a very general exhortation to all the people of God, especially to those who do not know the works and ways of God and shun the wisdom of the cross. Among these, the Jews were the first, and still are, the children of Israel, who should be the most experienced in this. For, as the apostle Rom. 3:19. says, "We know that what the law saith, that saith it unto them which are under the law." Therefore David, proved by one of his temptations, or rather by many, teaches us by his example what to do and how to behave in any tribulation, and so this psalm, according to its title, will be one that exhorts to victory, which is also indicated by the words themselves by which he makes himself known as the teacher of those people, saying, "Dear lords (filii viri), [v. 4.] recognize, [v. 5.] be angry, [v. 6.] sacrifice, hope" etc.
V. 2. Hear me when I call, God of my justice (Cum invocarem, exaudivit me Deus justitiae meae).
2) Erlanger: "2. Re." instead of: 4.
2 Right from the beginning he instructs the fainthearted and those who are full of complaints, teaching them by his example that in any affliction one should not run elsewhere, but should call upon the Lord. He says: As often as I have called (but I have called as often as I have been in trouble, as the 120th Psalm, v. 1. [Vulg.] says: "I have called upon the Lord in my distress"), so often has he heard me, for the Lord is so kind and ready to have mercy on those who cry out to him, why then do you pusillanimous ones fill everything with your complaints, seek vain consolation, flee to men and know nothing of this one remedy, nor do you seek it?
Pay attention to the divine artist and incomparable speaker. With one and the same entrance he does three things. First, he addresses the children of men, 1) and, concerned for them in brotherly love, teaches them where the afflicted must flee to, by his own example and with very modest boasting. I, he says, have always done so, and believe that you also should do so. Secondly, in order to make them well-meaning and willing, he at the same time praises to them the goodness of God. He says, "He has heard me," as if to say: I am firmly convinced that He will also hear you most graciously, if you will only dare to do so and call upon Him. Thirdly, which was the main thing, as an extremely good speaker he begins with thanksgiving and praise, which is the best way to win the goodwill of God and men. For this is also how we are commanded in the prayer of the Lord, that we should begin: "Our Father", by summarizing and repeating with this word in the sweetest spirit all the benefits of God.
This is undoubtedly the reason why he addresses the word to the children of men, which he should have addressed to God; but he did not want to leave them behind and come alone and empty before the face of God. That is why he tries to win the goodwill as a grateful one, and at the same time instructs the weak as one who is eager for the salvation of the brothers. For in the following part, he immediately addresses the word to God alone, in-
"Dear Sirs" in our Bible.
in which he says "You have comforted me," where he has already brought those whom he addressed in the first part with him to God's face, so that they now not only hear what he did in previous tribulations, but also see the example by which he is accustomed to flee to God in present tribulations, thus comforting them most lovingly by word and example.
4. now [comes] this: "God my righteousness", for which can also be said without danger: God my justice (justitia mea). Although I do not want to deny that it means that justice is from God, and that God alone makes just, it seems to me that the prophet touches on the epitome (summam) of the question or complaint that the weak are wont to bring forward, namely, that they think that they are wronged by the adversaries, and therefore they are justly unwilling and angry. The prophet does not attack them sharply, but (as I have said) instructs them sweetly by his example and admonishes them to forget their righteousness and to bring the whole matter home to God, who judges rightly, and not to presume on righteousness more than is good for God, as Peter says of Christ, 1 Peter 2:23. 2, 23: "Who did not reproach when he was reproached, nor threaten when he suffered, but brought it home to him that judgeth righteously" (that is, he committed the matter to God who judges righteously). Thus he says here: As often as I suffer injustice, I call upon the God of my righteousness, being ready to take for righteousness whatever he may judge; therefore I know nothing of any other righteousness that is mine, but only God himself and his holy will.
5. Is this not an exceedingly artful way of comforting the weak, not condemning their cause, nor justifying it, but taking it from them and transferring it to God, at the same time drawing them to God with their cause, so that they may consider it their righteousness, whatever God may do, and thus bear God's will patiently?
This understanding I follow all the more gladly, because in my opinion (mihi) "my righteousness" according to the custom of the Scriptures is more
The Scriptures rather call it "the righteousness of God" (justitiam Dei), Rom. 1, 17: "The righteousness that is before God (justitia Dei) is revealed in it through faith", and Ps. 31, 2: "Save me by your righteousness" (not by mine). On the other hand Gen. 30, 33.: "My righteousness will testify to me today or tomorrow," and Ps. 7, 9.: "Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and godliness." For this is the righteousness among men, which God also avenges, although it is not sufficient for anyone before God, and it happens that sometimes something evil is done unjustly, which is not suffered unjustly. He therefore quite rightly withdraws them from trusting in their own righteousness and leads them to God, so that they will not be worthy before God to suffer much greater things, however righteous they may be before men.
(6) And this is indeed a very useful doctrine, which is always neglected by men. For if this were kept, there would not be so many courts, quarrels, rights, disputes and lawsuits. For everyone cries out: Justice, justice, justice. Such a man is rare, who, according to the example and word of this prophet, would make his justice GOtte home and let him be the GOtte of his justice, or rather his justice. Therefore, the whole world rages because of righteousness and justice with wars, murders, troubles and innumerable horrible sins and evils, and it happens that righteousness is almost the sole cause of all injustice. For they are so blinded by error that they think that justice is also with God, which they, instructed by their own opinion (dictaminibus), their own counsel and the statutes of men, have recognized as justice, about which much should necessarily be said, if we were not now doing other things.
Who comforts me in fear. 1)
This is a repetition of the same thing (tautologia), because, it is the same "to be heard-.
1) In the Vulgate: In tridulationo <UIuta8ti iniüi In the tribulation you only provided wide space.
and "to be given wide space (dilatari) in tribulation," as Ps. 118:5 [Vulg.]: "In anguish I called upon the Lord, and the Lord heard me, and comforted me by giving me wide space" (in latitudine).
But "you have given me wide space" or this "wide space" (latitudo) is a Hebrew way of speaking and a figurative speech (metaphora) or an interchange of words (metonymia), which is peculiar to Scripture, for which we say "consolation" without figure, as, on the other hand, instead of "constriction" (angustiam) we say sadness and affliction. For just as the heart and all the senses are constricted (contrahuntur) when they flee and abhor sad things (for when misfortune breaks in from all sides, there is generally a constriction and a pressing into the constriction from all sides), so they are given room and expand when the misfortune is removed, and good and lovely things are again given. And indeed, the nature of sadness and joy is actually expressed by this word, for both in the forehead and in the whole face I see how they are contracted by sad events, but expanded by pleasant events. Therefore it is said of the wicked in the Psalms, "And it shall be narrow unto them in their anguish" (et contrahentur in angustiis suis). Therefore the apostle Rom. 2, 9. also puts these two things together: "tribulation and fear" (angustiam), namely the evil, and the escape from the evil, but in such a way that one cannot escape from it.
It seems that rather dilatasti me than: dilatasti mihi should have been said, but it is a peculiar way (idiotism) of the Hebrew verba that they are more often put without relation (absolute), and include the accusative in the notion (abstractum); or are resolved into their verbal noun, as, "thou hast made wide for me" (dilatasti mihi), that is, thou hast made a wide space for me (latitudinem), thou hast been the one who has made space for me (dilatator meus), that is, thou hast given me comfort as often as I have called upon thee in my affliction.
2) In the editions, the 18th Psalm is cited, but wrongly. Weimar edition in the margin: Ps. 16, 46.
And so then the good will is won, at the same time the weak are also instructed, yes, if you want, you can consider this verse as it were the summa of this whole Psalm. For he sets it as his task to instruct the weak that they should call upon God and command their cause to God, praise God's righteousness, seek no comfort elsewhere, but expect the same most certainly and abundantly (magno fructu) from God; and that exceedingly powerfully by his own example, uniting himself with them as it were as a comrade and making their accident his own.
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
(7) He says: I confess that you have heard me as often as I have called upon you, for which I not only give thanks, but by this I am also certain that, just as suffering will continue to abound among us forever, so you will also hear those who call upon you forever. In this confidence I call upon you again now, when I am in fear, so that you may hear me again.
8. But since in Hebrew this verse is the last part of the first verse, I would like this whole verse to be understood, according to my thoughts, as a form prescribed for the weak, according to which they should keep themselves when they are unjustly afflicted, and that this little piece is, as it were, a pre-chewed food, by which the prophet wanted to instruct them as children what words they should use when they wanted to call upon God, namely these: "Be merciful to me and hear my prayer," so that they would first ask God for mercy for themselves and their sins, with which they might have earned much trouble, and thus in the meantime forget vengeance and put their cause in God's hands, but then ask that they be heard. "For the righteous first accuses himself," Prov. 18:17 [Vulg.], and: "He who pleases God first has mercy on his soul," Sir. 30:24 [Vulg.]. Therefore he begs first for mercy for himself, only then he asks to be released from the punishment. But I would not dare to assert this firmly.
(9) It may be, therefore, that in a new tribulation a new calling will take place.
Nevertheless, what I have said must be observed, that we should not be so much concerned about the punishment as about the sin, first obtaining the mercy of God, so that we do not forget, according to the quite wrong way of the fools, our guilt that deserves the punishment, and see only the foreign guilt that carries out the punishment on us, leaving the beam stuck in our eye, and striving to pull the splinter out of our brother's eye. For first we must ask that the cause of the affliction be taken away from us (which is sin), not the affliction. Therefore, God must first have mercy on us, then hear those whom He has had mercy on.
