V. 1. The innocence (ignorantia) of David, of which he sang to the Lord, because of the words of the Moor, the son of Jemini.
(1) Many have struggled over what the purpose (scopus) of this psalm is, of whom the title says; and even now one argues about it. In the meantime, we want to follow the Burgensis, which seems to me to be closer to the matter [than others], and judges that it is not to be understood by Saul, but by Simei. In order to recognize this, we want to cite the words of the history from the 2nd book of Samuel. For there it is written in the 16th chapter, v. 5-11, when David fled from his son Absalom: "And when king David was come to Bahurim, behold, there went out a man there of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei the son of Gera. He went out and cursed, and threw stones at David, and at all the servants of King David. For all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And Shimei said as he cursed, Out, out, thou bloodhound, thou loose man, the Lord hath recompensed thee for all the blood of the house of Saul, because thou hast reigned in his stead.
Now the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and, behold, now thou art in thy calamity, for thou art a bloodhound." And when David's servants were about to kill Shimei, David said, "Let him curse, for the Lord hath said to him, 'Curse David. Who then can say, Why doest thou thus? And David said unto Abishai, and unto all his servants: Behold, my son, which is come out of my womb, is after my life: why not now also the son of Jemini?"
(2) It is therefore evident that the son of Jemini is called Shimei and is the one who cursed David, although Saul is also called a son of Jemini, 1 Sam. 9:21, because they were of the same family, as is said [2 Sam. 16:5].
3 At the same time we have the words about which David sang this psalm, namely the curses of Shimei, in which he falsely interpreted crimes against him as an exceedingly violent and impetuous slanderer. For we do not read of Saul that he spat out such words against David. Therefore, he must necessarily be
This is what the text of this psalm will tell us about the powerful words of abuse that are narrated in this passage [in the 2nd book of Samuel].
4. it still remains [to discuss] why he rather calls him XXX, which denotes a Moor. Almost all assume that it is a figurative speech, because blackness contains the taint of wickedness in itself, as also the poet [Juvenal] says: Hic niger est, hunc, tu Romane, caveto [This one is black, therefore beware of this one, O Roman], as on the other hand we call white the one who is pure and sincere, and [in the Latin language one says] of a heart that it is white (candor animi), if it is without falsehood, as also well-known proverbs speak. It is therefore assumed that David deliberately omitted the name of the same and called him by a new name that corresponded to his character. If this does not please you, you may think that he had two names, which can be seen very often in the holy scriptures, as you can see in the genealogies of Christ Matth. 1 and Luc. 3. So also of the father of Zacharias, Jojada [2 Chron. 24, 20.], is said in Matthew, Cap. 23, 35. that his name was Barachias. But even then the reason remains that he preferred to call him by the name of a Moor rather than Simei, because this word describes his wickedness better.
5. furthermore, what his "ignorance" 1) is, since this happened to him, he already explains himself freely what he understands by it. For since David did not recognize the curses of Shimei at all [as justified], that even at his death he gave his son Solomon the command (1 Kings 2:9) that he should bring his [Shimei's] gray hairs down to hell with blood to punish his cursing, it is clear that he prays his innocence before the Lord, and that this "ignorance" is nothing other than his "innocence". For of that of which we are not conscious, it is also rightly said that we are ignorant in regard to it.
6. but since it is ungodly to rely on one's own
1) In the Vulgate, "innocence" is expressed by i^norantia.
(Proverbs 12:2,2 ) and he is a fool who relies on his heart, Proverbs 28:26.Therefore, what has been said about this innocence is to be understood in such a way that nevertheless the judgment of God is to be feared, and one does not rejoice in the safety of innocence, unless we first give glory to God and confess before Him that His judgments are different from our judgments and the judgments of men, so that after we have received permission in this way, and without coming too close to His judgment, we confess our innocence before men. For David, when he heard that he had been falsely accused of crimes (to the extent that his conscience bore witness to it), nevertheless feared, because he knew that by God's command those defamatory words would be directed against him, that they would be true before God. He also did not completely rely on his conscience, just as the apostles did not trust each other when they heard that one of them was a traitor [Matth. 26, 22]. For such is the conscience of every godly man: however innocent it may be, it fears guilt where there is no guilt. This causes the fear of God and the unfathomable depth of His judgment.
Therefore, although David is innocent, he fears that he has done what he hears is being held against him, especially in the time of trial, when God seems to side with the adversaries, and he thinks that God is striking him for the sake of the things that are then held against him, even though he knows nothing about them. Therefore, as little as he is aware of this evil before himself and before men, he nevertheless fears that he might be guilty at least in his heart (for God tests hearts and kidneys [Ps. 7, 10.]), and teaches us in this Psalm the word of the apostle 2 Cor. 10, 18.: "For this reason a man is not competent, that he praises himself, but that the Lord praises him."
8 Although this psalm was made about David and his innocence, we must believe that this was also written for the teaching of all of us, since this evil of slander is common in the world, as Paul says,
2) Vulgate: "He who relies on his thoughts acts ungodly."
Rom. 15:4: "But whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."
(9) But we shall see how they are minded, and what minds they ought to have, and are able to have, who in faith and godliness will bear and overcome the calumny. For he has placed this persecution exceedingly well in the seventh place. After having instructed us in the previous psalms in the calamity by which we are cleansed from sins, he now finally wants to instruct us completely to a perfect fear of God, so that we should fear that we have sinned even where we have not sinned, and be perfected by such a great hatred against sin and love for God, so that we fear unconscious sins, even what is not a sin, as sins.
(10) For this perfection we do not need a persecutor like Absalom, of whom it is certain that he will persecute us ungodly, but a slanderer like Shimei, of whom we must fear that he will revile us with truth, even though we are innocent, and yet we cannot let go of our innocence altogether, but should be like Job, who also suffers something of the kind from his friends, and says, Job 27:5. f.: "Far be it from me to do you justice; until my end come, I will not depart from my piety. From my righteousness which I have I will not depart; my conscience doth not bite me for all my life." Thus (as we touched on something of these things in the 5th Psalm above) we are indeed to confess our ignorance before God, who alone knows the hearts of men, but before men we are not to forsake our innocence unless our hearts punish us. For just as one should not deny sins before God (before whom no one is righteous), so we should also confess and assert the truth before men, before whom we can and should live without wrongdoing. And this instruction, which David obtained through what happened to him, he shares with us. Through it, we can avenge ourselves of slander far more blissfully than Apelles once avenged himself through his image. Therefore he says:
V. 2. In you, O Lord, I trust, my God. Help me from all my persecutors and save me.
(11) This is the first attitude (affectus) [that should be found in us (§ 9)], that we should not be carried away to vengeance and zeal against the slanderers and persecutors, as man is wont to do, who is vanity and falsehood ("vengeance is mine," he says [Deut. 32, 35.I will repay"), but we should take refuge in the Lord above all things, and denounce both the persecution and the slander before Him, with full hope and confidence in His help, which our innocence and good conscience will help us to achieve in this case.
12 So here he asks that he be helped by all his persecutors. For David was persecuted by two of them: Absalom with crew and action, Shimei with tongue and slander, who undoubtedly either was not alone, or at least did not please himself alone in the practice of this wickedness (in hoc malo); or he says "of all" in the same sense in which Ps. 6:8 [Vulg.], "I have grown old among all my enemies," namely, because he suffers violence and slander at the same time, everything seems to be hostile to him, and there is no one left to come to his aid, as indeed everything is set against him as a single individual. Thus he says, "From all my persecutors," that is, because all men and all things persecute me. In what "help me" and "save me" are different, I believe, there is not much; he may have understood "helping" for the good and "saving" from evil, or one can assume that he repeated the same thing tautologically for the sake of emphasis.
(13) This verse can be held against those who do not believe that faith and hope are necessary for those who want to pray or receive the grace of God or the healing effect (effectum, as they say) of the sacraments, since the prophet asks here for his help and salvation, because he also boasts that he has trusted in the Lord. This is certainly the case with everyone who believes, hopes or loves. But he says: "In
I trust in you", not in me, not in a human being, which we have dealt with more extensively in the 5th Psalm above.
V. 3. lest they take my soul like lions and tear it apart, because there is no savior. 1)
14 Jerome, according to the Hebrew, has thus: Ne forte rapiat ut leo animam meam, laceret, et non sit, qui eripiat [lest, like a lion, he rob and tear my soul, and there be none to pluck it out]. "Rob" (he says), rend, obtain for prey, as a raging beast is wont to do, lest someone understand a simple capture; then "like a lion," namely, a cruel wild beast, rend and also tear. What? The house or the cattle? No, but my soul, that is, my life, which the body has from the soul, as in the preceding Psalm.
36] is said.
He does all this so powerfully to indicate the greatness of his need and to put it on his heart, so that he may receive an answer all the more quickly, yes, so that he may also provoke himself to a more ardent passion of the heart, because we must pray vigorously and with serious intent if we want to obtain something. But there is no doubt that David was in such a situation at that time that it was to be feared and expected that he would be caught and torn apart by Absalom and Shimei as by roaring lions, and he had no other hope and help than in God. In such a situation are also all others who suffer violence with slander; these understand these words and their opinion very well.
V. 4. 5. O Lord my God, have I done these things, and there is injustice in my hands; have I done evil to those who lived peaceably with me, or have I wronged those who were hostile to me without cause.
15 Here he comes to the matter of which this psalm deals, and he treats the words of the Moor Shimei, as the title says. The slanderer had accused him, first of all, that he was guilty of the blood of the house of Saul, and said, "Out, out, you bloodhound, you
1) Vulgate: Xe ynrmäo rapiat M leo aiümam msam, äuva uon sst, qui reüimat, Hui salvuru kaeiat.
loose man!" [2 Sam. 16, 7], secondly [v. 8] that he had taken his kingdom by force. Therefore the Lord repaid him in two ways, by shedding his blood again through his own son, and by taking his kingdom from him. He complains about both and testifies that he is innocent.
(16) But the prophet teaches us to meet this second challenge in a twofold way, namely, to say no to it (negative), and to attach a condition to it (conditionaliter), so that we bring with us the good confidence of an innocent conscience as far as conduct before men is concerned, and fear our hidden faults before God's judgment seat. For this twofold disposition is found in these verses, in this way: Lord, my God, so little have I done these things, so entirely is this wrong not in my hands, so entirely am I not the author of it, that his blood has been shed and he has lost his kingdom, that I also have not repaid him and his own for the evil they have done to me, although I could have done it more often, when I had him alone in the cave in my power, 1 Sam. 24, 5. and took away his spear in the camp, 1 Sam. 26, 11. ff.
(17) Not only have I not repaid him evil, but I have shown him good for evil, as Saul himself testified, 1 Sam. 24:18, when he said, "You are more righteous than I am. You have shown me good, but I have shown you evil." So much is missing that I could be a bloodhound. Now if something has been hidden about me, if it is found that I have not been upright, and you judge me so, I am ready for what I deserve, for my enemy to persecute my soul etc.
