Apart from these temptations that we have had, there is still one left, namely, sedition, which also the Christians have to suffer. With the title Christ also had to die, as now the gospel is blamed for making rebellious people, for causing war etc. One must learn that it does not want to be otherwise. The gospel teaches peace and obedience; nevertheless it must have the name that it is a rebellious teaching. This makes that we do not want to do everything that they want. So David was also accused by Shimei: "Come out, you bloodhound, who have set yourself up as king in Saul's place. [2 Sam. 16:7, 8]. So it goes; he who serves for peace must be called rebellious, and he is blamed as if he had offended the majesty; therefore the devil shall serve the world.
V. 2. 3. In you, O Lord, I trust, my God. Save me from all my persecutors, and deliver me, lest they devour and tear my soul like lions, because there is no Savior.
2. he confesses that his enemies are superior to him, also confesses that he is abandoned and that they are hard on his side.
V. 4. Lord, my God, I have done these things, and there is injustice in my hands.
3 Now here he comes to the point. If it be true, O Lord, that I have taken my kingdom by force, I consent to suffer what I shall suffer; for he himself is hostile to the same sin.
V. 5: Have I done evil to those who lived peacefully with me, or have I harmed those who were hostile to me without cause?
004 These pieces they blamed all on him, that he should repay evil for good, that he should rob Saul. Therefore he says: If it is my work, let it be done to me. But I did not do it, God did it and urged me to do it. This is how it is with us now: the pope and the bishops were condemned before, but now they want to follow the gospel.
Blame them because they are not allowed to sin with impunity.
"Without cause," as if to say, "It has been your commandment [ that I should take the kingdom].
V. 6. So my enemy pursues my soul, and seizes it, and tramples my life to the ground, and lays my honor in the dust.
This is a defiance of his innocence. For my sake, I did not want to look at life or honor.
V. 7. Arise, O Lord, in your wrath, rise above the fury of my enemies.
6 Behold, how they rage, as they do now; are they mad and foolish? Now therefore he prayeth, Lord, set thy wrath against their anger.
V. 8. and help me back into the office that you have commanded me (Et suscita mihi judicium, quod mandasti).
7. help me handle the kingdom. For judicium means the service and office of governing and presiding over the people. Do this for the sake of your command, so that your honor may stand. So also be angry, and do this for the sake of your people. So he leads first the honor of God, secondly the benefit of the people, that he may rule, and serve God with, and be of use to the people. So I also say: if I did not consider God's honor and the people's benefit, I would not want to preach all my life.
That people will gather to you again.
008 He saith not, To me; lest any man think that he seeketh his own. Thus saith he above, Behold, it is thy office, but look not unto me. An ungodly king or servant divides the people and drives them away from Christ, but a godly one gathers them, not to himself, but to God, for he gathers them to the Word.
And for the sake of the same.
9 Not for my sake. If Absalom should remain in the kingdom, it will be for this purpose.
1410 D- uni- 6i-63. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, E-E. 1411
The people will despise your commandment and will not believe that you have made me king.
Come up again.
(10) As if to say, The word is now trodden under foot; take up the ministry again. It is a prayer against our bishops and monks, who sit on high, and leave our Lord God here.
V. 9. The Lord is the judge of the people.
11. Here is a change of person. They are not the judges, but the judgment belongs to you, and not to those who do not have the word. This is now the one prayer for the kingdom and regiment, for the glory of God, and the welfare of the people. Now he speaks of his person.
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and godliness.
12. He appeals to his human righteousness. I am a sinner before you, but I have a good thing before men.
V. 10. Let wickedness come to an end, and promote the righteous; for you, righteous God, test hearts and kidneys.
(13) They shine beautifully, and so make us insolent. But you, God, do not judge by appearance alone, but test the kidneys, that is, the thoughts and the heart. You know what a man thinks in his heart and what he is inclined to do.
V. 11. My shield is with God, who helps the devout heart.
14 Now follow the words of consolation. For after the trust is established, he becomes joyful, and preaches, 1) prophesies and prophesies. And this is a very good sermon that he preaches here. My help, he says, is from the Lord. Those are counted on princes, swords and weapons, but God is my shield, who helps the right.
