1. is an exhortation to faith against temptations and plagues, especially those of fate. For the saints must suffer evil, and not only be persecuted, but also be challenged in all ways. There is a lack of good, of friends 2c. For the devil locks himself in everywhere. Therefore those who do not believe seek comfort in their own temptations, so that they may be rid of their misfortune. And so everyone fights against faith.
We have seen that before this time. If one had only one bad leg, he had to pledge himself to a saint; no one wanted to have no heartache. This psalm goes against such people and teaches: "If you lack anything, whatever it may be, just call and ask, and seek it from the one who can help you; do not run here or there, do this or that, let our Lord God help you. But one does not do it, we all want to be our God himself. That is what the bishops are doing now, they do not ask for what they would like to have; they just think: So let us be God.
we do to him. Then our Lord God must look upon it sourly and say, "Is it not lawful for me to do anything to it? So it is a common psalm of all temptations, and belongs to the first commandment, like the one we had yesterday. But in so far as it contains exhortations, it belongs to the third commandment. And it is the purpose (scopus) of this psalm that one should call upon God in all distresses and misfortunes.
V. 2. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, who comforts me in anguish.
These are God's own names, through which He seeks to obtain benevolence (captat benevolentiam). But with this first verse he summarizes the content of the Psalm, namely, that God justifies in sins and comforts in tribulations. Few of them believe this, and they do not accept God's comfort, but have recourse to their own suggestions. They also do not call God a God of righteousness, because they have a righteousness of works. The worshippers of the saints, too, who want to reconcile God with their vows, also want to work themselves out of trouble by works, and thus sin doubly. First, they seek the righteousness of works, and second, they seek another Comforter, and thus take away the names of our Lord God from both of them. But we who believe know that God, though we sin, will forgive us our sins in vain through faith, and will also help us in other troubles. That is why David calls him the God of righteousness, that is, through whom and in whom we have righteousness.
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
Help and counsel, as you did before. And this psalm has such prayer primarily in mind (scopus). Now he exhorts and starts a sermon, would like other people to do the same, and first of all punishes unbelief:
V. 3. Dear sirs, how long shall my honor be profaned?
4. this word "honor" can be understood either for "my God", or for the preaching office, as often elsewhere, as Ps. 16, 9.
I like it best that it is understood for the preaching ministry. You great men, he wants to say, who are supposed to teach others and know how God is supposed to do, even ridicule those who teach this way. For so they say: O you must wait long for Christ 2c. So our honor, that is, our preaching ministry, is ridiculed by them; therefore he scolds them, "How long shall this ridicule last?
How do you love the Eitele so much, and the Lägen so much?
(5) This "vain" and "lying" he opposes to that he said, "GOD of righteousness" and "Comforter". For the GOOD of righteousness is truth, their righteousness is vanity; so GOOD also comforts righteously. But their countenances are lacking, and are lies. As if he wanted to say: That you do something, that is "the vain thing"; that you hope for something after that, that is "lies". So he first shows them the sin, that they do not ask anything about the true God and His grace, but mock the preachers. Now he also teaches them what the office of a true preacher is.
V. 4 Recognize that the Lord leads his saints in a strange way.
006 As if he should say, Learn ye to believe; know ye not his ways? "He leadeth strangely." If you think he will let them perish, he will help them. But ye would have him help you, not by leading you strangely, but as ye have determined; this cannot be. If he is to help, then it must be such help that no one could have provided for himself; just as we have been miraculously delivered from the papacy. When he loves someone, he acts as if he were his enemy. Just as a householder does: he does not feed his son as much as the sow; not that he prefers the sow to his son. Thus, when God gives great gifts in the world, it appears as if God is inclined and loving. But he gives such gifts that he makes a pig fat and then slaughters it. On the other hand, when he sends afflictions to his own, it seems as if he is hostile to them. But it is said: "He leads strangely", that he makes himself so strange, that one thinks he is the
Devil, and not God. This is what he does to his saints whom he loves.
The Lord hears me when I call upon Him.
7 There is "the spirit of grace and prayer", Zech. 12, 10. "Righteousness" is that he leads in wonder; the "comfort" is that he hears. With the pieces let us only remain: here believed, and there prayed. Now he also teaches them about the fruits of faith and exhorts them to patience:
V. 5. If you are angry, 2) do not sin.
(8) After this teaching of faith, they lift up and say: But who can suffer it? Then he teaches them, saying, "You would like to become unwilling, but do not do it; break yourselves, cross such temptations by faith. And what you have that wants to make you grumble, don't follow the movements, you can't fight it, you have to feel the misfortune. Soon a curse is wiped out; now he warns them: "If you feel such evil temptations, do not give in.
Speak with your heart in your camp, and wait.
