1 Where the Lord buildeth not the house, they that build it labor in vain. Where the Lord does not keep the city, the watchman watches in vain.
2 It is in vain that ye rise up early, and delay sitting, and eat hard bread: for to whom he giveth it, he giveth it sleeping.
Behold, the children are the inheritance from the Lord, and the fruit of the body is the reward.
As the arrows in the hand of the mighty, so are the children of the Ingend.
(5) Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them; they are not put to shame when they speak to their enemies in the gate.
First of all, we must know that "to build a house" here does not only mean to erect wood and stones, so that one has walls and roof, chambers and rooms, but rather everything that belongs to a house, which we say in German, Haushalte. As Aristotle writes de oeconomia, that is, of housekeeping, which includes wife and child, servant and maid, cattle and fodder; as 2 Mos. 1, 21.
Moses writes that God built the two nurses prosperity and houses, because they feared him, and did not slay the children of Israel, that is, he helped them to get enough men, sons and daughters, and what belonged to them. For Solomon intends to describe a Christian marriage, and instructs everyone how to be a Christian husband and householder.
(2) Reason and the world think that a married life and housekeeping should go on as they do; they want to advise the matter with their toiling and laboring, just as if it were to be arranged by their labor. Solomon says no to this, but moves us up to God, and teaches us to ask and wait for all these things from God with right faith. And Mail also sees it in experience. Sometimes two people who have hardly a shirt to put on get married, and yet they nourish each other so quietly and finely that it is a joy. Again, some bring great goods together, and yet they wear away under their hands, so that they hardly maintain themselves. Item, grab it,
two together out of great love, and go according to their desire and choice 1) and yet do not have a good day with each other afterwards. Some have great diligence and fear that they would like to have children, and do not get them. Some, who do not think about it, get the house full of children. Some of them try to keep house quietly with their servants, and all the misfortune comes. And from that time on, the world is a strange place.
(3) Who is he that troubles so with marriage and husbandry, and turns it so strangely? This is he of whom Solomon says here, "Where the Lord does not keep house, housekeeping is lost. He wants to make and keep this saying true, so he sends such abundance into the world to plague unbelief and disgrace the presumption of reason with jokes and work alone, and bring it to faith.
(4) Now this saying alone shall be sufficient to provoke to marriage, and to comfort all that are therein, and to abate avarice. For this frightens the young people from marriage, that they see how it goes on so strangely, and say: There is much in a house. Item: It is well learned with a wife. 2) That is why they do not see who does it and why he does it, and because human wit and strength cannot see or help here, they do not want to go there.
(5) Then one falls into unchastity, if one remains outside, or into avarice and care, if one enters. But here is the consolation: Let the Lord build the house and keep the house; do not interfere with his work; it is his duty to take care of it, but not yours. For he who is the master of the house and keeps house, let him take care of it. If there is much in a house, then God is greater than a house; he who fills heaven and earth will also be able to fill a house, especially because he takes it over and makes it sing from him.
(6) What wonder is it, then, that much belongs in a house where God is not the master of the house? Because you do not see the one who fills the house
1) De Wette: Wohl; Jenaer: wol; Wittenberger: Wal; Erlanger: Wahl. This is not expressed in Latin.
2) This is expressed by the Latin translator thus: vuctn uxorouin, nooepto mnlo pvrituin tieri.
If you look at him, all the angles must seem empty. But when you look at it, you will never know if a corner is empty; it seems to you that everything is full, and everything is full. But if it be not full, it is the fault of thine own face, as of the blind, that he seeth not the sun. But to him who sees aright, God turns back the word, and says not, There is much in one house, but: Much goes out of one house. So we see that stewardship should and must be done in faith, so that there is enough to know that it is not because of what we do, but because of God's blessing and help.
7 But this is not to be understood as if he forbids to work. One must and should work, but do not attribute food and the abundance of the house to work, but only to the goodness and blessing of God. For where one ascribes it to work, avarice and worry immediately arise, and thinks then to acquire much with much work. Thus the contradiction is found, that some labor immensely, and yet have scarcely bread to eat. Others do well with their work and have plenty to eat. This makes everything so that God wants to have the glory, as he alone gives all prosperity. For even if you plow a hundred years and do all the work, you will not bring a stalk out of the ground, but God, without all your work, because you are asleep, makes a stalk out of a grain and many grains on it, as much as he wants.
(8) Therefore Solomon here affirms labor, but rejects care and covetousness. For he does not say that the Lord builds the house, so that no one should work on it; but rather, "Where the Lord does not build the house, those who build it work for nothing. As if he should say: One must work; but that is in vain, where the work is alone, and means to feed itself; it does not do it, God must do it. Therefore work so that you do not work in vain. But then you work in vain if you take care and rely on your work to feed you. Working is your due, but feeding and keeping belong to God alone. Therefore, you must separate these two, "working" and "building a house" or feeding, as far as possible.
