V. 1. a psalm of David, to be sung by the beautiful youth. 1)
Dear God, how great is the diversity in the interpretation of this title. One understands the death of Absalom, another the death of Goliath, another a musical instrument, another God's secret judgment, another youth, another the singer of the Psalm, and others still. Of all these things, whoever wants to, can look up Lyra, Burgensis and Reuchlin.
According to what I can see from the purpose (scopo) of the psalm, I will follow the title of the Burgensis, not its interpretation, which says that which is translated by pro occultis means youth in Hebrew. For this psalm is by all means a kind of general thanksgiving, a rejoicing, an encouragement, a prayer full of sweet movements about the fact that the enemies are defeated and shall be defeated again and again, which is only fitting for a people that lives in the midst of enemies, fights, conquers, triumphs, and speaks of past as well as present and future things. Therefore, I have no doubt that this psalm speaks of Christ's people, especially the martyrs and their person. To show this in something, let us treat the Hebrew title, which reads thus: XXXX XXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXX.
3. means "to the victory", and is above [Ps. 4, § 1] sufficiently interpreted. XXXX XXXX means: A Psalm of David. Now XXXXX XXX is left. If one with Jerome
into two words (which Lyra does not allow),
so it means: about death or at death, and therefore some dream here the death of Goliath, others the death of Absalom. If taken as One Word, it is a nomen abstractivum nom Rerbum from the verbum 2], which means: he is hidden. From this verbum 2^ and young man and virgin, have their name because they were raised in huts and in secret, since it is very dangerous for tender age to wander in the world and be exposed to its lures. Therefore, youth also means the adolescent generation (adolescentium), namely the age that is hidden in this way and is raised godly in secret. Thus it is written of Jacob that he was a pious man who stayed in the tabernacles, Gen. 25:27, and of Esau that he was a man who knew how to hunt and was a husbandman. And from this custom arose the custom that the virgins are called in Hebrew (that is. hidden), as Is. 7, 14: "Behold a XXXX is with child" etc.
David, however, by this title deliberately designates a strange (prodigiosam) youth, since he designates it as the youth XXX, that is, of the son or the son, since "having young men or virgins" belongs to a father or grandfather, or at most to a brother, or your guardian of anyone. For who is the Son of whom it could be said, as a son, that he has young men and virgins whom he instructs and raises up in secret? Therefore he evidently indicates Christ, who, by a new miracle, terminates the fleshly generation with his birth, and is only a Son, not a man's Father according to the flesh, and who is nevertheless,
By beginning the spiritual procreation through the new birth by means of baptism, he is the father of many sons and daughters, whom he raises up in the secret of faith, instructing them not to fix their minds on what is before their eyes, but on what is hidden, as it is said in Ps. 31:21: "You hide them secretly from everyone's defiance."
Therefore it is very probable, that by drawing both meanings together into one, signifies a new creature of the gospel, the offspring of grace, the youth of baptism, the people of the new testament, and the [creatures] of the Son hidden in truth, that is, the faithful and obedient [children] of Christ, whose life is hidden under death, whose salvation is hidden under the cross, whose honor is hidden under shame. For thus he hid them from the world, of whom David, the man filled with the Spirit, took it into his mind to signify them by young men and virgins, who are set at home and in secret.
For, among other things, this is also a praise of the Jewish people, that they have always kept away from the undertakings (studiis) of the merchants and traders, and have been satisfied with what the homeland produced, just as also their fathers, since these much-migrated (polytropi) and wandering people, as they indeed see the customs of many people and many cities, and (as they think) will be educated, so also follow the example of many exceedingly bad people and teach this to others. Corinth, Syracuse, Tyre and Alexandria proved this sufficiently, and the more important trading cities still prove this to this day, so that God did not unjustly expel the Cananites (that is, the merchants) from their land before all of them. He is educated enough, who knows the law of his God, and serves God purely and honestly, for which above all, especially in the case of adult youth (adolescentioribus), a withdrawal into seclusion and a fleeing from people is necessary. That pagan says: As often as I have been among people, I have come back as a worse person (minor). And another: Friends steal your time. And St. Bern
hard says: I am never less alone than when I am alone. I say this, not as if I wanted to condemn this Mers class to loneliness, since it is also proven by frightening examples and the reputation of famous fathers that for the young age nothing is more dangerous than loneliness, but also danger in dealing with the big crowd.
What should one do? It is advisable to have a well-known teacher at home, under whose supervision the young people can speak, do or leave everything in good fear. And that means first to be, that is, to be well instructed at home. Then, when the youth has been instructed, it is called out into the office of governing the people. Then it shall do by inclination (affectu) what it did before by deed (effectu); then it shall be one in spirit, whereas before it was one according to the letter, in that it now despises from itself what is before its eyes, and teaches to despise what it has hitherto despised according to the instruction of another, or rather, has been instructed to despise. To this the monasteries and the general studies were once endowed. 1)
But I also do not want to reject that this hidden thing is not only understood by this part of the church, but also by the opposite part, the enemies, because he not only sings about the state and the work of the spiritual and hidden people, but also about the spiritual victory over the enemies, which is given to them in secret, because they fight spiritually, and these are defeated spiritually, thus fulfilling the exemplary wars (figurae bellorum) of the Old Testament, where the enemies were defeated bodily, because there was the revealed being (aperta) of the servant, 2) that is, of Moses, the figurative and outward figure 3) of the people, of the war, of the victory, as here the hidden being of the Son, that is, the spiritual and inner
1) Cf. Walch. St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 1615.
2) Erlanger und Weimarsche: eraut. In the other editions: first.
3) In the editions there is a comma after kaoies, which we think should be deleted. Because of the parallelism with the following ^oputi, b "Ui, viotoriae will have to be regarded as genitives, not as nominatives.
The fulfillment of the people, the war, the victory.
4. it must therefore be Christ's people, whose life is hidden with Christ in God, who do not walk in the things that are manifest, but suffer much from those who walk in this way, and as victors in all things, they sing this to their Christ on account of their enemies, who are defeated in the hidden and spiritual war, so that it is hidden on both sides, both from the defeated and from the victors, both acting in the Spirit.
V. 2. 3. I thank the Lord with all my heart, and tell all his wonders. I am glad and rejoice in you, and praise your name, O Most High.
The order of the Psalms from the first to the eighth we have indicated in the sixth Psalm [§ 5 ff]. Now we must also try to show in what way the eighth follows the seventh, and this ninth from the eighth.
It is obvious that the first seven psalms are descriptions of the sufferings and tribulations, both of Christ, the head, and of the Christians, his members, among which there is no psalm that expresses his joy through praise and thanksgiving. For the eighth psalm is the first of all that begins to cheerfully praise the name, the praise, the honor, the adornment, and does not contain any lamentation, nor does it have anything to do with adversaries, but collects the fruit of the suffering in the previous psalms in a short epitome, telling how nothing the persecutors achieve, and how blessedly he suffered, and it was very fitting that he began with Christ, the head of all sufferers.
(6) Therefore, the eighth psalm also follows in a very good order after the psalms that speak of tribulations, and it sings of Christ in the first place among the joyful and those who are victors over the afflictions. For the afflicted must be comforted at times, so that they can endure, and therefore happy and sad psalms must be mixed in alternating order, so that this mixture of different psalms and (as it seems to one) this confused order may be a
The example of the Christian life, which is practiced under the various tribulations of the world and the consolations of God.
(7) Now that in the eighth Psalm the joy of the head, Christ, the victor over all sufferings, has begun, in this ninth also follows quite properly the joy of his body, the church, over the victory also in her tribulations, so that she is now also the comrade in consolation of him whom she followed in the way of suffering in the preceding Psalms, by her example and (as it is said) as it were with her finger she wants to point and confirm what is said in the preceding Psalm [Ps. 8, 3.]: "Out of the mouth of young children and sucklings hast thou prepared a power for the sake of thine enemies, to destroy the enemy and the avenger."
(8) He continues, I say, to show this power of the mouth of the young children, and that Christ is set Lord over all, so that one can not inappropriately regard this psalm as a well-executed example of the previous one, since in it the destruction of the adversaries, the enemies and the vengeful, and the glorification of the name and praise of God are treated in such a way that almost nothing else is treated. For, as it is seen from the eighth Psalm that David knew that power must be prepared out of the mouths of the young children, so now, lest it be thought that he spoke empty words without understanding (as Montanas 1) accuses the prophets of doing), he shows that he also knows the matter and all that pertains to this power (universum negotium).
The words: "I give thanks" and "I praise" are sufficiently interpreted in the last verse of the seventh Psalm: "I give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness, and I will praise the name of the Lord, the Most High. "I rejoice and am glad" [is interpreted] in the 5th Psalm, where it is said [v. 12.], "Let all rejoice and be glad in thee." For what is here expressed by exsultabo is there expressed by the
1) In the Baseler, Weimarschen and in the Wittenberger correctly: nt Nontanns proplmtas inensat; in the Jenaer: Montanas; in the Erlanger: Montanas. - The words: sins mante, without mind, are to be understood of utter insanity; for so Montanus teaches. Cf. Guericke, Kirchengeschichte (7th ed.), Vol. I, p. 294.
The future tense of the same verb is rendered gloriabuntur. Furthermore, Jerome has translated it there by laudavit, here by gaudebo. So difficult is it that an interpreter everywhere remains in harmony with himself. And what he promises there in the midst of tribulation that he will do, he does here, after he is delivered, with exuberant joy. For he who is in distress is sustained only by the praise of God, which he can offer when the calamity has come to an end, as it says in the 42nd Psalm, v. 6: "Why do you grieve, my soul, and are so troubled within me? Wait upon God, for I shall yet thank him that he helpeth me with his face." And there, v. 5: "For I would gladly go with the multitude, and go with them to the house of God, with rejoicing and thanksgiving, among the multitude that feast."
(10) Neither be moved to use words in the future tense of present things, for this is the custom of those who tell, or sing, or will do, to say, I will sing, I will tell, I will do, etc., when they are already beginning.
11 See, then, how he who says he gives thanks, he tells, he rejoices, he is glad, he praises, bursts forth with such great ardor and such a great abundance of the sweetest movements of the heart, and is altogether so full [of divine thought that he cannot fully comprehend it in words (emphaticus). He does not simply say, "I give thanks," but "from my heart" and "with all my heart," and now recounts, not simply the works, but "the wonders of God," and indeed "all of them." He even leaps like John in his mother's womb, and his spirit rejoices in God, his Savior, who has done great things for him [Luc. 1, 47. 49.], and the miracles that follow. In this word, it is certainly made known what this psalm is about, namely that it sings of the wonders of God.
12. but the miracles are that through those who are nothing he converts those who are everything, and that through those who live in hidden faith and have died before the world he humbles those who flourish in honor and are respectable in the sight of the world, doing such great things not through faith, but through faith.
not by weapons, not by works, but by cross and blood alone.
13) How does it rhyme that he says he will tell all the wonders with the words of Job 9:10: "He does great things that are not to be asked, and wonders of which there is no number"? Or who can tell all the wonders of God? To this we say that this is spoken in the great heat with exaggerated words (hyperbolico affectu)), from which it is said in the 6th Psalm, v. 7: "I swim my bed all night long", because he has such a great zeal for the great deeds of God that he would like to tell all of them, as far as his desire is concerned, although he cannot do it. For love has neither measure nor aim, 1 Cor. 13:7: "Love believes all things, endures all things, endures all things." So it is able to do everything and does it, but God looks at the heart.
It is also possible that he said "all" because he intends to sing only about the works of God and nothing else, according to the words of Ps. 51, 15: "I will teach the transgressors your ways", and Ps. 17, 4: "That my mouth speak not the works of men. I will tell all wonders, that is, all that I will tell henceforth will be your wonders. We have heard that in the 6th Psalm, v. 8. [Vulg.], it was said in the same way to speak, "I am become old among all my enemies," that is, among those who are all my enemies.
15) "With all my heart"; this can be understood from the above, but I will leave it at that. For there are people, as will be said in the 12th Psalm, v. 3, who speak from a divided heart, that is, from a divided and divided heart, since they thank God as long as He is good to them. Others, however, "also lied to Him with their tongue, and their heart was not steadfast in Him," Ps. 78, 36. f., "who speak kindly to their neighbor, but have evil in their heart," [Ps. 28, 3.] as bloodhounds and false people. It never happens to them that they recognize the miracles of God, let alone that they ever tell them.
(16) Therefore, he who does not exalt himself in good days, nor in adversity against God, gives thanks to the Lord with all his heart.
but remains the same on both sides in sincere praise of God; but this is only possible for those who have been crucified with Christ and have experienced His suffering with Him.
V. 4. that you have driven my enemies behind you; they have fallen and perished before you.
17 Here he begins to narrate the miracles of God, namely the conversion of the enemies. Enough has already been said about the figure of speech, which is the most common in the Hebrew language, the synecdoche, of which some say it is the singular instead of the plural, others that it is a collective word (collectivum) instead of a distributive. It is [in Latin]: In convertendo inimicum [that you convert the enemy] and immediately after: Infirmabuntur [they will be made weak], namely, the same enemy or enemies. Next, what is offensive to grammarians: In convertendo inimicum, could have been translated in the second person: Since you will convert or have converted my enemy. For this is how he began and then continues the psalm in the second person.
But he uses words that are taken from heroes and warfare, so that it could seem to an inexperienced person as if he were talking about physical wars and enemies, since he mentions the enemies, then talks about the fact that they are driven back, put to flight, that they are also weakened and killed and destroyed. But all this, as Augustine says in this passage, is a benefit, not a punishment, and such a great benefit that nothing can be compared to it.
But according to a simpler understanding I understand by "turning behind" (conversionem retrorsum) nothing else than the flight of the enemies, in which they turn their back and go back to where they came from; just as the Egyptians said, Ex. 14, 25: "Let us flee from Israel; the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians." This passage was partly an example and partly a mirror for the prophet, by which he was instructed to establish this prophecy. For not by any human power, not by any weapon, but by the
He destroyed the Egyptians just by looking at them, as it says there [Ex. 14, 24. f.]: "Then the Lord looked upon the army of Egypt out of the pillar of fire and the cloud, and made a terror in their army; and thrust the wheels from their chariots, and overthrew them with impetuosity." So it is said in Ps. 104:32, "He looketh on the earth, he lifteth it." Habak. 3, 6. "He looked, and divided the nations, that the mountains of the world were broken in pieces." And Ps. 97:5 [Vulg.], "Mountains melt as wax before the face of the Lord, before the face of the Ruler of all the earth."
