12. Praise, O Jerusalem, the LORD; praise, O Zion, your God.
013 For he maketh strong the bars of thy gates, and blesseth thy children within.
14. he makes peace within thy borders, and satisfieth thee with the best of wheat.
15. he sends his speech from earth, his word runs fast.
16 He giveth snow like wool, he scattereth tires like ashes.
17. he casts his locks like morsels; who can stay from his frost?
18. he speaks, and it melts; he blows his wind, and it thaws.
019 He shewed Jacob his word, and Israel his statutes and his judgments.
020 He will not do this to the Gentiles, nor will they know his judgments. Hallelujah.
Because the damned world, by the effect of its lord and prince, the devil, is so shamefully ungrateful, and contemptuously abuses all of God's graces and goods, both spiritual and physical, and also acts contrary to and displeases His divine words and commandments, until its hour comes to pay, I have now taken it upon myself to sing and read this psalm, to honor and thank God with it. Perhaps there will be a pious Christian or two who will join me in praising and singing, so that ingratitude and contempt will not be found in this life.
First of all, this psalm is a praise and thanksgiving for the bodily benefits of God, which God gives peace and fruit on earth, that it is called a good year or good time, in which one can nourish and govern oneself. For we must confess that this thirty-first year is a good year (who knows when it will come to be more good), and yet there is no one in the world who can thank God for it, but it is needed for avarice in the most stingy way, i
even to the persecution and destruction of the gospel and of all God's honor. But the world is struggling for its final damnation; this will certainly hit it suddenly and before it knows it.
V. 12. Praise, Jerusalem, the Lord; praise, Zion, your God.
(3) He does not ask for great sacrifices for his good deeds, nor does he ask for precious jewels that would confess much; indeed, he asks for the very easiest work in return, namely, praise and thanksgiving, which have neither effort nor cost. For what is easier to do than to say: Praise be to you, merciful God? Item: I thank you for your goods and gifts. Item: You are a pious, faithful God and a merciful father rc. No one is allowed to run to Rome, not even to stir his body. And summa, what trouble and work is it to read or hear such a psalm? We cannot yet do such easy service. What then shall we do in greater and more grievous services than these, to keep the ten commandments, and for his sake to suffer all evil, to risk life and limb, goods and honor to him? Truly, he who cannot or will not say grace to God will never do or suffer anything for the sake of God.
(4) And it is a great shame (where we might be ashamed) that we must first of all be stirred up to thanksgiving like the slothful, and awakened like the sleeping; and also count, name, and model the benefits, since we are daily showered with them, and use them without ceasing, and live by them, that we should stir up and admonish ourselves without psalms and foreign remembrance, to thanksgiving, as if moved, enticed, and inflamed by the benefits themselves. But there is nothing to be done; we must be started and urged to praise the Lord, and to this end we must speak the word and put it into our mouths, as this psalm does. Still our
*) The first eleven verses" of the 147th Psalm of our Bible form the 146th Psalm in the Vulgate, whereas the following verses, the text of our Scripture, form the 147th Psalm in the Vulgate. In the original, no verse number is set.
The lazy prankster is not interested in such a light, merry, happy little work, and beautiful little service. Let us be ashamed, so that we will not be frightened or turn red when we hear or read a verse in the Psalms.
5. but this is much more shameful, that we must also be called the benefactor, and say to Jerusalem, Dear, praise the Lord; and to Zion, Dear, praise your God. For he is so well worth it, and is a cheap and beautiful service 2c. For many are those who daily need all the benefits of God, and see and feel that they have great gifts and all good things; but they do not even think from whom they have them, or that it is God who gives them them, but accept them as if they came from nowhere, or as if they had acquired them by their work, diligence, and wisdom, and at the same time regard them as if God must give them them, and they owe no thanks for them.
No animal lives so shamefully, not even a sow, as the world lives. For a sow knows the woman or maid from whom she gets the marc, bran and gestrod to eat, runs after her and screams at her. But the world knows and respects nothing of God, who benefits it so abundantly and effusively, let alone that it should thank and praise Him for it. Therefore, one can see how this light and bright psalm, which is daily howled and blasphemed by all the clergy in the churches, nevertheless remains so unknown and misunderstood by the blind and perverse people that Jerusalem and Zion themselves have to be stirred up with it. What good should Babylon and Sodoma do? They do not even want to recognize God and His gifts and give thanks to Him.