18 But here he seems to refer the "wrong" to the latter slander, as to the former the words, "Have I done these things," so that the sense is: I have not done that which is falsely imputed to me of the blood, neither is there any wrong in my hands; that I have obtained the kingdom, by this I have wronged no one, because I have not done this out of my iniquity, but by thy command.
19. but there is a much stronger emphasis in the fact that he has done so much evil to himself.
We are to learn to pray against slander with all our soul (magno corde), so that we may testify to our innocence, but also fear God's hidden judgment and be ready to suffer any misfortune if we are found guilty of slander. But this should be done in such a way that, although we testify to our innocence, we also fear God's hidden judgment and are ready to suffer any misfortune if we are found guilty. For even if you have God's commandment for you in every work, you must still fear that you may not have done right and deserve to be commanded the opposite, as Abraham had indeed received the repeated promise in Isaac, but nevertheless willingly offered him as a burnt offering in fear of God's judgment.
20 Thus also David, although he was not aware of anything, nevertheless gives up his kingdom and says, 2 Sam. 15, 26: "If the Lord says to me, 'I have no desire for you; behold, here I am, he will do with me as he pleases,'" and also allowed Shimei to curse, believing that this was also commanded to him by God, fearing everywhere that it would be right and just for him.
(21) However righteous, holy, innocent, true and godly your cause may be, it is necessary that you conduct it in fear and humility, always fearing God's judgment and trusting not in yourself but only in His mercy. Judas Maccabaeus fell in an entirely righteous war [1 Macc. 9, 18.], many are defeated in the most righteous matters and divine dealings, as is written of the children of Israel in the book of Judges Cap. 20, 20-25. is written, because they acted not in fear, but in confidence in their righteous cause, not in God's mercy. But also the apostle says 1 Cor. 4, 4: "I am well aware of nothing, but in this I am not justified."
22) This is what David, when tribulation came upon him, teaches by his example, that no one should arrogate justice to himself, insist on it, rage for revenge, seek retribution by force or by right, as our clergy rage now, who want to be considered righteous and wise before others, but each one must first be anxious in humble fear that he may really do so.
before God, and shall offer to suffer the punishment he deserves.
23. Then, as he is innocent, he should pray against the adversaries, who cannot have a just cause against any man who has an innocent conscience; for that only God can have, and has. The judgment of God is different from that of men. "A man looks at what is before his eyes, but the Lord looks at the heart" [1 Sam. 16:7]. Therefore, if a man judges differently than what is before his eyes, he is a slanderer, like Shimei here.
(24) And to indicate this humility and fear of God, he carefully put in the title, "Because of the words of the Moor," because he knew very well that he deserved the persecution of Absalom, but does not excuse it; but the blasphemies of Shimei he does not acknowledge, or if they are true, he claims that he was unaware of them. He had deserved by his adultery and murder the evil that was done to him by Absalom, but he was not aware that he deserved the words of Shimei about Saul's blood; and yet he fears that he deserved them because of the terrible and hidden judgment of God. How this happens is what a godly and God-fearing heart feels when it is tormented at times either by slanderous people or devils.
The word which the Latin translation has translated in this place, and correctly, by iniquitatem ["wrong"], Hebrew XXX, actually means what iniquitas means among the Latins, that is, an injury, a wrong, less or more than it ought to be, as it is wont to be in dealings. Thus here it would have been wrong for him to usurp a foreign kingdom against the will of his neighbor, if he had done so. And what we have [in Latin): Decidam merito ab inimicis meis inanis, Jerome has translated more correctly: And I have not left my enemies (who frighten me) empty of me, in that he wants (as I have said) that David not only did not repay his enemies evil with evil, but even did not leave them empty of him, that is, did good to the wicked. For this is also a kind of revenge, when one repays the offenders for their good deeds.
because we are also to love our enemies, although I do not know whether this translation sufficiently reflects the Hebrew.
(25) Notice, then, what an evangelical level of righteousness David has attained. For to repay evil with evil seems fair to a carnal sense, but it is also forbidden in the law of Moses, unless it is done by the judgment of the authorities (superioris), not by one's own power. The opposite level to this is to repay good with good; this is rewarding and servile. These serve God in such a way that they do not want to suffer evil or death, although he only presses us with evil so that we learn to serve him out of a pure heart (pure) without any consideration of good or reward. The third stage is to repay good with evil. This is vicious, yes, more than vicious. The fourth stage, repaying good for evil, is the gospel of Christ. But he says that he preserved this stage in an excellent way, because not only did he not repay evil with evil, 1) but to those who had repaid him for the good they had received. He did good to those who had repaid him for the good they had received, as was said above about Saul.
V. 6. So my enemy pursues my soul, and seizes it, and tramples my life to the ground, and lays my honor in the dust. Sela.
This does not seem to me to have been spoken out of a confident courage (affectu fiduciae), as many think, as if he had been certain that this would not happen because he did not deserve it. For we believe, because he began in humble speech, that this is also sung in the same fear of God. For, as I have said, although he was not aware that he deserved the blasphemy, but rather knew that he had been called to rule by God's command, yet in many respects he could not trust it and boast of it, both because God (as I have said) is wonderful in all His ways, and because we ourselves do not sufficiently recognize our heart.
1) Instead of reüüit should probably be read rsäüiüit.
In this way, it can happen that you either do not understand the commandment correctly or do not fulfill it correctly, and thus become worthy through a completely hidden sin, that the commandment is either annulled or changed, and then God stands against you, whom you think is on your side.
By this fear (as I have said) Abraham was instructed in the sacrifice of Isaac. This is clearly the highest level of the fear of God, where you are forced to renounce God Himself and His commandment for you, and to fear that He is against you, in short, because you have to fear that God does not want what He has commanded and willed, but forbids and hates it, while in other things we only fear that we have not done what it is determined is commanded.
Who could bear this inconstancy of the divine contradiction (that I say so), which is exceedingly constant by an incomprehensible constancy, if he is not a man chosen according to the heart of God [Apost. 13, 22.] like this David and Abraham, since here the truth of God Himself seems to waver, and he (according to all human judgment) is regarded for it as inciting to hatred against Himself? But in such a way the servile attitude of a hireling must be killed, in which we worship God for our own sake, in which we are puffed up in God and for God's sake, one against the other, are hopeful, jealous, hateful, and do all evil under His name and service, and for the salvation of souls (as they say). For which of us, having either Abraham's or David's promise, would not enforce this very commandment of God even against the angels, if someone were to expect us to do the opposite? The carnal mind is so deeply planted in man that it is necessary for God to show Himself to us in an inconstant manner, as it were, so that we may be instructed not to cling to any thing, even a divine and eternal thing, with a wrong mind.
The prophet offers three things to be destroyed, which we lose with great pain, the soul, the life, the honor. The soul he offers to persecution and seizure, the life to it,
that it be trodden to the ground, the honor that it be laid in the grave. For in the Hebrew it says: And he buries or lays my honor in the dust, which, however, is the same with our [Latin] text [et gloriam meam in pulverem deducat], but clearer.
But he seems to distinguish "soul" and "life" in such a way that "soul" (as we have said above s§ 14) is the essential life itself, by which the body is animated, but "life" is the change or that which is put into work by the soul in the body (res gestas), as also with the Greeks ζωη and βίος seem to be distinguished. And although we use the same word "life" in our German language, we take it in a very different sense when we speak of natural life and the works of life.
30. and he declares with these words his mind which he had when he said 2 Sam. 15, 26. "saith he unto me, I have no desire toward thee; behold, here am I," and 2 Sam. 16, 10. "The Lord hath said it unto him, Curse David." For then he was ready to lose the soul, the life, the honor of the kingdom, as is evident. Therefore he now sings this in this spirit, to instruct us all by his example what we and those who suffer similar things should think, speak and do. So the meaning is: If I have been such a man before you, so be it, I will gladly allow it. Let Absalom and Ahitophel kill my soul, and let there be no one to help me from my persecutor and deliver me from the one who seizes me; I am ready to suffer your will and endure the punishment I deserve.
Then may he also trample to the ground, that is, destroy and annihilate everything that I have lived or accomplished in life, so that it will henceforth be nothing in the eyes and ears and memory of men; I will gladly lose this. I may also be found in my life as one who has been evil, useless, harmful, who is worthy of being trampled to the ground in the most contemptible way, whom everyone throws down and tramples on like dung in the street; but my enemy shall be exalted, esteemed great and lifted up to heaven, and all that he does shall be in the sight of you and in the sight of the
People wonderful and great, and all that he has always done, is doing, and will do, be highly respected.
31 Not only that, but my honor, my present power, and the power that is to come, he shall not only make low, but shall bury it in the dust, and it shall never return, and it shall be eternally obscured. Let the throne of my kingdom perish, let my wife and child perish, let my friends perish, let my possessions and everything perish, let the glorious promise given to me by the future Christ perish, which I have loved incomparably more than anything else, on which alone hung my hope, honor and joy: I too, with my father Abraham, sacrifice to you this Isaac of mine, who is by far the most beloved of all.
32. O what a man who is truly chosen according to the heart of God! Who can duly measure this movement of the heart, let alone talk it out? We think it is the greatest thing to suffer death, and to approach life. He is not only ready to die an ordinary death, but also to be seized by the persecutor, and, delivered into the hands of the enemy, to be taken away, not to fall asleep among the crowd of loved ones who mourn him, but to be killed among raging, jeering, triumphant enemies. For what do we not do, what sorrow do we not cause, if even one work or word, which is ours, is censured or not highly praised? But he, who was highly praised by so many victories in wars, by so many miraculous deeds, by the victory over Goliath, over the bear 1) [1 Sam. 17, 36. f. 50. f.], by so many godly works, by so many excellent institutions (augmentis) of the service of God, does not only allow that what is his remains unpraised, but also that everything is trampled on forever like the dung in the streets and, as everyone tramples it more and more, is destroyed.
What kind of murder, what kind of impetuous actions do we at least take on ourselves, if we can't do them by deed, even if we can't do them by deed?
1) In the Baseler, the Wittenberger and the Erlanger the comma after "Goliath" is missing.
against the whole human race, whether for ancient titles of dominion (ditionum), or whether for some minor privileges at the present time in his own affairs? But he, who is thrice anointed king by God's command, who has received the infallible promise that Christ should be born of his race, not only willingly gives his whole kingdom with such a great honor, but is also ready never to receive it again, to remain rejected and without honor forever, after all this so great and immeasurable ornament is buried even in the dust. What can be thought purer, deeper, more sublime, to say it briefly, more wonderful than this attitude?
He had all this by divine right, and it was commanded to him in more than one place by God. Why does he not rage for the divine right? Or is he ungodly, that he does not reclaim, protect and maintain his dominion with bloodshed and death? as we are nowadays considered the most godly people, when we move heaven and earth for temporal things, pretending that it is a divine right, but do not fear God at all, who, even if we had something according to divine right, would rightly destroy everything, because he has been offended by this pride and strife.