(10) So you see that the Psalms were written (editos) by the Holy Spirit to be a comfort to the afflicted; therefore, what do those have to do with the Psalms who do not want to suffer affliction? But what people today want to suffer less affliction than those who deal with the Psalms day and night, or should deal with them? Does not the word Amos 6:5 apply to them [Vulg.]: "They made themselves think that they were playing the psaltery like David"? How should they sing psalms, since they fill the whole world with murder for the sake of their wealth, privileges and rights, and are not satisfied by hurling their own curses (fulminibus)? That is why nowadays there is no other custom of the Psalter than to let himself be howled and murmured; this is a very shameful custom, and yet it happens again and again.
V. 3. Dear sirs, how long shall my honor be profaned? How do you love the vain so much and the lies so much? Sela. 1)
11 St. Jerome translates thus: "You children of man, how long, my illustrious people, do you shamefully love vanity and seek after lies? [Filii viri, usque- quo, inclyti mei, ignominiose diligitis, etc.) Surely St. Man here correctly captures the meaning of the Hebrew words. For in this verse there is nothing about "heart".
1) In the Vulgate this verse reads: kllü Uomimim, ugciuoHiio Sravi eorüe? nt quiü üiliAitis vuuitut^m, 6t Hiiueritis monckueiuni?
Therefore it is evident that our [Latin] translator, whoever he may have been, has erred, and has read Beth for Kaph, and, what is more. One word into two; that instead of XXXX (which means "to shame") he read XXX XX (which means "heart, why"). Therefore, where Jerome has translated ignominiose (ignominious ways in one word, there that one has translated with two words "corde, ut quid" (hearts, why), and where the Hebrew text has, there our [Latin] translator says graves, what Jerome has rendered by gloriosi mei or inclyti mei, because "glory" is designated with the Hebrews almost with the same word as the heaviness (gravitas).
The Hebrew text has also not "children of men" but filii XXX, that is, of a man 1), a hero, and as it is said in the 1st Psalm, v. 1, "a blessed man" (beatus vir), because here filii XXX is not written, by which the fleshly birth is designated. Therefore we see that he does not indicate children according to the flesh, or that he does not address them as children according to the flesh, but as a master (magister), teacher or any other superior calls his subordinates children.
Therefore, I will first give my opinion, and then we will look at other things. I translate this verse like this: Filii viri, usquequo gloria mea ad ignominiam, diligitis vanitatem et quaeritis mendacium? Sela. (Men, how long shall my honor be put to shame? How long will you love what is useless and seek after falsehood?] 2) So the words of the prophet seem to me to be in the person of God or Christ, who first addresses the Jews, then also the Gentiles, as the apostle is wont to speak, so that the meaning is: O you children of Israel, how long will my name be disgraced among you? How long is my honor exposed to shame (patet) through you, since you forsake me, who am the truth and the life, who love the useless and seek after falsehood? Now let us see how this is done.
(12) I have said that this psalm is an exhortation to those who, because of lack
1) Weimarsche: viri, üerois. In the other editions: ülü iierois.
2) See Luther's first translation of the Psalms at 'the beginning of this volume.
In faith, when crosses and injustices befall them, they become angry and lose heart. This is a sin (vitium) of unbelief and an offense (crimen) of spiritual idolatry. The children of Israel are accused of being such people in the wilderness, Ps. 78:8: "An apostate and disobedient kind, to whom their heart was not steadfast, and their spirit held not faithfully to God." Here, obviously, the sin of the heart is punished, namely, that they did not trust (God), did not want to know about the cross, and did not recognize the way of God, for he says there [Ps. 106, 13.]: "They did not wait for the counsel of God"; this sin they are accused of in the entire Old Testament.
(13) From this offense came immediately the outward and manifold idolatry, according to the diversity of the innumerable inclinations of the heart, that the one sought this God, the other that God, and each transferred the honor due to God to the creature from which he either had obtained comfort, or yet hoped to obtain it.
14 Since the glory of God and His service consist in sincere faith, strong hope, and perfect love toward God, it necessarily follows that he who neither trusts in God, nor believes in Him, nor loves Him, but finds comfort in some creature, turns the glory of God to shame, and seeks the name and work due to God from the creature. But so do all who fall away in the time of temptation [Luc. 8, 13] (because he is mainly talking about them).
Therefore, the world is full of idolatry from its beginning to its end. Although they do not always worship images of creatures, they have such an attitude, which is the source and head of all idolatry. But this is (as I have said) trusting in creatures, taking pleasure in them, delighting in them (which one should do only against God), that is, unbelief and distrust, and thereby also contempt and hatred against God.
16 Thus it says Ps. 106, 20: "And they turned their honor into the likeness of an ox that feedeth on grass." By this verse he describes exceedingly beautifully the power of ab-.
God'S Glory. He calls "their glory" the glory of God, because only with them was the glory of God (that is, the right faith and worship); through this glory of God they also had glory with God and men. So also 1 Sam. 4, 21: "The glory (gloria) is gone from Israel," and Rom. 1, 23: "They have changed the glory (gloriam) of the incorruptible God into an image, like corruptible man." For what is this, that the glory of God is changed, but that the service of God is changed? For the service of God, if one wants to express it in the shortest possible way, is nothing other than the glory of God; the glory of God is nothing other than that one believes in Him, hopes in Him, loves Him, because whoever believes in Him considers Him to be true and ascribes truth to Him. He who hopes in him believes that he is powerful and wise and good, since he can obtain help and salvation from him; and thereby he attributes to him the power that he can help him, the wisdom that he knows how to help him, and the goodness that he wants to help him; but this is that he is truly God, and that one truly believes him to be God. Then the love for him follows immediately, in that he is pleased with such a god of his own free will, and takes an exceedingly delicious good opinion of him.
But he who does not believe [God] makes him a liar [1 John 5:10]: he who does not hope [in Him] makes him one who is either powerless, or does not know how to help, or does not want to help; which is terrible. Then contempt for God must inevitably follow. Therefore, he then turns to the creature (for the human heart must necessarily believe, hope and love something), and trusts either in wealth, or favor, or in his powers, or something else, or in a foolish delusion that is preached, be it about the right God, or about a false God. If he now and then feels comfort (by permission of God), he falls on it with his whole heart and his love. And so the power, the goodness and everything that belongs to the glory of God is turned into shame and attributed to the one to whom it is not due.
Thus says God, Isa. 42, 8: "I will not give my honor to another, nor my glory to idols," that is, he gives all goods also to his enemies, but he reserves the honor for himself alone, because any goods that one receives or seeks should not be attributed to anyone but the one God, by which it is preached that he alone is good and he alone is true God [Matth. 19, 17. Joh. 17, 3]. Now if this is understood in this way, I believe that this verse is easy, namely, that those who know nothing of the cross and have no faith desecrate the honor of God as soon as they are struck, and take refuge in anything other than God, do not seek counsel, help and salvation from him who has them, but seek it from themselves or from the creatures (with whom they are not), by not believing the last verse of the preceding Psalm: "With the Lord is found help, and thy blessing upon thy people."
(19) Now let us consider the affectus and emphases in this verse. First of all, in order that it be a sharp and insistent admonition, he addresses them with a very dignified title, and says: "Ye children of the man" (filii viri). Which man is understood here, whether Abraham, 1) whether Israel, or Christ, will come to the same thing, although I would like to understand Abraham as the most suitable, since I understand it first from the Jews. For he is called to be the father of many nations, because not only in this passage, but also in Isa. 51, 1. 2. it is said: "Look at the rock from which you were hewn, and at the well from which you were dug. Look at Abraham, your father, and Sarah, from whom you were born. For I called unto him while he was yet single, and blessed him, and multiplied him," as if to say: Take heed, not as ye are born of him carnally, but as I have called him, and he is justified, not of the flesh, but by faith in me. You must do the same if you want to be his children. As John 8:39 is written, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do Abraham's works."
1) In all editions: Abrahae, for which Wohl Abra- ham should be read.
So also here. In order to hold Abraham up to them as their father, not according to the flesh, and to exhort them to become his spiritual children, he rather says: "children of the man" than: "children of a man", and although they are rather an adulterous kind and bastard before God, since they boast of the heredity (carnem) of Abraham without his faith, he nevertheless dignifies them with such honor, so that he makes them all the more loving and effective to such people, as those are, whose name he gives them, just as Paul [Gal. 1, 2] still uses the word "churches" for the Galatians, even though they were already deceived and torn out of the faith of the church. Nevertheless, he covertly reproaches them for their degenerate mind, that even though they were the children of such a great hero, they did not show themselves to be his children.
(20) After that, this question, "How long?" also has an extraordinary force, and at the same time praises the kindness of God's long-suffering, but at the same time pities the exceedingly heavy and protracted loss of their salvation, as if he wanted to say: Since you are, indeed ought to be, children of so great a man, of whom alone you boast: how long do you prove yourselves to be such people, with such exceedingly grave danger to your blessedness, and your abuse of divine patience, and are so degenerate as to be children of this so great a man in name alone? But this you do, neither believing nor hoping in God in whom he believed; yea, this honor of confidence in me you turn elsewhere to my shame and yours. For you do not know that in adversity there is nowhere else to run but to me. For (as it is said in Isa. 46:4), "I will do it, I will lift up and carry, and I will save." Why does someone else seize this honor, who cannot do enough for it? Why is it not given to me, who alone can and will do it, to whom alone it is due? You see how he is friendly, but his complaint against her is very sharp.