V. 13: For he maketh strong the bars of thy gates, and blesseth thy children within.
(7) Then he began to number and to name the benefits. And the first is the protection, that he keeps and guards the gates of the city, so that one can live safely and quietly in the city. But how many citizens or people have ever thought in their lifetime that their protection and safety in the city is a gift from God? What farmer in a village thinks that God's gift is a gift?
that he sits so safely behind his fence with his servants? If he had to wait all hours for thieves and robbers to run through his house, or if he had to wait all hours in war for his house and farm to be burned down and for him to be beaten and tortured, then he would learn to sing this psalm and say: "Oh, how blessed are they! Oh what a great gift of God it is that one may eat his morsel of bread and drink his drink of water with safety and peace!
But now such divine protection and security is there with full power, no one respects it. Yes, for the fact that we should thank God, we go to, and abuse everything most wantonly; pursue God's word, are unruly and disobedient to the authorities, cheat and deceive among ourselves, set up and make theft, usurp, and live as if we ourselves were God and lords on earth. Therefore, God must again sometimes send fools with pistons, war, thieves, robbers, riots, fire, water, pestilence and other calamities among us, so that He may teach us to understand what protection and security is, and how it is such a noble gift of God; otherwise we will never learn.
(9) By the word "bars" one must understand not only the iron bars that the blacksmith can make, but by synecdoches, and by such a few pieces also everything else that helps to keep the protection, as there are good regiment, good city law, good order, serious punishment, pious, faithful, wise lords. For the iron bars alone will not do it, that safe protection is in the city. That is why in the prophets the princes and lords are sometimes called the bars of the city or the country.
(10) And summa, it is not man's wit nor strength, but God's gift, where there is protection and security; there must be more to it than the iron bars or blacksmith. God Himself must make the bolts strong; and as the 127th Psalm, v. 1: "Where God does not guard the city, the guardian watches in vain." Many stronger cities have been won and destroyed, which were thought to be invincible. But when the hand of him who makes the bars firm was taken away, they perished. How often has the great and almost omnipotent
City of Babel so shamefully won! How are the empires of Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome so easily and recently disturbed! Nothing holds without what God holds.
(11) But again, God would not have him tempted, and would not have a gate, a bar, or do anything to protect the city, just as if the gates were to remain open, the walls demolished, all armor and defenses slackened, all order and punishment abolished, and thus the city protect itself, or let God alone rule and do it. Not so, but you shall build and make bars, fortify the city and arm yourself, establish good order and justice as best you can. But see thou, when thou hast done this, that thou trust not thyself, saying, Now I sit secure and firm, and all is well, as the heathen did; as the king of Babylon (Dan. 4:27) praised his city Babylon, and Arbaces his city Ecbatana, and had to learn otherwise; but write this rhyme upon it, Now help, O God, or we are hereby unhelped. He could give you grain and fruit without your plowing and planting, but he will not; so he will not let your plowing and planting give you grain and fruit, but you shall plow and plant, and say a blessing on it, and pray thus: Now consult God, now give grain and fruit, dear Lord, our plowing and planting will not give it to us, it is your gift. Just as children are accustomed to fasting and praying, and to spreading out their clothes at night, so that the Christ Child (or St. Nicholas) will give them presents; but where they do not pray, nothing is given, or a rod and horse droppings are given.
(12) What is all our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in the battle, in the government, but such child's work, by which God wants to give His gifts in the field, at home and everywhere? These are our Lord God's vestments, under which he wants to be hidden and do everything. If Gideon had not done this and gone to battle against Midian, the Midianites would not have been defeated, and God could have defeated them without Gideon. He could have created children without men and
wife, but he will not do it, but gives man and wife together, so that [it] appears as if man and wife do it, and yet he does it hidden under such larva. One says: Dat Deus omne bonum, sed non per cornua taurum, God bestows all good, but you must take hold and take the ox by the horns, that is, you must work, and thus give God cause and a larva.