(35) If David feared that God's commandment had been changed against him, who had been made king by so many signs, by so many commands of God, by so many anointings of the prophets, and who had received the future Christ by such a firm promise, what commandment, what promise, no matter how much it comes from God, can be a cause for hope, for war, for strife, and similar misery? It is truly to be feared that the church is least of all where one rages most for the church, since we see that God does not like it at all when one misuses His promises and is terrible in His counsel and commandments over the children of men.
(36) But this is enough. I am not saying this because I want to see anyone deprived of his right or of what is due to him, or because I want to see him deprived of his right or of what is due to him.
that it may be attacked, but because we are to be instructed by these words of Scripture and examples that he who obtains and possesses something, however justly titled, should possess it with fear; and not by force, but with prayer and patience defend it, and be ready to yield if it pleases God. For the Scripture cannot be sufficiently explained unless it is brought into connection with examples of the present time, and shown by them what it means.
37 For it is seen that both the Greek and the Latin Churches have sinned in the dispute over the principatu, because neither has yielded to the other, whereas in the fear of God both should have yielded. Neither of them would have lost such supremacy, but it would have been preserved much more happily if it had been preserved not by contending but by praying bishops, that is, not by the will of men but by God's mercy: as here David indeed prays, and yet at the same time also offers himself by asking, as it were with Christ, that the cup be taken from him, and yet obediently yields to the will of God. Thus it is written in the law of Moses [Deut. 16, 20, Vulg.]: "What is right, you shall also do in a right way." Thus it comes about that even he who has the most righteous cause before God is culpable if he does not defend the same in the fear of God. God does not look upon the proud and the quarrelsome, however righteous they may be.
Thus we read that it happened to Job, for whose cause God Himself passed judgment, and yet rebuked him Himself [Job 38:1 ff].
Such fear and humility are also necessary for us today, who fight for the integrity of theology and the power of the Church. We can be criminal before God on both sides, even in the most righteous cause, if we do not seek the mercy of God through prayer rather than through trust in our cause. We must pray that the truth may win the victory. If it does not please God that this should be done through us, let it be done through someone else who pleases Him. Hope
no one to serve or defend in a good way any commandment of God, if he transgresses the first of all commandments (which is the service of God in fear and humility). For by this commandment all others are regulated; without it they are no longer commandments.
40 Nothing pleases GOtte that is not done in fear and humility. But where is this to be seen in the church today? What is the church today but a kind of disorderly bunch of mobs, where we rave only for righteous things and divine right, without all fear of God; and while we fulfill all the commandments, we ruin the head, the life, the rule of the commandments. O blindness, blindness, blindness!
V. 7. arise, O Lord, in your anger; rise above the wrath of my enemies, and restore me to the office which you have commanded me. 1)
This is said in Hebrew in one verse. However, it is a very obscure verse and even today it is not known what or what it is talking about. Jerome translated it thus: Surge Domine in furore tuo, et elevare indignans super hostes meos, consurge ad me in judicio, quod mandasti [arise, O Lord, in thy wrath, and rise in displeasure against my enemies; arise, and stand by me in the judgment which thou hast commanded]. But indignans super hostes is not so included in the Hebrew. I too will venture to do so, and translate the verse word for word thus: Surge Domine in ira tua, et leva in iracundiis tribulatorum meorum, et suscita ad me a judicio, mandasti [arise, O Lord, in thy wrath, and rise above the wrath of them that affright me, and raise up judgment for me, thou hast commanded (it)). Since the word [XXX]) which our Latin translation) renders by in finibus is related among the Hebrews (and in general it is ambiguous) 2) to the word "to anger," therefore, following Jerome, I have derived it rather from anger than from the area (finibus).
1) Vulgate: 8ur^ Domino in ira tun, et oxaltaro in ünidus inimioorum meorum, et oxsurgo Domino, Dons mous, in praeeopto, quoä manäasti.
2) These brackets are set by us.
But this peculiar expression (soloecism): a judicio, mandasti, which our Latin translators) have eliminated (sustulerunt) by the pronoun quod, is also found in other places, as, Ps. 51, 10.: Exsultabunt ossa, humiliasti, where we [in the Vulgate) say: ossa humiliata, as if one would say here: a judicio demandato. According to my sense, I would not add quod, but quia, as: "for thou hast broken them," "for thou hast commanded." But the word exaltare [in the Vulgate) or elevare [in Jerome) or leva [Luther) is equally ambiguous, and may be understood of raising (levandum) and of ravaging. This is also set here without a word governed by it (in statu absoluto), and can mean that the Lord may send desolation upon the fury of the enemies, in this way: Arise above the fury of the enemies, that is, bring about the desolation and destruction of the fury with which those rage against me who frighten me, namely Absalom with his. It amounts to the same thing expressed by leva or elevare or exaltare. For he means to say, Arise, that is, arise, that thou mayest arise, and stretch forth thy hand over them against their fury; entirely in the same sense in which he says Ps. 138:7, "When I walk in the midst of fear, thou restorest me, and stretchest forth thy hand over the wrath of mine enemies."
Et suscita ad me [and encourage you to me), where for ad me [in the Vulgate) we have: Domine, Deus meus, because 3) can be read without periods [XXX], both "my GOtt" [XXX] and: "to me" [XXX]. And suscita is said of him who is awakened and encouraged, as it were, from sleep, as it is said elsewhere Ps. 44:24: "Awaken thee, O Lord, why sleepest thou?"
A judicio, or, as our Latin translation has it, in praecepto, seems to me to be understood of the office from which the judges and the rulers take their name, of which it is said in the first Psalm, v. 5: "Therefore the wicked do not abide in judgment," and Ps. 122, 5: "There the chairs sit in judgment," so that a judicio means the same thing
3) Erlanger: a yuia. The a is a printing error.
572 L. xiv, W1-SS3. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 7, 7. W. iv, 7m f. 573
is as for the sake of judgment or in matters of judgment, as in the 68th Psalm, v. 30.: "For thy temple's sake (a templo) at Jerusalem shall the kings bring thee gifts" (that is, propter templum), as it is also Ps. 4, 8.: 1) "From the time of their corn and wine they are increased." This use of this letter X, or of the preposition a or ab, seems to be synonymous with a conjunction, which gives the reason, on the opinion of the word Ps. 81, 5.: "For such is a manner in Israel, and a right of the God of Jacob." So also here a judicio, that is, because it is the office (judicium) which you have commanded.
So also Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. 19, 6. when he appointed judges, he said, "See what ye do, for ye keep judgment not unto men, but unto the Lord," and afterwards [v. 8. Vulg.] he appointed [Levites and priests and of the chief fathers in Israel] that they should judge the judgment and the cause of the Lord among the inhabitants of Jerusalem (ejus). Thus, he asks that God intercede for the sake of judgment, so that the wicked may not prevail, who exercise their tyranny rather than the judgment of the Lord among the people. But it is easy, if one accepts this opinion, to understand by praeceptum the same as by judicium, because the judges in the court execute the commandment of God, which the tyrants rather overrule, as has been said.
So this must be the meaning to which this grammatical understanding helps us: Arise, Lord, and show your anger, suffer these things no longer, oppose the fury of my persecutors and stretch out your hand over their cruelty, so that you may nullify their attacks against me. Wake up at last and remember me; and this I ask, not for my sake, but for the sake of judgment, lest all things be sacrilegiously reversed and confounded, while there is no one to manage affairs, especially since, according to thy order and commandment, affairs are to be managed. So much for the grammar.
42 Let us now consult theology and ask why he gave the enemies the
1) Cf. Ps. 4,§ 72.
What is the reason for this? What is the reason for God's wrath, and again claiming the kingdom, since he has been so willing to renounce it and do good to the enemies?
First, after he has offered himself and his own in fear and humility, it is certain that this prayer does not come from an evil heart. Then, having given glory and righteousness to God, he surely prays against those who take dominion by force. For the fear of God causes that in a right way the divine commandment is carried out, by which, as he knows, the kingdom and the administration of judgment are commanded to him. In addition, take that he does not seek what is his own, but what is God's, because you (he says) have commanded that I should administer judgment among the people. Therefore he did not want to put the word "kingdom," but rather the word "judgment," so that he might show that he is leading God's cause, not desiring the pomp, but the work. "For if anyone desires the office of bishop, he desires a good work" [1 Tim. 3:1].
(43) He calls upon God to be angry, not because he wants them to perish, but in the sense expressed in the previous psalm, that they may feel the wrath of God, and by resisting them and destroying their attempts, God may restore them and make them well. If they do not feel the wrath, the unwise people continue to increase their sins, to persecute the godly and the devout Christians, and even to persecute God's commandments without ceasing, thinking that they are doing God a service. For how should the community of the godly exist in the world if God did not finally reveal His wrath against the wicked and execute the cause of the wretched and the right of the poor? [Ps. 140, 13.]
44 Therefore, as he himself makes the deep sea boil [Job 41:22], so he again stills the floods of it and sets a goal for the sea, saying, "Hither shalt thou come, and no further; here shall thy proud waves be laid down," as is written in the book of Job [Cap. 38:11]; likewise, as he stirs up the fury of the wicked, so he again subdues it. Thereby he makes known his anger that their wickedness is not pleasing to him.
45 He asks for three things: first, that he may rise up and show his anger by withdrawing his good will from them, which they insist upon; second, that he may put down the anger of those people and nullify their plots; third, that he may turn back to him and restore to him the judgment of God, not because he deserves it, but because God has not only promised and done it, but also commanded it. Now he seeks nothing more than for the truth of God to stand firm and for his command to be fulfilled; if that were not the case, he would gladly yield to its wrath.
(46) And here the troubled heart, after the darkness of the tribulation is over, begins to breathe again, trusting in the mercy of God, so that we too may learn to do the same in our tribulations, for this has been done and written as an example to us.
V. 8. that the people may gather to you again, and for their sake come up again.
(47) In this verse (so that we may remain in this attitude after it has begun in us) David shows that he is not concerned for himself but for the people. For first of all, he asked to be reinstated in office, without regard for himself or the people, but with only God in mind, who had commanded that he should first serve God's will in it. Now he descends from love toward God to love toward his neighbor, so that he may serve the people with the same command of God. I beseech thee, O Lord, that the multitude of the people may again surround me, follow me, be subject to me (for he speaks in the manner of a wish [optative] in the indicative futuri), as he boasts in the 144th Psalm, v. 2.He says: "He who subdues my people under me", because it is for their good if they obey you, since you have given me to them as king, so that they do not go astray like sheep without a shepherd, and are not, like a people without a leader, exposed to any robber. If I am unworthy, yet thou art worthy that I should obey thee, and they are worthy that they should obey thee.
not be given up to plunder and scattering for my sake, but after I am restored as head, bring the exiles of Israel together, Ps. 147:2, and the members to their body.
(48) For a godly ruler of the people, as far as he is concerned, will gladly lose everything, and will only desire to perform the service he owes to God and man, and will fear that his misfortune will bring danger and ruin to the people.