Now this also has its special weight, that by the very significant contradiction, his honor will be disgraced, he does not demand any honor, but his own honor; a godly mind should by and
tremble when it hears this. For it is frightening to hear that the honor of God is turned into shame, the praise of God into blasphemy, which all creatures endeavor to hold in honor with all their strength [Ps. 19:2].
And he himself makes this matter such an important one that he uses an elliptical speech, namely aposiopesi or the concealment of a thing, since he omits a word by saying, "How long will my glory be turned into shame?" namely, turned and perverted, just as Paul says, Rom. 1:23, "They have turned the glory of God. "etc. For by this concealment (aposiopesi) he indicates that this shameful deed was so great that it would not be right (fas) if one wanted to name it, because of the horror that one must have before such an all too great ungodliness. For the guilt would have been much lighter if you had misused the created things for shame and brought down the honor of my work into disgrace, as it happens when a vessel is made of gold that is not worth the gold, when a nobleman is without honor. But that my honor should not only not be given to me, but also be taken away from me, and not only be taken away, but also be turned into shame, that is a shameful deed, at which the heavens are terrified, which the ears cannot bear, which the tongue is afraid to speak. Behold, with how mighty words our God urges us to believe in Him, that is, to our blessedness.
Now it would be easy to rhyme the other translations with mine, although they do not give the meaning exactly. "Ye children of men" etc. [in the Vulgate], as if to say: Ye are in truth children of men, more than children of the man to whom ye ought to belong, but ye have his flesh and your fathers', not their faith in you. "How long are ye heavy of heart," how long are ye faithless in your hearts, and, plunging down through the heaviness of your unbelief, set your confidence on things, and ascribe the honor which ye owe to me to creatures? as has been sufficiently said.
So also the translation of Jerome: "Ye children of men, how long do ye shamefully love vanity?" as if he were
wanted to say: This is to the dishonor of me and of you, that you cast off confidence in me, and love other things than me, who am the truth etc.
In a beautiful order he says first that the vain is loved, then that the lie is sought. For the first of all is the heart (affectus) itself, or the love, or the will, or the aspiration; if this is perverse and ungodly, it immediately gives birth to ungodly, false and lying opinions (opiniones - delusion). For on these two things (as it is said in the first Psalm) rests the whole life of every man. Thus it comes about that contrary to Moses, Deut. 12, 8, every man does what he thinks is right. This endeavor, this counsel of the wicked, these vain thoughts of men, the Spirit punishes as a lie in this passage, and so generally in all Scripture, as we shall see in the Psalter. So the love of the vain turns away the heart; when that is turned away, the mind is immediately infected with evil opinions, so that, as it loves things evil, so it also judges things evil, and, after the mind is blinded by malice, thinks in error and its lies that it walks in truth, in wisdom, and entirely in the light.
Every word here has an emphasis. "The vain" (vanitas) is, as Ecclesiastes Solomon very abundantly describes throughout the book, everything that God is not. For if the help of man is vain, how much more the help of all other things? This is the vain thing, then, that the man who does not know the grace of the cross does not seek help and comfort in God, but in something else, for neither salvation nor any good can be found elsewhere than in God. All other things are an affliction of the spirit, and in truth more a stimulus and tickle to comfort than a consolation, and rather a stimulus to salvation and good than salvation and good.
(21) Furthermore, "to have vanity" (vanitatem) is not yet the greatest evil. For "all men are nothing at all" (vanitas [Ps. 39:6]), and "there is nothing new under the sun" [Eccl. 1:8], or if it is an evil, it is a tolerable one. For there is no one, even among the saints, who does not, more or less.
less than he should, hopes, trusts, desires, fears, loves and hates. But this body of death, these laws of sin, these vanities (vanitates) must be hated, not loved, not enjoyed. To use the comfort and help of creatures is not evil, but to love them and cling to them, not to trust in God out of love for them, that is ungodly.
(22) The lie is also a lesser evil than "seeking the lie", since someone can be deceived and accept "the vain" for truth, but "seeking it" is ungodly. For since all men are liars [Ps. 116:11], we must not seek to obey our opinions, our judgments, or, as they say, our dictaminibus, and govern our lives according to them, but we must strive to the utmost to abstain from them and yield to the opinion of God and be guided by His judgment and act according to it.
Therefore, nothing more pernicious can be presented to a Christian than moral philosophy and the statutes of man, if they are presented in such a way that man is to believe that he is walking rightly in these things before God. For in this way it will happen that he will rely on these counsels and judge, condemn, persecute everything that he sees being done against him, and thereby reject the cross of Christ and completely despise the way of God, which is best and most favorable when we live without our guidance and counsel and, as it were, follow Christ in the pillar of fire through the desert and on an untraveled path.
24 For this means to love not "the vain" but the solid ground, to seek not the lie but the truth, all of which can be better felt at the time of suffering and adversity than can be said in words or thought out in the heart, for in order to understand God's words, experience is necessary (as we have often said). For they do not want to be spoken or known, but to be lived and felt, as he does who says in the 116th Psalm, v. 11: "I said in my fear, All men are liars." Why liars? Because he is put into the terror of suffering, and, being
lives by faith in God alone, and having abandoned trust in the creature, in which he sees all men drowned, confidently proclaims that their affectus is vain, and all their counsels and efforts are lies, because they are without faith in God; But if they are without faith, then they are also without the word of God; if without the word of God, then they are also without the truth; and so indeed everything is lies and vain that is apart from faith, which is the truth for the sake of the word of truth, in which is believed, and to which one clings by faith.
(25) So we have the understanding of this verse, that all men are ungodly, idolaters, desecrators of the divine honor, who in any affliction fall from faith, hope, and love to the confidence and comfort of creatures, and by these efforts protect and govern themselves.
Enough has been said about the little word "sela". For here, too, it seems to me to be used to designate the emphasis (affectus), because it is indeed to be regarded as something great that the whole human race is in such a depraved state of mind and delusion that it loves the vain and seeks the lie, so that this matter cannot be sufficiently talked out and inculcated.
V. 4 Recognize that the Lord leads His saints in a strange way; the Lord hears when I call upon Him.
(27) A most salutary instruction, for this is the reason why the children of men abhor the cross, which is the way of truth and solid ground, and rather follow vanity and lies, trusting in creatures, because they know nothing of God (as the apostle says in the first letter to the Corinthians [Cap. 15, 34]); they do not know, I say, what God is doing, what He wants, what He thinks when He afflicts us with tribulations. For they judge, like horses and mules, according to what is before the eyes and what is felt. But then there is nothing but shame, poverty, death and everything that is shown to us in the suffering Christ; if you look at this alone, and do not recognize the divine will in it, suffer it (feras).
and praise, then you must inevitably become angry at this cross and take refuge in your actions, where you immediately become an idolater and give the honor due to God to the creature.
When Christ gave John 16:3 as the reason why the Jews would persecute the apostles and expel them from the synagogue, he said: "They will do this to you because they do not recognize my Father or me. How then did they not recognize Him, since they disputed so much with Christ for (per) God? But to recognize Christ is to recognize the cross, and to recognize God under crucified flesh. For this is what God wants, this is the will of God, yes, this is God. Therefore, because they hate and persecute the cross and the word of the cross according to their inclinations and opinions as something that is opposed to vanity and lies, this is the reason why they do not recognize God or (which is the same) do not recognize the will of God.
29. so also Joh. 6, 53. when he said: "If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you", this was a hard speech [v. 60.], so that also many of his disciples were angry and went behind him [v. 66.]. Why a hard speech? Because to eat this flesh and drink this blood is to be incorporated into Christ through faith and to share in his sufferings. But this is what the evil mind and the heart corrupted by wrong opinions detest most. This is what he says here: "Do not be afraid, do not think that you will perish if your inclination and your mind are turned away, if everything you suffer goes against your opinion, but be sensible, know the Lord, know his will, turn away your eyes so that they do not look after your vanity, for "the Lord leads his saints strangely. He seems to kill, but in reality he makes alive; he strikes, but in reality he makes well; he puts to shame, but in reality he puts to honor; he leads down into hell, but in reality he leads out of hell, and the like, about which we have said many things in the foregoing.
30 So what is more miraculous than this divine
What is his will? He has set himself high, but he looks at the low [Ps. 113, 5. 6.], he makes people fools, so that they become wise, he makes them weak, so that he makes them mighty. But the former is before the eyes and is felt, but the latter you will not obtain unless you have faith. For so also Peter says, 1 Petr. 1, 11, that in the prophets the sufferings are testified before as the first, and after that the glory.
(31) Therefore, we need a reminder and admonition by which we are established to know God in such cases. He says, "Know ye that the Lord leadeth strangely," as if to say: Why do you waver? Why do you seek counsel and help here and there? Why do you love this and that comfort? All this is vain; not only does it not help, but it is also a lie that deceives you. Recognize and be sure, hear and believe, it is a firm and unchangeable judgment that everyone who wants to be a saint of God, who wants to obtain His grace and be pleasant and pleasing, must necessarily suffer, so that God may be wonderful to him. But He could not be wonderful if your counsel and help or any creature could help you. For this is not wonderful, because it is not beyond your comprehension. But when things are desperate, both for you and for all other creatures, and the matter is committed to the will of God alone, then behold, your righteousness shall break forth like the light, Ps. 37:6, and the Lord shall bring forth your righteousness like the noonday, in a way and at a time that neither you nor all the world could have imagined.