13 Therefore the psalm says: "He makes firm. What? "The bars of thy gates." He will and can make them strong; but there shall be thy bars, and thy gates, which he may make strong; without thy bars he will not make them strong; and yet it is written, that the bars are not strong in themselves. Therefore both shall be there: thou shalt make and have bars and gates, but he will make them strong. Thou shalt not make them strong; so he will not make bars. Now divide it rightly. Make the latch and the gate, and let him make them strong. Work thou, and let him bring forth fruit. Govern thou, and let him add happiness. War thou, and let him give the victory. Preach thou, and let him make the hearts devout. Take thou husband or wife, and let him beget children. Eat and drink thou, and let him feed and strengthen thee; and so henceforth, in all our doing, let him do it all in and through us, and let him alone have the glory of it, as Paul says 1 Cor. 3:7: "It is neither the planter nor the waterer that is anything, but GOD that giveth the prosperity."
14 Now all this is said against those who tempt God and will do nothing, and think that God should give them and do what they desire without work and diligence. To whom this proverb is rightly said: Rely on it, and do not bake. Item: Wait until a roasted chicken flies into your mouth. For God does not want lazy idlers, but one should work faithfully and diligently, each according to his profession and office, so he will give the blessing and prosperity to it.
15 Again, it is also said to the presumptuous, who think that it comes, or must come, and be acquired by their diligence and work, by their art and jokes, do not ask about God. But the right means is not to be lazy and idle, nor to work on one's own.
He must not rely on work and doing, but work and do, and yet wait for everything from God alone. This much is said: everything must be done in faith and trust in God; and whether he sees that happiness sometimes befalls the lazy or the presumptuous, do not fret about it. For it does not last, nor does it remain, nor does it inherit, and finally perishes; as we see many examples before our eyes of how quickly great estates have perished, and perish daily.
16 The other blessing is happiness, that the city is full of people, rich, well inhabited and built, which is a blessing of God, and a fruit of peace and protection, and not of our power nor art. For in war there is none; so also without it a city poor, thin of people, and badly built, is an unblessed city (to speak of temporal blessing), and half cursed. Thus also the 127th Psalm, v. 3, says that children and young, strong people are God's gifts. And in the prophets God is always threatening, when he is angry with a city, that he will make it a desert, desolate, and without people or children. For children here are not only called Hanse children, but city children, that is, all who live inside and are protected, whether young or old, male or female, spiritual or secular, with everything they have and acquire.
17 This blessing, that a city is full of people, includes all other gifts that are necessary for the preservation of the people, such as house, farm, money, clothes, cattle, wife, children, servants. Item, all kinds of crafts and trades, so that there is no shortage, but daily in such everything better, increase and multiply. For where such things diminish or fail, the city also perishes and becomes desolate, since this temporal life cannot do without them.
18. But how many people are there in such a city who thank God for such blessings and good fortune? Yes, how many are there who recognize that these are God's blessings and gifts? How many people here in Wittenberg have ever thanked God just for the two waters, Faulbach and Frischbach, from which they have used and drunk many a happy drink for so many years, and have used them so abundantly for all the necessities in the house, that such a use cannot be compared with any other.
How much more money is to be paid? I will be silent of the other gifts and blessings, to house, farm, child, livestock 2c.
19. The devil is good for that, that such grateful people should be many, but so one must do, despise God in all this, and not know such benefits and blessings, but rather think it is our and our doings and work's fault, we have acquired and won it; After that, we will most shamefully abuse everything against God and our neighbor, be proud, flaunt, oppress, cheat, translate, deceive, and exercise all courage, until God is awakened to our wickedness and sends war or tyrants upon us, who will give us our deserved reward, and take such blessings and God's gifts, and make a miserable, poor city out of it. Then we will learn how great a blessing and God's gift it was at that time to have a city full of people and well built and well cared for.
20. although one finds such great people, who are sorry when a city is so blessed that it is full of people 2c. For they would rather that the city remain thin and empty, so that they alone might grow fat, fat and large in it; for where there are many people in it, their avarice and their courtliness are gone from them, and others will also eat with them and feed themselves beside them. These reckon and measure the thing exactly according to the persons and goods, do not think that the goods of all cities on earth are much, much too small for their persons, who are inside; but God's blessing (speaks David here), that does it. As also the proverb teaches: The more people, the more luck.