49 As an example for this serve you St. Athanasius or Hilarius or similar people, who were expelled from their [bishop's] seats at the time of the Arian sect. For I do not see from where one could take an example in our time, since no one would dare to commit anything that would make him worthy of expulsion. Although these holy fathers were quite far from shameful ambition, they nevertheless wished (as Hilarius himself confesses), because the office of the priesthood was imposed on them 1), that the Arians might be overthrown, and that they might serve GOtte in their [bishop's] seat and be expelled.But they feared with sorrow and fear that the people entrusted to them, because they were absent, would be damaged by the heretical wolves, and felt it painful that violence was done to the word of God. If you pray the Psalm in the person of these people, you will also see the example of David and experience how well the words rhyme with the movement of the heart.
50 It would be the same example if a bishop or high clergyman (praelatus) were banished or expelled for the sake of truth, or because he administers his office godly, and the people were turned away from him, seduced by poisonous persuasion, slander and lies.
(51) For if the people were not endangered by another evil, they would certainly be provoked to lie and to hate the truth by slandering and reviling their prelate, who is a good man. Now since by such [calumnies] all Israel is perverted, and for the sake of fei-
1) Basel: eovaxosiü instead of: impositi.
David sighs with such vehemence that he also invokes the wrath of God against their anger in a prayer that was certainly necessary for the preservation of the people. For it is better that those wicked perish than that the people be entangled in wicked opinions, since the apostle [Gal. 1:8, 9] even expresses the wish that those be accursed who had turned the Galatians away from the truth.
52 But he chose the words with special care. He did not mean to say, "That the people gather to me," but says, "That the people gather to you," that is, they will be gathered to you. By this he indicates not only what we said above, that the judgment is not of man, but of God, which is held at God's command. Therefore those do not gather to men, but to God, who gather to a man who serves in the work of God. He also uses the expression (tropum), according to which it is often said of the Lord in Scripture that He is in the midst of His people, as Ps. 46, 6: "God is in her, therefore she will abide", and 2 Cor. 6, 16. from 3 Mos. 26, 12: "I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people.
53 In this way he speaks very appropriately for this matter. For Absalom and those who follow him do not seek to serve through love, but to rule by force, not to gather the people to God, but to themselves. They want to be the idols around which the people are to gather, for it is not God's honor and the people's salvation that they seek, as befits faithful mediators, but their tyranny. Therefore, with this word he strikes at the arrogance and ambition of all those people who preside over the people only for the sake of ruling for their own benefit. In order for this not to happen, the chosen man of God asks so godly and fervently. This evil is certainly rampant in the Church today out of God's wrath, since we fear the punishments (censuras) of men far more than the threats of God,
because we look at the persons, we do not see God.
54. So also this [Vulg.]: Propter hanc [synagogam populorum] in altum regredere, or as the Hebrew text has, "Come up again." He does not say, Set me up again, but: Come thou up again. He says, Not for my sake, but because of the congregation of the people [Vulg.: synagogam populorum). For I grieve for them, their fall 1) and seduction grieves me greatly; for them I pray, not for me. See then, just as above in love toward God he asks for the judgment that God has commanded, so here in love toward the brethren he asks for their salvation, being godly concerned on both sides that it may not be enough for God, and that the people may perish for His sake, so that the office of God may exist, that He may govern the people, and the obedience of the people that it may be rendered, lest the people be without God, or God without the people. Oh, this is a word that the bishops, shepherds, rulers, and heads of the Church (magnatibus) should be commanded to keep in mind and apply with zeal!
55. But when did God forfeit his height, so that it should be necessary for him to ascend again? This happens when an ambitious man sits in God's place. For since this one subjugates the people of God more than God, he certainly exalts himself, as much as there is in him (as Paul says [2 Thess. 2, 4.]), above everything that is called God or worship, and this one is the Antichrist. Now if it should happen in the church that all bishops were ambitious and ruled over the people, and the people submitted themselves, not to Christ, who could doubt that the Antichrist ruled? But God will come up again when He throws down the people who are ambitious like Absalom, and again sets up judges, as of old, who gather the people to God, teach God's commandments, and set aside the statutes of men.
(56) No one is surprised that this means that God is coming up again, that is, that God is coming down again.
1) In the Jena and Erlangen: eauMiu instead of: easurri.
I mean that his judgment, his power, his office, his service will be awakened again, since we know that the prophet speaks in the spirit. Therefore, this is to be understood from the spiritual ascension of God, who ascends when we become subject to Him, hear His word, see His works, and all this through the service of men.
Therefore, this Psalm is by far the most fervent prayer to obtain good bishops and rulers [of the Church]. Would that God would have us pray this prayer today, each one in particular, with the fervor that the words require, for never has it been so highly necessary to ask for this.
For what do we see in the church today that corresponds to these words? Where are those who bring the people to Christ with the same zeal as to themselves? Who takes such great care that Christians should fear God more than the power of the bishops? In sins that offend God, we even laugh safely; when we offend the bishops, we bring all kinds of plagues upon ourselves.
59. Furthermore, we compel to our splendor, to our ceremonies, to our power, to our laws, but so much is lacking that we gather ourselves to the word of Christ, to the love of the Spirit, that we also strive with the greatest zeal that the people do not recognize Christ and the truth, nor that the believers in Christ are in harmony, especially princes and kings, until we have also submitted to this, to teach that it would be a nuisance if the people were to hear Christ's pure, godly teaching (pietas), because (in our opinion) there would be no small danger involved if the people knew the gospel purely and loudly, if they preferred the word of God to the words of men, if they preferred to do right, godly works rather than childish, glittering works: Of course, hunger and poverty would result from this, or at least the splendor that we have snatched from the world would fall away. In short, today is that dangerous time in which we are forced to worship not God but men.
V. 9. The Lord is judge of the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and godliness.
60 Here he explains himself clearly and gives an account of what he wants to be understood by the return of God, by the judgment that he has commanded him, by the community of people who gather to God. Why, he says, should I not speak like this? It is not we who rule, who judge, who speak; the Lord judges the people, his alone is the judgment among the nations, he speaks, he judges, he does all things in us. "I will not be lord over you, (saith Gideon Judges 8:23.) neither shall my son be lord over you, but the Lord shall be lord over you." Behold, the holy man did not allow the people to be gathered to him, since he was also called upon to do so, but led them back to the Lord.
61. whereas 1 Sam. 8, 7. the Lord said to Samuel: "They have not rejected you, but me, that I should not be king over them," not as if it were evil to desire and have a king (for afterward he himself gave them kings), but because in a blind excitement they sought a king more than they sought God, since they did not seek that they might be brought to God through the king; Therefore, they were worthy of a tyrant who subjected them to himself, not to God, as happened to Saul, whose desire they had.
62. from all this it is clear that it is a manifest wrath of God when He Himself does not judge or rule, but lets ambitious people like Absalom hold the judgment seat, so that we are not worthy to hear God's word nor to see His works, as Christ foretold Luc. 17, 22: "the time will come when you will desire to see a day of the Son of Man, and you will not see it."
In Hebrew, the future tense is: "He will be judge of the people," which can be understood either as a wish (optative) after the manner of a prayer, as follows: I beseech thee that thou mayest be the judge of the people, lest thou be the judge of men, and thy people be deceived by the words and works of men; or as asserting-.
assertive in the manner of a confidence that the prayer is heard (and this pleases me), in this way: I have confidence and am sure that I am heard, that again your word, your work, your judgment will gather the people whom those wicked have scattered with their words and works and have turned them away from you for my sake.
Therefore, after having first led the cause of God and the people, he finally leads his own cause and asks that his innocence be made manifest, since neither God's nor the people's cause could have been restored if his innocence had not been vindicated by the overthrow of the wicked. So now the need in which the honor of God and the salvation of the people stand forces him to ask that his cause be vindicated. For as long as he is unjustly condemned, neither God's judgment nor the obedience of the people can truly take place, since they do not hear the unjustly condemned, but hear those who unjustly condemn and persecute him.
65. Thus we see that it is not enough for someone to suffer for a righteous cause than for the sake of truth, if you command God's cause and are willing to yield and be laid in the dust with your honor, but you must earnestly pray that God be judge and vindicate the cause of truth, not for your own benefit, but for the service of God and the salvation of the people, whose salvation is not without danger, nor without your fault, if you, in foolish humility, do not pray most earnestly for the preservation and restoration of the truth and your righteousness. For you must not care so much how humble and despised you may be, as that the people may not at the same time be alienated from truth and righteousness and entangled in lies and injustice. You must suffer lies and injustice, but in such a way that you do not lose love for others, who are concerned, not about how you rise, but about how they should be treated, so that they do not become angry and perish. "For the sake of my brothers and friends (he says [Ps.
122, 8.)) I will wish you peace." Thus Paul gives thanks to God (Phil. 1, 12. 13.] that his bonds not only did not hinder the gospel, but even helped to promote it.
(66) He says, "Since you will judge the people, and this is yours alone, and so the people will gather to you again, and you will be in their midst, as I have asked, now, so that this may proceed the more blessedly, judge me also according to my righteousness and piety, to show how the invectives of the Moor the Jeminite are false and lying, so that my falsely accused righteousness may not in anything harm this your judgment and the salvation of the people.
But we have said in the fourth Psalm [§§ 4 and 5] that in Scripture "my righteousness" is something different from "the righteousness of God," namely, that the latter is the own righteous cause of each one, by which he is blameless before men and in his conscience, although it is not sufficient before God; but this is the grace and mercy of God, which also makes us righteous before God. Therefore, he carefully adds "my" to separate it from the one of which he says at the end (of this psalm, v. 18): "I thank the Lord for His righteousness." He may be dividing his righteousness and his piety between the two above-mentioned pieces [v. 4.], "Have I done these things," "is wrong in my hands," which Shimei had reproached him with; so that his righteousness is that he was not guilty of Saul's blood, yea, rather, that he did not repay those who did him evil with like, neither did he leave his enemies empty of him; his piety, or righteousness, or simplicity (as it is in the Hebrew), is that he did not usurp Saul's kingdom by his own power.
But what is that [that is added in the Vulgate] super me? Jerome translates: Which is in me. But which man's righteousness is not in him? But perhaps he adds this to make a greater distinction from
1) In the editions other than Weimar's erroneously: ksatmo 3.
to make [and emphasize] that the righteousness of God, by which we are justified before God, is not in us, but in God and apart from us, namely, so that He may not leave anyone an opportunity to puff himself up before God on account of his own righteousness, although for the sake of other people's salvation one must seek to justify piety before men, as has been said.