18. so that he says here [in Latin]: "before your face", takes away the suspicion, as if it was with weapons and carnal force, in which men trust and with which they fight, so that the flight, the inability and the fall of the enemies of the church must be understood in such a way, that they come entirely from a spiritual power and from heaven, as it is also said in Judges. 5, 20: "From heaven they fought against them, the stars in their heels fought against Sissera." Only that in this Psalm not a bodily flight, as was the case in those examples, but a spiritual flight, weakness and fall of the enemies is described, as I have said. For he speaks of the fulfillment and the hidden, which those examples indicate.
So what is the spiritual flight of the enemies? what is the weakening? what is the destruction? We can learn this from the image presented to us by the falling enemies. First, there is flight, then there is incapacity, which comes from the verb "to fall" in Hebrew, so that it is a fall by which the enemies, fleeing and being beaten, fall and die. Finally, the ruin and destruction by which they cease to be completely, so that even their memory is no more. By all this nothing else is described than the conversion and justification of the wicked. For the flight is a terror and the lost confidence of the conscience, the recognition of sin, the recognized power of the law. This is followed immediately by the weakening, the fall, the violent turmoil (tumultus) and the exceedingly
blessed putting down (caedes), which we call repentance (contritio), namely the hatred against sin, and now also the death of the evil inclinations themselves. For then we immediately dislike what we liked before, and we like what we disliked before; we give way and turn our backs on that which we before brazenly pursued with unreasoning desire.
20) This is followed by complete destruction and extinction, when by God's grace the will is converted and not even a sign of the former life is left in us, namely by walking in a new life, according to the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the apostle teaches Rom. 6, 4. We can also see this in the example of the same apostle himself. Being an exceedingly fierce enemy of the church, and fleeing, and suddenly fainting, he said [Acts 9:6], "Lord, what wilt thou that I should do?" At last he was completely destroyed and had so nothing left of enmity that he worked for the church of God with all his strength, more than all the other apostles, 1 Cor. 15, 10.
But with what powers this victory will be achieved, he indicates by saying: "Before you" (a facie tua). In this is indicated the office of the word, through which the will of God, His mercy, His judgment etc. is revealed, of which he will immediately say. For by nothing else is this flight, weakening, destruction of the wicked brought about, than by the word of God alone, in which the glory of the Lord is revealed. If God cooperates in this and makes Himself known to the hearts of the wicked by increasing, this victory will follow. Therefore, he did not want to say "before you" (a facie tua) in vain, rather than: through some other thing, or: through the word, in order to indicate the powerful increase of the word. For who would have been converted by the appearance (a facie) of the apostles, since they were contemptible in person?
How many hear God's word, who nevertheless persist in their ungodliness. But where the face of the Lord is revealed through the Holy Spirit, who teaches within, it follows at the same time that the enemies are driven behind them, their weakening, their destruction, as it is described in Isa.
5, 29. [Vulg.] reads: "His roar is like that of a lion, he will roar like the young lions, and will gnash his teeth, and will seize and hold the prey, and there will be no one to pluck it out." And Micah 5:7 f.: "The remnant of Jacob shall be among the heathen of many nations, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among a flock of sheep, whom no man can withstand, when he goeth through, treading and tearing. For thy hand shall prevail against all thine enemies, that all thine enemies may be cut off."
22 Therefore, with the most sincere gratitude, she attributes these miracles not to herself, but to God alone, and if she has cooperated with her service, she nevertheless does not say that this was directed by her word, but by the face of God, as Paul also says in 1 Cor. 3:7, 9: "So then neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the flourishing. We are God's co-workers."
But why does he speak [in Latin] in the future time: fugabis, infirmabis, perdes, while he says praise and thanksgiving because of past things? Perhaps that we say it simply because he interpolates the prophecy about the things to come; therefore he also uses, mixed up, words in the future time and the past time, as this is generally the constant use of all the prophets, especially of the writers of the Psalms, while in truth the thing goes on in this way from the beginning, that the enemies of the church are both defeated, as well as defeated, and will be defeated in the future, and so firmly sees that the word of the Lord remains for eternity, and its truth for and for, and fits men in all times, in that the word always works the same, but in richer measure at the beginning of the New Testament.
23. add one thing more, that thou take heed to the difference of the persons, of them and of their enemies, namely, that those [the beautiful youth] are weak, foolish, and despised, but that these are mighty, wise, honored, and altogether "the mountains of the wager," as we have said from Habakkuk Cap. 3, 6. Said [Vulg.]: "He looked, and divided the heathen, that the mountains of the world were broken in pieces; and stooping down-.
the hills in the world before the ways of his eternity" (that is, his world). This is how it is said in Isa. 40, 4: "All mountains and hills shall be humbled", or how it is said there in Cap. 2, 11. it is said more clearly: "All high eyes shall be humbled, and whatsoever is high shall have to stoop down; but the Lord alone shall be high in that day." And Ps. 104:32: "He stirreth up the mountains, and they smoke."
I say, if you do not pay attention to this difference of persons, you will not sufficiently understand what these miracles are, of which he says that he will tell them. For what is more wonderful than that Peter, an unlearned, simple man and a fisherman, should convert the chief priests, the Pharisees, even kings of the Gentiles, and even Rome itself. That he should attack this city in the bloom of its greatness and power, in order to subdue it to himself, a coarse and poor fisherman, seems so foolish and ridiculous that it looks before the whole world as if he could hardly have undertaken anything else that would have been more ridiculous and impossible. And yet, that which so far exceeded the expectations (fidem) of all men was believed and happened, even though Rome resisted most stubbornly, and finally this city was overcome with the bloodshed of many martyrs. And, God be lamented, how much these miracles have fallen into oblivion today; indeed, they are not known and not heeded, even though they are still before our eyes.
V. 5. for you execute my justice and cause; you sit on the throne a right judge.
24 I say, my enemies have perished because you have judged my cause. Dear, what is this consequence (consequentia)? I have said that the diversity of persons makes the wonders of God glorious. For since the neglected in Israel (as Isaiah Cap. 49, 6. calls it) and the remaining from Jacob and the poor of the earth contend against the mountains of the betting, as has been said, there was neither hope nor prospect that this matter would be incumbent on the wretched, or that someone would be there to bring justice to the poor. For even Pilate, who otherwise, as it seems.
The man who was a very civil man was deceived by this appearance alone, and condemned Christ unjustly, and that knowingly, thinking that there was nothing wrong with a poor man perishing, and that there was no one to avenge him. But in the 140th Psalm, v. 13, it says: "I know that the Lord will execute the cause of the wretched and the right of the poor." For our God alone has this honor, that he looks upon the lowly and afflicted, and avenges; and these are his own works, and therefore wonderful.
(25) It is therefore one of the wonders of God to establish justice for the poor and to cast down those who hope, that He may justify those and condemn those, and to do as Isaiah says, Cap. 14:2: "And they shall be held captive by whom they were held captive, and shall have dominion over their captors. For this is the most glorious kind of victory, to make friends of enemies, and servants of persecutors, as the church did with the kings and princes of the world.
26. "You sit on the throne a right judge." For so it is said in the Hebrew [judex justitiae instead of in the Vulgate: Qui judicas justitiam] But He gives the reason,
Wherefore he says that his cause is judged, because (he says) my cause is detestable to the whole race, and all men's judgment is unjust, since every man is a liar and an enemy of the truth which I speak and follow, so much so that even those who boast most of all of their wisdom, righteousness and spirituality (religione), namely of the world's mountains, persecute me most of all, who, not knowing your righteousness and seeking to establish theirs, .They are not subject to your righteousness, and by this pretense they bring it about that, because all men are moved to fall to them and hate me, they dare to imagine that you also will be an unjust judge, condemn my cause, and award justice to their cause.
27. but thou art a right judge; thine is the judgment seat, thine the verdict, and thine the dominion. Therefore I know, and have been sure, and am still sure, that thou wilt bring justice to my cause, and wilt drive my enemies behind, and cast them down, and destroy them. etc.
On this opinion also the 93rd Psalm, v. 1. says: "The Lord is King and gloriously adorned," and again, v. 2. says: "From this time forth thy throne is established; thou art everlasting," and it follows, v. 3. 4. says: "O Lord, the rivers of waters rise, the rivers of waters lift up their waves, the rivers of waters are great and roar dreadfully, but the Lord is greater still on high." For this is the one consolation of the oppressed, that they know that Christ sits as a King and Judge over all. So Peter says 1 Pet. 4, 5. against those who blaspheme the holiness of believers: "Who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." Although he does not actually speak of the last judgment in this psalm, he nevertheless terrifies with this judgment, as we will see, just as Peter does here.
28 From this we can see which people he calls his enemies. For since he boasts that God brings justice to his cause, it is obvious that he has suffered and been oppressed by the wicked, namely many, great and cunning people, before whom he was so utterly incapable, abandoned and despised that no man, but only God, has taken up his cause. For he would not boast of God as his avenger if he had not felt that he was abandoned and lonely before men.
(29) And so, without our inquiring into it, this verse reveals and describes to us the nature of both parts; that the part which is God's is afflicted and forsaken, but that the part which belongs to the world is powerful and surrounded by many. Namely, by such great exhortations we are comforted throughout the Scriptures when we suffer for the truth, yet even so we dare not confess Christ freely and publicly.
There the grammarians may see whether this is well spoken in Latin: Fecisti judicium meum et causam meam. It seems to me that facere causam et judicium is an expression peculiar to the Hebrew language for: "to lead a thing" (expedire), as it is in our German mother tongue. For the Latin say: agere causas and ferre sententiam. Here, however, is the word facere, of which we have said that it is as much as XXX, so that [ausge
that] the Lord, where parties quarrel with each other and carry on quarrels, as judge puts an end to the quarrel, establishes the right and makes peace (faciat). For both words, XXXX and XXX, in Hebrew denote a judgment (judicium), one of which he [the Latin translator] has rendered by judicium, the other by causa, perhaps because in every legal transaction there are two tasks for the court, one that the innocent be helped to his right, the other that the guilty be condemned, as if he wanted to say: Both rights are mine: that my cause be helped to its right, and the cause of the other be condemned.
30: "Thou sittest on the throne" seems to be a paraphrase for: Thou art made king, thou art made judge, as Ps. 2, 6. [Vulg.]: "But I am set up king by him," as it is also said in the 110th Psalm, v. 1. "Sit thou at my right hand," which Ps. 97. 1. says in other words: "The Lord is king." For this has come to pass since Christ was taken up into heaven, as foretold in Isa. 9:7: "He shall sit on the throne of David, and in his kingdom, to judge and to establish it with judgment and righteousness from henceforth even for ever." Jer. 23:5 ff: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous seed; and he shall be a king that shall reign, and do judgment and righteousness in the earth. And this shall be his name, that they shall call him: Lord, who is our righteousness."
(31) From these words it is evident that the honor of righteousness and wisdom cannot be attributed to any mortal throughout the ages. For however many kings there have been of whom the books of men boast that they have been wise and just, they have all been foolish and unjust. For though they have distinguished themselves in human and worldly wisdom or righteousness, yet they have been found vain, lying, and unjust in the sight of God and in that which is of God. This is clearer than the sun, both in the Roman empire and in that of the Jews. Did not the Romans give very beautiful laws? Did they not restrain proud nations through justice?
hold? But why did they persecute Christ and the Christians so cruelly? Of course, because their righteousness was a mere appearance in the eyes of men, but in truth it was nothing in the eyes of God.
32 Therefore the apostle 1 Cor. 2, 7. f. is bold enough to say: "We speak of the secret, hidden wisdom of God, which none of the rulers of this world has known. [1 Cor. 1, 20.:] "Where are the wise? Where are the scribes? Where are the worldly wise?"
33 So Christ alone sits on the throne and in the kingdom in such a way that he is a king of righteousness and judge in these things that are God's. Therefore he alone reigns, and his kingdom shall have no end. For as the prophet compares his righteous judgment with the righteous judgment of men as an unrighteousness, so he compares his kingdom with the kingdom of men as a bondage and captivity. For he alone is actually king and reigns over everything, he is able to do everything, he wills everything in a righteous way, therefore all can rejoice who are unjustly oppressed in the world.
(34) And what is the whole great nature of the kingdoms and authorities of the world, in which judgment is executed and justice is done over temporal things, money, honor, pleasure, and the like, but a kind of fable or play? For in all these things sin is not abolished, neither is righteousness imparted, but only a pretense and an image is presented, that sin is to be abolished and righteousness imparted; and yet some people are so foolish that they take this play for serious.
35 But Christ's kingdom is always praised in Scripture for its judgment and righteousness, that it judges and kills the old man with its deeds, and justifies the new man. Therefore, it alone is attributed to Him by Jeremiah, Cap. 23, 5, that he establishes justice and righteousness on earth, in that he evidently states that all others on earth do not exercise either judgment or righteousness, but, as I have said, only set themselves up that way. Therefore, in the holy
In this way, we can assume a much higher judgment and righteousness in the Scriptures than in worldly things and rights. For judgment is the death of sin, righteousness is eternal life in Christ; this alone God can accomplish, not man.
Therefore the words of this verse have a kind of displeasure against the worldly judges and kings, as if he said in opposition (per antithesin): Why do those judges and kings puff themselves up, who judge against me for their cause? In truth, you alone are the king and the judge of all, compared to whom those are only painted kings, for you judge rightly even the sins that seem to be justice to those.
37 But you will ask, By what authority, by what people, by what legal process, by what administrators, by what witnesses did he carry out his cause and his judgment? It follows:
V. 6. You rebuke the nations and destroy the wicked; you destroy their name forever and ever.
(38) I thought we would hear here the clash of arms and the tumult of horses and horsemen, and behold, the sound of the word and the scolding he makes the instrument to carry out such a great trade. He only scolds, and everything is done. Who should not be surprised? This is it, that out of the mouth of the young children and sucklings, he brings to pass a power [Ps. 8, 3]. This is that the Spirit of truth punishes the world for sin, for righteousness, and for judgment [John 16:8]; by the word alone he does all things.
