I lift my eyes out. *)
The previous psalm was a prayer for the preservation of pure doctrine against the tongues of heretics and ungodly opinions, for this is the greatest and main battle of Satan against the church; but I hold that this psalm was composed to admonish the faithful. For it contains the doctrine of faith. But faith is the knowledge of things that cannot be seen and that must be hoped for, and it clings to the promise and the word of God. But because the word of God is above all human comprehension, and what it promises is either inconsistent or impossible or even unbelievable to reason, faith is the knowledge of things that cannot be seen and must be hoped for.
For this reason, constant exhortations are necessary for those who have begun to believe, so that they may be stirred up against the flesh, which contends against faith and the Word, lest the spirit, weighed down as it were by this burden of the flesh, be completely unmindful of invisible things and become completely absorbed in present and visible things. For our life is moved to and fro under constant storms, like those who sail on the sea. For every day we are tempted by the winds of temptation, as our hearts are troubled either by riches, or by the darkness of the sea.
*The first words of the Psalms from here to the 134th Psalm are not to be regarded as text, but as names of the Psalms, which belong to the superscription. For it was customary to name the Psalms with their initial "words"; e.g. the 118th Psalm was called the Confitemini, because it begins in Latin with this word.
The first one is the one who is in the middle of the world, the one who is in poverty, the one who is in honor, the one who is in shame, the one who is in sadness, the one who is in joy. From this follow much heavier temptations (passiones), namely either security or despair. Therefore, when these storms blow, they must be resisted by the exhortation of the Word, and faith in the Word must be insisted upon.
In this way, I understand this psalm to be, as it were, a teaching by which we are reminded that in this life faith must be exercised continually through exhortations, lest, taken up with the cares of this time, we forget the eternal goods.
V. 1. I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains from whence cometh my help.
What he says in front of the mountains of salvation includes a contradiction, as every doctrine of faith and every promise includes a contradiction, if one looks at the flesh. The godly are promised that the Lord will be with them; but if one looks at the outward appearance, Christ also seems to be abandoned on the cross. In this way, a very beautiful contrast is also shown by this whole psalm, as if the prophet wanted to say: When trials and tests of faith occur, one runs here, the other there; many consolations, many helps are sought. If one thinks that he needs friends, he runs to the friends; if he needs the prince, he runs to the prince. Thus you can see that among my people some run to BethEl, others to Gilgal, others to BethAven, as if they were the mountains of salvation, as among the papacy some run to Rome, others to Compostella, still others elsewhere. For countless are the different kinds of protection and consolation that a heart believes and seeks when it finds itself in a difficult situation, and, what is to be wondered at, it admits much more easily and more readily another protection and consolation than the one and true consolation of God alone. This is the praise of faith, that it looks up in danger to the one mountain of help, which is in Jerusalem, and lets go of the protection of all other mountains. In this way, he sees the wicked as it were with a scornful eye.
Eyes that left the faith and the true shelter of divine mercy that was then at Jerusalem and sought their help on other mountains.
Similar is what we have seen in the papacy. For there were various sects of monks: one kept the Rule of Augustine, another the Rule of Benedictus, another the Rule of Francis; but by their vows they sought nothing but the consolation that they would attain eternal life. The fear of the wrath of God and the anxiety of conscience seemed to them to be removed by those consolations. This is a constant habit of human nature at all times. Therefore David says: Others leave the temple, have an abhorrence of Mount Zion, but I remain in the simple way of true religion and faith, which is on the mountain of salvation, which the LORD Himself has appointed. He calls it a mountain of help in order to reject and condemn all other mountains, which have a semblance of help, as there is also visible help in idolatrous worship, but they still do not have true help. Thus the Jews said that Baal helps more readily than the Lord in the temple. Therefore they cry out in Jeremiah [Cap. 44, 16-18]: We will sacrifice to the queen of heaven, but we will not obey your speech. For since the time that we desisted from sacrificing unto the queen of heaven, the sword, famine 2c. hath taken us. So they left the temple and the true worship and fell into ungodliness.
But, you say, why does God allow idolatry and ungodly worship to flourish? Of course, it is so that He may test us to see whether our faith is true, whether we truly believe in and worship One God according to the Ten Commandments. Idolatry is fine, but only for a while. Thus Ahaz says [2 Chron. 28, 23.], "The gods of the kings of Syria help them; therefore will I sacrifice unto them, that they may help me also." But what does the text say? "The gods of Syria were a case to him and to all Israel." That. 1) is the end of this false refuge. In
1) Erlanger: His statt: Hie.