V. 10. Put an end to the wicked and promote the righteous, for you, righteous God, test hearts and kidneys.
Again, the [Latin] interpreter uses a different translation here, as he is wont to do. For what he translated in the fifth Psalm by malignus, saying [Ps. 5, 6]: Neque habitabit juxta te malignus, he translates here by or nequitia, and what he translated in the first Psalm [v. 1] by impiorum, he has rendered here by peccatorum. But what impius, impietas, malignus, malignitas means (impious, impiousness, wickedness, malignity) has been abundantly said in the first and fifth Psalm. Moreover, the Latin interpreter has taken away the word "righteous" at the end of this verse and connected it with the following verse against the Hebrew and the Greek, also not without impropriety, by saying [v. 11. Vulg.]: "My righteous shield is with the Lord", as if the righteous could have another, an unrighteous shield with God.
In Hebrews and in Jerome it says thus: "Let there be an end to the wickedness of the wicked, 2) and let the righteous be vindicated; the tester of hearts and kidneys [is] the righteous God." But he teaches us by this example that we too should work more by prayer to God against the wickedness of the wicked for the innocence of the righteous than by our own efforts and bluster. For we fight in a different way than the wicked; they fight with violence and rebellion, but we fight with prayer, with words and with patience.
1) Thus Luther translates in the first translation of the Psalms (in this volume Col. 8). Jenaer and Erlanger eonsuEtur. In the Basel is consummetni- throughout. The Wittenberg edition has eorikurntztur soon, < ori8Ulniri6tur soon. The sense is the same in both cases. The Vulgate says eousuruetur.
"Let it be consumed" (says the prophet), which is as much as "let it come to an end," let it fall away, let it cease, as in the 104th Psalm, v. 35: "Let the sinner come to an end on earth, and the wicked be no more." On the contrary, the opposite is requested, "that the righteous be confirmed," that is, that he be given prosperity, that he be promoted and fortified, the more the ungodly are consumed. And it would not be unrighteous to take justum, in contrast with the wickedness of the ungodly, as an abstractum, in the neuter gender, for righteousness, or the righteous cause, or the cause of the righteous, as the apostle Rom. 5:7. says, "Scarcely any man dies for righteousness' (pro justo) sake"; but there is little in this.
(68) But it must be understood that David also prayed this verse as an example to us, in order to instruct us in the right attitude. For he did not pray it because he sought revenge, but out of a zeal of love for God and man, just as the preceding ones. For those who desire vengeance pray not last, but in the first place for the downfall of the adversaries. Here, however, he was first concerned for God, then for the people, and so he comes to his cause in turn, and lastly to the adversaries, of whom he wishes for their sake to come to an end, so that the service of God and the salvation of the people will not be endangered (as we have said). This danger cannot be averted unless the wickedness of the wicked is brought to an end, and the cause of the innocence of the righteous is judged and confirmed by God being judge and avenger. Therefore, just as at the time when David suffered the tribulation, the wickedness of the wicked consisted in the tyranny of Absalom and his, who oppressed justice, so in the Church, for anyone who is unjustly oppressed, this wickedness is the violence and tyranny of his Absalom, which he suffers.
69 We have not yet had "hearts and kidneys"; they are frequently thought of in Scripture, and we want to treat them here once and for all. The third chapter in the third book
The text of Genesis, which instructs the priests about the peace offerings, deals almost entirely with kidneys (renibus seu renunculis), the nets of the intestines, and the lard and fat of the intestines, and makes the offering consist of these. It is probable that from this passage came the so frequent mention of the kidneys, therefore we must consider their nature.
The naturalists say that the two kidneys are attached to the loins, and these are the instruments of unchastity and pleasure, just as the heart is the seat of fear and confidence, the spleen of laughter and happiness, the liver (jecur seu epar) of love and hate. Therefore they also want that ren comes from the Greek word, which means to flow, because from the kidneys flows the shameful moisture of unchastity. So also the loins, in which the kidneys rule, have the shame of unchastity upon them in all Scripture, as in the word [Luc. 12:35.], "Let your loins be girded." And Heb. 7, 10.: Levi was still in the loins of his father Abraham. And (Gen. 46, 26.]: Out of the loins of Jacob had come [six and] threescore souls. It is clear, then, that by "kidneys" are meant the pleasures and lusts which must be sacrificed to GOtte by the killing of the cross. 1)
The same pleasures or the joys that are connected with it also mean the net of the liver and all fat, that all joy, all love with its pleasures are to be sacrificed to God, and that one is to rejoice and delight in nothing but God, who alone is to be loved. Thus it says 3 Mos. 3, 16: "All fat is the Lord's. Let this be an everlasting custom." Paul, taking away the covering of Moses, Phil. 4, 4. 2) expresses this thus: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice." David also understands Moses in the same spirit and shows that "fat" means joy, Ps. 63, 6: "That would be my heart's joy and delight (adipe et pinguedine repleatur anima mea).
1) In all Latin editions erueis is found, not eai-Ms. Roth offers: "of the flesh". Our reading would probably like to be put right according to Rom. 8, 6, namely erueis -- which happens through the cross.
2) In the Latin editions: priino Tdessal. ultiiuo. Luther may have been thinking of 1 Thess. 5, 16.
When I should praise thee with a merry mouth."
Therefore, he who kills love (amore), unchastity, pleasure, earthly and corporeal things, and loves God, enjoys God, has his pleasure in God, and also enjoys what is God's, sacrifices to God the liver, the kidneys, the lard, the fat, the net. This is what the law commands the priests, that is, all Christians, who are the priestly race and the royal priesthood, the holy people, the people of ownership [1 Pet 2:9].
3) St. Augustine agrees with this, who everywhere understands the kidneys as the pleasures. Rightly (he says) is the pleasure of temporal and earthly things attributed to the kidneys, because this is also the lower part of man, and it is the region where the pleasure of carnal procreation dwells, through which human nature is transferred by the production of offspring into this miserable life, which is full of deceptive joy.
But the heart, because it is the dwelling-place of sensation, signifies the counsels, the aspirations, the mind, the judgment, the opinion, the disposition, the thoughts, the aestimationes, and the like. Therefore he sets the heart rather than the kidneys, because pleasure is both sought and pursued by opiniones, and each is gratified by that which he judges to be good for him when he has attained it. Therefore the apostle Rom. 8, 7. says that to be carnally minded is enmity against God, because carnal wisdom seeks the lusts that are contrary to God, and is moved by them, is carried away by them, which God has forbidden. The meaning, then, is that God alone searches out, knows, examines, and tests the thoughts and pleasures of all men, the desires and lusts of all men, for he discerns the spirits accurately (est spirituum ponderator), Proverbs 16:2. [Vulg.]
But why did he want to say this at this point? Or in which context does this stand with the preceding? He
3) Wittenberger: tun" instead of: nune.
had said: Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, and let the cause of the righteous continue. But because the judgment of men is different from that of God, indeed, God's judgment before men is just the opposite, because they look at what is in front of their eyes, the judgment was passed on David on the basis of Absalom's and Shimei's reputation that he was a bloodhound and guilty of only misfortune. It says in 2 Sam. 15:13: "The heart of everyone in Israel follows Absalom. Thus Absalom had a delicious reputation and was just, righteous and good in the eyes of all men; but David was foul and wicked, evil and harmful. Since it is therefore a tremendous challenge to be abandoned by all the world, since all are united with the adversary, he necessarily appeals to God's judgment, who judges according to the heart.
71 And with this procedure he consoles himself and strengthens his hope by taking a right and good confidence in God, as if he wanted to say: Though all forsake me, yet all fall to Absalom, though he is strengthened, yet I decrease and fall away, yet, O Lord, since thou art a righteous God, and judgest differently from men, testing us all according to the heart and kidneys, thou knowest how wrongly they act; You see the heart and the kidneys; what they think, what they seek, what they delight in, you recognize; again, what I think and want; you are well aware of this, although the latter has the beautiful appearance, but I lack it; but it is different in the hearts and kidneys. Therefore, I ask you to put an end to their wickedness and to promote my righteousness. For in Hebrew this verse is evidently one containing a petition, since the little word XX is added, which is translated by the adverb "o" or "I beseech thee" (obsecro), I beseech thee that there may be an end of wickedness, as in the 118th Psalm, v. 25: "O1 ) Lord, help."
(72) So we are instructed by this verse that we should not fall away from the cause of truth, even though many, or even all, of us may belong to the adversaries.
1) In the Vulgate: "0", in Luther: Obsocro.- Erlanger: Ps. 128.
should fall away. For even today it is nothing new that the whole multitude errs with all the great ones and takes the unjust cause in defense. And even though it is hard and difficult to bear this standing alone, since the foolish men boast for this reason alone that their cause is insurmountable, yet God lives, whose judgment must be invoked and firmly adhered to, because He tests hearts and kidneys, for He is a just God. Therefore, the word "righteous" definitely belongs to this verse,2 ) because the whole force of this sentence lies in this word, and through the contrast it indicates that men are unrighteous judges.
From this it follows that hearts and kidneys are taken in two ways, either as they are not killed nor offered to God, or again as they are made righteous and cleansed by grace, because he immediately also speaks of the pious hearts, showing which hearts God, who tests and searches the hearts, accepts, saying:
V. 11. My shield is with God, who helps the devout heart. 3)
The Hebrew text is translated like this by Jerome: Clypeus meus in Deo [my shield is in God]. For it denotes protection and defense. And they are words of a man who encourages himself to hope in God against the multitude of adversaries who rely on men as protectors, especially against the words of Shimei 2 Sam. 16, 8: "Behold, now thou art in thy calamity," and "the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of thy son Absalom." So (he says), you rely on a man who judges according to outward appearance; I have confidence that I am protected by God, who judges according to the heart. Therefore, the emphasis must be placed on the pronoun "my" and on "God" (domino), in contrast to the pronoun "your" and the word "men". Your shield is with men, "my shield is with God". For so shall we also do according to this example in a like case.
2) Cf. § 67.
3) Vulgate: ^u8tumn6jMorinmmeums Domino, yui kslvos taeit reotos ooräo My righteous assistance is from the Lord, who helps those who are righteous^s of heart.
In the same way, another emphasis must be placed on the pronoun qui and the accusative rectos, in this way: Man helps the evil hearts, but "God helps the pious hearts." For these words are necessary for those who suffer such things, so that they may acquire in their hearts such a constant good confidence (opinionem) in God, and keep it against all reasons that urge something else, so that they do not fall away from the hope in God's help.
But what a "pious heart" is, we have abundantly spoken of in the first Psalm [v. 1, § 6 f.]: "In the counsel of the wicked", namely, that he has a pious heart who has the right mind (opinionem) with regard to God, who is not guided by his own mind, that is, who believes and hopes in God. For faith alone makes the heart righteous, purifies and fortifies it through a right, true, holy opinion of God. And this serves the purpose very well, since Simei endeavored to prove his curses also with the reputation of the Lord: David was rightly driven out, and Absalom was rightly come into dominion, to show how the wicked hearts give themselves a righteous appearance by a beautiful appearance, and defile the pious hearts, especially when the applause of the people is added to it.