3) "much" is missing from Erlanger.
Heaven and earth, God and man are from each other.
9 Therefore one often reads in the Proverbs of Solomon [Cap. 10, 4. 12, 24. 27. 20, 4.], how the lazy are punished, because they do not want to work, and says: "Lazy hands impoverish, but the industrious hands bring riches. Which and similar sayings are as if it were due to work that one feeds oneself, when there, as 1) also in this Psalm, he says: It is due to God's blessing, and as one says in German: GOtt bescheret, GOtt beräth. That this is the opinion: God commanded Adam to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, Gen. 3, 19, and wants him to work, and without work he will also give him nothing. Again, he will not give him anything by his labor, but only by his goodness and blessing, that labor shall be his exercise in this life to compel the flesh. If he is obedient to him in this, he will also give him enough and feed him well.
10 For God feeds man in no other way than all other animals, as the 147th Psalm, v. 9, says: "He gives food to all flesh, even to the young ravens that call upon him. Item, in the 145th Psalm, v. 15, 16: "All eyes, O Lord, look upon thee, and thou givest them meat in due season; thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth all the beasts with blessings," that is, with abundance and sufficiency. Now no animal labors for its food, but each has its work, after which it seeks and finds its food. The little bird feathers and sings, makes nests and bears young; this is its work, but it does not feed on it. Oxen plow, horses carry and fight, sheep give wool, milk and cheese etc., this is their work, but they do not feed on it; but the earth bears grass and feeds them by God's blessing, as also Christ Himself Matth. 6, 26. We are called to look at the birds, how they do not sow, reap, nor gather, and yet are fed by God, that is, they work their work, but they do none of the work by which they are fed.
Therefore, man should and must also work.
Here, like De Wette, we have deleted "he", which appears in the other editions.
and do something, but still know that there is another that nourishes him than his work, namely divine blessing; although it seems as if his work nourishes him, because God gives him nothing without his work. Just as 2) the little bird neither sows nor reaps, but it would have to die of hunger if it did not fly and search for food. That it 3) finds food, however, is not its work, but God's goodness. For who has put his food there so that he 4) finds it? Without a doubt God alone, as He says Genesis 1:29, 30: "Behold, I have given you all green things for food, and to all animals." Summa, even if the Scriptures do not teach this, experience also proves it; for where God does not lay down, no one finds anything, and all the world should work and search itself to death. We see this with our eyes, and grasp it with our hands; yet we do not believe. Again, where He [God] does not keep counsel and guard, it does not remain, even if a hundred thousand locks were placed in front of it; it sputters and flies away, so that no one knows where it remains.
012 For, say, who putteth silver and gold in the mountains, to be found there? Who puts into the fields such great goods as grow out of them corn, wine, and all kinds of fruit, by which all animals live? Does it do man's work? Yes, it does find work, but God must put it there and give it, if it is to find work. Who puts the power into the flesh, so that it grows young, and the world is born full of birds, animals, fish, etc.? Does our work and care do that? Not for a long time yet, God is there before, and gives his blessing secretly inside, so it goes out with all fullness. So we find that all our work is nothing, for God's goods find and keep, but nothing may make or keep.
13) Now we see, as Solomon has so recently taught in this one verse 5) the greatest question among the children of men, since so many books have been written, so many sayings
2) Erlanger: "Gleichwohl". Wittenberger and Jenaer: "Gleich ob wohl". De Wette: "Gleichwie iyoßl".
3) Erlanger: "he"; in the other AusWen: "it".
4) Jenaer and Erlanger: "er"; in dM ätidern Aus" gaben: "es".
5) De Wette and Erlanger: learned.^
and way to feed the poor belly; which Solomon rejects all in one heap, and takes it all on faith, saying, Thou laborest in vain, if thou laborest to feed thyself, and to build thy house. Thou hast taken much care and trouble; but at the same time with such presumption and unbelief thou shalt provoke God to anger, that thou mayest become the poorer and be utterly ruined, because thou presumeest to do that which is his alone to do. And even if you succeed 1) in becoming rich in all things with such unbelief, it will still bring you great destruction to your soul forever, so that God will blind you and let you 2) prosper in your unbelief. But if thou wilt keep thyself quiet and well fed, and keep the house right, listen: Take a work before thee, that thou mayest work, that thou mayest eat thy bread by the sweat of thy face; after that thou shalt not be anxious how thou shalt be fed, and how such work shall build up and keep thy house; commit all this to God, and let him take care and build, trusting in him; he will set before thee fine and plentiful what thy work shall find and bring to thee; for if he set it not before thee, thou shalt labor in vain, and find nothing.