In this way, gold or mammon helps people: he is a great God who often saves, makes happy, inflates, gives hope; but for how long? Of course, only as long as we live here, but in death he not only abandons his servants, but also plunges them into hell. Therefore, whatever human and visible consolation there is, it is all uncertain and deceives man, and yet it torments the hearts in a strange way and leads them into such darkness that they do not care about God, who is an eternal God and does not tickle with vain consolation, as the world's protection does, but fills them with eternal joy, while the world's joy hardly lasts a moment. For thus He says [John 16:22], "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you." So we are to learn to abide with our GOD and with the invisible consolation. Even if there is something to suffer, if we seem to be forsaken and without joy, it will happen that when God will show Himself that He still cares for us, we will also consider "that this time's suffering is not worthy of the glory that will be revealed in us" [Rom. 8:18], as Paul comforts.
This is therefore the opinion of this verse, that faith is the knowledge of invisible things, which nevertheless must be hoped for, so that we do not think it is a mere speculation, like that of Thomas about the angels. It is the things that we must hope for that we experience, namely, a good conscience, a cheerful mind, an unconquerable faith that stands firm against poverty, envy, the aversions of the world, against error, and even against death. In this way one must learn the nature of faith, namely that it is a will, or a knowledge, or an expectation that hangs on the word of God; this word shows and proves invisible help, which is certain and infallible, but must nevertheless be expected; although it is delayed, it will nevertheless come. It is not necessary to assign a place, time or person to it, because it is invisible, but nevertheless certain. This is where the words of the Psalm really belong: "I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my hull."
Here he indicates that he lacks the pod and yet looks up to the mountains in the hope of help and awaits the invisible assistance.
This is the way we have to behave. I do not see what I shall eat, what I shall drink, how I shall pay the expenses, I do not see how I shall escape the danger of disgrace; therefore the heart throbs as if we were completely deprived of help. Here we must believe that help is certainly prepared, although we do not know when it will come; therefore we must believe and expect. But here we learn how difficult it is to believe, since we have to determine something against what we see, hear and feel. I have often been in the gravest dangers, when it seemed as if the whole world had conspired against my head. For the pope, who is my and Christ's enemy, did not cease to stir up everything against me that there was anywhere in violence and terror. Here the world and reason would rather have advised that I should keep silent than that I should teach under such great danger. For it sees nowhere the help of the Lord, which is invisible and hidden from the eyes of the world; therefore it thinks only what it sees, namely the downfall. But I am silent here about my mind, I will not say anything about my faith and my hope, even though I have often been troubled by these dangers: but the outcome shows that the help, which was invisible and hidden from my eyes and the eyes of the whole world, appeared, so that not only did nothing happen to me from my most powerful enemies, but also that the word of the gospel was spread further and stronger every day through new opportunities. Since the flesh cannot see the invisible, we must get used to the fact that faith says in all dangers: I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; there is certain and ready help, however little I see it, and the flesh or reason sees and expects something else. Thus, these words of faith beautifully depict the nature of faith, what it is and what it is.
But here one asks why he says "to the mountains" and not: to GOD; then, why he speaks in the majority, and not of One
mountains, because this plural seems to speak the word of idolatry. To the first question I answer that this and similar passages (as [Ps. 20, 3.]: "He sends you help from the sanctuary") actually belong to our theology, which teaches that God wants to be heard, that he should be worshipped, hoped for, prayed to according to his words, and not according to our thoughts. Thus He says in the second book of Moses [Cap. 20, 24.], "In what place I will make remembrance of My name, there will I come unto thee, and bless thee." Therefore all Jews, in whatever place or country they were, were bound to the temple at Jerusalem, so that even when they prayed in their house, they had to turn their eyes toward Zion. The prayer of the pious in Babylon far from the Temple and Jerusalem pleased God, but because they sang and prayed to God, who dwelt on Mount Zion and had set up his tabernacle there. And this was the reason why the prophets condemned the sacrifices and other worship services that were instituted or performed in other places. For it was not enough to say, O GOD, who hast brought thy people out of Egypt, for so also did Jeroboam call GOD, by the right name of GOD, and perhaps prayed more and more fervently than those who were in Jerusalem in the temple. For this is what hypocrisy is wont to do, and idolatry is much more fervent than true godliness. But why did God not like such prayers? It was because the other mountains were not chosen; they did not have the word of God. Therefore, God wanted to hear the prayers only in the One Place, so that they would at least turn to Jerusalem with their eyes and heart when they could not be there with their body. Therefore, when Daniel wanted to pray in Babylon, he turned to Jerusalem, not only because Solomon had asked in his prayer that when they were once driven into exile, they would turn to this place in their prayer, that God would hear them and bring them back to the land, but because God wanted to be worshipped in the place that He Himself had chosen, so that He would increase all arbitrary and self-chosen devotion.