32. a "saint" is called in this passage in the Hebrew XXX, because he is quite actually holy who has obtained mercy, whom we call one justified by grace. And this speech [in the Vulgate] must be understood as a distributive one, or that the singular be put for the plural, in this way [Vulgate]: "Ye shall know that God hath led His saint whimsically," that is, His saints, which is said as much: Ye shall know that God wonderfully governeth man, and wonderfully dealeth with every one whom He justifieth.
and clothed with his grace, so that you may learn that everyone who wants to please God (as I have said) must know this counsel of the Lord and this good, pleasing and perfect will of God. For the apostle also says in Romans 12:2 that this will can only be tested through the renewing of the mind, in which our inclination and our opinion always disappear (occidit).
33 "The Lord hears me" etc. Again, he teaches the weak by word and example, for he could have referred it to "the holy one" (sanctum) and said: The Lord will hear him if he calls upon him; or he could have harmonized the first part of the verse with the following in this way: Recognize how wonderfully] the Lord has led me. But, as I have said, these sudden changes of persons indicate a diversity of movements of the heart and miraculous shifting [from one position to another] [translationes]. The person of the prophet, then, must be imagined as being concerned for the children of men in exceeding love, and counting himself now among the saints, now among the sinners, that he may win them all. He says: The Lord will hear his saint; if this should move too little, I say that he will hear me, who am also one of the saints, that is, one of those who obtain his grace.
34 And notice his attitude, that he at least advises the children of men that they should suffer God's hand; but because this thing happens in faith, he cannot show what he says; God cannot be seen (as I have said). Therefore he does the utmost he has and can, he promises, namely the help of God, as if he wanted to say: This one thing I have that I can do for your comfort, for I can confidently promise you that you will be heard. Therefore trust, do not love the vain, do not change the glory of God, but wait, and be strengthened by my example, because I am quite sure that the Lord will hear me, not only at this hour, but as often as I call upon him.
35 Thus we see the exceedingly godly care of a spiritual soul for its brethren. For he dare not boast, and yet.
he is forced by the brother's need to use himself as an example, as the apostle Paul does in many places: "Be ye followers of me, even as I of Christ" [1 Cor. 11:1], and 2 Cor. 7:2: "We have hurt no man" etc. For in order to avoid this boasting, he seems to have said in the first part of the verse in the third person: "his saints" (sanctum), so that he would not boast in vain honor that it was he with whom God acted wonderfully. He did not do this in the following part, because "calling upon God" does not give rise to great boasting, but is rather a sign of sorrow.
Therefore the good Spirit teaches us that when we are led astray (that is, in tribulation), nothing else must happen but that we suffer the Lord who leads astray, and cry out to Him, not fleeing from suffering, not seeking lies and what seems good and right to us; this is the most harmful beautiful appearance.
V. 5 If you are angry, do not sin. Speak with your heart in your camp and wait. Sela. 1)
37 The Hebrew text, as Jerome translates (auctore), has this: Be angry and do not sin; speak in your hearts in your camp, and be silent. It is obvious that here in our translation [the Vulgate] the pronoun quae and the connective et2 ) are superfluous. Also the verbum compungimini has forced the interpreters to assume a different sense than the text gives. Therefore, let us first look at the Hebrew.
After the prophet in the third verse had withdrawn the children of men from vanity and falsehood, that is, from false inclinations and opinions concerning the creature, and they could now counter: What then shall we do? On what shall we base ourselves? Do we have to leave everything so completely? He answers in the fourth verse that they should trust in the Lord and rely on the Lord.
1) In the Vulgate: Irsscimini, et nolite peecsre, yuue äicitis in corclidns vestris, et in cudilidns vestris cornpun^iinini.
2) In the edition of the Vulgate, which we use, st.
His mercy, knowing that since God works it, it is not for destruction but for salvation (however miraculously), whatever they suffer from those who wrong them.
(38) If then they should complain again: And who then can remain unmoved and not be angry? Who then should not at least lament and complain against those who do wrong? he answers sweetly in this verse: "Be angry (he says), but in such a way that you do not sin when you are angry. I know that the movement of anger is not in your power, but beware that you do not consent to it. So Paul says Gal. 5, 16: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not carry out the lusts of the flesh," and Rom. 6, 12: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to render it obedience to its lusts," and Rom. 13, 14: "Wait for the body, but so that it become not lustful."
39. all this is because the evil lusts of both unchastity and wrath are in us, but we are to deal with them so that they do not rule, that is, that we do not obey them (as Paul said). Thus he complains Rom. 7, 19. that he does what he does not want to do, and does not do what he wants to do, and again [v. 25.] that with the mind he serves the law of God, and with the flesh the law of sin. Why is this? Because he would like to be without evil desires, but cannot, and only have pure desires, but cannot, as he also says in Gal. 5:17: "The spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh lusts against the spirit. These are contrary to one another, that ye do not the things that ye would."
It is therefore clear that the verb "be angry" in this passage is not a word of instruction or exhortation to good wrath against sin, but a word of permission or allowance for evil wrath against offense, because of the inevitable and insurmountable weakness of the flesh. St. Augustine also says to this verse: "Be angry and do not sin," that is, even though anger arises, which is already out of our control because of the punishment of sin, at least mind and heart should not consent to it, which is in the flesh.
We are born again to life in God (secundum Deum), that we serve God with our mind, if we still serve the law of sin with our flesh. He says this very well and beautifully.
41) So the meaning is clear: "If you are angry, do not sin," that is, because you complain that you cannot help but be moved, be grieved, be angry, tremble (for all this is what the Hebrew word means) because of the great evil of the wrong you have suffered, well, your heavenly Father knows this weakness of yours. Be moved and angry, but do not go so far as to think, say, do or allow anything evil against your soul, and thus sin against God, against yourselves and against your neighbor.
42. this understanding I take all the more readily, because the spirit of Paul (which I always desire to follow) Eph. 4, 26. has the same understanding, since he says: "Be angry, and do not sin"; and that he does not speak of good anger (which is commanded against sin), indicates what follows: "Let not the sun go down on your wrath," which he says badly of evil wrath. But this very passage of Paul has caused me to interpret this Psalm of the injustice suffered by the weak and their complaints, which are to be kept in check by godly exhortation, and that confidence must be directed to God. For Paul uses this verse with the same intention (scopum), as is sufficiently obvious to everyone.
Here, however, the question of the first impulses (de primis motibus, as they say) raises its head, and where venial sin ends and mortal sin begins. The apostle, to be sure, sets the sun's going down as the goal, since he says: "Do not let the sun go down on your wrath," but this again they make doubtful whether the visible sun must be understood, which we see going down at a certain hour, or the spiritual sun, Christ, which they think goes down instantly by consent, which is mortal sin (per mortalem consensum). Unless an unavoidable necessity compels it, I flee the secret (mysticas) mind in the Scriptures.
and also advise that one should flee him, because he is extremely dangerous. That this sun in Paul means something different than the visible one, I do not admit for myself, although I do not condemn that other opinion.
Moreover, I know that no presumption is more dangerous than to make a distinction between venial sins and mortal sins, especially in the hour of excitement and temptation. I am speaking of the sin committed in the excitement of a surging mind, since both unchastity and anger, or any other passion, tend to possess a man not only in one hour, but sometimes for many hours, so that he himself is uncertain whether he has consented or not. Yes, not infrequently, by divine providence, it is the mere and involuntary suffering of a good and sincere heart, which is so hidden that he fears, indeed, almost believes, that he has consented. By this means, the divine mercy is wont to keep its beloved in the humility which has adorned them before others with glorious gifts, lest, puffed up by the same, they should haughtily exalt themselves above others and be lost.
Therefore, the apostle's teaching is the safest and wisest for me, that at least in the evening every man should go into himself and put away the anger he may have felt when he wants to go to sleep and be reconciled with his brother. For no more suitable time can be appointed for this than the setting of the sun and the end of the day, when all business and works are finished, and the mind is now calmer and ready to put away this and all wickedness, whether he has consented to it or not. For who can tell how often he fails? And in every work one must fear the strictest judgment of God.
43. it follows: "Speak in your hearts upon your couch, and be silent." It is quite clear that it is the same super cubilia [Jerome], in cubilia (in Hebrew), in cubilibus [Vulg.], for in Hebrew it reads almost as if there were a movement toward a place. Christ uses this expression Matth. 6, 6: "When you pray, go into your closet and close the door" etc.
44. I am forced to follow the worst teacher here (as they say in Proverbs), that is, myself, because I see that the Hebrew text is not interpreted by anyone, yes, as much as I can, I will follow the spirit. For it is the manner of those who suffer injustice to lead out, crying out and filling the air with lamentations, so much so that even the apostle Eph. 4:31 lists crying out among the movements of anger, saying, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and crying out, and blasphemy be far from you. "etc. Now in order that the prophet may keep the children of men in check, so that they do not break out, as he had forbidden them to be angry in the first agitation, but in such a way that they did not sin, he now teaches them that they are not to make a noise in anything, but to speak in their hearts in their camp, expressing by this what they are to do so that, moved by anger, they do not sin, namely, that they speak to themselves and keep silent. This I do not understand differently than according to the understanding of the prophet Isaiah, Cap. 30, 15: "By being silent and hoping you would be strong." For here not only the "silence" is mentioned, which is done with the mouth, but in general the patience itself and the quietness in contrast to the noisy being, as it is said in Ps. 37, 7.: "Be still unto the Lord, and wait for him," and Ps. 65, 2.: "God, they praise thee in the coamings of Zion," and Isa. 41, 1.: "Let the isles be silent before me, and the nations strengthen themselves."