(9) Go into a secret place, and read the holy scriptures, and keep your heart in silence, and tarry. If you bite yourselves long with it and give word for word, evil for evil, you will not do well; do not do it, go into your closet, sit down contentedly and wait. Yes, they say, we want to arrange processions, have mass sung 2c., as they will do now in Augsburg. Therefore he exhorts them further, and says:
V. 6. sacrifice justice.
(10) So he condemns their works and their nobility: Ye anger God much more with such works. If ye will sacrifice, sacrifice not a swine, but the sacrifice of righteousness, that is, righteousness itself. But "righteousness" is to believe, trust and hope in God, as he declares himself.
1) In the Latin edition the note is here: propris siZniüeLt, eomraonsmiiii. We suppose that eommovsmiui ^"will you be moved"] should be read. The following nurtidus also suggests this. Similarly, in the following Summa of this psalm, § 8: urovsaris.
And hope in the Lord.
(11) But "to hope" means to lead whimsically. And "hope" means, do not seek to see it.
V. 7. Many say, How should this one know what is good?
012 But when I teach and preach like this for a long time, they say: Who? would you teach us? Should the fool tell us something good? We know better than he. So they cannot suffer faith and hope; for they do not want to suffer, but want to be helped either by force or by attacks. The fool, they say, preaches long about hope, but I feel it well, that it hurts me. Well, he must let them go, even though they are called "many," the great multitude. Therefore he now turns to his own:
But, O Lord, lift up over us the light of thy countenance.
13 If they will not, do it to us, dear Lord. "The light of thy countenance is a kind and gracious face. An angry face is dark. Now when God punishes, He looks sour; but when He comforts, it is called "the light of the countenance," that is, a gracious promise. As, "GOD leadeth his saints whimsically." Item: "GOD of righteousness." Such promises are the lights of the countenance, that is, indications and manifestations of grace and mercy. Therefore, he says, "Exalt over us." Let us hear a gracious word, keep us by thy promise, that we fall not into murmuring and impatience. The word "lift up" means as one casts out a banner. Throw up an ensign, let thy word stand fast with us, that we may be governed by it; as one is governed by the panoply in the army, for there is no other comfort but the word. With money, beautiful women, cities and castles there is no comfort, only God's kind word gladdens the heart.
V. 8. You make my heart glad, though they have much wine and grain.
14 The wicked have not the joy of the word, but rejoice that they have corn and wine, that is, riches and the mammon of this world. Like the popes
and monks who sing to our Lord God from a bag of straw; if only they have their monasteries and convents, that is their joy. They become great, not by the word, but by mammon. But this he saith unto the godly for a warning, that they should not be vexed that the wicked prosper so. [There is no harm, he says, for they do not have the joy of their hearts.
V. 9. I lie down and sleep completely with peace.
15. I completely, with all that I am and have, lie down and sleep with good rest.
I will also have to eat. I am sure and command the matter to our Lord God with all that I have.
For you alone, O Lord, help me to dwell safely.
My God is no one, except you alone. They have their mammon; I have you alone and your word; I have enough, and I am safe in peace and security. This fourth psalm is therefore of calamity, but the preceding one is of persecution and tyranny.
About the same Psalm.
Of the calamity in which the weak are broken, and the wicked lust and murmur.
Although the flesh and the world pretend that those who are in poverty or in any other disgrace are cursed and wicked in the sight of God (for it is seen that the law promises good and peace to those who obey it), yet I do not despair, though I am a poor beggar torn to pieces, and a sinner to boot, and have earned nothing but poverty, but I know that I am righteous in your sight through the righteousness of your grace.
This is the matter with which this psalm has to do, that one says: He who serves God has enough; but I serve God and have nothing. That is why he meets such an affliction of faith and says: "God, my righteousness"; that is, by whom and before whom I am righteous, although those accuse me of being ungodly because of my misfortune. But because it is difficult to endure such things, he asks for help that he may endure them, and comforts himself with prayer.
V. 2. who comforts me in fear.
You alone comfort me with your word; otherwise everything cries out against me, because I am in distress: You are lost. As Job's friends did, who in view of his accident, and from what was before their eyes, concluded that he was a godless man before God. Against these, and at the same time against such facts, one must argue with the grace of God. And here it is
God alone who comforts. That is why one must pray.
Now he goes out, having been established inwardly by confidence and comfort, to refute those who are otherwise minded by punishing them:
V. 3. Dear sirs, how long shall my honor be profaned? How do you love the vain so much, and the lies so much?
3. the honor
GOD, of the office, of the cross.
Of the cross, because we glory in our tribulations; therefore the cross is a glory.
The honor of the ministry is the sermon, which the wicked, who are well, laugh at. Yes, they say, wait until a roasted chicken bites into your mouth.
GOD. Why do you ridicule my weak God, since he is "my honor"? Ps. 3, 4.: "You who set me in honor"; and Ps. 106, 20.: "You transformed their honor." There is an emphasis on the word, "mine." For those boast of a strange God, and have not their honor in common with him.
For GOD is our
Money,
Justice, good name, high-mindedness.