We, in the new testament, are of the be
We are freed from the restriction to external places, as Christ says [John 4:21]: "The time is coming when you will worship neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem. But it is Christ JEsus who is our spiritual place, because God has decreed that He will not hear anything except through Him, as Christ says [Jn. 16:23], "If you will ask anything of the Father in My name." Through him, therefore, we offer to GOtte the farrows of our lips [Hos. 14:3.]. Therefore, apart from Christ, there is nothing that we should believe, hope for, or obtain. This is the most important part of our doctrine, so we must hold fast to it. There have been many who wanted to please God apart from Christ. Thus Arius, though he took away Christ's divinity, still wanted to be regarded as having the right God. Our monks believe that they please God through their vows and their monastic customs. These all do not lift up their eyes to the mountains on which David looks, that is, they do not look at Christ alone, although this must be held, that Christ alone is our only place, our time and all circumstances that are required for prayer, so that, just as the Jews had no other sanctuary than that at Jerusalem, so also we have no other sanctuary than this One, Jesus, the Son of Mary.
In this way I answer the first question, that David binds the prayer to the holy place, which is ordered to Jerusalem, where the memorial of the name of God was, which he had founded himself [2 Mos. 20, 24.]. Before that time it had been in Shiloh and Gibeah, where the tabernacle had been. In those places he heard the prayers and accepted the sacrifices; but in other places he accepted neither prayers nor sacrifices. For there was not the remembrance of the name of the Lord, which he had given himself, but the remembrance of the name of idolatry, which the godless Jews had invented for themselves. Now, however, in the New Testament, the name of God dwells in Christ and the Church, which is One Body with Christ, where the Word of God is, baptism, the Lord's Supper and the practice of obedience to God.
My answer to the second question is that,
1788 m- 203-205. Au[1. on the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 121. w. IV, 2439-2442. 17 89
- Although he seems to prophesy of the church of the New Testament, in which there are many mountains, not just one, that is, God in Christ hears the prayers of believers everywhere, and prayer and worship are not tied to a particular outward place, it is possible that the prophet uses the plural, either for the sake of reverence, or because there were two mountains in the city of Jerusalem, Mount Zion to the south, and Mount Moriah, on which was the temple. But as I said before, the plural also indicates a contrast, as if to say: The idolaters run to their mountains, but I will stay with my mountains, that is, with the one mountain of the temple, which serves me instead of all the mountains.
But that he adds: "I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains from whence cometh my help" is clearly a word of faith. For the flesh thinks that from these mountains come the devil, the cross, and harm of all kinds. Therefore, the flesh does not call them mountains of help, but mountains of abandonment, because it sees that for the sake of religion it is oppressed by the hatred of the world, by poverty, by temptations of the flesh, by terror 2c. This seems to be an abandonment, a rejection from the face of God and a descent into hell. Faith fights against this judgment of the flesh, and judges not by what it feels and sees, but by the word that God speaks. This commands to believe invisible things, and to become completely, that I say, invisible, so that you believe riches in poverty, joy in sadness, help in abandonment, and a certain and eternal grace in being rejected, as David does in this passage. He is overwhelmed by misfortune, feels no help in it, and yet he says: "I lift up my eyes to the mountains, from which help comes to me. One must therefore lift up one's eyes, not fix them on present adversity. For this means to agree with your eyes and ears, that is, to hear your flesh, which sings to you of the wrath of God, of being forsaken, of the greatness of the danger from which there is no salvation. Therefore, the eyes must be lifted up to the mountains of God.
And the ears must be directed to the voice of the Lord, which speaks and promises that help will come from these mountains. Although it is invisible for a time, it is nevertheless certain and fully ready. Those who are in riches, honor and dignity do not live in invisible things, therefore they easily exalt themselves in their hearts; but those who lack these things and suffer in body and soul, let them lift up their eyes, that the help which is invisible may become visible to them, as it is promised in the word.
These are the words of a man who is experienced in spiritual things, who has felt what we feel, namely, that our senses feel it burdensome when we see no help in abandonment, when we suffer not wealth but poverty, not honor but shame. Under these evils, the heart is like a very heavy burden that presses down the eyes and the head, so that it neither thinks nor sees anything except earthly things. So he exhorts by his example that we should then lift up our eyes and look toward the invisible things, of which the word promises that they are in complete readiness. In this way, this psalm explains the nature of faith. Now follows an interpretation, as it were, of which mountains he speaks:
V. 2. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
I am talking about the mountains, not which the physical eyes see. For who could either see so keenly or be so wise that he could see with eyes that Mount Moria is the holy mountain? The eyes see a heap of earth, but they do not see the holiness that is placed on it, because the word of the Lord is there that God said He would dwell there, because He established the memorial of His name in that place, that He would be found there and not in heaven. For he who has departed from that place has not been able to find or take hold of God in heaven, just as, after God has revealed Himself in the man Christ, we rightly ask and believe that all those who do not take hold of this man born of Mary cannot take hold of God in general, but rather that they cannot take hold of God in heaven.