14 Thus this whole evangelical verse masterfully teaches the faith against the unfortunate avarice and belly care, which now, unfortunately, everywhere hinders the gospel from its fruit. From this verse's understanding, the whole psalm is easy, and the other verses have recently been overflowing as well.
Where the Lord does not guard the city, the watchman guards in vain.
(15) In the first verse he punished covetousness, care, and unbelief in one house in particular; in this verse he does the same to a whole congregation. For a whole congregation is nothing else than many houses together; therein also are comprehended all manner of principalities, dominions, and kingdoms, and what is a common multitude.
1) Wittenberg and Jena: gelünge; De Wette and the Erlangen: gelinge.
2) "läßt dir's" alone in the Erlanger; "und dir" in the Jenaer, "dir" is missing in the Wittenberger and in De Wette.
3) Walch and De Wette: Pile.
16. Now the blind world, because it does not know God and His works, thinks that it is up to their wit, reason and strength that a community or dominion should prosper and remain; therefore they gather great treasures, cast casks, build strong towers and walls, create armor and great supplies, establish wise laws, and attack it bravely and wisely, thus going in their presumption, and not even greeting God for it; just as those who built the tower of Babylon did.
In the meantime God sits above and watches the children of men, how cleverly and boldly they go up 4) and makes them sing from the 33rd Psalm, v. 10: "God destroys the plots of the nations." And again [Ps. 94, 11.]: "God knows the thoughts of men, that they are useless." And again [Ps. 76:13], "He taketh away the courage of princes, and dealeth strangely with kings of the earth." For he maketh such cities and dominions to rise a little, and to begin; but before they look round, he thrusteth them to the ground, and commonly, the greater kingdoms, the sooner. And even if they remain a little in the ascendancy, it is hardly like a beginning in the sight of God, and none has ever come to where it aspires to be.
(18) If you look at the histories of the kingdoms of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and all the others, you will find nothing in them but what this verse says, and all their splendor is nothing but a play of God, who made them rise a little, and always overturned one after another; and as they rose up briefly through man's wit and presumption, so they fell down again much more quickly. It was not that there was a lack of people, money, goods and all supplies, but that the right guard stopped guarding, and let it be seen what men's wit and strength were able to do without his guarding and preserving; so it turned out that their thing was nothing but a vain plan and useless undertakings, which they could neither keep nor carry out.
19 They felt and confessed this themselves. For thus the pagan Virgilius of Troy writes that the dead Hector spoke to Aenea
4) Erlanger: "dahin hin" instead of: hinan.
in his sleep: If Troy should have been protected, she would also have been protected by my hand. And Lucanus: Magnisque negatum stare diu, it is not given that the great empires exist long. God's work is so public in the daytime; one does not yet recognize it, even if one runs headlong against it. So also the men of war confess that the victory does not lie in the quantity or strength of the army, but, as they say, in luck. But the Scripture says that it is up to God; as Ps. 24, 8. says: "He is the Lord mighty in battle"; and Ps. 147, 10.: "He does not will the strength of the horses"; and Ps. 33, 17.: "Horses do not help with their strength, and the strong may not help them"; also Ecclesiastes 9, 11.: "I saw that to run was not up to the swift, nor battle up to the strong" etc.
20 With this verse Solomon wants to teach all kings, princes, and rulers, and all those who are to govern, how they should lead and keep a peaceful and blessed government, so that everything goes well. Namely, they should first watch and do diligently as their office demands. For he does not say here that they should not watch, nor be diligent; just as in the previous verse he does not refer to work. St. Paul also says in Romans 12:8 that those who are in charge of others should be careful or diligent, but that their watchfulness should not be in vain and lost, but useful and good.
(21) Secondly, that they place such watch in the faith of God and let Him take care of it, so that they do not presume that their watch and diligence will preserve the city, but are without concern that God will preserve the city, protect the land and the people; let the presumption and concern be only of the watch, and let it proceed freely in faith. For although God does not want anything to be preserved except diligence and watchfulness, He does not want anyone to think that our watchfulness and diligence do such things, which only His goodness and grace do.
(22) For two must surely follow one another, where we watch out of our confidence, either presumption or anxiety. If it goes well and is safe, we are presumptuous in our watchfulness; if it goes badly and will fail, we worry and tremble and doubt. Now
God will not suffer either presumption or anxiety, that we should not be anxious when we are anxious, nor presumptuous when we are anxious, but should watch in a free and right faith, and do what is our duty, and should not be anxious when things go badly, nor presumptuous when things go well.