(39) And since he speaks primarily of the Gentiles, and this rebuke, if by anyone, is fulfilled either first or most of all by the apostle Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, it is reasonable that he be cited as an example for this verse, since there is no doubt that what is said here was done by him. See how he chides Rom. 3:23: "They are sinners all at once, and lack the glory which they ought to have in God." And again [v. 9.], "We have proved that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin." And Rom. 2:1: "Therefore, O man, thou canst not excuse-.
who thou art that judgest, because thou doest the very thing that thou judgest. And Cap. 5, 12, where he proclaims that sin and death have penetrated to all men, he says: "Because they have all sinned."
In short, in this whole epistle, which, in my judgment, is both an interpretation of the whole Scripture and a brief epitome of it, yes, a light and a revelation, - what man does he not make a sinner in it? With how great confidence does he rebuke all? which no other book in Scripture does so abundantly, so clearly, that this gloss would not inappropriately be added to this verse: "Thou rebukeest the Gentiles," namely, by the apostle Paul; orally, indeed, many other Gentiles, but in writing especially the Romans.
40 But in this place he preferred to use the word "you rebuke" rather than any other, so that the simple preaching of the word would be indicated, because this was better suited to the matter, to express the manner of this whole trade, by which he converts the enemy and establishes the cause of justice. For "to rebuke" means to punish, to convict as guilty, to frighten, which happens primarily when the conscience of anyone is held to God's word. There the flight begins, there the presumption and the trust in oneself is put aside, and all strength of the flesh slackens and falls away completely. This does not happen if the simple speech does not move; for many hear, but, being without understanding, are not moved. Therefore, in the rebuke not only the word is praised, but also the power and efficacy of the word, where people hear and are startled by what they hear, as those Apost. 2, 37. at the word of Peter, which passed through their hearts, saying, "Men, brethren, what shall we do?" etc.
41. And behold the spirit, which, though it does not deal in falsehood, is an unconquerable man of war. He fights with the word, but no one can resist the same. Why is that? Men fight against each other with weapons and bodily forces, where neither of them can snatch the confidence of the heart from the other; therefore neither gives way to the other. And even if they have to leave the body when they die, they still leave the heart.
The spirit does not lose its courage, and no one has ever been found among men who could have overcome the mind of another man. But the spirit does not fight against the body and its powers, but addresses its voice to the conscience alone, and immediately all resistance falls away, all confidence, all strength.
42. Who should not tell this as a miracle? For who can stand before this word of Paul Rom. 1, 18.: "For God's wrath from heaven is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold out the truth in unrighteousness"? Who can stand firm? Who can be confident? Who can be bold when it is announced to him that the divine majesty is angry with him? Or who is not turned behind him, falls and perishes, when his conscience, reproached by the word of God, stands against him with an evil testimony? But if the heart of man is overcome by this art, and the spirit has taken the innermost part of the kingdom, what remains in man that is not overcome?
(43) And so mighty is this victory that we see that it is also true among men that he who is troubled by his conscience can suffer neither judgment, nor rebuke, nor rumor, nor danger, and that this proverb is true: Conscience is as many as a thousand witnesses, and that all-knowing one: He who has an evil conscience thinks that one always speaks of him. Therefore, it rightly follows:
44. "And kill the wicked." For so it is said in the Hebrew. For he who is struck by this chiding immediately recognizes his misery. Thus Paul, when he was reproached from heaven, immediately became an exceedingly godly disciple out of an ungodly adversary of Christ, and said [Acts 9:6], "Lord, what wilt thou that I should do?" The spirit of man cannot bear this rebuke, but, as if struck by lightning, it changes and is transformed. Thus it is said in Ps. 18:16: "From thy rebuke, from the breath and snorting of thy nose."
It is not necessary to remind here again that according to the figure of the synecdoche "to the godless" stands for "the godless", since
this figure is so frequent, indeed, even in our mother tongue this exceedingly sweet manner of speaking takes place, so that one generally says: God helps your boldest (fortiorem), that is, the boldest. Therefore, in order not to become peevish, I will henceforth say nothing more about it, since it is enough for me that I have pointed out once and for all that this is almost the most common figure in sacred Scripture.
45 "The wicked", here is such a one, as we have sufficiently explained in the first and fifth Psalm, who is without faith and shines through great appearances, and seems to be nothing less than a wicked one. And this is the enemy who persecutes the most out of zeal for God and righteousness, whose conversion is exceedingly difficult and miraculous, impossible even to the mere word, unless the rebuke is added as a reinforcement.
46. "Their name you destroy." Behold, this is it that I have said, the wicked are such people as have a beautiful name. For it is said in the 5th and 8th Psalms, how the name in the Scriptures signifies the good report. They have the name that they live (as it is said in Revelation 3:1), and they are dead. Puffed up by this name, they certainly persecute the XXXXX as their adversaries, and defile them with a shameful name. Now their name will be destroyed, when they, scolded by the word of the spirit or rather by the spirit of the word, put away confidence, delusion and the name of truth, wisdom and righteousness, become weak, become fools and sinners, seek the grace of Christ in humility and the comfort of the fellowship of the Son with trembling, so that now they are no longer ashamed of the name of a fool and sinner.
47. "Forever and ever." This indicates that the scolding is effective. Once it has struck the heart, it changes the person so that he cannot boast about his name or become vain forever, but even if he falls at times, he does not lose the right opinion of God, always being aware that both a good work and a good name belong to God alone.
V. 7. the swords of the enemy are ended; the cities thou hast turned back; their memory is perished with them. 1)
All this is in the Hebrew One verse. Jerome translates thus: Inimici completae sunt solitudines in finem, et civitates subvertisti, periit memoria eorum cum ipsis. It is quite a dark verse. The construction seems ambiguous and unusual because the words: inimici defecerunt frameae in Latin are such that one does not know whether inimici and frameae are singulars or plurals, genitives or nominatives. I give my opinion and judgment without presumption. The word frameae, which is undoubtedly of Hebrew origin, from the word which means to cut, hence from cutting framea is called a sword or a knife, as if framea were the same as a cutting tool (scissorium, that I say so), -this little word, I say, is set for the Hebrew noun XXXXX, which is the plural of XXX, which means a sword; which is followed by our (Latin] Interpreter; or from the verbum XXX, which signifies to devastate, to destroy, after which Jerome translated, "devastations" (solitudines). Therefore, according to my judgment, this is the meaning:
Inimici defecerunt frameae or solitudines, that is, the devastations of the enemy have been devastated, or, they have ceased to devastate, so that it reads something like Ps. 68, 19: "You have caught the prison," and Isa. 33, 1: "Woe to you, you devastator! Do you think you will not be destroyed? And thou despiser! Do you think you will not be despised? When thou hast made an end of disturbing, thou shalt be destroyed: and when thou hast made an end of despising, thou shalt be despised again." And this verse almost agrees with the words that Isaiah also speaks, Cap. 14, 3-6: "And in that day, when the Lord shall give thee rest from thy mourning and from thy sorrow, and from thy hard service wherein thou hast been, then shalt thou speak such a word against the king of Babylon, saying, How is it?
1) Vulgate: Iniiniei ckstsesrnnt kranisas in tinsrn, st eivitatss sornrn äestrnxisti, psriit rnslnoria eornin onin sonitn.
The driver is finished, and the interest has come to an end! The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, who smote the nations in fury without ceasing, and ruled with fury over the nations, and persecuted without mercy." And afterwards, v. 8: "Because thou liest, no man cometh up to cut us off."
Therefore, whether one says "swords" (frameae) or "devastations" (vastationes), it means precisely the persecutions of the church, with which they cut, persecuted and devastated the princes of this world, especially the Jews; these persecutions ceased completely when the Gentiles were scolded and the wicked perished, and their name was eternally destroyed. For it is a necessary consequence that persecution ceases when there is no longer a persecutor. Hence this syntax, "The swords of the enemy are fallen," where the genitive is placed first, is similar to that in the 3rd Psalm, v. 9: "The help of the Lord is." So also here: The enemy's desolations are left, that is, the enemy has ceased to desolate, just as, "The Lord's help," that is, the Lord helps.
50 But in finem [to the end] is said to give a strong emphasis, by which he expresses that the devastation of the enemy has so ceased that there is neither hope nor fear that it will begin again. For sometimes the wicked cease to ravage, but the end is not immediately there; for since the hatred remains, they begin to rage again as soon as there is time and opportunity. But those who perish salutarily through the chiding of the spirit and are transformed into other people because they love, can never return to persecution in eternity; indeed, they themselves suffer with those. And so the desolation has ceased with them to the end, that there is also no longer any hatred left, which is the source of persecution, but everything has been transformed into love, which is the source of peace and tranquility. In this sense Ps. 2, 9. is also said: "Like pots you shall break them."
51 But how did he turn the cities around? I don't like to do violence to words, and yet neither the context
(consequentia) nor the spirit in which the prophet speaks, that it might be understood of a bodily desolation. For it speaks the hidden and spiritual victress, whose weapons are the word and faith. Then she destroyed the Gentiles only by the rebuke of God, by putting an end to their name and their desolation. Therefore it must be understood in such a way that also the cities are disturbed by the same bell.
52 In the same vein, Micah, after speaking of the remnant of Israel who would be victorious in the midst of the nations, Cap. 5:8, says: "For thine hand shall prevail against all thine enemies, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. He adds, v. 9 f.: "In that day, saith the Lord, I will put away thy horses from thee, and will destroy thy chariots, and will cut off the cities of thy land, and will break down all thy strongholds," and soon after, v. 13: "And will break down thy groves, and destroy thy cities." Since this passage evidently speaks of a spiritual work, it speaks for us, and we shall say that here also cities are turned back, since the word of faith, when preached among men, comes, not to send peace, but the sword, and arouses the Father against the Son, the cord against their in-laws, so that, according to the perverse sense of man's world, 1) enemies are his own household, for in such a way the cities of enemies are blessedly turned back.
(53) And he names the cities above all, first, because in them there is a very great multitude, in the midst of whom the word must be preached; and secondly, because in them men have a finer sense (civilior sensus), that is, a greater prudence of the flesh, which is hostile to God. Therefore, Christ attacked the world in its best people and heads and those in whom it is most capable with his word; for if the cities are inverted, the rest of the great multitude in the world is also inverted.
1) In the editions: inimiei Dominos, for which probably according to Matth. 10, 36. with the Vulgate iuimiei kominiK should be read.
turned back. But also St. Augustine, although he draws the noun "city" to the spiritual mind (tropologiam), nevertheless understands the tense "you have turned back" from the spiritual destruction. But I have also said before that one must pay more attention to the tense words than to the nouns in order to understand the spirit, as, Ps. 72, 8: "He will rule from one sea to the other" etc. Here no other sea is to be understood than a fleshly one, and yet not a fleshly reign (after the Jewish manner) is to be understood. So here the cities are to be taken actually and according to the letter, but the destruction is not to be taken carnally, but spiritually.
So the sword of the enemy's devastation has so completely ceased that they themselves and their cities are also devastated and reversed. But who wants to look for another information, he has for himself the ambiguity of the Hebrew noun. For the noun is said, when it is written without iod, as in this place, to mean not .alone cities, but also enemies. For the pronoun "their" [cities] (eorum) is not in Hebrew. Thus Reuchlin says of the passage Micah 5, 13: "I will cut off your cities" that it means in Hebrew: I will cut off your enemies. Whether there is something in it, I leave undecided. That is certain, may one say cities or enemies, the sense remains the same. For we have said that the refined people (civiles homines) and the children of this world are exceedingly hostile to the word of the cross because of their cleverness; these people also the word attacks the most, because our ram hangs with his horns in these hedges.
54. "Her memory has perished." It is evident that their name, which is destroyed, is something else than the memory, which falls away. For the name has been taken away from them, in which they pleased themselves, and has been restored to them, since they humbly confess of themselves that they are sinners and worthy of shame. Furthermore, all that is theirs, their goods, name, power, quantity, is so devastated by the word of faith that they do not even think of these things anymore. And so, in common life, they speak with a very
The common saying when speaking of people who have perished or of their deeds: "They are no longer remembered," that is, they are no longer in memory; the end of a complete desolation is that what is desolate is buried in eternal oblivion. Behold then the power of the word and of faith, which makes the ungodly blameless, and plunges their sins and weapons of iniquity into everlasting oblivion, that they may now be preserved eternally with God in another estate, another name, another power, another multitude.
The word [in the Vulgate] cum sonitu was translated by Jerome as "sammt ihnen," and in Hebrew word for word is like this: Their memory has perished, they. The preposition "sammt" is not in the text. But this expression [XXX] is similar to the verbum [XXX], which means sonore. This was assumed by those who translated: cum sonitu. But I simply assume a comma (hypodiastolen) [after memoria eorum], and put a connective [et], and explain it thus: their memory has perished, and they; since this Hebrew manner of speaking is also very frequent in other places, as is said in the 4th Psalm in the 9th verse [Ps. 4, § 751 [Vulg.]: "For thou, O Lord, let me dwell alone (singulariter-separate from others), [and] secure." Therefore, the prophet seems to me to have added st ixsi at the end, either as a conclusion, or to give a strong emphasis, as if to say: Their memory is perished, and they themselves. Namely, they have become nothing with all their things. "They are gone."
(55) Cum sonitu Augustine explains: "with noise or with turmoil", with which the wicked rage while they perish, and so that they do not want to perish, they resist, or that their memory perishes, while this very turmoil perishes at the same time. And what is the point of composing various glosses over a text that has been composed? as, cum sonitu, one would also like to understand it this way: as quickly as a sound has passed. For Job Cap. 14, 2. compares man to a fleeting shadow. In these things, let each one follow his own sense.
698 L. xv, 93-ss. Interpretations on the Psalms. W. iv, sn-M. 699
V. 8: But the Lord abideth for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.)
Jerome has thus: Dominus autem in aeternum sedebit, stabilivit ad judicandum solium suum. In this is more clearly indicated not only the duration, as our [Latin] interpreter reads, but also the office of Christ. It is twofold: to judge and to justify, to kill and to make alive, to condemn and to save. By judgment he humbles the worthy, by righteousness he exalts the humiliated. That he has thus prepared his throne to judge is what Malachi Cap. 3, 2. 3. says: "He is like the fire of a goldsmith and like the soap of the washer. He will sit and melt and purify the silver; he will purify and cleanse the children of Levi like gold and silver. Then they will bring grain offerings to the Lord in righteousness."