V. 12. God is a righteous judge.
15 This is who helps the righteous.
eoneio indicates.
And a God who is daily threatening.
16 He is also a strict judge. He divides the office of a judge into two parts, namely, that he helps the pious and kills the wicked.
V. 13: If one does not want to convert, he has sharpened his sword and drawn his bow and is aiming.
(17) These are words of a very great and mighty earnestness, that he might put under view the wrath of God which is already present; but they believe it not.
V. 14: And he hath laid upon it deadly projectiles; he hath prepared his arrows to destroy.
18. the word dalak [XXX] means to devastate, to kill. He will not shoot with a straw. Those arrows are not a joke, but life and limb. He did not use them to joke, but to destroy with them. But there are such fellows who do that 2) and do not ask anything about it. As they do not believe even now, when God is threatening. Now follows the prophecy.
V. 15. Behold, he hath evil in his mind, with mischief he is with child, but he shall bring forth a fault.
19. He ridicules them, as if it had already happened to them. You do not hear, you do not believe. As it is now, they strive and counsel, they are pregnant with plans and thoughts, that is, you strive and counsel, and when you look at it in the light, it is injustice and misfortune; nothing comes of it. Isaiah also used this same way of speaking [Isa. 8:10]: "All their attempts are in vain. So much now of that with which they deal. Now he also says about their pitfalls.
V. 16. He dug a pit and carried it out, and fell into the pit he had made.
20. as their plot against us is destroyed, so it is also for their own sake
2) "that", namely: that they joke with it. This word "that" is put by us instead of: "one", which we consider to be a printing error. The Latin text says: "one."
Damage, they fall, and are caught in their own rope.
V. 17. His calamity shall come upon his head, and his iniquity shall fall upon his crown.
21 Oh, who could believe these promises, that one could be sure as if it had already happened. So, since the Roman 1)
1) Instead of ImumQum in the Latin edition, read (with the old translator) Uornanuiu.
The first empire wanted to wipe out the Christians, but it fell to the ground, and the Christians still remain. So it is decided: what is done against Christ must come out against them, they must run away themselves. It must be done by necessity, for God is a righteous judge, so he is called. Now this is a lovely and very praiseworthy justice, that he destroys his enemies with their own attacks. Therefore, one should praise him justly.
About the same Psalm.
V. 2. In you, O Lord, I trust, my God.
(1) He starts against God by trusting in grace, but he is silent about works and merits. He confesses that the Lord is his God according to the first commandment. But an ungodly man does not start in this way, but in this way: I thank you, Lord, because I fast twice a week [Luc. 18, 11. 12.].
Help me from all my persecutors.
You are my God, and I trust in you as my God; do now what is due to God, as I do what one who trusts in God should do, that is, help me.
V. 3. Lest they like lions devour my soul.
3. is a narration of his fear, which drives him to trust and pray. For every prayer has the cause that the need penetrates to it.
V. 4. Lord, my God, I have done these things.
He dares, because his conscience is confident, to stand against his enemies, even where God Himself is the judge.
"Such things." As if to say, "In other things I must confess that I have sinned much; but of that which they accuse me, I am innocent, I know it. For it was not of my own will, but according to thy will, that I became king in Saul's stead.
5. teaching (γνώμη): A good conscience forch
even when it is certain. For even though this king is established by the word of God, he allows himself to be terrified by
the splendor and appearance of the things that stand against him, and needs strengthening. He has to go into opposition, and quarrel and fight about certain things that are confirmed by God's word. The conscience is such a delicate thing.
(6) But he decides, "There is no injustice on my side, that is, against Satan, conscience, and the calumny of the adversaries. So he defies, and sets himself upright.
V. 5. Have I repaid evil to those who lived peacefully nnt me.
(7) I have not sought the kingdom, nor cast him out, nor fallen into his own, as Shimei crieth over me, and Satan troubleth me in my conscience, and maketh me to doubt whether I can rightly possess the kingdom. "Without cause," that is, "I have not taken the kingdom] without being urged by thy word, neither have I sought the kingdom out of a loud will. As it is said in the 25th Psalm, v. 4, "They do wrong without cause." Therefore, he rises up with the word and breaks through against this attack of Satan.