23 Now no one does this except a believing heart, as David says against fear Ps. 3:7: "I will not fear when many thousands are about me"; and Ps. 27:1, 3: "The Lord protects me; from whom shall I fear? If a war arise against me, I will rely upon him. Again he speaks against presumption Ps. 44, 7.: "I will not rely on my bow, and my sword will not help me."
024 Why then is he called to work and to watch, and to have walls, and armor, and all manner of store, as he called the children of Israel to put on armor, and to fight against the Canaanites? Shall they make no store, and leave the gates and windows open, and not defend themselves at all, but let them stab themselves as on dead bodies, as they did in the first book of the Maccabees, Cap. 2, 38. Certainly not. You have now heard that the authorities should watch, be diligent, and do everything that is their duty: They should close the gates, keep the towers and walls, put on armor, stock up, and act as if there were no God, and they should save themselves and govern themselves; just as a householder should work as if he wanted to feed himself with his work.
(25) But let him beware lest his heart ever trust in such a thing of his, nor 2) presume where it is good, nor care where it is lacking, but let all such readiness and armor be our Lord God's mummery, under which He Himself alone may work and accomplish what we would have; for He commands such armor also for this reason, that He may hide His work under it, and let them that presume run, and strengthen them that presume.
1) Erlanger: "Thüren". We assume that also in the original of 1534 "Thürn" stands, as in the Wittenberg and in the Jena, that is, Thürme, but nevertheless in the Erlanger "Thürme" is indicated as a variant of Walch.
2) Erlanger: also.
3) "alone" is missing in De Wette. In Latin: solus.
so that he will not be tempted. In the same way he led all the wars of David the king in the Old Testament, and of all the people of Israel, and still leads them where there is such faithful authority. Thus he made Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rich through their work, so that it may well be said that the course of the world, and especially of its saints, is God's mummery, under which he hides himself, and rules and rumbles so strangely in the world.
V. 2. It is in vain for you to rise early and go down late and eat the hard bread, for he gives it to his beloved in sleep.
(26) All this is spoken against presumption and diligence. As if to say, "That you rise up early and go down late, thinking that the more you work, the more you will have, the more you will lose; for it must be God's blessing. And even if you gain more than others, who are not so anxious for good and for protection, it is not so far off as the others, who are not so anxious, and yet disappears under the hands, as the 37th Psalm, v. 16, says: "It is better for the righteous a little, than great goods for the wicked"; and Solomon in his Proverbs Cap. 15, 17: "It is better to have herbs with love, than a fat ox with hatred."
(27) But that this is the opinion, and that he does not here forbid labor or diligence, is proved by the fact that he says, "And eat hard bread. This is saying so much: You make your bread and food hard and sour for yourselves, and yet it is not the work that is to blame, but your anxious, unbelieving heart, which does not believe that God will feed you, but rather leers and drives, and wants to have its chest, bag, cellar and floor full beforehand, and does not rest until it knows that there is food in store, which it may not consume for many years. But he who believes in God, does not care for the next 1) morning, lets him be satisfied today, and does his work with joy and a quiet heart, keeping himself as Christ says in the Gospel, Matth. 6, 34: "Be not careful for the morrow; for the morrow will have its evil, it is enough that every day has its evil."
1 > "andern" is missing in the Erlanger.
Behold, their food is not hard nor sour for them. For though they eat their bread outwardly by the sweat of their face, yet they do it inwardly with faith and a glad conscience.
28. After that he concludes how God gives all this, and says: Sic dabit dilectis suis somno, all these things, both building a house and preserving a city, he gives to his beloved ones as in sleep, that is, he lets them work and be industrious, but still in such a way that they neither worry nor presume, but go there happily, and take on nothing, let it be ordered to him, and live there quietly, and with a calm heart, like one who sleeps safely and sweetly, and also does not take on anything, and yet remains finely preserved and alive. For they have enough, and must have enough, and be preserved, because they give it to God, as the 55th Psalm, v. 23, says: "Cast your care upon the Lord, and he shall feed you"; and 1 Pet. 5, 7: "Cast all your care upon him, and know that he careth for you." It is only a matter of worry, stinginess and unbelief, not of work.
See, the children are the inheritance from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is the reward.