In general, according to this scriptural expression, "to be silent" means the same as to put away impetuosity, to temper anger, to restrain the mind, as we also say in our mother tongue to the angry, to pacify them: "Hush, hush, stop. Therefore also with the Hebrews of this right silence the grave XXXX is called, because there the human being desists and goes completely into silence. For in this place also Isaias had foreshadowed and said [Cap. 30, 12. Vulg.], "Ye have hoped for slander and clamor." For the heart of the enraged and offended surges that slander and clamorous nature bubble forth, whereby they presume to wreak vengeance and prevail. But in restraining such a heart,
he says, "If you turn back and be quiet, you will be helped, for it is not by noise but by silence that you will be victorious. Then follows: "By being quiet and hoping you would be strong," that is, if you are silent, keep quiet, restrain your impetuosity, abstain from noisy behavior, do not seek revenge but await my hand, leave the revenge to me, leave the matter to me, behold, then you will be strong and overcome. For I will fight for you, you shall be silent.
46 Moses says in Exodus 14:14: "The Lord will fight for you, and you will be silent. What is this: "You will be silent"? That is, you will be silent, you will do nothing about the matter, but you will act as if the trade is none of your business. This "be silent" is nothing else than having calm patience; this way of speaking is frequent in the holy scriptures.
47 Therefore also Isaiah says there, since they did not want to obey this request to observe silence [Cap. 30, 16]: "And say, No, but on horses we will flee, and on runners we will ride. For what is this but that they wished to defend themselves by wantonly taking action (tumultum), not to be saved and made strong in silence and hope? Hence it follows [vv. 16, 17]: "Therefore you will be fugitives, and your persecutors will overtake you. Your louses shall flee from one rebuke, yea, from five ye shall all flee, until ye be left over, as a mast tree upon the top of a mountain, and as a banner upon the top of a hill." I believe that from these words it is clear what there is silence and tumultuari, namely the one is suffering and resting, the other is being moved and setting everything in motion, and, as they say, stirring up heaven and earth. This verse teaches this silence.
The meaning is: "Talk with your heart in your camp, and wait", that is (as one is wont to say), consider, reflect, do not be hasty, and do not immediately come out with what anger brings to you. First take counsel with yourselves, "for the wrath of man does not do what is right in the sight of God" [Jac.
1, 20], and as a pagan also says: Beware of doing and speaking something when anger moves you. But St. Gregory also says: "It is better to avoid anger by silence than to keep the upper hand by talking back. This opinion we use to express in German: "Bedenk dich, und halt inne."
Now let us consider the words. The first is: "Speak with your heart", that is, they should consider it well, and not obey the anger, which goes out quickly, and has the word on the tongue, not in the heart, according to the saying Sir. 21, 28.: "The fools have their heart in their mouth, but the wise have their mouth in their heart." This is a beautiful and apt conversion (conversio)1 ) of the saying. This verse also reminds us of the same thing, that we should turn our mouth to our heart, not immediately pour out what the temptation brings in. For to have the heart in the mouth is to speak carelessly, which is what angry people usually do; but to have the mouth in the heart is to speak carefully, which is what calm and gentle people do.
Therefore, in this passage we can imitate the same conversion, and say that speaking with the heart and thinking with the mouth (that I say so) are opposed to each other; the former is found in wise men, the latter in fools. But in order that they may speak more readily with their hearts, he adds that they should do this in their camp, that is, seek solitude, flee from disturbing noise. For when the body is at rest, and the external noise is quieted, the mind is also more easily calmed, so that it can talk to itself and consider the matter. And as for this challenge it is useful to withdraw (fuga) and be alone, so in some other challenges solitude is dangerous. This I say according to my sense, but I leave to everyone his opinion.
In what way then do we want to bring our [Latin] translation in line with this? It is necessary that another word be added, as Augustine also teaches, who arranges it in this way:
1) With this eonversio is meant: In ors oor in eorcke os.
"What you speak with your heart," add: "speak that" (dicite), which Augustine draws elsewhere, but according to our sense would turn out thus: Since you are angry, you are quick to say everything that comes into your mouths; what you want to say, do not hurry to say, but speak it with your heart, that is, speak carefully what you want to say. For Christ also used this way of speaking against Judas, saying [John 13:27], "What you do, do soon," that is, what you want to do, or have already set before you to do. So also here: "What ye speak," that is, what ye will speak, speak with your heart. What you want to speak foolishly in the impatience of your anger, take care that you consider it in your heart and speak wisely.
Now, what is this: "And on your camp bear sorrow"? (compungimini). What kind of harmony is there between being still and bearing sorrow? According to my judgment, it is that when an angry man goes into himself, he bears sorrow, displeases himself in that he has become agitated, and thus comes very close to the stillness of which it was said before, through the influence of bearing sorrow. Therefore, when he speaks with his heart, he sees (especially on his bed, and where he stands alone) how foolish was the agitation and impatience of his anger; if he had followed it, he would have fallen shamefully; and changed by this suffering over himself, he abstains from the noisy being to which he had been aroused, and is now silent, since the fervour of revenge is not a little subdued. Whoever has something better, may gladly communicate it; this much I have been able to do.
(49) What "sela" means at the end of the verse, we have sufficiently said. For it is an excellent gift of grace that he who has been provoked to anger and impatience by injustice and temptation should be able to show such an attitude, that he should bridle his tongue, withdraw into solitude and be silent. For on this opinion (scopum) Paul treats (as I have said) this Psalm Eph. 4, where at the end [v. 32.] he says: "But be ye kind one to another, cordially, forgiving one another, even as God forgave you in Christ."
V. 6 Sacrifice justice (sacrificium justitiae) and hope in the Lord.
(50) A strange teaching, for what is the sacrifice of righteousness? Who can offer righteousness to God, which he should rather obtain from God through any sacrifice? In short, he distinguishes the sacrifice of righteousness from all sacrifices of cattle and any other things, because these two sacrifices are most strongly opposed to each other: the sacrifice of righteousness makes sinners, the sacrifice of things makes the righteous. In the former we seem to give something to God and work righteousness, in the latter we only want to receive from God and confess our sin. Thus it comes about that the sacrifice of things, since it makes puffed up by righteousness and works, fills people with impatience because of the injustice done to them, since they are aware that they have earned something far better; therefore they are also the more fiercely inflamed to revenge, because it seems to them that they must protect their righteousness.
51) So this is the sacrifice of righteousness, that one judges God to be righteous and praises Him, but accuses oneself as a sinner and says that one is worthy of all that one suffers, saying with the 119th Psalm, v. 137 [Vulg.]: "Lord, you are righteous, and your judgment is right." Such [sacrifice] is described by a very beautiful example Dan. 3 [in the Prayer of Azariah, v. 31. f., Vulg.], "In all that thou hast let pass over us, and all that thou hast done to us, thou hast done according to right judgment, and hast delivered us into the hands of our ungodly enemies," and afterward [v. 39. f.], "With sorrowful heart and bruised spirit we come before thee, as offering burnt offerings of rams and oxen, and many lousy fat sheep. So let our sacrifice be accepted before thee this day, and let it be acceptable: for thou wilt not bring to shame them that hope in thee." Likewise Baruch Cap. 1, 15. teaches the prisoners in Babylon the same, and says: "And say, The Lord our God is righteous, but we bear our shame justly, as it is now."
52. but this sacrifice must be made with a righteous heart, mouth and work: with the heart by acknowledging sin in truth; with the mouth by
confess them without hypocrisy; with the work of willingly bearing the punishments due to sinners. Many, of course, say with their mouths that they are sinners, but neither with their hearts nor with their deeds, which they prove by the fact that they do not want to be called sinners by others, nor do they want to be thought of as sinners, nor do they suffer injustice. If you are a sinner, why do you flee punishment? If you think you do not deserve it, why do you say that you are a sinner? For this is the glory of the righteous, that they have honor and peace, Rom. 2:7, but tribulation and anguish is the sin of them [v. 9].
Therefore, those who sincerely ascribe righteousness to God, but sin to themselves, are the people who offer the two sacrifices of righteousness praised in Scripture. The one may be called the morning sacrifice, of which the 50th Psalm, v. 23. says: "He that offereth thanksgiving praiseth me; and this is the way that I show him the salvation of God." The other is the evening sacrifice, of which the 51st Psalm, v. 19. says: "The sacrifices that please God are a troubled spirit; a troubled and bruised heart Thou, God, wilt not despise." And this is perhaps indicated by this verse here, which in the Hebrew says in the majority, "Sacrifice the sacrifices of righteousness," so that it includes both sacrifices.
(54) Therefore, in every challenge and injustice that befalls us, we must not arrogate justice to ourselves and hold on to it, but reject it altogether and sacrifice it to God. Those who do not do this excuse themselves, accuse their adversaries, justify themselves, and are generally involved in court battles, slander, lawsuits, disputes, quarrels and other works of the flesh, which the apostle lists in Gal. 5:20. They bite and devour one another, [v. 15] so that not only is love lost in the spirit, but they not infrequently kill one another in the flesh as well, and waste their wealth in litigation.