V. 12. God is a righteous judge, and a God who daily prophesies. 1)
It is different in the Hebrew: God is a righteous judge, and a strong one who wraths daily (indignans); and what is rendered by "a strong one" (fortis) is the name of God, which is XX, so that it would be more correctly said: God is a righteous judge, and a God who wraths daily; 2) therefore also "and patient" [in the Vulgate] is an addition. The interrogative numquid with the ordinary punctuation of the verse belongs to the interpreter, not to the text.
1) Vulgate: Deus judex justus et fortis et patiens, numquid irascetur per singulos dies? (God is a
righteous God and strong and patient; should God be angry every day?j
2) We have followed the reading of the Wittenberg: indiAQatur; in the other editions: indiAHLtor. This reading: iudi^nutur is repeated .] 80.
78) David's hope increased so much in this trial that he not only did not doubt that he was heard and would be saved, but also admonished the adversaries to fear God's judgment and vengeance, and announced to them that whatever they had done against him would come upon their heads. And although he sang this after the tribulation was over, so that it may seem that he, instructed by the outcome of his tribulation, was comforting the afflicted and reproving the wrath of the afflicted, and teaching others by his example and the danger of his adversaries, it is nevertheless to be believed that in the midst of this trade 3) he had such thoughts, which he publicly expressed afterwards in this song. For he never despaired of God, therefore he recognized that it must come to pass that this would happen to his enemies, just as also now and always every righteous person, when he sees the wicked raging unjustly against righteousness, confidently thinks and says that God, of whom he knows that He is a righteous judge, will not suffer this, as it is said in Ps. 9, 19: "He will not forget the poor man so completely." And this David indicates not indistinctly, since in the same history Sam. 18, 5.] with such great concern he gave the order that they should preserve his child Absalom for him, because he knew and feared that the evil would fall back on his head, as it did, and here he announces it beforehand to all those who follow that one.
Now let us hear what this preacher proclaims to the ungodly adversaries, desiring in godly care to snatch them from danger, and in truth repaying them good for evil. This you should know, God is a judge, but a righteous one, who does not look at anyone's person, nor is moved by the crowd, nor is deceived by the praise of men, nor is taken in by appearances, nor is differently minded by favors, nor is bribed by gifts. For by these things men become not only unjust judges, but also despisers of God, the
3) Erlanger: reinedia instead of: re niedin.
righteous judge, thinking that it is enough to please men. Again, for the sake of men, he does not condemn the lonely, the violated, the cursed, the oppressed, the poor and despised. In short, even this single word, "God is a righteous judge," has power, if rightly considered, to comfort the humble and to terrify the hopeful. Peter testifies, in the first epistle Cap. 2, 23, that it was powerfully demonstrated in the suffering Christ, saying, "But he put it in the home of him who judges aright." For he who considers this word easily forsakes vengeance; indeed, he also laments for his adversaries that they bring God's judgment upon themselves.
80. And "the strong one is angry daily," that is, continually, so that you wicked do not think that God is merciful to you, because you rise up and are mighty in wickedness. You should know and believe that it is different from what it seems; God is angry, He detests you, He is angry, He is angry (for all this, they say, is what the Hebrew word means) daily. All this is said to the wicked, who neither believe nor fear, because they do not feel the wrath. For the words of the Spirit are proclaimed of an absent thing, which is not seen, but must be grasped by faith. Our [Latin] translation seems to reverse everything by referring the first part (of the verse) to the ungodly and the last part to the godly. For that God is just and patient, we understand [in the Vulgate] from this, that this passeth over the wicked, who must be terrified; but that he is not angry daily, that this passeth over the good, who must be comforted, according to the words of Ps. 103:9, "He will not always be angry, nor hold wrath forever," and Ps. 55:23, "He will not leave the righteous forever in disquietude." But the Hebrew text rhymes better with what follows.
V. 13: If one does not want to convert, he has sharpened his sword and strung his bow, and is aiming. 1)
1) Vulgate: Nisi eonverm tueritis, stage suum vidradit, urenm suum bstendit, et xaravit illum sIf you do not convert, he will draw his sword; he has drawn his bow and slashed him).
In Hebrew it is said: Si non convertet, gladium suum acuet. But also the one who sharpens and sharpens the sword prepares it for swinging, so that there is no great difference between sharpening and drawing. Of the word: Si non convertet it is doubtful whether it refers to God's threat, 2) or to the wicked who is to be converted, although Jerome refers it to the one to be converted by saying: For the one who does not convert, he will sharpen his sword. Perhaps the verbum stands without closer relation (absolutum), so that si non convertet is as much as: If no conversion will take place. But if it be said, "If ye be not converted," or, "For him that is not converted," or, "If there be no conversion," it takes nothing from the sense; which we will now see.
The prophet takes a lesson from a crude, human parable in order to frighten [the wicked], because he speaks against ignorant and hardened people, who do not grasp the sharpness of the divine judgment (of which he had spoken before), if it is not shown to them by the application of human sharpness. Therefore he does not speak of a rod, of a stick, nor of any other sharp punishment among men, but only of that which brings death, namely of the sword and the bow, in order to bring to their minds the judgment of eternal judgment, of eternal death, of eternal sharpness. For what is the sword of God but the word of eternal judgment? Of this it says in the Letter to the Hebrews, Cap. 4, 12: "The word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword"; by which Christ will say: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire" [Matth. 25, 41]. For the word "sword" means at the same time the work of cutting and killing, especially since it is said that it is sharpened and drawn for this purpose.
82. to the same unintelligent people it refers that he, not satisfied that
2) In the original edition: venm eoMininationsNi; in the Wittenberg, the Jena, the Weimar, and the Erlangen: veum eoinminalorern; in the Basel: Del eorllminationerll. We have followed the latter reading.
592 nv> 370-372. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 7, 13. 14. W. IV, 730 f. 593
When the sword is held out to them, they also add the bow; they do not have enough of the bow, but also describe the arrows. The neck and forehead of wickedness are so hard that they need so many threats, and yet they still do not soften. But the bow is the same as the sword, namely the word of judgment, which is repeated again and again in a different way. That he says: "He has prepared him" is the same word as above [v. 10]: "Promote the righteous", so that you should understand that the bow is prepared, strained and applied to the wicked, in order to slay them now, just as the sword is drawn to cut them down.
But he describes beautifully with these words that the wrath of God is exceedingly near upon the wicked; yet they do not understand this until they feel it. For what would it have availed Absalom and Ahitophel if they had prevailed in their wickedness for many thousands of years, and then suddenly they had been cut off to eternal death by the sword of God's wrath? Nevertheless, it would be seen that the wrath would have been a sudden and exceedingly close one for them. Thus it is written in the Book of Sirach, Cap. 5, 4. 7-9.: "Think not, I have sinned more, and no evil hath befallen me. He is able to be angry sooner than he is merciful, and his anger against the wicked has no end. Therefore do not delay turning to the Lord, and do not put it off from one day to another. For his wrath cometh suddenly, and shall avenge it, and destroy thee." And in the 34th Psalm, v. 17: "But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth."
V. 14: And hath laid upon it deadly projectile; his arrows hath he prepared to destroy. 1)
He remains with the simile, but very appropriately expresses at the same time the eternal torment, which is to die and to burn. Vas sein Geräth], to speak in the Hebrew manner, denotes as a general expression any work that is to be done.
1) Vulgate: in so varavit vasa mortis, savütus 8UÄ8 arüentibus eüeeit sAnd thereon he hath prepared instruments of death; his arrows he hath made to burn).
The word "instrument" is used in all things, as Ps. 71, 22 [Vulg.]: "I will thank you with instruments of psalm" (in vasis Psalmi), that is, with musical instruments, and Ezek. 9, 1 [Vulg.]: "And every man has an instrument of killing in his hand", that is, an instrument of death or killing. Thus the apostle Paul Apost. 9, 15 [Vulg.] vas electionis, which is not understood by those who do not know the idiosyncrasy of Hebrew to be the same as in Latin instrumentum electum his chosen instrument, namely because Christ wanted to use him to convert the Gentiles before the other apostles. But those [who do not know the Hebrew] understand it to mean that he alone received into himself the grace of election (gratiam electionis), although Christ expressly added that he would therefore be a chosen instrument (vas electionis), "that he should bear his name before the Gentiles and before the children of Israel," and that he should suffer much for the sake of the word of Christ. So here he calls the arrows and deadly projectiles "implements of death" "according to the same Shebrew" peculiarity, so that the unintelligent would not think less of this threat if he simply called them implements, either for play or for hunting, but so that they might pass through the terror of temporal death to the terror of eternal death.
"His arrows he has made burning", he has added for reinforcement (per auxesin), and either he declares or repeats "deadly projectile". So that they would not again disregard the arrows, he reproaches them with exceedingly harmful and deadly arrows, while he beautifully maintains the sublime way of speaking, which consists in short and mighty words. Jerome translates: He has prepared his arrows to burn. Our [Latin] translation speaks darkly and almost un-Latin (barbare). For what does it mean: "to prepare burning arrows"? (ardentibus sagittas efficere? does it mean that they, themselves burning, should hurl arrows? The occasion [for this clumsy translation] was that the Hebrew text says XXXXXX in the pluralis, which Jerome translated by "to burn". It should have been said thus-
can: And thereon Hai he put projectiles to kill, his arrows he prepared to kindle, or: that they should be kindling. For the Hebrew cannot be translated word for word in this way: He prepared his arrows to be flaming.
It was not enough to say, He hath made his arrows fiery, though he spake of them. For the word "he hath made" or "he hath prepared," of which we have said in the first Psalm [v. 3, § 62] is here expressed by ^2, which does not mean that something is made by a master craftsman or by art, but that someone handles it and uses it, so that it denotes that both the deadly projectile is already prepared and the fiery arrows are already prepared, but God uses them and handles them in such a way that they kill and set fire to them, whereby He presents the already dawning wrath and sharpness before the eyes. For he is already dealing with it, that the wicked shall die and burn, even though they do not yet die and burn.
Moreover, the expression "burning" also denotes persecution and desolation, as in the 10th Psalm, v. 2. [Vulg.]: "Because the wicked is rash, the wretched must burn" (incenditur), that is, he suffers persecution. The summa is this: By these words "death" and "burning" he undoubtedly proclaims eternal death and hell, of which it is said in the sixth Psalm in the words "wrath" and "fury," likewise "punish" and "chastise," likewise "be put to shame" and "greatly terrified." Job also complains about these arrows [Cap. 6, 4], and elsewhere in the Psalter we will also see it.
It should be noted that in no psalm have we had such a great threat and indignation against the wicked, nor has the Spirit attacked them with so many words. For in what follows he also enumerates their attacks, and shows that they will not only be in vain, but will also fall back on their heads, so that it may become clear to all who suffer violent blasphemies, for their comfort, how much God hates the slanderers before others. For it is against slander that this psalm is actually written (as I have said).