Although they say that they believe in God, the Creator of heaven and earth, they in fact believe in an idol of their heart, because apart from Christ there is no true God. Therefore, David does not look at the mountains of Jerusalem with bodily eyes, as a cow looks at her stall, but with the eyes of the spirit, that God dwells there through His Word. Therefore, these mountains are no longer clay or earth, but mountains of the Lord and a fullness of the Godhead, so that apart from these mountains nothing that is God (nihil Dei) can be found. Therefore, he rightly says that his help comes from these mountains, that is, from God who dwells there, as we believe that Christ is the throne of grace in whom everything is found, but apart from him nothing is found.
But that he does not simply say "of the Lord", but adds the phrase: "who made heaven and earth", indicates the contrast, in order to reject all other protection, which people seek. Mammon, too, is a god, that is, he is worshipped by men as a god, and he also helps men at times; but what is he good for if there is a lack of grain? No one can satisfy a hungry stomach with money. So also, what good is it in drought? What use is it in sickness of the body? If mammon cannot help in these physical ills, what can it do when the conscience is tormented by sins and death? Mammon, then, is such a piecemeal giver of joy that it could not be piecemeal: it only delights the eyes, like a hastily painted table, to such an extent that among the Germans the saying has also arisen: Geldrede traurige Rede; while, on the other hand, antics of the very smallest things are more exhilarating. To these and similar aids, which the world seeks, David now opposes the Lord, who not only made gold and silver, who not only made the fruits, the water, and heaven and earth, that is, the angels, men, and all creatures, and also forgiveness of sins, faith, righteousness, gladness, and peace of heart, together with eternal life itself. This, says David, is my almighty God.
1) Erlanger: ut instead of et.
I ask for the help of the Lord, who is able to give me not only health for a few years, but also a life with a calm conscience, and after this life, eternal life. I ask this Lord for help, who can give me not only health for a few years, but a life with a clear conscience, and after this life, eternal life. 2) In this life he gives me to despise death and all the rages of the world.
In this way the prophet heats himself up and sharpens his faith for us as an example, so that we too may esteem our gifts and our hope great. For if the peasants can make their pennies great, which last only a moment and cannot help in the slightest dangers, if they can rise and puff themselves up because of their riches, why should we not also be puffed up in confidence in the so great God who made heaven and earth, who has everything in his hand that is necessary for this and your future life? But because these are invisible things, they are generally neglected by us. But we must learn that even if we have to fast and miss this help for a while, we still hope that it will surely come.
V. 3. He will not let your foot slip, and he who guards you does not sleep. 3)
This [the Vulgate text] would be more correctly expressed by the future tense: Non dabit, ut moveatur pes tuus, neque dormitabit, qui custodit te. But this verse is connected with the previous ones. For since the prophet has here given an exhortation to faith, he is intent on using these words as promises to urge and exhort people to hold on to their confidence in divine help. But it is extremely necessary not only to exhort others
2) In all editions: seä aeternarn vitarn ennr seenritate eonseientiae, et po^t Kurie vitaur. Instead of this we would expect: secl vitam enrn ssenritate eonseientiae, et post karre vitam aeteriranr vrtain. According to this conjecture we have translated, because the expression: "the eternal life with calm conscience" seems to us to be inconsistent, and the words: et post karre vitarn would float in the air. The old translator has helped himself by omitting the waiting "enrn seenritate eonseientiae et".
3) Vulgate: Xon riet irr eornnrotionern pecieur tuunr, nec^ne ckornntet, <;ni eustoäit te.
but also to ourselves, because of the visible and present dangers and plagues. For since that which grieves is present, while that which comforts is absent, it is necessary that we be encouraged by the word to perseverance and patience, as long as that which afflicts us continues to be present. For this experience must be connected with the teaching. For our eyes are far too dull to penetrate to the invisible things and see the end of the present tribulations. Therefore, nature is always looking around for a way to be saved, and since it does not see it, as it is hidden and invisible, it is martyred. Therefore exhortations are necessary, so that this (I may be permitted to speak so) brevity of nature, or the narrowness of our heart, may be enlarged, made greater, or prolonged. This can be done by the one who sees the end of our temptations; his word must be heard, our heart must not be heard, which only feels and sees the beginning of the temptations, but does not see the end of the suffering.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit now makes use of the art of speech, so that the exhortation becomes all the more urgent. And here we must first remember that if the opposite were not to happen and be felt, this exhortation would be in vain. For if the end were to come immediately with the challenge, or if the Lord were to give soon, when we begin to need something, what would be the use of promising anything? So there is no need of teaching in the things we know beforehand, nor of exhortation when we are without danger and temptation. That he therefore says, "The Lord will not let thy foot slip," evidently expresses this concern that hearts in temptation are in danger of being utterly ruined and forsaken. Here, therefore, exhortation is needed so that faith will not be completely extinguished.