(21) And tell me how it is done: A day laborer has had to earn about a penny a day, which, counting holidays and other idle days, is nowhere worth fifteen guilders a year; from this he must feed himself with his wife and five or six children. Now you calculate how much comes on a head of the day to spend, to clothe, to warm 2c. The children are still as fat as snails, and no hunger can be seen from their eyes, that even princes and lords' children are hardly so fat. Must one not take here this psalm: "He blesses your children
1312 Erl. 4i,isr-i64. Interpretation of the 147th Psalm. Ps. 147, 13. 14. w. v, E-ism. 1313
inside"? It is true, if one lies imprisoned, or where one wants to starve one and takes what is his, as now the peasants and the nobility, also tyrants, do to the priests, there must come out a lean and scrawny body. So surely the blessing of God, and not our work, diligence and wit, goes over a city, since it is full of people and is fed and increases 2c.
V. 14. He makes peace within thy borders, and satisfieth thee with the best of wheat.
The third benefit is "peace," that there is not only protection and happiness in the city, but also peace and good times in the countryside around, so that one can safely walk, farm, plant, graze and advertise. This includes pious, loyal neighbors and obedient nobility and peasants. As it is said: "No one can have peace longer than his neighbor wants it. Item: One neighbor owes another a fire. It is not the smallest misfortune on earth to have unfaithful, evil neighbors. For count from the peasants to the emperor what harm, treachery, hindrance, scorn, and all manner of heartbreak one peasant can do to another, one citizen to another, one lord and prince to another, one king to another; that even among the Jews is a curse: God give thee a wicked neighbor.
23 Again, it is not of the least grace to have pious and faithful neighbors on earth, for they can do all good; and thus peace is better confirmed than if a city of all the world had power around it, and were guarded with iron walls. This is also said by the pagans, as Terentius: "Whoever thinks that a dominion is more lasting, which must be maintained by force, than which remains with one another through friendship, I consider to be a vain error. And Aristotle: What is maintained by force, that does not have the duration. Cause, one says: No one was ever so evil, a more evil one came over him. And again: Curt is also evil, and: Beyond the mountain there are also people. The empire of Babel was evil, but the Persians were even more evil and tore it apart. The Persian Empire was evil, but Alexander was even more evil, and ate the Persians. The Romans were
But the Litten, the Wends and the Turks were even more evil and plundered it honestly. The Turk is now evil, but where the world will stand longer, he must also serve an evil.
(24) Therefore the wise Roman Cato, when he teaches housekeeping, says that we should be diligent and keep ourselves in such a way that our neighbors love us and are favorable to us; this helps to nourish us. Also the holy scripture praises such grace, Sir. 25, 1. 2.: "Three things I like to see, which please both God and man. When brothers are in harmony, when neighbors love one another, when husband and wife are at ease with one another." And Solomon also praises it, Proverbs 27:10: "It is better to have a neighbor who dwells with us than a brother who dwells afar off." What good is it for a man to have a thousand brothers who are all far away from him? I would take for them all one good neighbor, and for their sake I would not like to anger or despise one neighbor.
(25) But how we are to hold ourselves so that our neighbors will be kind and favorable to us is not to be told here. The heathen and reason say: It is patientia et beneficentia, if one is patient, and does not reckon and reward so exactly, where they do us harm, but looks through the fingers for it, and shows oneself friendly towards them with words and deeds. And it is well said, and is also the teaching of Scripture, that one should love one's neighbor, even one's enemy. But one also finds rough neighbors who are so full of hatred and envy that they become worse through patience and kindness. That is why it is said above all human art and strength: "God makes peace within your borders. And it is nothing else but God's gift where such peace is in the land. He must hold the hearts and fists of the neighbors, guide and turn them to peace, and control and ward off the unruly.
(26) It is true, as it was said above, that we should be diligent to keep peace in the land. Just as we should plow and sow so that our grain may grow, so we should be patient and kind to our neighbors so that peace may remain. Yea, the lords also shall till the borders and the roads, and be in
Take up arms against the enemies and evil neighbors. But when all this has been done, one should say: "Well, I have done everything that serves peace, which is also part of the defense, but with this nothing is done; Lord God, now give your blessing to this, and make peace within our borders! For our doing will not produce anything, our farming and building will not bring forth such fruit, even though we gladly do what we can. Behold, such faith, in your diligence and work for peace, God will bless, and give and keep His gift of peace.
But where are the people (that we return to the Psalm) who thank God for such a gift of peace? Yes, where are they who recognize it as God's gift and do not despise God in addition? We need it for our own pleasure and will, and act as if such peace were our own inheritance, in which we may live and do as we please, both against God and against men. For it is unspeakable how lecherous and piggish the peasants have now become through this peaceful time of several years; their skin almost itches, like a sow fattened for slaughter, as if they did not want to and could not suffer or bear the good days any longer, nor will they let up until the butcher comes upon them and makes sausages out of them. God must receive such 1) thanks that he has given such fine peace to such boys; but see how long he will suffer it.