V. 15. Behold, he hath evil in his heart, he is with child with mischief; but he shall bring forth a defect, 1)
He describes their mischievous plots, which are ultimately corruptible to "none but their own authors," and calls them iniquity, toil, and wickedness. Jerome translates thus: Ecce parturit iniquitatem, et concepit dolorem, et peperit mendacium [Behold, he gives birth to iniquity, and is pregnant with toil, and gives birth to falsehood]. The first word, of which we have already said that it is unrighteousness [in the Vulgate] and iniquity [in Jerome], is in Hebrew just the word s], of which we have heard above in the 5th and 6th Psalm. Psalm 2), that from it the "evil-doers" (operarios iniquitatis) have their name, where at the same time it is also said that the same word is more often translated by toil (dolore), as in the 10th Psalm, v. 7: "His tongue causes toil and labor"; likewise Ps. 90, 10: "And if it is delicious, it has been toil and labor." Therefore it could also have been said here: Behold, he begetteth toil (dolorem).
But these two words and XXX, that is, toil and labor (labor et dolor), are commonly associated with each other, as here and in the Psalms already mentioned, so it would be more correct to say here: And he is pregnant with labor (laborem). For it actually means "labor" of work, as in the 127th Psalm, v. 1. "It worketh in vain that buildeth thereon." To this corresponds in our German language the common way of speaking in the same numerus of words and with the same meaning: "It is toil 3) and labor," so that XXX is really "toil," from making tired, XXX labor, from working, to express the toil and difficulty which is in the anxious undertaking of the heart, and in the mind's arduous
1) Vulgate: Ucoe parturit injustitiam, eonobpit dotorsrn, 6t peperit ini^uitatoin [Behold, he gives birth to iniquity, he is pregnant with trouble, and gives birth to wickedness.
2) Ps. 5, § 55 ff. Ps. 6,?54.
3) That here and immediately following in the original and in the Basel the spelling "muhde" is found, but in the following paragraphs "muhe" [that is, Mühel, seems to have happened because Luther here derives the word from "to make tired" (katiAanäo).
Struggle, fatigue, slackness and fatigue.
But we have said that the life of those who act ungodly is such, for [Isa. 48:22.] "The ungodly have no peace, saith the Lord," and come not to the rest of which Christ says, Matt. 11:28. f.: "Come unto me, ye that labor and are heavy laden (as if he meant to say, ye that are in XXX and XXX toil and labour), and ye shall find rest for your souls." So very near is the punishment of the wicked, that in the very thing wherein they do evil they are smitten and troubled. Finally, pleasure is also work, and Pliny says: "Even all pleasure produces disgust when it is frequently recurring;" and Augustine, in the first book of his "Confessions," says very well: "You, Lord, have commanded it, and so it has happened that every disorderly mind has its punishment in itself. And in the Book of Wisdom it says, Cap. 5, 7: "We have grown weary in the way of wrong and destruction, and have walked in difficult paths, but we have not known the way of the Lord.
This punishment, or hardship, or work, is quite real and especially wearying, as often as the endeavor occurs that one wants to deliberately fortify his own against godliness, and, as the apostle Rom. 10:3 says, does not recognize the righteousness that is valid before God, but strives to establish his own righteousness, which is manifested in exceedingly evil and spiritual deeds of shame. Therefore, we have said above that this evil is most prevalent among those who strive to become righteous through superstitious spirituality (religione), through idolatry, through disobedience and their own self-invented suggestions and works, while in the meantime they leave the commandment of God or of men unfulfilled, which they were required to fulfill. For these, because they walk contrary to God, are also contrary to God, and they necessarily suffer many complaints, so that of all that they undertake, nothing remains but toil and labor, as the preacher Solomon in many places quite appropriately calls vanity and misery of spirit [Eccl. 1, 14. 2, 11. 17. 21. 4, 4. 6. 8.], whereas
while those who are driven and guided by the Spirit of God enjoy great peace in God, even though something sad happens to them. Thus we see that XXX is translated first of all injustice (iniquitatem), here unrighteousness, then trouble; if all this is brought together in one, we get wickedness, which is quite anxious to be held under a respectable title for righteousness and godliness. For true godliness does not need toil to be godliness.
(87) So David, already fortified by hope and having conquered his temptations, laughs at the violence and plots of his slanderers and oppressors; indeed, he laments them before the eyes of all, saying: "Behold (he says) what has come to pass with my slanderers; let anyone see how great a misery they have fallen into, how incomparably more wretched they are than I." (87) And so David laughs. Not only does God threaten them without ceasing, not only do the sword, the bow, the deadly projectile and the flaming arrows hover over them, but they are also martyred by the present punishment, and they receive in themselves the reward of their wickedness, while they take it upon themselves and fiercely seek in what way they might suppress me, and make themselves secure when I am removed from the way. They have more grief about how they may destroy me than I have about perishing. Yes, I, who have surrendered to God's will, await everything confidently. Those cannot be sure and calm until they give birth to what they conceive and fulfill what they intend. And yet, because their thoughts go against righteousness and God, they torment themselves in vain with the toil and labor of these thoughts, for they make designs against God which they will not be able to carry out, Ps. 21:12.
88. but the prophet touches on what Absalom said 2 Sam. 16, 20. and 17, 5. f.: "Rathet, what shall we do?" Then with many counsels the matter was anxiously treated, how they would kill David. But all suggestions were in vain out of God's miraculous counsel, not unlike
The Jews acted against Christ with much trouble and labor, so that they would kill him.
89. We always find (says Augustine) that those who inflict the same suffer greater tortures than those who seem to suffer them. Yes, this is the case in the commission of any crime. How many reenactments does a robber fear? Which hour, which place, which person does he consider safe? With how much fear is an adulterer tortured? How many tricks does he use before he can reach his goal? Thus, in every misdeed, especially in slander, there are greater torments than advantages, since the wretched man must suspect all danger, all evil. However, the one who trusts in God is as fearless and sure as a lion, and despises everything by trusting in his good conscience, which testifies that he is walking in truth and innocence.
In this verse we are taught the best comfort 1) in the challenge of slander, namely, that we should command God's cause, and not be grieved or distressed, nor should we proceed noisily. It is enough that we know that we are leading God's cause, in which we are to share the suffering with those [blasphemers] in such a way that we are plagued by them outwardly, but they by themselves inwardly; they are to be our burden, while in the meantime not only we, but much more they themselves are a much greater burden.
Behold, then, the exceedingly wretched condition of the wicked and the slanderers. God is a burden to them, we are a burden to them, they are a burden to themselves. Who should not rather have mercy on them than be angry with them in great impatience? Verily, every one of us knows that this threatens the wicked, and that they deal with such things as are here enumerated. But when the hour of slander comes, we do not all persevere in this knowledge, and are too much grieved that the plots of the slanderers against us have happy progress.
1) amplseti, which is missing in the original edition, we have also omitted. It seems to be added amploetl in the later editions, because one has taken offence at the Construction: Doosmur Optimum eousolutionom, which is nevertheless richtrg.
We do not want to do anything against others, but we claim that they would not do anything against others.
Now let us look at the real meaning of the words. "Behold" (he says), as if full of wonder he invited all people to this delicious spectacle, which appears far different before our senses. "He gives birth to trouble" (parturit dolorem). He chooses the words very appropriately, since "to give birth" is as much as to exert oneself with great effort, as if he wanted to say that they are anxious for effort by taking the simile of women giving birth, by which he beautifully illustrates the anxious efforts of the wicked and the slanderers, which consist (as I have said) in fortifying their own against the truth with much care and danger, since (as it is said in Proverbs) One lie requires seven other lies to appear as truth. And St. Jerome says: The untruth (falsitas) needs many things to be considered as truth.
93 "And he goes pregnant with trouble" (et concepit dolorem). It seems as if he should have said in reverse sentence order: Behold, he is pregnant with labor and gives birth to trouble, because the pregnancy is there sooner than the birth. This he seems to me to do for the sake of describing to us the manner and prudence of the wicked and the slanderers, who then, when they hasten to suppress innocence, are quite unwilling to suffer delay, and are more anxious first to exercise the malice of their heart than that they should wisely take counsel; they begin [to act] rather than to consider. For they are not guided by reason and counsel, but by impetuosity and iniquity; therefore they would rather that it should be done than that it should be deliberated. But when the deed of infamy is done, then they begin to look for counsel, by which they might obtain that they have acted rightly. Only then do they become pregnant with work and take upon themselves the task of defending their wickedness, which they have carried out with evil presumption.
Thus Absalom, after he had driven out his father David and had given birth to his XXX [2 Sam. 16, 20.] said: "Rathet zu, was sollen wir tun?" Thus the Jews first seized Christ, and only after that did they seek false witness.
600 nx> S78-380. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 7, 15. 16. w. iv, 7S7 f. 601
by which they may accuse him. Thus every slanderer first gives birth to his XXX, and inflicts it on his neighbor; after that he seeks that he may stand justly or safely. Of this say the Proverbs of Solomon Cap. 30:20: "So is the way of the adulteress; she devoureth and wipeeth her mouth, saying, I have done no evil." This bearing of toil and being pregnant with labor we are wont to pronounce in German thus: "Thou wreakest mischief, there thou shalt have to do." And in the manner of a proverb: "You're going to bake it, and you'll hardly eat it out." That is why the foolish wrongdoers (XXX operarii) also begin under great difficulty and danger, that is, they give birth to trouble, and with much work and effort they try to protect what they have begun, that is, they are pregnant with work.
Therefore he teaches very well that an evil beginning before the council is trouble, and the council after the beginning is work. For the twofold kind of wickedness and foolishness is found in these ungodly slanderers, both the deed before the counsel and the counsel after the deed, so that with the wicked everything is wrong. But we understand it in such a way that this being pregnant with work takes place at the same time as the birth of toil. For this is how the ungodly slanderers speak when they start their evil deeds: Well, when it will be done, something will be found to answer or to defend it with, as the Jews, Matth. 28, 14, said to the guards, whom they had bribed with money, so that the truth concerning the resurrection of Christ would not be revealed: "Where it would come to an end with the governor, we want to nurse him and make sure that you are safe. Behold, how they are pregnant with labor, as they take upon themselves the burden of finding remedy for their wickedness in the future. So here Absalom and his are boldly giving birth to their XXX child. But with what advice they want to protect it, they do not yet give birth, but are pregnant by acting, as it is said in Proverbs 14:16: "A wise man fears and avoids what is bad, but a fool travels through it foolishly." But what they give birth to out of pregnancy follows:
94 "And gives birth to wickedness" (iniquitatem), which in Hebrew means lie, falsehood and uselessness, and fits the matter perfectly. For of this kind are the counsels, the defenses and excuses of the wicked after they have done the deed of shame, namely, mere and quite cold evasions, lying pretenses and vain deceits, with which they adorn themselves, persuade the people and besmirch the oppressed; then vain and futile efforts to fortify their iniquity. In all these things they lose a lot of effort and work, and at last they do everything in vain, as we see, even in examples of our time, that such things happen. But at this point we understand much more an incorrect birth and a miscarriage than an ungodly or lying birth. For he speaks of the vain endeavor and vain counsel whereby Absalom was deceived and deceived, when he gathered all Israel, and so sought to destroy David. For there his counsel and his birth became so vain, and so lacking, that it also fell upon his head, and that which he reproached against David destroyed him, as follows:
V. 16 He dug a pit and dug it out, and fell into the pit he had made.
The prophet uses figurative speech, by which, as we said above, he also indicates a kind of spiritual interpretation in things. As the cross of Christ is life according to spiritual interpretation, in that it seems to kill, while it makes alive, so Absalom dug the pit here and carried it out to force David into it, but did not know that he would just thereby make David free and destroy himself. But he aims at the fact that Absalom, trusting in the crowd, intended to oppress David as a single and solitary man, forsaken by all. For this is the pit of death which he prepared and dug for him. But behold, this very thing happened to him, that, forsaken of all, hanging alone on the oak tree, he was pierced, and cast into a great pit in the forest, and a very great heap of stones was laid upon him, as 2 Sam. 18:17. is written. This is the pit from which he
tells here and makes a spiritual interpretation of it. For Absalom did not prepare this pit for David, but he himself suffered the death he intended for him. Thus it is also said, according to the custom of men, that an evil has been prepared for us, into which our imprudent adversary has fallen, even though he has not prepared anything of the kind. Therefore this verse is spoken in a proverbial way and is a general saying, like this: There is no law more reasonable than that those who help to death by art (necis artifices) perish by their own art.