V. 6. Thus my enemy persecutes my soul.
8. he places his life and honor safely in God's judgment against his adversaries and is ready to lose them. But he is quite sure to keep them, according to the joyful and sure conscience of his innocence. It is a great seriousness that Moses has, because he wants the Lord to erase him from the book of life [2 Mos.
1414 - D.xvii, 65f. Interpretations on the Psalms. W. iv. isis-E. 1415
32, 32.], and Paul, since he desires to be accursed, Rom. 9, 3. There is a great emphasis on every single word. My enemy takes from me, not gold, precious stones, house and farm, but "the soul", "the life", "the honor". Furthermore, he does not say that he makes me subservient, but "he pursues", "he seizes", "he tramples to the ground", "he buries me".
V. 7. Arise, O Lord, in your anger, rise above the wrath of my enemies, and restore me to the office (et excita judicium meum) which you have commanded me.
9 After his conscience has been strengthened and assured, he now prays confidently and accuses his adversaries, whom he wishes God's wrath upon, because they stubbornly and surely despise His goodness and abuse it to the destruction of the righteous. Furthermore, they have no cause, nor any appearance, but it is pure fury and malicious nonsense in which they presume to be enemies and to harm the righteous.
10 Judicium, that is, the royal office. But see how smoothly he speaks. He does not desire that his kingdom or his honor be restored to him, nor does he remember with a word his royal dignity or authority, but calls it a "judgment," that is, he desires to do the work of a king, and is anxious that he may be of use and service to others, and that too not of his own choice, but because he is compelled to it by his profession; "which thou hast commanded me," he says. I am called to the kingdom by you, therefore I desire to be obedient and to do my office enough.
V. 8. that the people may gather to you again, and for their sake come up again.
(11) I am concerned for the poor people, for if I am not reinstated, and your commandment is nullified, they will become the prey of wolves and deceivers, since they will then agree with Absalom and his, and thereby oppose your word, by which you commanded me the kingdom, and thus, deceived and disobeyed, will be implicated before you in the crime of sedition, and deserve equal punishment.
12. 1) Now behold, how great a danger it is when one participates in the sins of others. 2) That people gather to God when they are obedient to their rulers. 3) That God Himself, namely in His word and commandment, comes up when the authorities are given their due honor. How much more must these two different things occur when the apostles and church servants are honored or despised?
V. 9. The Lord is judge of the people. Judge me according to my righteousness and piety.
13. there stands here a person [the third instead of the other [the second, according to the figure of the Allöosis, as, when one says: It speaks my HErr, that is, you HErr, who have the judgment over all nations. You are king and supreme mayor. Therefore exercise your office between me and them, so that you may justify me by deed and declare my innocence, as you have called me to this office of yours by your command.
V. 10. Put an end to the wicked and promote the righteous, for you, righteous God, test hearts and kidneys.
(14) It behooves a judge to execute these two parts of the judgment, namely, to condemn the guilty and to absolve the innocent. Therefore he had attributed the judgment to God. But now he asks and reminds him to execute this. Thou art a right judge, for thou judgest not by reputation or well-said words, as men do who are deceived, and deceive even when they are guilty; but thou knowest the hearts, therefore thou art not deceived. He says this because Absalom had a great shining appearance, but he had a weak one. The fact that he had forced his way into the kingdom had a great appearance among the common people, and it seemed obvious to them, because they did not pay attention to the word of God who had called him, but they were hostile to the cause itself, because they began it without the word. Just as it happens now that they despise our word, and cry out only because the tyranny of the clergy is broken and lies low. But whoever is in favor of the
They do not ask about this, but they pay attention to what happens to them. But God is judge, and does all these things, he knows it, and our heart testifies to it.
V. 11. My shield is with God, who helps the devout heart.
15. decision. Summa, this is my defiance, shield and castle, the Lord; since he is judge, it is certain that he absolves the innocent.