Reason judges that it is abandoned, and experiences what a certain man of war used to say, that no one was more in danger and harm than those who served God and the emperor faithfully. Since this is so
the word of faith must be applied. First of all, it says "that all who want to live godly in Christ must suffer persecution" [2 Tim. 3:12]. It holds up Christ as an example, who through the cross entered into glory, and reminds us "that we should be conformed to the image of His Son" [Rom. 8:17, 29], that is, "suffer with, if we would also be exalted with to glory"; hence tribulation and the cross are present. Then the word also shows what one must do and what remedies one should seek in such tribulations, namely, that one must pay attention to the word; this divides the challenge into beginning and end, that is, it promises that the challenge will not last forever, as our heart judges. Furthermore, the word "beginning" means that the temptation lasts only for a moment. Thus Christ calls it [Joh. 16, 16.] "a little one" and compares [v. 21.] the tribulations of His own with birth, where death and life are very close to each other. For the woman, who had already despaired of her and the child's life, immediately forgets all pain as soon as the child is born. So also Paul says [Rom. 8, 18.]: "Sufferings of this time are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us."
You must follow this judgment of the Word and not your sense, which judges that the evil is infinite and in fact makes an infinite circle or an infinite line out of a mathematical point. Our reason is so unlearned in this divine and heavenly mathematics that it describes what God judges to be a moment, a point, a droplet, a spark, as if it were an eternity, an infinite sea, a conflagration. But, you say, I feel and experience it so. That may be after all; but which of both do you believe? Is your opinion more correct, or is God's vision more certain and better? Therefore we must do this, that we do not judge according to what we feel, but according to what the word says and judges, or God himself in his word.
In this way the Histories show: when Julianus persecuted St. Athanasius and threatened him with death, Athanasius had said,
This danger is like a little cloud that gradually consumes the sun. Dear, what could have been said more contemptuously of such a great power as the head of the Roman Empire held? It could have been more correctly compared to a sea or a tremendous conflagration. But as Athanasius said and believed, so it happened. For Julianus was killed shortly after in a desert in Persia, but Athanasius remained unharmed. Following the example of this man, we too should watch our dangers and learn to look to the word of Him who promises, so that we may not depend on ourselves and our feelings, but on the promise of the Lord. Death, pestilence, hunger, the hatred with which the world hates us, shame and other evils are indeed evils, and are rightly compared to a tremendous and terrifying storm. If we consult reason here, we will be defeated, but we must lift up our eyes to the mountains and hear the voice: I am the LORD your God, therefore magnify my word and my help. When this happens, the greatness of the danger becomes small, and on the other hand the word of God and the promise become great in the heart, so that you can say: However great the storm may be, here is God, here is His word. In this way, all the raging of the devil, even sin and death, will be annihilated, and what before seemed to be an infinite mass will become a tiny dot.
In this way we must learn the discernment of the Holy Spirit. If your father, your son, your wife dies, if you lose your property, your honor, your health, your confidence of heart, and sometimes even your Christ, these are certainly great things; but beware that you do not make a circle of heaven (sphaeram) out of the time when you feel this, and an infinite line out of this point. For however great the evil may be, God is certainly infinitely greater. Therefore, if he is still standing, if he has not perished, as he cannot perish, what is it great that your wife has died to you, that your children have died to you? What is it great that your body and your life perish? For what is that.
when you compare it with God and His grace? Of course, everything that we have and are is only a mathematical point when compared to God and His riches, which He promises in His word. Therefore, we should look at this and learn to rightly divide or distinguish in the challenge, namely, that the challenge and the cross in itself, that is, according to the flesh and the feeling of our heart, is something infinite. For if Christ and God are nothing, even the slightest evil could not be overcome by us, but would oppress us. In this way, all misfortune is infinite.
But is it not a lie that God and Christ are nothing or are nowhere? Therefore, if he lives and is God and Christ, as it must be necessary, one must not judge the cross in itself (absolute) according to our heart, but according to the category of relation (relationis), that is, one must hold it against God's help; then it will happen that the category of greatness (quantitatis) will fall away altogether. Sickness is a great challenge to the flesh, it is unbearable to die, to be thrown into the fire 2c.; it is a great thing to lose wife and children, if you look only to yourself. But these things must be viewed in comparison, with regard to the Almighty GOD, namely, that although we have lost these things, GOD nevertheless lives and reigns; even though He leaves us "a little" afflicted, He still wants to make us blessed. Thus He says in Isaiah [Cap. 54, 7.s: "I have left you a little moment." This moment seems to the flesh to be something infinite, but, as I said, the eyes of the flesh are deceiving. Therefore, the judgment is to be made according to the promises of the invisible things, and one must look at what God says in His word.