For thus, after the wicked have been destroyed by the rebuke of the heathen, and after they have lost their name, and have known and confessed their sin, there is nothing left but this daily purification from sin, the renewing of the mind from day to day, the going from one virtue to another, the destruction of the body of sin. This happens when we are either exercised by many a suffering, or by the constant remembrance of our sins, displeasing ourselves, groaning, weary in humility, as Ps. 51:5. says: "And my sin is always before me." Hence it is said Ezek. 20:43 ff: "There you will remember your ways and all your doings in which you have been defiled, and you will be displeased with all your wickedness that you have done. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name's sake, and not according to your wickedness and your evil doings, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God."
58. this theology of the cross leaves some pending that raise idle questions 2) and walk on very dangerous paths in great
1) Vulgate: N äoirllvus in aotornum permanst, puravit in juäieio türonurn kuuin.
2) ^naestionarii actually means: torturers, executioners, but here, according to the context, it is synonymous with the soon following: euriosi kxsoniutorss.
and wonderful things that are too high for them, as if they had nothing to grieve over. Of these, Isaiah, Cap. 58:1, says: "Call with confidence, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet; and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sin. They seek me daily, and want to know my ways, as a people who have already done righteousness, and have not forsaken the right of their God. "etc. What did he mean by these words? Nothing else than that he kept these people, who wanted to inquire into the works of God (curiosos speculatores), from doing so, and brought them to the knowledge and consideration of their sins, so that they would take care of their sin [Ps. 38, 19.], and always deal with the things that God has commanded. For this is the judgment of Christ in man, so He exercises us in sorrow, repentance and sorrow for our sin. Therefore, theology, which goes into research (speculativa), but forgets itself and seeks the divine things that are too high for it, seeks Satan's fall and also finds it.
(59) We read in the biographies of the fathers how two younger brothers, who were troubled with a question about Melchizedek, brought it to an older brother. The latter beat his breast and said: "Woe to me, poor sinner, who does not respect my sins and occupies myself with these useless questions. Then they were ashamed, kept silent, and ran away in haste, each to his cell.
And how will our school theologians (nostri) stand, who do not deal with Melchizedek, but with Aristotle and Porphyrius in such silly questions, who waste the extremely precious time so shamefully and do not respect this judgment of Christ? In the Song of Songs, Cap. 6, 4. he also chastises the bride who was too eager to inquire of God: "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they make me to bristle." [Ps. 73, 5. f. Vulg. "They are not in misfortune like other people, and are not afflicted like other people, therefore they are in hope."
(61) But also those argue against this judgment of Christ in an exceedingly ungodly way, who deceive the people and promise them complete remission (remissiones plenarias, as they call it) of all punishment and guilt in a lying way.
and promise them security in a very vain way, saying [Jer. 6, 14.], "Peace, peace! and yet is not peace," and, as Isaiah [Cap. 59, 4. Jer. 29, 31J says, make the people of God trust in lies, and again Isa. 3, 12.: "My people, thy comforters deceive thee, and destroy the way which thou shalt go."
62. for the word stands firm, "He has prepared his throne for judgment." So also it is said in Ps. 122:5, "For there the chairs are set for judgment." For whom his sin doth not bite, how shall he thirst after the grace of God? But whoever does not thirst for it, how should he seek it? Whoever does not seek it, how will he find it?
63 And it is not said in vain: The Lord will sit on the judgment seat] forever; this must be referred to the time of this life. For after this life there will be no sin over which he could then sit in judgment, but even the Son himself will be subject to the one who has subjected everything to him by handing over the kingdom to God and the Father, after all his enemies have been put under his feet, as the apostle teaches 1 Cor. 15:24 ff. Therefore he always sits, because there is always sin, which he must judge in us, so that we perish, but he remains, and we are changed into him, and not he into us. But he who with Micah, Cap. 7, 8. f., will bear this judgment and say, "I will bear the Lord's wrath, for I have sinned against him," will also be worthy that, led out with the same Micah, he may see into the light, see the righteousness of God, and when he sits in darkness, the Lord will be his light. Therefore it follows:
V. 9. and he will judge the earth rightly, and the people will rule righteously. 1)
64. almost the same verse is Ps. 98, 9. [in the Vulgate] translated like this: Judicabit orbem terrarum in justitia, et populos in aequitate, which Ps. 96, 13. reads thus: Judicabit orbem terrae in aequitate, et populos in veritate sua. But also in other places these two words justitia and aequitas are quite inconstantly repeated.
1) Vulgate: Dt ipss juüieudit ordern tsrrue in ue^uitate, juäieudit poxuios in MStitiu.
one for the other, and sometimes aequitas instead of rectum, and again. But in this verse, justitia should have been placed first, and aequitas last. For so the Hebrew text has it, as Jerome also brings it: Et ipse judicabit orbem in justitia, judicabit populos in aequitatibus, that is, in rectitudinibus, which the 99th Psalm [v. 4.] expresses by directiones, since it says: Tu parasti directiones [you give piety^.
But we must understand righteousness and piety (justitiam et aequitatem), not only from the inward righteousness and piety of Christ, according to which He is righteous and pious, but from His works, by which He makes men righteous and just, and from His grace, by which He gives them righteousness and piety. For who else could stand before His judgment seat, however holy, if He judged men according to His righteousness and piety? As it can be said of Solomon that he was a king who reigned in riches, honor and peace, because not only he himself, but also his subjects became rich through him, had honor and enjoyed peace, as it is said 1 Kings 4:25: "Judah and Israel dwelt securely, each under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba." Otherwise he would have had an exceedingly miserable and unhappy kingdom and government, if his subjects had all been poor, dishonorable, without peace (inquieti), foolish etc.
(65) Thus the kingdom of Christ consists in truth, righteousness, godliness, peace, wisdom, not because he alone, but also because his faithful through him are true, just, righteous, peaceable, wise. For he would be exceedingly wretched if his own were liars, sinners, unrighteous, peaceless, unwise, as is the devil's kingdom. For thus Isaiah, Cap. 52,2 ) 1, foretold, "For there shall no uncircumcised or unclean reign in thee henceforth."
In order not to seek abundance and diversity, let us take ourselves out of it, or rather, let us use our freedom,
2) In the Latin editions: Isa. 35.
And that righteousness and godliness, according to the 5th Psalm, are nothing else than the work of God's mercy and judgment, for there it is said [v. 8.], "But I will enter into thy house upon thy great goodness, and worship against thy holy temple in thy fear." And again [v. 9.], "O Lord, guide me in thy righteousness for mine enemies' sake; direct thy way before me."
67. for he who has God's mercy before his eyes and believes and trusts in Him with firm faith is justified, and so enters [into God's house] on His [great] goodness and is guided in righteousness, and is ruled in truth by Christ, who sits on His throne and judges the whole earth in such righteousness. And he that walketh thus in righteousness is assailed in his way by many terrors through the flesh, the world, and the devil, according to the saying of Ps. 140:6, "They set snares in my way," lest he dash his foot against a stone. For as long as we live in the flesh, the old serpent is after our heel, to destroy our way or to turn us away from the right way. Therefore, the judgment of God, which is held up to us here, instills fear, which preserves us, and causes us to depart from evil, so that our senses are not deceived by Satan, as Eve was deceived, from the simplicity in Christ, so that we continue on the right path we have begun, and this is the righteous character (rectitudo) or piety (aequitas).
68. Therefore, these two things may be considered in this spiritual trade, as in the case of physicians, the healing medicine and the preventive behavior (praeservativam), or that it is another thing that the sick person takes and another thing that he abstains from until he gets well; it seems to me that righteousness is grace, by which we become righteous through faith in God; but righteousness is a kind of abstinence, by which we abstain from all irritations, or refrain from all threats, by which a man may be turned away, or fall into his own crooked ways.
The first thing that can be done is to make sure that the people are guided in the wrong and evil ways, whether this is called perseverance or temperance or any other name.
I believe that the same two things are expressed by justitia and judicium, which are almost always put together in the Holy Scriptures, as Ps. 119, 121: Beati, qui faciunt judicium et justitiam in omni tempore. The same two things I would like to understand by justification and the killing of the members, which must be exercised after justification, although the righteous being (rectitudo) refers more to the attitude (affectum) than to the restless being (tumultum) of the killing, which is accomplished by judgment and the cross. For he is righteous (rectus) who remains steadfastly unchanged and pure in his judgment and in his attitude, in spite of all cause and occasion given him from any quarter. This righteous character is described quite extensively in the 91st Psalm, where it is said [v. 1. f.]: "He who sits under the shelter of the Most High, and remains under the shadow of the Almighty, says to the Lord, My confidence" etc. For this belongs to faith and righteousness. Then follows [vv. 4-7.], "His truth is shield and buckler, that thou shouldest not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrows that fly by day, of the pestilence that creepeth in darkness, of the pestilence that wasteth at noonday. Though a thousand fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, it shall not befall thee." Why? Because he deviates neither to the right hand nor to the left, but walks in the middle of the straight and right road. And afterwards [v. 11.], "He hath commanded his angels concerning thee, that they should guard thee in all thy ways." Surely this guard causes him to persevere in the right way against all temptations that entice him to godlessness. Finally follows [v. 13.], "Upon the lions and vipers shalt thou go, and tread upon the young lions and dragons." What is this? Nothing other than that the righteous man overcomes all the temptations that are directed at his heels by his righteous nature.
69. this righteous being praises the
Apostles Rom. 6 and 13 and in other places where he teaches that although we are justified by faith, yet he warns us to beware of obeying the lusts, and not to yield up the members for weapons of unrighteousness, but to renew ourselves day by day, putting off the old man and putting on the new man. And there is no doubt that the prophet in Hebrew said this in the plural: In righteousnesses (in rectitudinibus), which our Latin translation has expressed by the singular: In justitia (the translator has also changed this for aequitate), to indicate the innumerable creeping beasts of this great sea, and the great beasts with the small ones, that is, the many and various reenactments by which the way of justice is attacked, so that, although there is only One Justice (justitia) and One Righteous Being (rectitudo), nevertheless it is said of many, because it is exercised by many ungodly acts and is renewed as it were so many times.
From this we can understand how great a grace it is to have Christ as a judge in righteousness and godliness, and in how right order he has set righteousness before godliness, since there are many who begin to be justified by faith, but are immediately corrupted and turned away by perverse things to another way, since nevertheless (as they think) faith remains, at least the faith produced by their own doing (fides acquisita, as they call it). And this perverse nature or corruption is most dangerous in spiritual things, of which we have said in the 5th Psalm. Meanwhile, let us stay with this distinction of righteousness and piety until we find something better, since the same, I think, throws much light on a great number of scriptures in which these words are found.
70) This is perhaps something minor, but nevertheless it must not be passed over that the verb "he will judge" according to the Hebrew way does not indicate a work as well as an office and a dignity, as Ps. 110, 6: "He will judge among the Gentiles, he will do great battle, he will crush the head over great lands." Thus, in the book of the Rich-
ter said of the rulers of the people of Israel that they judged, that is, Israel rulers.
By this is signified that the kingdom of Christ is ordained, not to conquer cities and men, but sins and vices; and they that preside instead of this King shall preside in such judgment, having this end only in view, that they may make the people of Christ as pure as possible from sins and errors, as it is said in the 122nd Psalm, v. 5: "For there sit the seats of judgment, the seats of the house of David." For judgment is an office exercised against one inferior, by which he is reproved and cleansed from sins; righteousness is a service rendered against one superior, by which obedience is rendered to his word. The one concerns the justified spirit, the other the flesh, which is to be put to death; but both come from one and the same King and Judge, Christ, by means of the ministry of the word through the apostles and apostolic men.
71) It is not contrary to what has been said, if one wants to apply this verse as a general saying also to the last judgment of the last day, and in general to every judgment, whether it is according to severity, by which the ungodly are also overthrown in this life, or according to kindness, by which the elect are converted, because it is one and the same judgment of God over all. For those who do not want to be judged in gentleness, nor to be cleansed from their sins in piety, so that they may be saved in the righteousness of the Spirit, make for themselves a severe judgment out of the kind judgment, while righteousness and piety nevertheless remain in the vessels of mercy. For sin must be condemned by the right judgment of God, whether it be separated from the ungodly or clinging to them forever.
72 And in this sense the apostle treats this verse, as can be seen in Apost. 17, 30. f.: "Now God commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has set a day on which He will judge the world with righteousness by one man, in whom He has decreed, and He holds up faith to everyone after He has judged the world with righteousness.
raised him from the dead." This is also alluded to in Rom. 3, 5. 6: "Is God also unjust, that He is angry about this? Let that be far off! How else could God judge the world?" As if he wanted to say: He will definitely judge rightly.
73 For Peter also makes one and the same judgment of God out of the one by which he converts the ungodly and the one by which he condemns the unruly, saying: "For it is time for judgment to begin on the house of God. But if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not believe in the gospel of God? And if the righteous is hardly preserved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Here Peter makes use of the saying Proverbs 11:31: "If the righteous must suffer on earth (that is, if he is recompensed as a sinner and an ungodly man), how much more the ungodly and the sinner?" This is expressed in Hebrews thus, "Behold, wrath is recompensed for the righteous on earth, because he is an ungodly and a sinner." But Peter wants to say what is written in Ezek. 9, 2. ff. where the Lord commands a man whom he sent, who had a writing utensil at his side and was clothed with linen, that he should strangle and even cut off all. He says [Ezek. 9, 6.]: "Behold my sanctuary"; this is what Peter calls the time of judgment, which is to begin at the house of God.
74. so also Jeremiah says, Cap. 49, 12. "Behold, they that were not guilty of drinking the cup must drink; and thou shouldest go unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou must drink also." Behold, it is the same cup, but they drink in such a way that it comes to a different end with them, the one is cleansed and converted by it, the other is rejected and condemned. Thus it is said in Deut. 32:36: "The Lord will judge his people, and over his servants he will have mercy." It is therefore the same judgment for all, but the end is unequal.