(55) But if Christians offered these sacrifices of righteousness, where would rights and laws remain? But that is why we are taught these sacrifices, so that rights and laws would not be necessary. The king of
Babylon acted ungodly by holding the children of Israel in captivity, as they say Dan. 3 [Prayer of Azariah, v. 32]: "You have delivered us into the hands of the most unjust cruel king on earth," and yet the king of Zedekiah and those who remained in Jerusalem offended God more by resisting him and demanding justice. But those who willingly gave themselves into it, and put away the boast of their righteousness, pleased God very well, so that these, in the midst of Babylon and her enemies, were preserved, honored and honored, but those in the midst of Jerusalem perished among their friends, became ashamed, declined, because those [in Babylon] offered the sacrifices of righteousness without cattle or any other things, but these offered the sacrifices of cattle and other things without righteousness, because they wanted to be righteous, and did not recognize their sin; but those recognized their sin and ascribed righteousness to God.
56. From this we see that the chaos and tartarum of the courts and Roman artifices, with all their books, customs, traditions, rights and justices, is a strange thing to a Christian man, and that it does not belong to a fair ecclesiastical life, and that it has only been indulged and tolerated for the service of the weak, so that they would not do something worse out of a desire for their own revenge, or overwhelmed by the force of impatience. And yet nowadays at Rome and at the courts of the bishops they rely on this (only tolerated thing] in such a way that they not only let themselves think that justice reigns there, but also, in order to increase such justice, even heap quarrel upon quarrel (lites litibus emant), humble all people's quarrels and quarrels from all ends of the world to themselves, so that never has any court of any secular or pagan emperor been heaped with so many things, and quite unholy things, which at the same time (one must wonder at this) concern only holy and divine things, which have been most shamefully bought, rebaptized, sold, resold, robbed, devoured, and ruined.
The jurists call the present Roman court a fountain of righteousness, while it would be more appropriate to call it a flood of wickedness, because from there the desolation and oblivion of these sacrifices of righteousness and of the knowledge of Christ has swept with unspeakable violence and impetuosity over the whole world. In short, today Rome is much more similar to the kingdom of hell than to the kingdom of heaven.
(But) if anyone will admit that we have sacrificed righteousness, confessed ourselves sinners, and taken upon ourselves the punishments of sinners, what good is it? Must we not perish and die in our sins? Doesn't God hate sinners? What danger are you putting us in by this teaching of yours! The prophet answers: Be of good courage, only "hope in the Lord". For so did Daniel's comrades Dan. 3, when they had said [Prayer of Asariah, v. 29], "We have sinned and done evil," they soon regained hope and said [v. 40], "For you do not put to shame those who hope in you." This is what I have sufficiently said above [§ 44] from Isaiah [Cap. 30, 15.], "By being quiet and hoping you would be strong," that we should not avenge ourselves as if we were righteous, but, suffering without noise and in silence, confess our sin, commend our cause to God, and confidently await His mercy. For He will soon come and do justice to those who suffer injustice [Ps. 146:7], and will avenge the poor. Thus, God will be our strength in our weakness. For if the trust in our righteousness is not removed, and we do not confess that as sinners we are worthy of all misfortune, then hope and salvation cannot take place, because God alone looks upon the lowly.
V. 7. Many say: How should this one show us what is good? But, O Lord, lift up over us the light of thy countenance. 1)
59. this verse is torn apart in us [in the Vulgate], in that the first part becomes the
1) In the Vulgate: Nutti dieunt: tzuis ostendtt undis dona? LiZnaturn est kuxer nos turnen vuttus tut, voruine.
The last part is drawn to the following verse. The Hebrew text reads in the translation of Jerome thus: "Many say: Who shows us what is good? Lift up over us the light of thy countenance, O Lord." But it seems to me that it must be translated and divided thus, "Many say, Who can show us a good sign above us? The light of thy countenance, O Lord."
60. but he turns his speech to God, complaining, but with your extraordinary restraint and modesty, about the unbelievers and those who do not want to be persuaded (as especially the Jews were, the people with a hard neck [2 Kings 17, 14.]), that they do not want to believe those who admonish them amicably, unless (as Christ says [John 4, 48.]) they see signs and wonders. So also the apostle says 1 Cor. 1, 22. that the Jews demand signs and the Greeks ask for wisdom. Thus it comes to pass that they are always vexed at the word of the cross and the doctrine of faith. This is what he says here. Since he had reminded them that they should sacrifice their righteousness and hope in God, and expect good things from him, those who do not believe him and who are not sent to hope are annoyed; they desire a good sign, namely such a sign by which they could be sure of the future good things that they had been commanded to hope for. Who, they say, will show us a good sign about us? Who will make us certain that good things will come upon us? By what sign shall we know it? as if they wanted to say: Everything appears completely opposite, and the signs of the most evil things about us surround us on all sides. This kind of people is widespread, who by such distrust tempt the Lord, like the children of Israel in the wilderness.
You can see that from this flows the whole sea of superstition and extremely foolish vows, even among Christians, when they are not quite happy, or the grain is in danger, or even a leg hurts, or someone is affected by some temporal harm or fears to be affected. How anxious we are in all these things to know by a good sign that this will not come, or if it should come.
that it will be averted. Then one runs to the magicians, to the soothsayers, yes, also to the devils. But also innumerable are the counsels, with which we only and only direct that we do not finally hope in God, or that we do not hope without a good and sure sign.
The miser hopes in God, but only as long as he has a well-filled bag and the ground cracks from the weight of the grain. The strong man trusts in his strength as long as he is healthy. The mighty and the fame-seeker trusts in it as long as one thinks highly of him and his rule is strong. By these signs they think to be sure that they have a gracious God. Now if this or any of yours falls away, so does their hope, unless you give another or a greater sign as support.
It is the same in spiritual matters, in the forgiveness of sin and the repose of conscience, where not a few obtain assurance, neither by faith nor by hope, but by trusting in works or in the intercessions of others. And in general, these people seek a good sign as the support of their hope, without which they do not hope, and therefore do not hope in God, because they do not hope purely. For the hope that is seen is not hope [Rom. 8, 24].
The prophet could have called these people by their proper names: Tempters of GOt, unbelievers, children of unbelief, disobedient, recalcitrant, obstinate; but he is silent of all this, and relates only their work in the simplest and humblest words. "Many say," he says, "who can show us," etc., leaving to GOtte the judgment of the work, and to those who are to judge of it, because in a godly spirit he rather sympathizes with them, and bears sorrow for their case, than that he should accuse them severely.
(64) He therefore rejects their error, saying that what they seek is not a good sign for us. For God is not gracious to those to whom he gives these goods, rather,
1) Instead of Huikte (in the Weimarschen), which should be read, the Jenaer and the Erlanger have: yuietE.
because this is a very bad and exceedingly deceptive sign, 1) he gives a better and more reliable sign, namely: "The light of your face, O Lord", as if he wanted to say: Knowing no sign is the best sign, but one must base oneself on faith and hope alone. For faith shows us goods, and is a good sign over us. For he that believeth in him shall not be put to shame, as it is said in Daniel 3 [Prayer of Azariah, v. 40.], "They that trust in thee shall not be put to shame." Those who firmly believe in God without signs are sure of all goods; without this faith, no works, no signs, no miracles make them sure.
Faith is called "the light of God's countenance," because it is the inspired illumination of our minds, and a kind of ray of divinity poured into the heart of the believer, by which every one who receives it is guided and exalted, as it is described in the 32nd Psalm, v. 8: "I will instruct thee, and show thee the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eyes," and Psalm 44:4: "For I will guide thee with mine eyes. Psalm, v. 8. "I will instruct thee, and show thee the way which thou shalt walk; I will guide thee with mine eyes," and Ps. 44, 4. "For they took not the land by their sword, neither did their arm help them; but thy right hand, thine arm, and the light of thy countenance." Likewise Ps. 89:16: "O Lord, they shall walk in the light of thy countenance." Therefore he speaks cheerfully in the 27th Psalm, b. 1.: "The Lord is my light and my salvation."
This is illustrated in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud by which the children of Israel were led and guided through the wilderness. For in this way we are led through unknown and desolate ways by faith alone, without the help of all men, that is, through suffering and tribulation. And as there the present pillar walked before its face, so here faith has the present God, so that, as it were, from the face of the present God comes the illumination of the heart, so that it is quite rightly and actually the light of the face of God (that is, the knowledge of and trust in the present God). For he who does not know the God who is present to him
1) Instead of aLert, which should be read, the Jena and the Erlangen: aukvrt.
or does not feel, he does not yet believe, he does not yet have the light of the face of God.
So there is no difference whether the light of the face of God is understood in an active way (active), as He Himself enlightens us by His presence by kindling faith, or in a passive way (passive) as the light of faith, as we confidently feel and believe in His face and presence (for face means presence in the Scriptures, as is known), for it is the same, and both are at the same time: God who enlightens, and the enlightened heart; God who is seen by us, and the present God.
This is the word Israel, 2) by which Jacob was called, when he saw the Lord face to face. For with his face he saw the face of God, that is, through faith he became present to God, placed as it were before His [God's] face; again, he saw God present and ready to help, as if placed before His [Jacob's] face. This is why Israel is called the one governed by God (directus Dei), that is, the one who is governed or guided in the right way by God alone. For this is by faith, therefore Israel is the same as a believer or one who easily believes (credulus), except that it expresses the power and manner of faith exceedingly properly.