This is the exercise of faith to which David reminds us in this passage, that we are to learn to look to the promise and the Word, and to judge according to the eyes that are lifted upward, not according to present things. But we learn here that theology is an infinite wisdom that can never be fully grasped or understood.
can be unlearned. For we see the change which sudden cases cause. Today I am completely healthy, tomorrow I die; this danger makes heaven and earth seem too narrow for us to grasp, and all creatures become, as it were, hell for us. For this is what the flesh, to which the devil also gives his thoughts, is wont to do, that it sees neither God nor life, but judges that evil is infinite. But this is not a judgment, but a lie of our flesh and of the devil, against which one must fight, and believe that even in our death God remains, and our King Christ lives, before whose eyes my death, with all its tribulations and dangers, is nothing. For what is death, what is the loss of children and the like, if you hold it against God?
But who has learned this art sufficiently? We can speak and teach to some extent, but a theologian must become a theologian through practice and experience, so that we can say with David: "He will not let your foot slip," that is, he will not let you fall. For the flesh sets itself against it, because it feels that not only the foot slides, but that it is completely trodden underfoot. Behold the Son of God, what he suffered! See John the Baptist, Mary, the apostles, the prophets, what they suffered! Look at the Church today, what she suffers daily! This experience has given rise to a proverb: The greater mischief, the better fortune. That is why the world, fearing these dangers, is moving away from the Gospel. Thus the opposite of what David promises in this passage is in view, for it seems that the Lord lets the foot slip. But it only appears so, in truth he does not, and it appears so to the flesh; whereas the spirit and faith judge that this is an exaltation before God and an honor; they judge that the death which one suffers because of the confession of the gospel is the beginning of a better and eternal life; they judge that the shame is an unspeakable honor in the eyes of God. This is the judgment of faith, although the flesh feels differently, but according to the feeling of the flesh no judgment must be made. For what else should the teaching of the
What is the purpose of the Word and such exhortations and promises? Therefore, evil must be turned into good, and where the flesh concludes that it is daily given up to be trampled into the dung, faith, according to the word, must pronounce that it be made like the Son of God and conformed to Christ. For these things are to be believed as invisible and also impalpable, not to be seen and felt.
But those who do not want to believe, but follow their feelings, they choose the little point of honor and the pleasures of this world. But how miserable will be their situation, if they will be surrounded by eternal pain and tears after this moment of the most essential joy! How much better it would be to be sick with Lazarus here for a little while and to suffer lack, than to have abundance with the rich man here and to be tormented in eternal fire there! This teaching, then, belongs to those who want to believe and do not feel, so that they make a distinction between their dangers and God, and do not merely fix their eyes on the present misfortune, but lift them up to the invisible help promised in the Word. For these dangers, to which the believers are exposed, certainly make the foot slip, but faith causes the foot not to slip into a trap, but that we, as it were, jump over those cliffs of danger, and compare the little point of affliction with the other things, which are infinite, as God Himself is, His power, grace, finally the eternal life, which He has promised to those who believe in Christ.
It is necessary that we know this, so that we can comfort ourselves and our brothers when we are hated, despised, robbed and killed because of the Word. Where shall we run in these troubles? For they overcome all the power of our reason and nature. Certainly to the point that we say that God is greater than our misfortune; God therefore does not die and perish when we perish. Therefore, we must trust in His goodness and power from the bottom of our hearts, and elevate the feeling of the spirit (that I say so) above the feeling of the flesh and our hearts. Those who do not want to do this may enjoy their pleasures, but they have to expect that
they have to drink the yeast of the cup, which the godly drink only in a small part, as the prophet Ps. 75, 9. says, although this also often happens to the godly that they receive physical help. For God does not neglect His own so completely that He should never show in this life that He takes care of them. Thus David, who had been driven out of the kingdom, is restored to the kingdom; Hezekiah, who had been afflicted with a deadly disease, is restored to health; the people of the Jews, who had been scattered among the Gentiles, are brought back. But also here the faith has its place that this help is expected. For it is not immediately available when we need it, or wish it to be. Just as the saints receive help in such dangers, the wicked do not always fare well, but often have to suffer terrible punishments for their wickedness in this life.