This is said (as I have said) for the comfort of the oppressed, so that they may be sure that the evil intended for them will come upon their slanderers; but at the same time also for the terror of the slanderers and persecutors, whose excessive presumption and certainty must be frightened; but the weakness of those must be helped.
97 But see how he expresses the heat and the snorting rage of the wicked, that he does not say plainly, "He has made a pit," as he says afterward, "The pit he has made," but, "He has dug and digged a pit," as if to say, "Their feet hasten to shed blood. In such a way they are busy and active to prepare and dig a pit. They leave no stone unturned, they explore everything. Not content with digging and digging the pit, they make it deep, so that they may destroy the innocent as quickly as possible and in the deepest way.
Although the Jews hastened to kill Christ in this way and prepared everything to do so, they were not satisfied with a simple kind of death, but, digging a very deep pit, they brought him to the most ignominious death on the cross. Thus, every slanderer is not satisfied with corrupting his neighbor as quickly as possible, if he cannot also corrupt him in the most ignominious way possible.
This ignominy of death he indicates by the digging of the pit that has been covered up, because the deeper a person is sunk, the further is
he is removed from the light and the hope that he will rise again. For no wicked man is so foolish that he wants to be regarded as having destroyed an innocent man without a cause; indeed, the more wicked he is, the more he tries to appear as if he is acting from a completely just cause and that he is being destroyed for the most shameful thing. Therefore it is necessary that he digs a pit for him that is already prepared and executed, and yet it is not said that he executed or dug the pit for himself, but that he did it because he neither sought his own death nor disgrace, but rather fell into it unawares.
Again, here is a peculiar idiom (soloecism): "He has fallen into the pit, he has made", where ours [in the Vulgate) add "which", but I [add]: "because", as above [v. 7, § 42], and where we have aperuit [he has opened], in Hebrew "he has prepared" (paravit) is said. This is minor, because on both sides it is understood that the pit is dressed rather than dug, against the memory of all men, because he wanted to be understood what is said.
V. 17. His calamity shall come upon his head, and his iniquity shall fall upon his crown.
Here is not XXX, but XXX, of which we have said [§ 85] that it actually means work, not toil (dolorem). He says, "His labor shall come upon his head"; and "iniquity" (iniquitas) is a word which we have not yet had, namely XXX, which actually means: rapacity, violence, or wrong done by force, tyranny, as the hawks rob the little birds. For from this word svvy), Reuchlin says, the night owl (accipitrem nocturnum [XXX]) has its name, from robbing.
But he looks back to what he said in the beginning [v. 3.], "Lest they take my soul like lions." For Absalom, after he had gathered all the people together, had everything ready to take David by force and devour him, but he himself, the wretched man, was dragged away.
and devoured, and so his work and his attack fell out of his own head. It seems to be the same sense as in the preceding verse, whose secret interpretation he interprets with clear words. Only in this there may be a difference, that in the preceding verse the work itself is indicated, namely the death and the ruin, by expressing the hole and the pit, but in this verse the counsel and the prudence, with which this hole and this pit was prepared and dug, so that we may know that God takes care of those who are afflicted with slander, against the violence of the slanderers, so that even the misfortune they have in mind and the counsel they rely on may fall back on them, so that we may not give up hope.
For here is the incomprehensible way of God's judgment, that he catches the wicked only with their own counsel and leads them into the destruction which they themselves have invented. In such a way he kills Goliath with his own sword. Thus it is said in Job 5:12-14: "He brings to nothing the schemes of the crafty, so that their hand cannot execute them. He fähet the wise in their cunning, and overthroweth the counsel of the perverse, that they walk in darkness by day, and grope in the noonday as in the night," that is, they are most foolish and blind when they are most wise and keen.
Therefore, with great emphasis, he calls their work their counsel, their cunning, their wisdom. In truth, they have nothing but work from these, for no fruit follows from them, and they do not reach their goal because God resists them. This is what happened to the Jews who tried to corrupt Christ. What did they accomplish but that they labored in vain and (as the 2nd Psalm [v. 1. Vulg.] says) were intent on vain things? Here, however, he does not call it labor alone, but also says that they came back on their head fei, because this very counsel, in trust of which Absalom gathered the great multitude of the people, was to his destruction. He would be safer
1) Thus translated by Luther and luoullr in the first PsaNer translation, in this volume Col. 9.
if he had stayed in the city according to Ahithophel's advice and sent out the twelve thousand men. "But," as the Scripture 2 Sam. 17:14 says, "the Lord sent it so that the good counsel of Ahithophel might be hindered, that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom."
For this reason, Scripture comforts us by teaching that the raging of the wicked is nothing more than a great, but in truth futile effort, with which nothing is accomplished, and such an effort is to be directed back at themselves, just as it seems as if the tides and waves of the sea want to break the shore, but soon they collapse back into themselves and disappear, and their threats become a mockery.
This is a viable way of speaking in Scripture: To come or fall or descend on the head, on the crown of the head. Thus Sirach, imitating these verses, says Cap. 27, 28-30: "He who throws the stone on high, it falls on his head. He who stabs secretly wounds himself. He who digs a pit falls into it himself. He who sows to another sows to himself. Whoever wants to harm another, it comes over his own neck, so that he does not know where it comes from. Speaking in the same way, 2 Sam. 1:16 says, "Thy blood be upon thy head." And almost everything, both evil and good, is wished on someone's head, as Deut. 33:16: "The grace of him that dwelt in the bush come out of the head of Joseph," because the head is the first and most valuable member of the whole body.
But at the same time he indicates that both should come down from above, from God, both the vengeance on the wicked and the help for the godly. Therefore, from God's order, his iniquity falls on his crown, and his misfortune (labor) on his head. But it seems to be tautologically the same, that the misfortune comes on the head, and the iniquity falls on the crown; it is therefore repeated, so that it is a sign of firmness and certainty, as is said above. For the ignorant wicked ridicule even the threats of God, as if they either do not come to pass or are postponed for a long time.
would, so they must probably be inculcated with the misfortune.
V. 18. I give thanks to the Lord for His righteousness, and I will praise the name of the Lord Most High.
He closes the psalm and the prayer with a beautiful phrase, as if to say: All this is to be said and prayed by me against the curses, slander and insults of Shimei and men, to protect my innocence and my righteousness according to my conscience and before the eyes of men; by the way, I do not trust in it, nor do I regard it as such that I could stand before God with it, as the apostle 1 Cor. 4, 4. says: "I am aware of nothing, but in this I am not justified," and [2 Cor. 10, 17. f.]: "But let him who boasts boast of the Lord. For therefore is not a man proficient, that he praiseth himself, but that the Lord praiseth him." So I also have another righteousness of which I boast, namely the righteousness, mercy and grace of God, according to which He forgives my sins and justifies me before His face. Because of this righteousness I do not boast, nor do I thank myself for it, as if it were mine. But I thank the Lord for it and will thank him forever, to whom alone it belongs. Therefore I will gladly serve the Lord and the people with my righteousness and resist the wicked, but I will seek my salvation in the righteousness of God.
In a most wondrous way, the prophet states this in one and the same verse and with the same words, that he gives thanks to God and praises God's righteousness, and describes the nature of it, namely that it is a gift of God by grace, for which one must praise Him and sing to Him. Therefore, the words: secundum justitiam ejus must be understood here as being the same as: "for the sake of his righteousness", so that the meaning is: I will praise the Lord forever, for it is he who makes righteous. If he did not do this, then my righteousness would not exist according to my conscience. And for this sense also speaks what follows, since it is said as it were repeatedly:
"And I will praise the name of the Lord Most High."
For "the name of the Lord" is, as we said above [Ps. 5, § 295 ff.], the praise by which he is praised as good, merciful, a helper etc. And whoever believes in this name becomes righteous and blessed. For God is such to every one as he believeth. But the damned and the wicked do not attach a name to him; the former not because they do not hope for anything good from him, the latter not because they have no need of him. Therefore it is said in Proverbs 18:10: "The name of the Lord is a strong lock; the righteous walketh therein, and is protected." And Rom. 10, 13: "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
(108) Since righteousness and blessedness and a happy conscience come from this name, if one believes in it firmly, but not from our own efforts or works, the prophet teaches correctly that one must only ascribe to the name of the Lord the righteousness that is valid before God, and sing to it, praise it and glorify it, so that others may also come to know the same name through this confession and praise, believe in it and be saved. Almost the same thing is said in the 51st Psalm, v. 15. "I will teach the transgressors thy ways, that sinners may turn unto thee." And again [v. 16.], "That my tongue may boast of thy righteousness"; since the wicked boast of their righteousness; as is often said.
Therefore, to give thanks and to praise here means not only the expression of gratitude on the part of an individual, but also the public ministry of the word of grace, through which the name of God is made known to men.
The prayer of this psalm will be useful and necessary when one has to pray against the devil, be it in the hour of death or in any other challenge to despair. For this is really the devil, that is, the slanderer, who accuses us, and makes the conscience distressed even in those things in which we have done right and pleased God; then also makes what we have done wrong exceedingly great, on both sides, as an exceeding
608 xv, 1-4. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 7, 18. 8, 1. W. iv, 747-752. 609
A burdensome and impetuous Simei, a very nasty Moor, who curses, insults and drives along with such words [2 Sam. 16, 7. 8.]: "Behold, now you are in your misfortune! Out, out, you bloodhound! The Lord has recompensed you for all the blood of the house of Saul.
other things that can be drawn from this history for a secret interpretation. In this, David is an example to all of us, teaching us that we must suffer this, but at the same time expect God's blessing for this abuse and tribulation.