Thus, "Blessed is he (as he says in another Psalm [Ps. 94, 12?) whom thou, O Lord, chastenest, and teachest by thy law." Therefore, in Jeremiah [Cap. 18, 17.], he threatens the Jews that he will show them his back and not his face, namely, he will leave them in unbelief and ignorance of God. We see what is a good sign about us, or who shows us what is good, namely this faith, which, because it is the light that shows us the present God and the face of God Himself, naturally shows us all the good that God is, since it puts Him before us, and shapes trust in Him [rech]. Therefore, it does not stand with a man to instruct a man.
2) Depending on how this word is derived, either as here: "the man who has seen God", or like Gen. 32, 28.: "who has fought with God and has prevailed", one uses the spelling: "Israel" or "Israel".
Now it will be easy to harmonize the other translations.
The common translation [the Vulgate] is closest to this sense: "The light of your face is sealed upon us, O Lord." While those seek who can show them the goods, wanting rather to see them present than to believe, here he does not desire that they be shown, but boasts that the light of the face of God (that is, the knowledge and confidence in the present God, as has been said) is sealed and pressed upon them, and this understanding is sufficiently evident from what has been said.
Jerome: "Many say, Who shows us what is good? Lift up over us the light of thy countenance, O Lord." He says the same thing in the manner of a petition. But he raises the light above us when he raises us by that light. For it is faith above all our comprehension. Therefore, this "lifting up" is nothing other than pouring out upon us the light of faith, which in itself is the most high, so that we ourselves may be lifted up. Therefore, it can also be called "sealed" because it is closed to us and incomprehensible, but takes hold of us and captivates us in its obedience.
Hence it comes that this verse cannot be understood from the natural knowledge of the will of God 1) by reason, as this is the opinion of many who say that the first principles (principia) in moral things are known in themselves, as in visible things. This is false. Faith is the first foundation of all good works, and this is so utterly unknown that all reason abhors it to the utmost. Reason, when it comes to the highest with its powers, says, "Who can show us what is good?" For thus say many (that is, all who are guided by reason).
V. 8. You make my heart glad, though they have much wine and grain. 2)
we cannot prove lexically. We have assumed instead that is found in § 245 of the 22nd Psalm. This means, as Baier indicates, the perfect knowledge of the will of God.
2) In the Vulgate: Veäisti InelitiLni in oorüe meo. kruetn kruru^nti, vini et olvi sui inültiplieati sunt.
The first part of this verse is also drawn to the preceding verse, which in Hebrew makes up one verse with the following, which St. Jerome translates thus: "You have given joy to my heart; from that time their grain and their wine have been multiplied.
It seems to me that this verse makes the judgment about the unbelievers and the believers that the belly is their God to those, but the true God to these. For faith in God, or the light of the face of God, gladdens the heart and fills the inner man with a constant and true joy, since through the forgiveness of sin it works peace and a sure confidence in God, even in the midst of suffering. For there can be no joy, no peace, unless there is a clear conscience. Thus the apostle also describes Gal. 5, 22. joy as a fruit of the spirit, and above [Ps. 4, 2.] the prophet said: "In fear you comfort me." And so it happens that just as the suffering of Christ abounds with us, so also the comfort of Christ abounds with us, because of the faith by which one trusts in Him, as it is said 2 Cor. 1, 3. f.: "Praise be to God and the Father of our Lord JEsu Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions." For who should not be joyful, even in defiance of all the evils of the world and of hell, and say with the apostle, Rom. 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" if he believes that God is with him and for him? But when will he firmly believe that God is for him, if he has not, proven through many trials, learned in well-practiced faith that God is for him?
It is impossible, then, that he who has the light of God's countenance should not rejoice with all his heart. For such a one, because he is righteous, has peace; because he has peace, he rejoices; because he rejoices, he fears no one, and defies all, even death and hell, being certain of the presence of his God. Therefore, after the words, "The light of thy countenance, O Lord," follows quite properly the saying, "Thou rejoicest my heart," as also in the 68th Psalm, v. 4. "But the righteous must rejoice and be glad before God (in conspectu Dei) and be glad from the heart."
ZZO mv, ikö-168. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 4, 8. W. iv. E-E. Z81
What about the others, the unbelievers? Will they ever have joy of heart? No, for "the wicked have no peace," and the wicked have no joy, says Isaiah [Cap. 48:22], for Paul says in 2 Cor. 1:7: "Just as you were partakers of the suffering of Christ, so you will also be partakers of comfort. But these were not partakers of the suffering, therefore they will not be partakers of the consolation. And Prov. 14:10 says, "When the heart is sad, no outward joy will help." What do they have? That which they have desired. "I have left them in their heart's conceit," he says Ps. 81, 13. as one also reads Ps. 78, 18. that he had satisfied their demand, that they might tempt (tentationi) him, since they demanded food for their souls, 27.:) "and rained flesh upon them like dust," where it follows [v. 30. f.], "While they were yet eating thereof, the wrath of God came upon them." This is also repeated by the apostle Eph. 5, 6. as he calls them "children of unbelief" on whom the wrath of God comes.
(70) To these he gives the stinking pleasures of the belly for the joy of the heart, because they ask who can show them what is good, and think only of present and sensual things, but do not have the light of the face of God. That is why he says here that their grain and their wine have become much as they wanted, describing their misery with mild words, but leaving it to each one to judge how great it is, measuring it according to his joy and according to his goods, which are opposite to those. For what goods can he have who does not have God? What joy is there where the heart does not rejoice in God? What delight is there where the troubled conscience always feels that God is against him?
So it is an emphatic diminishing speech (tapinosis) and a striking (epitatica) comparison. The righteous have joy of heart in God. What do the unbelievers have? Abundance, he says, of temporal things and nothing else. O wretched possessions, O bad inheritance, of which the unbelievers are quite worthy! For what should the sows have but the deceitful and vain trotters, that is, the filth and refuse of true goods?
They have the goods that they wanted to be shown to them; they have the goods that they did not want to do without, so that they would be called a light of the face of God. Gifts are given to them, like the children of Abraham's concubines, and they are set apart from the heir Isaac, to whom the whole inheritance was left. Just as they are distinguished in merit, so also in fruit and reward. The unbelievers wanted visible goods; they now have them; the believers wanted invisible goods; they now have them in the gladness of heart. Now, as in the preceding verse he showed such people as laborers, so in this verse he shows that such fruits have also followed, which on both sides are quite different, nay, opposed to each other.
You see with how great contempt he reproves the splendor and goods of this world with a short word, telling that these are given to the unbelievers, comparing them with his inestimably great goods.
Now it is easy [to harmonize the different translations] with each other. For there is no difference whether one says [Vulg.], "They are multiplied (multiplicati sunt) by grain and their wine" (that is, they are enriched, made great, made strong, spread out by their temporal and earthly goods) or [Jerome], "Their grain and their wine have been multiplied," as every grammarian understands. For it is a brief description of their happiness, which Job, in the 21st chapter, and the 144th Psalm, v. 11. ff., have more fully described.
But that the prophet in this passage does not speak of the sacrament of the holy supper, as many think, Augustine proves by the fact that in a significant way is added: "their grain", "their wine", not without closer definition (absolute,): grain and wine, since it is obvious that by this pronoun "you" he speaks of the many who say: "Who can show us what is good?" For this has reference to those ungodly and unbelieving, who have nothing to do with the Lord's Supper, since they are swine and dogs that can never be filled, as Isaiah [Cap. 56, 11.] says. Then it would be inconsistent, if he suddenly
interrupted the train of thought (sententiam), and mixed in strange things, alone under a related (relativo) name, whereas before he would not have mentioned any of them.
To this it is added that in the Hebrew and in Augustine 1) it is said: "a tempore" (of the time), where [in the Vulgate] we have "a fructu" [of the fruit], since, as much occasion as the "a fructu" has given to ours to understand it of the Supper, [the text in the Hebrew gives just as much indication that it speaks of their grain, which they have "of the time", that is, (that it speaks] of temporal things. "Of time," he says, they have what they have, that which time is wont to give of temporal needs and pleasures. This also seems to me to be said in diminutive speech (per tapinosin), namely, that even of the eternity of the face of God they have nothing, but only "of time" their goods.
According to our sense, that "a fructu" can be understood in this way: From the quantity and abundance of their grain and wine they have been so enriched, as if he wanted to say: Happily and with much fruit their temporal goods prosper them. This, again, prevents it from being understood poperly of the Lord's Supper, since Christ's faithful are not multiplied by the fruit of the Supper, but they themselves are the multiplied fruits and effects of the Supper, so that according to this sense it should rather be said: From their grain and wine the fruits are multiplied.
But this too is the sign of a hidden (obliquae) accusation, that it is said: "ye
Grain", "their wine", namely, in that the prophet sharply touches (mordens) the vice of the desire of the unbelievers, as if he wanted to say: This is their real nature, because these things they seek, these they love, only these goods they know how to enjoy.
Now it is of less importance that in the Hebrew "olei sui" [of their oil] is not written, because it is not important if it is added or not. It is certain that by this expression of the Scripture temporal abundance is indicated, like Gen. 27, 37: "With grain and wine and oil I have provided him",
1) Shouldn't Hieronymo be read instead of ^uZustino? Compare § 67 at the beginning.
and after that: "What shall I do to you now, my son?" But I suppose that it was added by the interpreter on the occasion (ordinante) of the spirit, so that the one who would read it would be reminded that he should understand nothing else than temporal goods, since Oel also does not allow the slightest presumption in relation to the Lord's Supper.
Hereby, however, I do not want to have offended the understanding of those who have understood it from the sacrament. Everyone may have his own way, if only faith and peace remain untouched. Nor is it our intention to refute the works of others, but to come closer to the right understanding as much as we are able. The good is not rejected by praising a better and an exceedingly good thing more than the good.