Now the aristocracy is doing its will against the poor shepherds of the churches and despises and hates in an ignoble way all scientific studies. But it is not doubtful to me that such a church servant will be preferred to a hundred such noblemen. Thus the papacy has long flourished, but we learn that much of its old power and wealth has departed, and that the papists are facing the obvious punishments of their godlessness. For God also executes His judgment in such a way, physically or temporally, for the godly against the godless. We should now rely all the more on the word and expect help by lifting our eyes from this tangible misery to the invisible help. What now follows in the psalm has exactly the same opinion, for the Holy Spirit has abundantly comforted and admonished the church.
V. 4. Behold, the keeper of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.
These, too, are lying words, if you look at them according to the flesh. For does "guard" mean when we are thrown into prison and handed over to the executioner to be burned? when we are plagued by the devil and the world with all kinds of misfortune?
yes, when Christ himself is put on the cross? when the Baptist is beheaded according to the will of the harlot? Is it not the utmost absurdity (barbaria) to call this a shelter, where the highest abandonment takes place? The flesh therefore judges that here the words are used in their opposite sense (antiphrases esse), and that by God, who preserves, one must understand one who abandons. Therefore they are words of the spirit and of faith, not of the flesh and of feeling. For according to the flesh, God did not protect the patriarch Jacob when Joseph perished through the cruelty of his brothers, and yet afterwards the outcome showed that he had been so protected that Joseph almost became the king of Egypt.
The Lord does not protect us in such a way that we do not have to die, that we do not have to see the death of our wives, children and parents, that we are not plagued daily by the devil, that we do not have to endure all kinds of injustice from the ungrateful and evil world. Where is the protection seen here? Where is it revealed that God is watching over us? Therefore the eyes must be lifted up to the mountains, where he has decreed his word, there one must hear it, what he speaks of his holy temple, namely, that he is not a sleepy abandoner, as our flesh judges, but a guardian and watchman, who keeps watch for us. Faith takes hold of this word and judges according to this word, no matter how much the flesh opposes it and thinks according to its feeling that God neither sees nor hears, but is like those of whom the Psalm says: "They have ears and do not hear; they have eyes and do not see." Therefore the flesh praises its god Mammon that money is always ready and everything that is necessary for life. This little point admires and grasps the flesh and does not see what will happen in the future when one has to die and leave the goods behind. That is why it does not care about this guardian who protects in faith and word.
Therefore, we who are believers and see this miserable blindness of the world should certainly consider that this hat, which is kept over us in faith and in secrecy
1800 xix, 215-217. Au[1. on the 15 songs in the higher choir. Ps. 121, W. iv, 24S6-2tss. 1801
is omnipotent. For this is where the Holy Scriptures lead us and teach us that the kingdom of the devil is a kingdom of sin, death and lies; but if this supreme sentence is established, then it follows that the devil at every moment incites people to sin, seeks to kill and seduce them, or at least has to do with the fact that we want to sin, die, and err. Thus we are always in death, always in danger from ungodly opinions and from sin. But what do we do in these attempts of Satan? Of course, we teach, write, read, sleep, eat, drink, and do other things of the body and the senses. Here our theology teaches us through our experience: If God did not watch when I sleep, if he did not care, if I did not worry about anything, if he did not defend and protect me when I am safe, it would happen at any moment that we would die, lose our speech, eyes, ears, hands, feet 2c. The fact that this sometimes happens, that wife, children and friends die or fall into great danger, serves as proof that the devil's kingdom is a kingdom of death and sin. Because we live in this kingdom as long as we are in the world, it happens that we are often plunged into sin against our will. Thus David becomes a murderer and an adulterer, so that we may learn that the devil's kingdom is in this world to cause sin and death. That we are still alive, that we do not fall daily into grave sins, we have to thank the guardian of whom David speaks here. Theology teaches this irrefutably, and the godly believe it. For they learn by their own example and that of the whole church that Satan does not rest until he has killed either the soul or the body; the destruction of the soul he seeks through lies, through ungodly teaching and ungodly worship; the destruction of the body he seeks through innumerable attempts, which we see daily in ourselves and others. That this either does not happen, or does not happen as often as he intends, is not the good deed of Satan, but of our guardian and protector.
Thus, experience also leads us to the conclusion, after having established this supersentence, that the kingdom is
We are protected without interruption from death and other physical and spiritual dangers through the beneficence of Christ, into whose kingdom we have been transferred through baptism and faith. Hence the glorious sermons of the prophets, in which they sing that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord [Ps. 33:5, 119:64], that His goodness endures forever [Ps. 107:1, 118:1, 136:1], that it cannot be counted [Ps. 40:6] 2c. From time to time, of course, Satan's enterprise succeeds in assailing men with sudden dangers and plunging them into ruin. Such cases should serve us as proofs and examples of the evil he would gladly do to us at any hour, as he does [and would do, 1) if he were not prevented by the protection of our guardian in heaven. For as far as the power of this enemy is concerned, I believe that in one hour he could kill all the people who live on earth. [So if he is able to do it and undertakes to do it, why does it not happen? Without a doubt, because our guardian is watching. But this must be believed, that is why he adds the word "behold", so that it may be evident that the prophet is concerned to impress this guardianship on our hearts.