V. 10. And the Lord is the poor man's refuge, a refuge in trouble. 1)
1) Vulgate: Lt kaetus 68t äominus rkku^ium puupkri, uH utor in OMortuniMtidu8 in tributatione.
75 Here he describes the other, the victorious army, namely of the godly, just the
XXXXX. In Hebrew, the same expression is used for refugium and for adjutor, which Jerome translates: Et erit dominus elevatio oppresso, elevatio opportuna in angustia [And the Lord will be an exaltation for the oppressed, an exaltation in due time in anguish]. For the prophet wants to indicate that the poor people of the apostles and martyrs have been elevated and have become victors through the word of Christ, and always will be, over the great and mighty of the world. In the same way it is said in Isa. 9, 11: "The Lord will exalt the warriors of Rezin against them", that is, he will make the warriors of Rezin victors. Thus he prophesies here that it will happen that the persecutors of the church, as the defeated, will have to concede victory to the victorious church. When this happened, it was unbelievable, but now it has become miraculous, as it was when it was preached; and all this is brought about by the chiding, judging and sitting of Christ on his throne.
76) What [in the Vulgate] is expressed by in opportunitatibus is called in the Hebrew: in time, and the same word is used as Ps. 1, 3: "He who brings forth his fruit in his own time. But the Latin interpreter translated it very well: In opportunitatibus [in due occasion], whereby both the impatient are punished and we are comforted. For the impatient, for whom every delay is too long, prescribe to God the time and manner in which they want to be helped, as they are punished Judith 8:10 ff: "Who are you to tempt God? Will ye appoint to the Lord of your pleasure the time and the days when he shall help?" He has promised those who ask, knock, seek, that he will give them everything, but the place, the time, the manner, that is, the opportunities he has reserved for himself alone.
77. for if he heard immediately how we cry, he would hear us to our great misfortune; first, because for faith, hope, and love there would remain neither a place nor a custom, if immediately according to our purpose our desire were fulfilled, as Ps. 78:30. f. of the Jews in the wilderness.
It is written that they did not desist from their lust (non fraudati desiderio [Vulg.]) when they demanded meat food in unbelief and impatience over the delay; but the wrath of God also burned against them at the same time, and they perished.
Secondly, if there were no custom of faith, hope, and love, there would be no purification of sins and no destruction of the sinful inclinations by which we senselessly seek after the things that are present and fall into the senses. But if the inclinations are not purified, and we do not become accustomed to doing without goods, we can do no good work, never please God, and therefore never be saved.
Divine mercy is so concerned for us that it is reluctant for our sake to give what it itself has commanded us to ask for, so that it may bestow on us a great benefit and an abundant gift. That is why Isaiah, Cap. 64, 4. says: "No eye has seen, without you, God, what happens to those who wait for him." Note the word, "Those who wait for Him," and, "What no eye has seen," to which the apostle adds 1 Cor. 2, 9: "And hath not entered into any man's heart," and instead of, "They that wait for him," he puts, "They that love him." For only those love God in truth who wait for the truth of the one who promises. But those who fall away love themselves. Thus it is said in Ps. 27, 14: "Wait for the Lord, be confident and undaunted, and wait for the Lord."
About this matter, Johann Tauler has said many excellent things in his German sermons. For these are pure (recti) in heart, of whom the 73rd Psalm, v. 1, says: "Israel nevertheless has God for comfort, who only is pure in heart," etc. which rhymes very well with this. For we have said that a pure heart is one that does not seek its own, nor the evil way against itself, 1) and to such a heart the Lord is its comfort (bonus [Vulg. Ps. 72, 1.]), for these taste and see how kind the Lord is [Ps. 34, 9.].
1) In the original edition: nee in se ipsurn üspravaturn, which, as it seems to us, must be understood after 8 68. In all complete editions, except the Weimar one, ost is added, also in the Basel one.
81 And by these two names the state of ours is actually expressed, that is, of the hidden youth, or the new people, who live in the mystery of faith, and who are described as poor and afflicted. For as he had described the godless enemies as such people who have a famous name, great power, and swords, and great multitudes in the cities, who thereby outwardly have a beautiful appearance and great prestige, so on the other hand the godly had to be described according to their opposite form in their poverty, and yet the victory was given to this despicable group against those glorious people and the hope of Jordan, so that it might be established that he said he would tell the wonders of God by rejoicing in your Lord, who pushes the mighty from their seats and lifts up the lowly [Luc. 1, 52], and looks upon the lowly in heaven and on earth [Ps. 113, 6].
V. 11. 2) Therefore those who know your name hope in you, for you do not abandon those who seek you, O Lord.
What it is to know and love the name of the Lord and to hope in him is abundantly stated in the 5th Psalm in the verse [v. 12, § 316 ff.]: "Let all who love your name be joyful in you" etc. But both the hope and the knowledge of the name of God belong to the figure of the XXXXX, to depict the same, because her life is hidden in hope, and she does not want to know her name, but only rejoices in the name of God, while the wicked boast of the things that are seen and of their own name.
But this can be understood as if it was said in the indicative Futuri: And they shall hope in thee that know thy name etc., fo that from an example of deliverance in past time arises a strengthening of hope in future tribulation. In this spirit the prophet begins the fourth psalm: "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, who comforts me in anguish," as it is said there. For this verse speaks to the consolation of the weak, so that all may trust in God.
2) In the Basel: Spirant instead of: sperent.
hope who call on his name, having seen so many miracles he has done in the past.
83. And this is spoken against the sense of the flesh: "For you do not trust those who seek you," so that they may learn to expect the appropriate time. For judging by all the senses, it looks as if God has abandoned those who seek Him. Against these storms of thought one must lift up the rock of this verse and confidently say: "You do not rely on those who seek you, O Lord."
V. 12 Praise the Lord who dwells in Zion, proclaim his deeds among the people.
(84) Behold, this verse also declares whom he understood by the one in the title, namely, the remnant of Israel, who, having left the old synagogue, which had a beautiful reputation in the splendor of the world and worldly holiness, are born by faith into a new people and a spiritual youth, which walks not in the ceremonial splendor of the letter, but in a new spirit, despising and laboring under cross and suffering. He shows this by calling on us to praise Him who dwells in Zion and to proclaim the deeds of God among the people.
For no one else has preached the mysteries of God to the Gentiles than the apostles and others who were converted from the Jews, as Isaiah Cap. 66, 19. f. foretold [Vulg.], "I will send some of them that are saved unto the Gentiles which are by the sea, unto Africa and Lydia 1) unto the bowmen, unto Italy and Greece, and unto the isles afar off, where they have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles, and shall bring all your brethren from all the Gentiles. "etc. Likewise from Micah, Cap. 5, 7, we have said above about the rest of Jacob among many nations.
86 Neither is Zion to be understood figuratively in this passage as the church spread over the whole world, but we understand the same to mean the letter
1) The text here has et, which is missing in the Vulgate and in our Bible.
after the city of Jerusalem, in which Christ founded, began and completed his church, since the prophet speaks of those, namely the first apostles and saints, who dwelt on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. But Ps. 2, 6. was said about Zion, how Christ was appointed king on his holy mountain Zion. For he did not establish the church and then depart from it, but was established in Zion and dwells there, and has become very near to us.
This is said against the pretensions (larvas) of those who attribute the kingdom of the church entirely to human presumption and power, having in mind the prestige of men, as if Christ alone reigned in the triumphant church and left the contending church to men. For if we believe that what is said here is true, that Christ dwells in Zion, why do we labor so anxiously for our rights, titles and sinecures (ditionibus)? Why do we stir up so much trouble with our statutes, covenants, treaties, yea, wars and dissensions? And since we entrust our souls to him [Christ] in baptism, believing that they will live forever, why then do we keep, strengthen and protect our bodies and our goods in such a way by the doings of men? But such people do not believe that Christ dwells in us, therefore they receive the reward that their unbelief deserves; they are given over in a wrong mind to do what is not fit [Rom. 1. 28.].
88) The prophet also indicates that it will happen that the Jews will be abandoned and Christ will be preached among the Gentiles, since he predicts that the deeds of God will be proclaimed among the Gentiles, and now begins to list the sufferings and victories that happened to the believers among the Gentiles, as we will see hereafter.
89 "The doing" (studia), which is called in this place in Hebrew, some have translated by works, others by miracles, still others by counsel (consilia). I like above all that which our [Latin] translation has, studia, by which, as a quite general word, are comprehended the works, the undertaking, the occupation of every one.
The word studium in the Hebrew is used to describe both the counsel and the work of God. God's deeds (studia) are therefore actually his wonderful works, which he performs with good deliberation (consulto). These are, as we have said, that he humbles the proud and exalts the humble, turns the wicked behind him, and is the protector of the poor. Because the Jews spurned and despised this, Paul says Apost. 13:46: "Behold, we turn unto the Gentiles." This proclamation also from among the Gentiles converted many, and angered many; for on both sides Christ is a sign contradicted; he is set for a fall and rising of many [Luc. 2, 34.].
V. 13 For he remembers and asks for their blood; he does not forget the cry of the poor.
He interprets more clearly the deeds of God, which he taught to be proclaimed, namely for the comfort of the afflicted. For God is a slow retributor, as the wise man says Sir. 5, 4, and great is the richness of His goodness, patience and longsuffering [Rom. 2, 4]. For it is not before his eyes that he asks for the blood of the saints, nor that he is mindful of his poor; for this longsuffering it is necessary that we admonish ourselves by these spiritual psalms.
91 And again he describes the appearance of ours by beautifully indicating the cause of the title. For when he speaks of the blood and cries of the poor, does he not thereby indicate that they bear the image of death and all suffering? Truly, a new kind of people who live under death, rejoice under suffering, triumph under oppression, who, being forgotten, are heard in their cries! How could it be hidden deeper than under the blood? Therefore, if anyone has doubted that in this psalm the martyrs are speaking, read this verse and pay attention to their blood.
92 Thus we also see by what power the martyrs overcame, namely by blood and crying, and how far the church today has departed from the figure of the first church, which, even more bloodthirsty than
Babylon, rather, sheds the blood of others and cries out to heaven against herself, thinking that she is doing God a service by doing so.
93. But it matters little whether you want to apply this verse to past sufferings with which "the youth" of the martyrs were afflicted by the Jews, or to present and future ones, although the succession of the text, 1) fits more to the former sense, since among these 2) he makes known [to the Gentiles] the deeds of God, by which they [the youth] are delivered from the fury of the Jews, so that he may show what is to be preached among the Gentiles about the deeds of God, and why he is to be praised; For immediately he shall speak of the calamities which must be endured among the Gentiles.
94. But that God remembers the blood of the saints and does not forget the cries of the poor, we understand, first, by the kindness of the conversion of the ungodly, which happened through the merit of the blood and the cries of the martyrs, as St. Stephen converted St. Paul, St. Lawrence converted Hippolytus, and in short, the Church converted the whole world through blood and prayer. Secondly, according to the severity, against those who despise this kindness and remain in their godlessness, of whom Christ Luc. 18, 6-8. says: "Hear what the unjust judge says. But should not God also save His elect who call to Him day and night? I tell you, He will save them in a moment."
See how evangelical doctrine and evangelical life remain the same everywhere. It is the duty of Christians not to repay evil, not to pay like with like, not to avenge themselves. Thus, in this verse, the martyrs shed their blood, but they do nothing else but cry out, so that we too may be instructed that each one should be patient in his own cause, and without vengeance, and turn to God only with prayer, as it is done in the Bible.
1) In the Wittenberg, Weimar, and Erlangen: seHuentia textus; in the Basel and Jena: seouenk textus.
2) The Wittenberg, the Jena, the Weimar and the Erlangen have in Kos, whereas the Basel have in üas. We have followed the latter reading. Roth, too, seems to have read it this way, for he offers, "Because the prophet indicates God's deeds to be done among the Gentiles."
Rom. 12:19 says: "Do not avenge yourselves, my beloved, but give place to wrath, for it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay." But this was formerly a necessary commandment when the gospel was in bloom; but now that one's own opinions rule, it has become a counsel given to the perfect.
V. 14. Lord, be merciful to me; behold my misery among the enemies, who lift me up from the gates of death.
96 [What the Vulgate says: Vide humilitatem de inimicis meis, has] St. Jerome thus: Vide afflictionem meam ex inimicis meis. Therefore humilitas in this place evidently means a miserable state (vilitatem), oppression, toil, and it is also frequently taken in Scripture for the poor, as if to say: sadness and anguish of soul (molestiam animi), which he suffers among enemies. "Enemies" in this place actually have their name from hating, and are called in Hebrew: Haters. Furthermore, this idiom is unusual in Latin: Humilitatem meam de inimicis meis, because there seems to be something omitted (eclipsis), which is to be completed in this way: Behold my misery, which I suffer from those who hate me.
Now it is the movement of the mind, which is expressed in this verse, in those who, after having overcome some sufferings, are again oppressed, cry and pray that they may be delivered, so that the prophet not only indicates that the saints are exposed to tribulations continuously, but also describes the figure of the church, in whose person he sings, which gives thanks and praises in the former martyrs, sighs and cries in the present ones, prays and wishes for the future ones. Therefore, here too, as he asks that his affliction be regarded by the mercy of God, he recounts the earlier miracles of God, that he also raised him from the gates of death.
97 In my opinion, the apostle Paul gave a good example of this verse in the tribulations he was burdened with in Asia, when he wrote 2 Cor. 1:8 ff: "For we do not want to deceive you.
Dear brothers, our tribulation that happened to us in Asia, when we were weighed down beyond measure, so that we also refused to live and decided that we would have to die. But this happened because we did not put our trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead, who redeemed us from such death and still redeems us daily, and hope in him that he will also redeem us from now on, through the help of your intercession for us.
Therefore, both the apostle and the prophet conclude from the greater to the lesser. If you (he says) lifted me up from the gates of death before, be merciful to me also now in my affliction, since those who hate me are burdensome to me. It is easy for a man to have faith and hope in a lesser affliction, when he has received the fruit of hope in a very great one.
I believe that this exceedingly heavy gate of death is a persecution, of which the apostle, as you can see, says that he had decided to die in himself. I know that in the Scriptures "gates" are taken for town halls or places of assembly where one received a judgment, as we will see in the following verse, but that others follow the figurative interpretation and understand by "gates of death" vices or sins through which one comes to death.