V. 9. I lie down and sleep completely in peace, for you alone, O Lord, help me to dwell safely. 2)
73. these two verses [in the Vulgate] are in the Hebrew One verse. Jerome translated thus: "I shall at the same time (simul) rest and sleep in peace, for thou, O Lord, hast made me dwell in particular safely."
These two words: "I lie down and sleep" have been widely discussed in the previous Psalm [v. 6], namely that by them natural death and the grave are signified, although I know that St. Augustine makes a figurative speech out of it (tropologisantem) of the forgetting of temporal things, although he himself confesses that this is not attained in this life (teneri).
The expression in id ipsum [in the Vulgate] means the same as the adverb simul [in Jerome], and means as much as harmony, as in the 133rd Psalm, v. 1.: "Behold, how his and lovely it is that brethren dwell in one accord with one another (iin unum)," that is, together (simul) or in ick iponin, and Ps. 122, 3. [Vulg.]: "Cujus participatio ejus in id. ipsum," that is, "that keep themselves together with one another (simul)." 3)
2) In the Vulgate: In paes in ick ipsnin ciorrnirnn et recjuiesenin, eznoniarn tn, Donckne, sinAulariter in 8pe oonMtnisti ine.
3) This is how Luther translates this passage in the first Psalter translation in this volume Col. 110.
So the meaning is: Assured by the light of your face and certain that you are with me and for me, I am full of joy, that is, I will die in peace, and gladly I leave this life, because (as the 23rd Psalm, v. 4, says) "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Therefore, according to my judgment, by simul dormiam and simul requiescam the same is said what we express by "sleeping with them" (condormire) and "resting with them" (correquiscere), namely that he confidently expresses that he will sleep together with his fathers, as in the books of the Kings it is often said: "He slept with his fathers", and in the books of Moses [1 Mos. 49, 29.]: "I am gathered (congregor) to my people" and [5 Mos. 32, 50.]: "He gathered (appositus est) to his people"; and to Moses it is said [4 Mos. 27, 13.]: "You shall gather (ibis) to your people" and [4 Mos. 20, 24.]: "Let Aaron gather (vadat) to his people" and the like.
(74) Thus faith, which is exercised through many sufferings, makes death accepted as a sleep of peace; but to unbelievers it is a terrible and hard plague. For what else do you think he intends by this glorious boasting and praising of his death, but not only to give an example by which we can attain to a quiet and sweet death (that is, by the way of the cross and suffering), but also at the same time to leave it to the judgment of each one, that the death of the unbelievers described in contrast must be considered an exceedingly evil death, which is exceedingly frightening by terror, horror, dismay, in which there is no resting and sleeping, but, as the Psalm says [Ps. 140, 12. Vulg.], "An unrighteous man shall be seized with his calamity at his death," and again [Ps. 34, 22. Vulg.], "The death of sinners is exceedingly miserable" (pessima), for "the bloodthirsty and the false shall not bring their life to the half" [Ps. 55, 24.]. [1 Thess. 5, 3.:] "When they shall say, There is peace, there is no danger, destruction shall quickly overtake them." So very modestly and hiddenly he frightens
them with their evil death, praising his exceedingly good death, because he desires more to move them sweetly with his example than to urge them by terror to the life of the cross and faith, setting before them the fruit of that life, such a glorious death.
For thou, O Lord, hast made me to dwell in singularity (singulariter)" (in spe constituisti). This saying is taken from the 5th book of Moses, Cap. 33, 28, and frequently repeated throughout the Scriptures. Therefore, let us go to the source of it. Moses says, "Israel shall surely dwell alone." The same is said [Deut. 33:12], "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell safely," and Jer. 32:37, "They shall dwell safely" (confident). It therefore becomes clear that Moses said confidenter et solus where David said singulariter in spe, since in both passages are the same words and in the same sense. Therefore, because the interpreter [in the Vulgate] interposed the conjunct et in Deut. 33, 28, which does not appear in the text, it should also have been placed in this verse, namely: singulariter et in spe. For it also often happens in the Bible that the conjunction is omitted, which nevertheless must be put in the translation, as, Habakkuk 1) 4, 11: "Sun, moon stood still", instead of: Sun and moon. So also here: safe and lonely, or safe and alone, or special and confident, as if David wanted to say: Verily thou hast fulfilled this in me, in that thou hast made me dwell apart and safely, which thou promisedst in Moses, saying, Israel shall dwell safely and alone."
And so he concludes his psalm with the general and fully valid (authentica) saying of Moses, by interpreting at the same time in the best way against the carnal mind of the Jews, what Moses actually wanted to be understood by this word, and by adapting it to his cause. For since Moses says that Israel dwells securely and alone, and in this psalm Israel is beautifully described as having seen God face to face according to the example of Jacob, and the light of his answer is the light of God.
1) In all editions: "^odolis 2." Possible would still be: Jos. 10, 13. - In our Vulgate it says in both places ei.
litzes (that is, believed in God), he rightly says that the promise and fulfillment given to Israel belongs to him, and that it has happened to him that he dwells safely and separately. But Jacob also expressed this confidence concerning himself, when he said [Gen. 32:30.], "My soul is recovered." For what was this but that he might dwell apart and secure, sure of his salvation? For his soul was recovered, but in hope and assurance. This security and very certain assurance of salvation is the confident and solitary spiritual dwelling, namely in God Himself, and the salvation of the soul itself.
Therefore, the prophet does not fear death, but says that he will sleep in peace with his fathers, because he had become sure and certain of salvation. And so we see a certain characteristic that David read in Moses, by which he exercised himself, and brought to light his spiritual mind, being encouraged therein by many a temptation.
But what is "alone" or "dwell in particular" or "be employed" (constitui)? For "to dwell confidently" (in spe) or "to dwell securely" (confidenter habitare) in itself seems to be known. To my mind it seems to be the same as dwelling freely and securely (secure), so that solitude is freedom, as the 88th Psalm, v. 5. f., says [Vulg.], "I have become like a man without succor, free (liber) among the dead," that is, alone and secure. And more to the point is Richt. 18:7: "They saw the people that were within dwelling safely, in the manner of the Zidonians, quietly and securely; and there was none to harm them in the land, or to be lord over them; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had nothing to do with people." Here it is evident that their solitude is their safety, since by fleeing from men they had separated themselves for the purpose of being safe, which they could not have been if they had had to do with other men. Therefore, even now those who want to live their lives safely and quietly seek a secluded and lonely place. From this nobility comes the status of monks (that is, people who live in solitude).
The people who live in these places flee to lonely places for the sake of safety, because of the dangers from the world and people.
Therefore, singulariter is the same as secure, except that singulariter expresses the essence of security, namely, the removal of danger. But if this is not also done in the spirit at the same time, it will make monks who are only hypocrites, since they seek to avoid only the external dangers. He is speaking here more of spiritual security, which is so great that even in the midst of the dangers of the world, in death, in hell, it is secure and no more afraid than if it were alone, and it is all the more alone the more dangers it encounters. This is the grace of faith and the power of a good conscience toward God. And see if Jerome did not feel this security in this verse, when he says: "For thou, O Lord, hast made me dwell in safety."
Summa Summarum: "to dwell singularly confidently" means to be secure and trusting of one's salvation in God's mercy, by which it happens that he awaits death as if it were an exceedingly sweet sleep. This, as I have said, is the result of faith, which (as Paul says in his letter to the Hebrews [Cap. 12, 11]) is exercised through suffering and brings forth this peaceful fruit. But just the opposite of this will happen to the wicked.
For this reason, some (so-called) doctors of theology must be strongly detested and rejected, who teach us that we must be doubtful and uncertain whether we are in grace with God, and thus whether He is our God and we are His people. And they have invented for us their distinctions that the sacraments, insofar as they concern the power and might of God who works in them, exert a certain effect of grace, but insofar as they concern the recipient, they are uncertain in their effect; and this doubt, they claim, is a godly one. O these pernicious people! For if this is true, and every Christian must doubt godly in such a way, then this very certain article of faith has already perished, "I believe a holy church, the congregation of the saints," because I should not claim of myself that I am
holy, nor you of yourself, nor anyone of himself; so we are all uncertain. And in such a way we are all uncertain whether we have a God, and the whole church has come to ruin.
But away with these quite foolish and exceedingly godless heresies! Everyone must take care that he does not doubt in any way that he has a God, that is, a Father, Creator, Savior and Giver of all goods, so that he may dwell safely and confidently and not roar like the very unstable sea (what Isaiah [Cap. 57, 20.] said of the ungodly). For if you believe this of the saints, that they are safe and secure, why do you not believe the same of yourself, since you desire to be like the saints, and have received the same baptism, the same faith, the same Christ, and in all things the same? Yes, in an exceedingly ungodly way you believe something else.
of you as of the saints, who teach that all 1) must doubt as you doubt. So either you teach in an evil way that doubt is godly, or you believe in an ungodly way that what you have commanded to be doubted is certain, because faith cannot be based on a doubtful thing. Nor could I have believed that these impious fables and exceedingly harmful opinions were even creeping in secret in the Church of Christ, if I had not both read and heard that great theologians set them up and protect them as the very most certain articles of faith, and condemn the opposing Christian (catholicam) opinion as heretical. So great is the blindness of the noblest in the church, so great the wrath of the Lord. But this is to be dealt with in another place and with other people.
1) Thus the Weimar one. In the other editions: oos.