But here it is to be remembered that God is ascribed this guardianship over our lives, over the kingdoms, the peace, the cities, while he does this through means; first through the angels, then through the princes, the parents, the household 2c. But this is done for the sake that we may firmly believe that these means would be of no avail in guarding and caring if God did not take upon Himself the supreme direction of these matters. He therefore uses the ministry of angels and princes, just as He uses bread and wine. For just as bread and wine do not in themselves sustain life, for otherwise no one would die, and yet are necessary for the preservation of life for the sake of God's order and the nature of our nature, so also the guardianship of angels, princes and other means would be nothing in itself if
1) Added by us.
not the guardian Israel watched and guarded. Because the word reveals this guard, the spirit also believes it. The flesh does not see it, therefore it interprets these words according to the opposite opinion (antiphrasin) to the words: "The keeper of Israel", that is, the abandoner; "does not sleep", that is, he not only sleeps the deepest sleep, but he has absolutely no feeling and he is nothing. For reason judges only according to the points and beginnings of misfortune, not according to the word and according to God, who makes the promise. Because the prophets knew how difficult it was to believe in this way, they exhort against unbelief and the judgment of the flesh with so many words. Nowadays we see that this is generally despised, because it is considered that faith is only a knowledge or a certain acquaintance with history. But it is actually faith that perseveres in the most extreme misfortune and keeps the word of life, thus overcoming all the power of the devil, all trepidation and all dangers, through which it passes with honor and confidence to the immortal life.
V. 5 The LORD keep thee; the LORD is thy shadow over thy right hand.
Though we are protected by the ministry of angels, yet he says, The Lord himself guards thee, and is the shadow over thy right hand, that is, over the things which thou hast to do. For so I interpret it most plainly, and do not approve the opinion that the Lord is over the right hand according to the spirit, but the devil over the left according to the flesh. For he simply says: The Lord directs your affairs. When you teach the churches, when you carry out the works of your profession, when you provide a living for yourself and your family, you encounter many disadvantages: your adversaries harass you, your neighbors envy you; here straighten up and believe that all your affairs, what you do and suffer, the Lord governs and protects you. But here again thou shalt remember what I said above, that these things are said and taught in vain, if we are not left. Therefore, by the very fact that he speaks of the guardianship, he confesses
teaches, and promises from the government that the abandonment and lack of care will be felt as if God does not care for us. It is therefore to our comfort that God thus shows that He knows our miseries and tribulations, and commands that we believe that He is our shadow that covers us. But how much greater is God than our dangers, however great they may be? Therefore, we should have joy and confidence in Him, since He promises that He will take care of us in all things that we have to do.
V. 6: That the sun sting thee not by day, nor the moon by night.
Here one does not have to look for a remote sense. The light of the moon is very harmful, because it not only makes the bodies cold, but also addictive (afficit humore); from the sun it is known how it weakens the bodies. He therefore generally designates by the light of the sun and moon all temptations and all dangers [and says] that in the same he wants to be with us, to help and save us, although it seems for a little while as if we alone bear this heat. For if we were alone, the temptation would be eternal, for there is not so much strength in us that we could persevere continually. Now God allows Satan to spew forth the beginning of his fury against us, but he does not suffer that to harm us as much as he desires to harm us. Therefore, because we have this shadow, we must bear the beginning of the pain patiently, because we are sure that even if we die, our life will still be hidden without danger in Christ, and we will overcome Satan's temptation.
V. 7 The Lord keep thee from all evil; he keep thy soul.
What the previous verse said in a figurative speech, he now says simply and without image. The soul signifies life. Therefore, even if you are killed for the sake of the word, you will not die because the Lord guards your soul. According to what is before your eyes, and according to what is in the flesh, you die, but not according to the truth, because your life lives, namely God 2c.
V. 8. The Lord keep your going out and your coming in from now on until eternity.
That is, wherever you go, at home, in the field, I will always be with you and keep you. "Going out" means going to work, "coming in" means going from work to rest. The meaning is therefore this: Whatever you do, the Lord will always be with you; in no place, at no time, in no thing, in no action, by no person, by no work, will I let you perish, but will
always be with you as your guardian, who am the God of heaven and earth. In this way, through this psalm, the prophet teaches faith not as a dead state or condition (qualitatem), as the sophists do, but as the greatest work and movement of the Holy Spirit, by which we judge according to the word, against what we feel, see, and experience; likewise, by it we overcome dangers of every kind. Of this faith the papists speak and judge no better than a blind man of color.