But let us be content with the simple sense, and understand death, as I have said, as bodily death, and the gate as the entrance to it, so that the gate of death is the entrance to death, or the instantaneous and urgent death. Although this is of little importance compared to eternal death, yet if it is not overcome by the victorious grace of God, there is no difference between it and eternal death, indeed, it is in truth the beginning of eternal death. Otherwise it is hardly called a slumber and a sleep or rest of the saints. Therefore, we have to pay attention to the emphasis in this word: "the gate of death", so that we understand that the apostle and the holy martyrs struggled with death in such a way that they felt a kind of taste of eternal death, which also Christ Matth. 16, 18. refers to by "the gates of hell".
seems to have. For if he had not wanted to indicate something more terrifying than sensual death, he would not have used such glowing and powerful words as he says: "Out of the gates of death."
V. 15: That I may tell all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, that I may rejoice in thy salvation. 1)
100. for thus this verse concludes in the Hebrew, and what is here expressed by annuntiem, is above in the first verse by uarrabo, for it is the same word in both places [XXX]; but he might have translated thus: Pro- pterea enarrabo omnes laudes tuas. "To all praise" he says after the same manner of speaking after which he said above "all miracles." But this attitude has been treated in the 5th Psalm, where it was said how those rejoice in the Lord who love his name. For they delight in proclaiming and praising his praise. Therefore they pray that they may be helped, and hold undaunted that the Lord is their Helper. If he did not come, his praise would also completely fall away. As it is said in the 6th Psalm, v. 6: "For in death thou art not remembered," so also here he says that he is lifted up from the gates of death to tell his praise and to rejoice in his help.
Therefore, we see that this psalm is sung in the person of the whole. For the martyrs who have been killed do not recount the praises of God in the contending church, but the others who are still there or follow after peace has been obtained or the wicked have been put to death, for whom His praises are recounted, so that the works of God may be made known and His name may be known for the comfort and hope of the faithful and for the conversion of the unfaithful. For in heaven, where all see the glory of God, they have no need of a preacher to praise (praedicante)]. But on earth, where the glory of God is not comprehended in any way, since He works under such opposite guises that it seems that He has rather forgotten ours, than
1) Vulgate: [V. 15-0 Hui sxallas nie äs xorlis morlis, ul anuunlism oiunss lauäaliouss luas in xorlis äiius 8ion. [V. 15.0 Lxsutlado in salulari luo ete.
that he may remember us, it is necessary that this glory at least be glorified by the word and known in faith.
102 I believe that it is sufficiently clear that "the gates of the daughter of Zion" according to the Hebrew way of speaking designate the oerter, at which the faithful come together for God's word, for prayer, for the sacrament, for repentance and for the binding or loosing of sinners. For in the gates formerly sat those who were to judge, as it is said in Proverbs 31:23: "Their man is renowned in the gates, when he sitteth with the elders of the land." And it seems not improper (absurdum) to understand by "gates" in the law of Moses the cities, according to the figure of the synecdoche, since it says 5 Mos. 17, 2. and in similar places: "If among you in the gates a man or woman is found" etc. I believe that the cities are called by this name because of the mystery of the future churches, in which the entrance and exit is both open and certain. The exit, I say, to the wars and works, the entrance to peace and rest. In these gates, God's praise is told, as we have seen and see.
"To the daughter of Zion" he says, as above, because the Church began on this mountain and from there has progressed over the whole earth. And perhaps he did not add in vain: "the daughter", and was not content to say: in the gates of Zion, because he foresaw that Zion and Jerusalem should be laid waste. Nevertheless, the Church, which is the daughter of the same, has its gates over the whole world, in which God's praise and glory are preached for the blessedness of the Gentiles, and judgment is held to put to death the sin of the old man, as has been said.
(103) "That I may rejoice in thy salvation" (in salutari tuo). The word salutare tuum is frequent in the Scriptures, and is generally referred to Christ, which is true, but not at all clear. For by salvator [savior] and salus [salvation] something else is signified than by salutare [help]. For secular is called by the Latins that which the Savior uses to confer salvation, as we say of food, drink, medicine, and similar things, that they are salutary.
things (salutaria). Thus Christ is most appropriately called salutare, since he himself is the medicine by which we are saved (salutare'). He is the bread that gives life to the world, and in general the physician and the medicine by which the sins of our souls are healed, by which we are also delivered from all evil.
So the meaning is: I do not seek salvation in myself or in any man, for the shell of man is of no use; I will gladly be forsaken of myself and of them, that it may be granted me to be saved in Christ, your Son, from all sin and all evil. For he is the most salutary ointment, he is our consolation, or as the apostle 1 Cor. 1, 30. says: "He is made unto us of God wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." With these words he has very well interpreted the power of this word salutare, and the custom of Christ, and our incorporation into Christ. Only you must beware of the dreamers, the sophists, who make Christ our righteousness and wisdom in such a way that they always set him up either as the object or the cause of our righteousness, but they do not know at all their branch, which takes place through faith in him; of this alone Paul speaks. For faith in Christ causes him to live, move, and work in me, no differently than a healing ointment works on a sick body, and we become one flesh and one body with Christ, through the inward and inexpressible transformation of our sin into his righteousness, as this is represented to us by the reverend sacrament of the altar, where bread and wine are transformed into Christ's flesh and blood. 1)
104. who knows and has experienced this, immediately has a disgust of being helped by men (salvari); he gladly lets himself be condemned by them; he is happy about God's help alone; he rejoices and gives thanks to God that he is such a one to whom Christ is his help (salutaris), until he, made completely blessed, is similar to him who made him blessed by offering himself. Therefore
1) This is still the papist doctrine of transubstantiation. Likewise in the following.
the word salutare, because it includes the custom and the power of salvation, fits the contending church better than salus, which will rather be a thing accomplished in the world to come. Meanwhile, Christ is the leaven hidden under three bushels of flour until the whole is leavened. For with this he deals, this is his judgment, this is his chair in this time (as we have said), that he sweeps out sin in his faithful, and fills them with righteousness through himself, as it is said in Heb. 1:3: "He beareth all things with his powerful word, and hath made the purification of our sins through himself, and hath sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
And quite beautifully, although somewhat obscurely, this verse seems to treat the sacrifice (sacrificium) of the altar, that is, the mass. For this must be done in the mass, first, that the praise of God (that is, the Gospel) be told, in which the miracles, the deeds, the works, the benefits of God are praised, and that in the gates of the daughter of Zion, that is, in the assemblies of the faithful; second, that the people be leavened with the wholesome leaven, that is, be filled with Christ and be refreshed, so that they may learn to be glad about the sheath of God. For this table is the table of a great and sweet banquet, of which we must eat with gladness. But this will fit those who suffer tribulation and humiliation from enemies, as is said in the previous verse.
But since in all other passages of Scripture it is stated that this sacrifice is to be celebrated in the midst of a congregation of many people and for the same, strange thoughts have often risen in my mind and are still rising, as to what is to be thought of the individual and private masses 2) in which that is not acted upon at all, for which this sacrament (mysterium) is instituted. There is neither preaching nor communicating, you might say that this is telling the praises of God, when the Gospel is read and heard by one person, but very seldom.
2) Compare Luther's writing "Von dem Greuel der Stillmesse," Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, 1198.
720 XV, 11S-1I7. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 9, 15. 16. W. IV, 860 f. 721
and you want to think that this is communicating when a single person, who cannot be called a community (communitas), uses this sacrament. For I say it freely, that those are obviously mistaken who say this mass only to do some good work, as if this mystery were instituted to do a good work, and not rather primarily and solely to use the righteousness of Christ and to exercise the power of the help (salutaris) of God, as we sing: I will take the cup of salvation (salutaris) and call upon the name of the Lord. Not as if I condemn the silent masses (missas privates), of which I know and have experienced that they have been very salutary to many, but only to those people who have been afflicted by great temptations, but because I believe that the custom of the same, which prevails everywhere, is hardly salutary to very few.
V. 16: The Gentiles are sunk in the pit they have made; their foot is caught in the net they have set. 1)
105 Instead of infixae sunt, Jerome has demersae sunt, which would fit nicely if we also put fovea [pit] instead of interitu [perdition]. For it is the same expression that means perdition, pit and net, perhaps because people perish by the pit and the net. And again, the same idiom is used here that we thought of in Ps. 7:16 [§ 98], since the Hebrew text omits the pronoun quem and simply says: they have fallen into destruction, they have made; just as: he has fallen into the pit, he has made. In short, the same expression which is there translated by "pit" is here rendered by ruin (interitus), and this verse is almost in all things like it and of the same opinion, so that it is evident that this saying was quite generally known as a proverb, which is held up to us there and in this verse. For also what is said here: "Their foot is caught in the net that they had set" is indeed different in the words, but in the opinion
1) Vulgate: Inüxas kunt Zerrtes in int^ritu, (Mein tseerunt, in luqueo isto, yuern avseoriäerunt, eornpreUönsus est xos eornin.
is no difference from what is said there [Ps. 7:17.], "His calamity shall come upon his head, and his iniquity shall fall upon his crown."
The meaning is obvious, that the godless persecutors of the martyrs are sunk in two ways; some according to gentleness, others according to severity. An example of severity was shown to us in the 7th Psalm in Absalom, who fell into the pit he had made for his father. This also happened to the Jews in the desolation of Jerusalem, since they had it in mind to desolate the church, just as Rome was desolated for this reason. The same must necessarily happen to all persecutors of the godly, even though they lie a little while above, as it is written, Proverbs 11:8: "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked is put in his place." And Sir. 27, 28.: 2) "He who throws the stone on high, it falls on his head." All this and the like, like this verse, is spoken literally for the comfort of the suffering and weak, so that they may be sure that what they suffer will fall back on their adversaries, and that they will be saved, without this, that their adversaries will not only be subjected to their physical misfortune, but will also be crushed by a still worse evil in the spirit, since they both sin against godly men and also incur the punishment for their sins. This is expressed by Jeremiah [Cap. 17, 18.] thus, "Smite them twofold." Thus it is also written of Cain, Gen. 4, 13. that his sin clung to him, but that at the same time he did not escape his punishment.
But in this passage it is proper to look at the example of kindness, because it is an exceedingly sweet psalm, and [v. 6] it is said that everything is directed by the word 3) of rebuke. And this agrees with the following, where it is said [v. 17], that one can recognize that the Lord
2) In the editions: "6t lkroverd.^ 27." Wiewohl Sprüchw. 26, 27. would fit the sense, but the wording of the text is Sir. 27, 28. The Weimarsche has the latter in the margin.
3) It offer here indeed all editions verdu, but after 8 38 will have to read verdo. After that we have translated.
and [v. 18] that the wicked may be turned to hell, and [v. 21] that a Master may be given, that the Gentiles may know that they are men; yet the example of severity is not rejected.
(108) In order to make this clear to the simple-minded, let us put before them two opposing wars, that of the flesh and that of the spirit, in which the godly and the godless fight with each other in this world. I call the war of the flesh the one in which the wicked rage against the godly, as has been shown in the case of the martyrs. Here the wicked are always on top, yes, one sees how they succumb, while the saints only suffer, do not strike back, do not take revenge. There is only one thing they do, namely, they let the wicked rage and do as they please, fighting by acquiescence alone.
But [v. 19.] "the hope (patientia) of the wretched will not be lost forever," but death and whatever evil the wicked have inflicted on them will finally fall back on the head of the wicked, and they will be immersed in the destruction they have brought on themselves. For they will die, and calamity will seize the unrighteous people in their ruin, and they will never be saved from it either, as the righteous are saved. Now this is the fleshly struggle of the godly and the godless, this is the end and the victory of both. Thus the greater must serve the lesser [Gen. 25:23]; and he who has the upper hand, the reddish and bloodthirsty Edom, is trampled under by the later, Jacob.
The spiritual war is because of godliness and godlessness. Here again, the ungodly have the image of the greater and firstborn (prioris), Edom, but the godly have the image of the lesser and laterborn (posterioris), Jacob. Here, war is waged over religion, faith, opinions, the sense of the spirit; over all these things that concern God, for which also the carnal war arises and is waged, in that the godless establish their own extremely stubbornly, but pursue the cause of the godly in the most impetuous manner and
condemn. Here, actually, the two children in the womb of Rebekah bump into each other, so that the mother herself, frightened by the danger, said [Gen. 25:22], "Since it should thus go with me, why did I become pregnant?" This is a very bitter struggle. Such a battle was that of the apostles against the Jews and false apostles, of the martyrs against the clergy and servants of idols, of the teachers against the heretics, and always and everywhere the lowly have such a battle against those who are hopeful in their hearts.
Here the wicked excel in numbers and valor, while the mighty, the wise, and the saints of works faithfully stand by them, as can be seen very clearly in the example of the Arian heresy. Then, among their troops, the reason, the sense and the opinion of the great multitude reigns, and they are exceedingly well armed on all sides.
The godly, however, have almost nothing except the thanks they offer because of their salvation; they are few; simple-minded people, fools and sinners are on their side. Then, because what they speak is beyond the sense, understanding, and delusion of the great multitude, they seem to be overcome by the very fact that they speak; indeed, they are despised and ridiculed. Then those become confident and puffed up by the opinion and applause of the great crowd and their great ones, and soon fulfill the word Ps. 14:6: "Ye desecrate the poor man's counsel, but God is his confidence." Until then, the righteous succumb, or seem to succumb, until the right time comes.
111. but if they persevere in this wholesome giving of thanks, whether they die or suffer in the meantime, the Lord comes in due time, saying, Not so, but the greater shall serve the lesser, that is, the victor shall be subject to the vanquished, as we have quoted above from Isa. 14:2: "They shall hold captive them of whom they were captives, and shall rule over their beaters." But he saith it, and so it cometh to pass, for [Ps. 33:9.] "As he saith, so it cometh to pass." But then it comes to pass, when (as he will say below [v. 17.]) it is known that the Lord establishes justice, and
the ungodly is brought to nothing 1) in the work of his hands. For by the revelation of the truth this is known, as he said above [v., "Thou chidest the Gentiles, and destroyest the ungodly." For it is not by preaching, but by God chiding, making right, and giving prosperity, that the ungodly are turned back.