4. lies, the eitele 1)
is the idol and the false
1) So the old translator has it, as we think, correctly, because this interpretation refers to the words of the Psalm. It will be read instead of irüauitas in Latin, varütim.
Service of works, against the honor of which it is now said. For the wicked are well off through their merits; they gain the goods of the world, that is, from the devil. But I, as a poor sinner and beggar, have my righteousness without merit.
5. to love, to have gladly,/these words have an emphasis, for the wicked cling to such their trust in such a way, that they do not forfeit my God, that is, my honor, alone.
Those whom you consider to be
The godless, the lost, the wretched,
not in fact, but in faith. The thing deceives you, because you do not have faith, but follow your reason. This is a great thing, that my God hears in all distress, which your idols and works cannot; why then do you love them and seek them?
V. 5 If you are angry, do not sin.
7 For someone would say, "Who can suffer it? Who then will serve God, and so live? Answer: If you are moved either against God or against men, do not sin; that is, do not despair of God, do not act against him, or fall away from him to your idolatry and your own conceit. Do not leave the word, and do not go to the wicked, but remain steadfast and persevere.
Talk to your hearts.
8. do not follow the thoughts of your heart, but hold the word of God before it; speak to it through it, and still it, that it may be established by the word; otherwise it will wander in innumerable ways to find comfort there, or rather to fall into murmuring.
On your camp.
9 That is, beware of the public, keep to yourselves, that is, do not allow everyone to be your comforter, who rather corrupts you or makes you more melancholy. Do not jealousy over the wicked. This happens when you go out and see how they are doing so well. Learn the 37th Psalm. Let the word
but also despise and ridicule. The Christ is no good; but the false lying cap and plate, which is valid, which loves, everyone seeks, that is, an idol.
V. 4. Know that the Lord leads His saints in a strange way; the Lord hears me when I call upon Him.
(6) Oh, that you would know that God is not so minded or judged as you are, but whimsical!
they are
the most blessed, the most blessed,
the happiest,
be with you in your chamber, and comfort your heart, namely the word of God, as he said above [v. 3]: "My honor". And for this you may need a brother [who recited it to you or read it yourself; only that you do not let yourself be found in the castles of Babylon.
Harret (Silete).
10. wait, be patient, that is, have hope through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, 1) Rom. 15, 4. for otherwise, without the Word, it is impossible for you to win, therefore "grasp your souls with patience," Luc. 21, 19. believe and suffer.
V. 6. sacrifice justice.
(11) What are you doing with your sacrifices, relying on them to escape calamity? Rather, do this: "Sacrifice righteousness," that is, faith. This is a Hebrew way of speaking: Sacrifice righteousness, that is, justice. Do God his justice, he will not leave you.
And hope in the Lord.
(12) Even though you lack what you want. You should hope, trust, wait, and that most of all when what you desire is least of all; for your flesh causes you this plague.
V. 7. Many say, How should this one instruct us what is good?
13 But I let it get sour, and I try in vain; for most of the part
1) In Latin it says: eonsolaiionern instead of:
despises it and says: "Yes, say what you want, I can see how it works. You speak good words and do evil things. "Give here, give there; here a little, there a little," Isa. 28:10. Item, to Job his wife said [Job 2:9], "Bless God, and die." And to Toby his friends and his wife said, Tob. 2:15: "Now where is the trust for which you gave alms?" Where is it? Where are they? Ps. 42, 4: "Where is now your God?" These are words of the blasphemers.
14. "Many." This is most painful, that many say this, and it is found in the work, and the devil stirs up, and God pampers, and the conscience doubts, and the flesh grieves.
15 The consolation is: "They say". It is well written, because they say it, but in fact it is not so with the faithful. As if to say, "These are the words of the wicked, that they may afflict the pious against the faith. Well, how well your God helps you; put it on the table and eat it' Baal Peor and Dagon would be better.
Lord, raise above us the light of your countenance.
(16) Against these many and against their ungodly speeches, arise, O LORD, and raise up thy standard of victory, that we may be strong and overcome. For the Hebrew word means to raise up a banner, that is, to give courage to the people of war, to make them confident.
and call to battle against them through his word. He raises his face when he turns to us through the word of grace (which shows the face and not the back, like the law) and strengthens us through it.
V. 8. You make my heart glad, though they have much wine and grain.
(17) The word of thy countenance and light, that is, the cheerful word, gladdens and sustains the faith that is troubled, that it may triumph over all these things. On the other hand, they despise this word of gladness and have their joy in their dagon and supplied belly, because of which they also laugh at the word; as he said above [v. 3]. Therefore they strive to have much, to become great and mighty, to become great and mighty by grain and wine, that is, by temporal things.
V. 9. I lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, help me to dwell safely.
18 He now says goodbye to them. Well, they may go, if they do not want to do otherwise, but they will never have peace. But I will go on this word and my honor in safety, sitting, sleeping, watching, eating, drinking, living, handling 2c. This I have to thank thee for, because thou gavest me these things by the word, without my merit. They do not know this and drive their roads there.