29 This is spoken entirely in the Hebrew way. Inheritance from the Lord" and "reward" are one thing, just as "children" and "fruit of the womb" are one thing, and thus means: "What is the use of your almost worrying and fretting about how you will get over your goods and possessions? For children, and that which is born of women, are not in your power, which belong to a house and a city. For if there were no children and no fruit of the womb, neither house nor city would remain. If these are God's inheritance and reward, that is, God's gifts and presents, for which you so nearly care, and if all the world were to join forces with all its might, it would not make a child to be conceived or born in some woman's womb, but it is all God's work alone; why then do you think and care for goods and goods, if you do not have that for which you seek such goods and goods? So then a householder and master should reasonably say: I will work and do my own;
But he who creates and makes the children in the house and the people in the city (who are all fruits of the flesh) will also nourish and preserve them. Behold, thy work shall not be grievous, neither shall his watch be grievous, and he shall walk in faith.
30 Christ also touched on this in Matth. 6, 25 (as well as almost the entire Psalm), when he says: "Is not the body more than the clothes, and the soul more than the food? As if he should say, "Are not the children and the fruits of the body in your care? For who can tell how it is that all the children of men come from the flesh of women? Who has hidden such a great number of people in the poor flesh, and brings it out 1) so wonderfully, without only one, who gives the children for inheritance, and the fruit of the womb for the reward of his loved ones, as in sleep? God gives overnight, they say, and is ever truly true.
V. 4. As the arrows in the hand of the mighty, so are the children of youth.
He compares the children and people to the arrows in the hand of a strong hero; he shoots the arrows when and where he wants. So we also see how God deals with us. Behold, how strangely he mates man and woman together, that no man should be unaware of it: how do they come to strange states and beings, since they have never struggled to see miracles in them, and commonly go out differently than their father and mother, and also each one has thought for himself. As if God should confess this verse by deed, and say: I will destroy all men's attempts, and deal with the children of men according to my will, that they may be in my hand, as arrows in 2) a strong sneeze. What is the use of much worrying and plotting, how it shall be with us, if it will not be otherwise than as he wills? Therefore, it is best to work and let him take care of the future.
32 And especially he calls "the children of youth", as those who are not yet householders, nor yet watchmen in the city, whom we mean entirely.
1) "bringts" - brings them.
He still leads them in the house and city as he wills, and arranges with them what he wills, so that we may see that he provides for all things, and will leave us nowhere but work, so that we do not think that God rules only the young children in the cradle, and lets the great ones use their reason and free will; indeed, he rules the great ones (he speaks here) as mightily as the young ones; they are arrows in his hand, they must weave and drive where and how he wills. With him, reason and unreason, heaven and earth, young and old, wise and wise men are equal.
(33) Yes, he deals more strangely with the prudent and the sensible, and has much more to do with them, that he may make fools of their reasoning, and lead them otherwise than they intend. Therefore this verse says that he does not have the children and fruits of the body, which he calls God's inheritance and gift, but "the children of youth," who are now great and sensible, in his hand, as a giant has his arrows, although it seems as if he has them least in his hand, and lets their reason and wit master them, and waits for the children. All things must be done, that he may take from us the rule and care of us, and ward us off, that we may know how he himself alone rules us and cares for us, and makes us work and do our thing.
V. 5 Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them; they are not put to shame when they speak to their enemies in the gate.
He desires that such youth, given and known by God, be many. For that is the way of the world. This is also true, if all things are to be counseled, then the youth must be drawn and kept according to it, who is to lead us after the rule and life on earth. Just as the giant is well established and equipped, who has his quiver full of arrows, so is the master of the house and the city well provided for, which has plenty of such youth, given by God; for there God Himself keeps house and guards the city.
But such great grace is not without persecution, for where there is divine, there must also be diabolical temptation. The
Unbelief and avarice of the world cannot suffer such things" that mau teaches or lives like this; therefore such landlords and cities will not remain without enemies who blaspheme and disgrace them. But against this there is the consolation that they will finally stand with honor and "put their enemies to shame in the gate," that is, publicly. But he mentions neither armor nor weapons, but only the word, and says: "They will speak to their enemies in the gate"; as if he should say: With the doctrine they will stand, that it is right, how hard also the opponents dispute it.
(36) These things I have written as an exhortation to your love, my dear friends in Christ, that your hearts may be the more diligent with us, that the gospel may abound and be fruitful.
Let it be with us all, in all understanding and good works, against which the fruit of sorrowful unbelief, avarice, struggles so mightily. May our dear Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and help us. For if we are still weak, that we cannot leave the care of our belly, how shall we bear the rage of the world, death, dishonor and all other misfortunes? Yes, how will we stand, when now the false spirits come upon us, which are already stirring and rising? But may God, the Father of all mercy, who has put His word and work upon you, guard your minds and hearts in the simple and unadulterated knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior, to whom be praise and thanksgiving forever and ever, amen.