(112) But if the wicked have been changed and conquered in this way, it is still true that their foot is caught in the net they had set up, and that they have sunk into the destruction they had prepared, because their wickedness has itself suffered the destruction and the net that they had intended for the godliness of the righteous, in order to destroy them, and has itself perished. They did not, however, perish through the same destruction that they had inflicted, but through a similar one, because the destruction of godliness and godlessness are not one and the same destruction, but only similar in form. Therefore this passage is to be understood according to the figure used by the apostle Rom. 5, 14. ff. where he says that Adam is an image of Christ, while the latter is the author of sin, the latter of righteousness; but he is an image of the same origin, not of the same things.
Thus the wicked are plunged into the destruction that they brought upon the godly, since this is the destruction of the godly when they become wicked, and that of the wicked when they become godly; thus it is the same image, but quite a different thing. These two wars are perhaps painted by Revelation 13:1 ff, where he says to those who fight with the one beast [v. 10], "Here is patience and faith of the saints," and to those who fight with the other beast [v. 18], "Here is wisdom."
There are some, however, who interpret everything in this passage in an entirely spiritual way, and want "to be immersed in the destruction they had caused," that is, that the conscience should be entangled in the sin they had committed and caught up in it.
1) In the text eori-uit - to come to naught; in the Vulgate: est - he is seized, or as Luther translates: "he is entangled," that is, caught.
Others still more shrewdly, that the heretics and ungodly may be caught and entangled in their own speech. For as it is not possible for a liar to have a sufficient memory, so he cannot be careful enough; therefore it happens that they are easily caught by those who observe keenly, just as David killed Goliath with his own sword, and Christ binds the exceedingly strong and gives out the armor on which he relied [Luc. 11:22]; and in general we see that the Jews, the heretics, and all the hopeful have been overcome by this art.
Thus, 1 Sam. 14, Jonathan took it as a sign of future victory when they went to the Philistines if they were called by them [v. 10], but it would be different if the Philistines came to them. For even those who know warfare have this rule, that war must not be delayed until the enemy besieges the walls, but must be met when he is still far off, or better yet, when he is still in his own land; such were the wars of King David against the Gentiles in general. But even the Romans could not overcome Hannibal in Italy, but in Africa Hannibal could not win either.
What then does the divine omnipotence show us through this play with things? Nothing else than what is said here, that the enemies are defeated most surely and best by their own power, their own weapons, their own art, their own means of help. Yes, Christ also conquered death itself by death and the power of death, and condemned sin by sin [Rom. 8, 3.], just as he also conquered the curse by the curse, and gave us power to conquer the devil, the world, and the flesh by their own devices, making us firm and invincible against all their power and cunning by faith and patience. This is a beautiful and lovely understanding, but I do not know if it is appropriate for this verse. For the first understanding seems to be simpler, of the destruction of the ungodly and of ungodliness, which they have intended for the godly and godliness, whether this be of severity, or of goodness, or
The same judgment and work of the Lord, as we have shown above, but it does not work the same for everyone, because it is not received with the same effort.
Now we want to come to the meaning of the words, which, as we see, are quite figurative, by which, as we said in the 2nd Psalm, the Spirit wanted to indicate that it is also a matter of spiritual meaning (allegoricam). For something else is going on than seems to be going on when the wicked attack the godly, whether in carnal or spiritual warfare, for they seem to be the victors and the greater, but they are defeated and must serve the lesser. This spiritual interpretation is confirmed to me most beautifully and briefly by this word: "The greater will serve the lesser". As the greater and the lesser they are before the eyes, namely the victory of the latter, the service (servitus) of the latter. But the true service (servitus), which God regards, is not before the eyes, but is proclaimed by the word of God, and is perceived by faith alone.
Here again you see that one must pay more attention to the spirit in word than in name. And would God that all who are in distress would make this a common saying, so that they would be accustomed to comfort themselves frequently and to say against some sin or punishment: "The greater will serve the lesser. The greater is for us that which oppresses us; but be confident, the word of God is almighty, saying, "The greater shall serve the lesser." This is so certainly true in the future and after the attainment of victory that those who are the greater against us, that is, who persecute us, must also serve and benefit us in the present, so that even their tyranny, which is meant to serve our misfortune, must be a service to us and for our good. The judgments of God are so different from those of men.
"They sank" (demerguntur) seems to be taken from the Egyptians 2 Mos. 15, 10. where it is said: "They sank under (submersi sunt) like lead in the mighty waters." But also the whole verse forms the same history
quite clearly. For just as the Egyptians sought to destroy Israel, having become far greater than it, so they perished by it: so also the wicked, who persecuted spiritual Israel, perished. But the sinking (demersio), or the putting (defixio) [into perdition indicates eternal perdition, from which they cannot be saved, whether you understand it according to severity or according to goodness. For the reprobate will not be called back again, and the truly converted will not eat again for all eternity what they have eaten. For there is a great gulf fixed between them, so that they cannot pass from hence, nor from thence to one another [Luc. 16:26].
Thus, in the 7th Psalm above, he has set words that are unequal in strength. [V. 16.:] "He digged a pit, and fell into the pit which he made." There is something greater in "falling into the pit" than in "making a pit." So also here: "They are put into it, or sunk into the ruin which they had made." It is something greater "to be sunk into destruction" than "to prepare" or prepare destruction; as if he meant to say: The evil wherewith the ungodly are inferior to the godly seems to be their fall and ruin, but in fact it is only a kind of preparation, and more a purpose to bring them to fall and ruin. For they are afflicted with death and calamity, but they live, and it is well with them, as it is said in the 118th Psalm, v. 13: "They thrust me to fall, but the Lord helpeth me." On the other hand, it seems as if the wicked are raised up, fortified and exalted above the godly, and as if they are sinking them into destruction, but in fact it is only a preparation, an appearance, an attempt to rise up, and in truth more of a sinking, by which they will suffer destruction, yes, are already suffering at present.
The same must be said of the second part of the verse, where "to be caught by the net" is something heavier than "to set a net," and yet it looks as if the godly are seized, although only the net is prepared to seize them. I say they will be tempted, not caught, and
The wicked get no further than to set the net and prepare reenactments, but with vain labor. Again, they seem to be free and safe and to seize the godly, but in truth they are seized themselves.
And this verse, if it does not contain a repetition of the same thing, can be applied in its first part to the carnal warfare, in its last part to the spiritual warfare, because the ungodly, who fight according to their ungodliness, are full of cunning and guile against the doctrine of godliness, They do not present their own sincerely and slander what is foreign to them in the most deceitful way, until, when their deceitfulness is discovered, they are seized by God performing His miracles, or they become eternally disgraced by their counsel being revealed to everyone. For it is impossible that the wicked should not proceed deceitfully and deceitfully, since he is a liar from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, and then also, according to his lying sense, burns with a completely impotent zeal, as we have a horrible example of in the Jews. But since he sees that he cannot gain the victory by open action, he turns to deceit and resists the truth of Moses just as the sorcerers of Pharaoh did knowingly and with deliberation. We will hear of such deceitfulness many times later, as we also see in the Gospel that Christ suffered the same everywhere.
Now, if anyone in a simpler sense wants to understand by "net" the stalking with regard to bodily death, we have no objection, for in such a way they stalk the saints even unto death, and yet the saints are delivered, and they are caught in death before they realize it, [1 Thess. 5, .] "For if they shall say, There is peace, there is no danger; destruction shall quickly overtake them."
I leave it, because it is known, that "the catching of the foot in the net" is taken from birds and wild animals, which the bird-catchers and hunters sang with this trick. Through these things, the ailments, the persecutions, the dangers and the fall of the souls are beautifully depicted, especially among the Hebrews. And to
I repeat here: in Hebrew, neither of the two verbs contains the relative guom, but simply: in the pit, they had prepared; in the net, they had set.
V. 17. thus it is known that the Lord establishes justice; the wicked is entangled in the work of his hands, by the word, sela. 1)
St. Jerome and the Hebrew text have so: Agnitus est dominus judicium faciens, in opere manuum suarum corruit impius, meditatione2 ) semper.... And in truth the prophet says in the preterite agnitus est, not in the future cognoscetur. And "the wicked", which our [Latin] interpreter has translated by "sinner", is precisely the ceremonial-keeping work-saint, the Pharisee, who is proud of his virtue, who boasts of his works, who, in order to render service to God for the truth of the faith and for the glory of the holy Church, kills with great confidence the children of God, of whom we have spoken abundantly in the foregoing, who is called in Hebrew. But what Jerome expressed by corruit is more correctly called comprehensus est in Hebrew and in our Latin translation, although the meaning is not much affected by it.
But the prophet goes on to tell the wonders of God, that not only the idolatrous Gentiles, who are persecutors, have sunk into the destruction they have brought, but also those who think of themselves as holy and live in a right way have been found to be sinners; unless one wants to say that this verse is the light for the previous verse, and here what was said there somewhat darkly is made clear.
(116) I am more inclined to believe that the prophet intended to extend the power of the divine work and judgment to all things, so that the Gentiles would not be found to be evildoers only, by being
1) Vulgate: OvANOseetur clorninus juclieiu kaeiens, in opsridus ruunuuln snnrnm eonapreüensus est peeeator.
2) In the original edition and the Basel: Neäitutio. But the Weimar one has rightly changed this to: Neäitutione, as it must be called after the following.
The people of God are to be resisted for the sake of their actions, but their actions themselves are to be found sinful and evil. Paul may be taken as an example of this. When he had recognized that the righteousness that comes from the law is nothing but ungodliness, which makes one puffed up, he also recognized that not only all the evil he had done to the saints, that is, the pit he had made and the net he had set, were the very worst deeds, which before, burning with zeal for the law, he had considered the very best, but immediately condemned even the righteousness itself, which comes from the law, entangled in these works of his hands, as ungodly and evil, which he had believed served the highest righteousness.
(117) The meaning is this: If one knows the Lord, and so knows that he is the judge, or that he establishes justice, then no one can stand before him, however just, wise, and powerful he may be. For it is different to recognize the Lord as a judge than to recognize him as a merciful Lord. He to whom the Lord of judgment is made known falls down terrified, and is made nothing before his unbearable wrath. But to whom the Lord of mercy is made known, he rises joyfully and is exalted above all things before his incomprehensible goodness.
But it is seen that he worketh righteousness outwardly and inwardly. Outwardly by the word of the Gospel and the example of the saints, whom he justifies after the Gentiles have sunk into the pit they made. But this does not move sufficiently until he also looks at the heart inwardly and makes it tremble, as is said above [v. 4, § 18 ff] in the word "before you.
Therefore, he said "the work of the hands of the wicked," not the sins of the wicked, referring in general to those works which the wicked do as if they were good works, in which he also trusts, because of which he is incorrigible, neither hears God's word, nor, when he hears it, believes that it concerns him, without fear, certain that the kingdom of heaven will be given to him. Therefore, no one can convert such a man except the knowledge of the Lord, who judges, before whom no man can ever be saved.
no one is innocent. Nahum 1, 3 [Vulg.]: "The Lord, who makes clean, lets no one be innocent", and 2 Mos. 34, 7 [Vulg.]: "And no one is innocent before you by himself" etc. Behold, then, the marvelous and terrifying power of God's judgment. The wicked presumed to fortify and save himself by the work of his hands, and behold, the judgment of the Lord is recognized, and immediately he is entangled in it and sinks, found to be a wicked man and a sinner.
This verse can also be taken as a general statement, although even the wicked does not believe that he will be entangled in this way: It is preached and known that the Lord establishes justice among the Gentiles, and at the same time it is known that there is no one among men who is not full of sins and entangled therein, since even those are entangled who have great works and virtues before others, which are all counted as sins before God. Thus it is said in Rom. 3:20, 23, 12: "No flesh may be justified in his sight by the works of the law," but "they are all sinners," "there is none that doeth good, not one." And here I like this sense best, that the ungodly is really he who, though he is a sinner, puffed up by his good works, does not believe that he is a sinner. Therefore, he has neither the right opinion of God nor of himself; even if he does not feel this himself, those who recognize [God's judgment] feel it.
What follows: Meditatione semper ["by the word, sela"] is called in Hebrew: XXX XXXX, and is a half verse, the last part of this whole verse, which none of the interpreters seems to have translated. Augustine indicates that XXX (that is, pause [diapsalma], 1) had stood in his codex, but of meditatio or XXXX [he says] nothing. And it is to be wondered what this expression wants to say, especially since it is so significant (tanta) that it alone makes up half a verse, since the first part is so long. For of we have said in the third Psalm. Also this is not certain, whether it is translated as nominative, ablative or vocative.
1) Compare Ps. 3, p 19.
meditatio, meditatione, 1) or o meditative. We have given the meaning of the same in the first Psalm [v. 2.], where it is said, "And speaketh of his law day and night." For it means to speak, to discuss, to chat, and in general all that is exercised by word or by song, yet in such a way that it is done with good deliberation, hence it is often connected with the heart, as Ps. 19:15: "And the conversation of my heart before thee," where the same expression is as here.
Again I confess my ignorance, only that I assume that the prophet talks about a good conversation (meditatione). I want to be the first to bring up unknown things, although the poet says that this is not very certain. How? if the prophet had wanted to praise the efficacy and the fruit of the Word of God by this one expression rather than by an exclamation? as if he wanted to say: Behold, the heathen are sunk in the pit which they had made, they are caught in the net which they set, the Lord is known to do right, and the wicked is ensnared in his works, and all this by the Word (meditatione), that is, by the ministry of the Word. O Word, O ministry of the Word, you are so small a thing, so despised, so weak, so foolish in the sight of men, and so great things are done through you! For thou alone art God's co-worker in all his wonders; not the power, not the wisdom, not the righteousness, not the grace of the world. For so also in our German language, when we are utterly astonished that something has happened through that of which we did not expect it, we are accustomed, either in exceedingly great indignation or astonishment, scarcely to name it, saying: Did he do that?
Thus it is said 4 Mos. 16, 1. [Vulg.]: "And behold, Korah" etc. and it follows [v. 2.]: "And they were indignant", where the first "and" can also be referred to the astonishment alone. From the same agitation, we see, David also spoke 2 Sam. 18, 33. "O Absalom, my son, my son!" But here it is the
1) In all editions: raeditutionem, but the ablative seems to us to be necessary after the immediately preceding words.
The movement of the heart is so great that if more words were added, it would move the hearers less, because the greater the astonishment, the fewer words it uses. And it is indeed astonishing that by the word alone such great masses of the world could be overthrown and degraded, as it was in Christ's time, when the world was in its highest bloom through power, wealth, arts, justice, sagacity, wisdom, prudence, eloquence.
Therefore, according to my sense, I would rather translate it in the nominative: "The word, sela", although I do not reject Jerome's translation in the ablative, because this emotion of astonishment rather uses the nominative. But we have said in the third Psalm that, in our judgment, sela is set in the Psalms as a sign of a great and extraordinary movement of the heart in such passages as this, which for this reason rightly occupies half the verse by an expression that could not be sufficiently expressed by many verses. For it is written 2 Sam. 23, 8 [Vulg.]: "David is, as it were, an exceedingly tender little woodworm", namely because he was a man who was completely full of the most tender, most sincere, most peculiar movements. Therefore, the reading of the Psalms is for us, as long as we are without movements of the heart, like the donkey singing to the lute. For in the Psalms he deals with nothing other than faith, hope and love, and not in the barren desert of idle speculation, but in the fullness of the many times experienced movements of the heart.
V. 18. Oh that the wicked should be turned to hell, all the heathen who forget God.
120 Again, he [the Latin interpreter] translates sinners instead of "ungodly". For he speaks (as I have said) of the trustworthy saints of works, whom no one can change unless they are converted to hell by recognizing that God establishes justice and that his wrath is upon them, so that they may fully recognize themselves. For I do not believe that "being turned to hell" may be taken here for damnation (when someone
I would not object), 1) because the prophet recounts the miracles of God in the conversion of the wicked and the Gentiles.
From this point on, the prophet begins to pray (and continues to pray) until the end of the Psalm, that God may add miracles to miracles, and that what He has done to the converted godless, He may also do to those who are still godless, hopeful, forgetful of God and despisers of God, who must be converted by the same word. What the "being converted to hell" is, we have seen in the 6th Psalm 46 ff]. and above at the word "ringing" [v. 6] and "before thee" [v. 4]; and at that, "that it may be known that the Lord worketh righteousness" [v. 17], we have sufficiently mentioned it. For no one is fully converted until he has tasted hell and heaven, that is, until he learns how wicked and miserable he himself is, and how sweet and good the Lord is, which is especially felt in the imminent danger of death and the terror of the last judgment, and is recognized in the hope and confidence in the mercy of God.
The forgetting of God" must here again not be understood in the way that the majority understands it, but as we have indicated in the 8th Psalm [§ 58] at the word XXXX. For no one presumes more to remember God and to do this over and over again than the wicked, the hopeful and the sinners, since they defile His name daily and in perverse delusion lead and blaspheme uselessly every moment, since they do not think of Him as it is in truth, even ascribing to themselves what is God's and to God what is theirs, that is, they measure God and His works and judgments according to their human sense and inclination, of which we have spoken sufficiently.
123. but he punishes the ingrained ungodliness of the Gentiles, not blaming them for having offended God, or for having departed from him, but for having made their offenses a right and a custom by long duration and complete habit.
1) Only in the Erlangen edition these brackets are not set.
that they no longer believe that God is offended by them, but rather that He is served and worshipped by them, as was the way of the idolatrous pagans and their idolatry. For he who transgresses once does not immediately forget God, but knows that he has done evil, and easily turns back. But he who forgets [God] offends Him without ceasing, and does not know that he offends Him, which is rightly found among the wicked. Therefore the wicked and the heathen have also forgotten God, and it is necessary for both of them to be turned to hell and to be entangled in their works.
(124) Now it is to be noted that this verse is not simply prayed against the ungodly, that they may be converted, but because they are the people who persecute those by their ungodliness and their hopefulness, which the following verse shows by giving, as it were, the reason for this prayer.
V. 19. for he will not forget the poor altogether, and the hope of the wretched will not be lost forever. 2)
He [the Latin interpreter] could have translated like this: Quoniam non in finem obliviscetur pauperis. This also corresponds better to the Hebrew and also excites the heart inclination towards God in a more sweet manner, for this lies in it: God will not forget whose, as he had said at the end of the previous verse, the Gentiles had forgotten, as if he wanted to say with the opposite figure of speech: The pagans forget God by persecuting the martyrs, but God will not forget the wretched, while, judging by the senses, on both sides, the opposite is evident, namely, that the wicked also seem to rage out of zeal for God, so much is missing that one should think that they have forgotten God; again, one believes nothing less than that God remembers the martyrs, who are completely abandoned to the point of blood and death. He even speaks in the spirit and requires the faith that understands how he can help the afflicted and the suffering with these words.
2) Vulgate: (jnoniain HON in ÜN6NI odlivin srit xanxeris, patisntia pauxernin non xeridit in ünsin.
and comfort the dying. But if one pays more careful attention to Hebrew grammar, what is said in the preceding verse, "All the Gentiles who forget God," applies more to those who impress upon the martyrs the word, Ps. 42:4, "Where is now your God?" and afterwards [Ps. 10:11.He says in his heart, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it," so that what he said above about what the Jews suffered, "For he remembers and asks for their blood, he does not forget the cry of the poor," is also reported here about them in what they suffered among the Gentiles.
For both the Jews and the Gentiles have dealt with the martyrs by making them fainthearted in their faith in God, not only by persecuting them, but also by mocking them with the help of God, as they did with Christ on the cross, saying the word of the Psalm [Ps. 71:11]: "God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is no Savior." So even the wicked are not satisfied with killing the body that they should not also try to kill faith and hope. Therefore, according to the Hebrew in the preceding verse, by those "who forget God" can be understood not only those who forget themselves, but also those who use it to make one believe that God has forgotten the wretched; this meaning is clearly explained by Jerome in his interpretation.
The Spirit comforts us most sweetly with these words, so that we may know that the words or thoughts which arouse distrust, pusillanimity and despair in us are not from God, but, as the 42nd Psalm beautifully teaches, from the devil or from men, saying [v. 10 ff]: "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go so sadly when my enemy presses me? It is as murder in my legs that my enemies revile me, when they say to me daily, Where is now thy God?"
128 Thus we see that the holy fathers were greatly exercised in faith and hope, and instructed in that they were
have no hesitation in saying that their pusillanimity is indeed from God, but nevertheless by the devil and by people who arouse this complaint of the heart by word and thought. Incidentally, this work is foreign to God, who cannot work against Himself. Therefore he works that one loves him, hopes in him, believes in him, is happy in him, so that his first commandment is fulfilled, in which he commanded: "You shall not have other gods besides me.
So this verse is also directed in holy indignation against those who reproach him that God has forgotten him, by saying: "He will not forget the poor so completely. For the suffering, the dying and the afflicted have need of such words, lest they become fainthearted. For this is written for our learning [Matt. 15:4], "that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Notice, he says [in the Vulgate] "patience." And here he admits the forgetting of God, but he denies that it will last forever; for he leaves us for a little while, that we may trust in him, but not forever, lest we fall away.
Patientia pauperum, that is, that for which the afflicted wait. For the word "poverty" here is different from that in the first part of this verse, for, as said above, this also means affliction, namely, poverty of spirit, that is, those who are without consolation, of whom it is said above [v. 13], "He does not forget the cry of the poor," that is, of the afflicted. Thus he says here: That which the miserable expect (for the word is one which expresses expectation [expectandi] rather than affliction) they do not expect in vain, for hastening shall come the Lord the Redeemer, in whom they hope. Thus it is said in Ps. 55:23: He will not leave the righteous forever in restlessness. For what he postpones he does not take away, Jerome says in this passage, if one can only hope for it. Therefore, one must expect, but not tempt God to be there with His help immediately.
V. 20. Arise, O Lord, lest men get the upper hand; let all the Gentiles be judged before you.
He closes the psalm with two verses that pray for what he sang about above [v. 14. ff.^, that it has happened and will happen, that is, that the wicked will be converted and perish after they have recognized God's judgment, and that the people of Christ will increase. But he calls them by a contemptuous name "men". He says: "Lest men get the upper hand," that is, since they are XXXX and very wretched, why do they puff themselves up and rise against your saints with pride and scorn [Ps. 31, 19.], trusting in the greatness of their power, wisdom and justice? Therefore let their strength cease, and let them be weak; and let them not prevail against thy saints for ever; yea, rather, let them be reproached and judged before thee, that is, let it be known of them that the Lord worketh righteousness; let them be overwhelmed with terror, let them know with trembling their ungodliness, and seek thy mercy in humility.
For it is different to be judged before God than before men. The judgment of God searches the kidneys and hearts, and finds no one innocent, and therefore it frightens and humbles everyone most violently and sends sinners to hell. But the judgment of men swims on the surface of the flesh, and inwardly invents no one guilty, and for this reason flatters and deceives all who trust in the same, as Isaiah Cap. 9, 16. [Vulg.] says: "And there will be people who call this people blessed by deceiving them, and those who are called blessed 1) will perish." "Unto me," says the apostle 1 Cor. 4:3, 4, "it is a small thing that I should be judged of you, or of any human day; neither do I judge myself: but it is the Lord that judgeth me."
132 Therefore, since all that is said, sung and done to the wicked is in vain, since they give no place to words, works or miracles, and are the adulterous generation, of whom it is said in Matthew 11:17, "We whistled to you and you would not dance, we mourned to you and you would not weep," only this remains for us to wish upon them out of a right zeal.
1) Erlanger: yeatiüoatur instead of: deatiücaMur.
That they may be punished before the face of God, for they cannot bear this rebuke.
V. 21. Give them, O Lord, a Master, that the Gentiles may know that they are men. Sela.
Jerome translates: Instill terror in them, O Lord; let the Gentiles know that they are men. But in Hebrew the verse is divided thus: Give them, O Lord, a master (legislatorem) (or a terror [terrorem]); the Gentiles shall gain knowledge (scient); men [are] they, sela. The Hebrew expression XXXX, which our Latin interpreter translates by legislator, Jerome by terror (terrorem), - which of both it actually means, I dare not decide. But according to my judgment it seems to come rather from the word teach [XXX], from which also XXXX is derived, which means the law. For those who have followed St. Augustine, and understand antichrist or tyrants in this passage, do not satisfy me. For the meaning of this verse seems to be no other than that he wishes the understanding of the law to be opened to the Gentiles, as if he wanted to say: I desired that the Gentiles might be judged before you. Now as I understand this, I say, namely, that you implant in them the right knowledge of the law, then they will undoubtedly know themselves. [Rom. 3, 20. "Through the law comes knowledge of sin," Rom. 7, 7. ff, and again, Rom. 4, 15.: "The law only causes wrath," and 1 Cor. 15, 56.: "The power of sin is the law." For that the ungodly are hopeful without faith has no other cause than that they do not yet recognize the law and its power, for they do not know that it is spiritual and by its letter kills all men, concerning which the apostle deals much, nay, all, in his epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians. If this were not already treated more than enough, and known to you, we would also expound it more extensively here.
134 Therefore I would like to XXXX, since it is a derived word, which means that by which someone is, as it were, instructed by a means and becomes a knower (sciens).
is translated by "legislation", or "instruction in the law", that is, that they should recognize the power of the law, which is soon followed by terror of conscience and horror of judgment, which Jerome translated. For a lawgiver terrifies no one until the law itself is properly understood. Then follows: The Gentiles will gain knowledge (scient), that is, they will become mists who, before the law came, did not know their sin. For it is a verbum without a closer definition (absolutum), which closes the middle part of the verse by its saying so: Et scient gentes, that is, after the law is given, they will be instructed and will know, as it is said in Rom. 7:7 ff: I did not know that lust was sin. "But I lived without the law. But when the commandment came, sin came to life again." And this, of course, is what is so often said in the prophets sHesek. 20, 42]: "You shall know that I am the Lord," and [v. 26. Vulg.]: "They shall learn that I am the Lord," and: "He shall know that I am the Lord," because the knowledge of the law, which leads man to know himself, compels him to recognize and implore God's mercy.
The other part of the verse: "They are men, sela," now shows with great emphasis and movement how man is nothing at all and extremely miserable, as if he wanted to say: They may do as great things as they always can, they may pretend, they may make a lot of fuss, they may be strong, and whatever else can be said about them, they are still men. "They are men," that is, XXXX and miserable. And indeed it is a great thing to know that one is a man, that is, as he says here, what we have sufficiently treated in the 8th Psalm. With the same contempt also Isaiah speaks of it, Cap. 31, 3: "For Egypt is man and not God, and her horses are flesh.
and not spirit." And Joh. 2, 24. 25.: "But Jesus did not confide in them, for he knew them all, and needed not that any should bear witness of a man: for he knew well what was in man." And Paul says 1 Cor. 3:3, "Are ye not carnal?" Are ye not men? And when he paints with restraint and moderation the vanity of man, he is wont to say [Gal. 3:15.], "I will speak after the manner of man," Rom. 3:5. and [1 Cor. 3:3.], "Ye walk 1) after the manner of man."
136. Namely, before God, man is counted for nothing at all, so that the Scriptures, although very reserved, nevertheless show the misery of human nature in the most expressive way, as often as it refers to us by the name "man", as Gen. 11:5: "Then the Lord came down to see the city and tower that the children of men were building. This a speaker would express far more strongly and say: which the exceedingly ungodly, mighty and wicked men built/ Thus it is only a disgrace that by God and in the Scriptures man is called "a man," because by this name he is declared to be a child of Adam, that is, of a sinner. Instead, He has graciously given us another name, that we should be called children of God, as it says in 1 John 3:1, and in the Gospel of John, Cap. 1:12: "To those He gave power to become children of God," and Ps. 82:6: "I have well said, Ye are gods, and the children of the Most High."
Therefore, the "sela" at the end indicates how rare and unusual this movement of the heart is, in which someone feels that he himself is "a man" as well as that others are "men. However, the law causes them to become aware of the best when the Lord appears and gives them the knowledge of it, and arouses terror in their conscience.
1) In the text: uradulstis, for which arndulatis is to be read. The Weimar version also has the former reading, and in the margin, Rom. 8, 1.