(28) And our disciples of the nobility, especially the pusillanimous Scharrhansen, should they thank God for such peace? That would be a disgrace to all your nobility, but it is they themselves who make peace in all borders. And David was not right in singing such a song of God; he should have sung it of the nobility, and dressed and adorned them with such a beautiful psalm. Because he did not do that, they take the psalm cheaply and adorn themselves in it. For they think that they are lords, both over peace and war; no prince nor lord can advise them. Even if God were there with all the angels, they must
1) Thus the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers; Erlanger: Solcher.
protect and save, and keep peace, otherwise God Himself would probably be expelled from heaven. They are not allowed to have either luck or blessing; it is enough that they can throw down the knife, and curse potz Marter! Then there is peace, war and everything as they want it.
(29) I am very much afraid, however, that such wicked men, blasphemers, and pouncers will suddenly awaken God, so that he will take this psalm away from them and give it to him alone, and then let them see what they will accomplish with their banging and scratching, without his gifts; so that they will learn, as well as others, that God is the one who makes peace within our borders. And if it comes to that, that they should defend us, protect us and make peace, then God be merciful to us, and only take us away forever. For surely the sheep is commanded to the wolf, who shall make peace for it, and the poor sinner to the devil, whom he shall help from death.
Finally, here you will hear who wants to learn that we should work for peace with patience and friendship toward our neighbors, also with tilling land and roads, with cities and borders against the enemies; but by no means insist on it nor defy it, but rely on God that he will give us peace and keep it where we are worthy of it; where not, that no armor will help. Yes, our very rulers, who are supposed to give us peace, are supposed to be the first and the worst to inflict all plagues and misfortunes on us; as we have heard that they did at Vienna, and in all places where they are put down. This makes them ignorant of God and His gifts, and they insist on themselves. Therefore they cannot do any righteous work for peace, but must do the opposite, even as they boast that they are making peace.
(31) And among these peace shall be counted all other things that pertain unto peace, such as health of the body against pestilence, water, fire, poison, and all manner of plagues and sickness. For where such calamities reign, the land is not at ease, and the devil nevertheless delights in calamity and harm. And is vain God's gift,
1316, Erl. 4i, iee-169. interpretation of the 147th Psalm. Ps. 147, 14. w. v, igos-isos. 1317
and not our prudence or work, where pestilence and diseases and other plagues of the devil do not rage daily. And if God did not also create peace here, all our pharmacies, physicians, art, help and advice would be far too little for us. Although we should use these means and arts and keep them with diligence, we should not rely on them, as has been said, but always speak the blessing: Lord God, give us grace and peace for this, we have done our part; we have planted, give us prosperity, as said above [§ 13].
The fourth benefit is the daily bread, when he says, "He satisfies you with the best wheat," that is, he gives you abundant grain and fruit of the field, and all the necessities of food and drink to nourish the body. He also says that he does not give grain alone, but adipem, choice and sweet wheat; and does not give alone, but satisfies fully and abundantly. By this he means that he gives enough to eat and drink; as St. Paul also says 1 Tim. 6:17: "Who giveth us all things abundantly to enjoy." And this is also true. For every year so much grows (where God is gracious and will not punish with hunger) that [it] cannot consume the world, but much remains over. Even though there is never enough for miserliness, and if the earth were like grain, and the water like wine, and the mountains like gold, they could not satisfy a miserly man if he had it all by himself.
33. But who believes that God's gift is what we have so abundantly in grain and wine and all kinds of fruit? Where are they who thank and praise him for it? Yes, they feast and boast; again, they practice usury with it, and make a great deal of time, and exploit the poor and everyone; and we deal with it as if we ourselves, and not God, had created it, there is no thought of God. Just as now the peasants and noblemen are doing their willfulness with their setting up. They have the land and the fruits inside, and now they also want to have the money, so that other people have nothing, and they alone have everything. Well, whether they divide rightly in this, it will be found in time that they themselves shall have nothing; let them go and do.
(34) We are to learn here, and praise and thank God that He makes grain grow, and recognize that it is not our work but His blessing and His gifts that grain and wine and all kinds of fruit grow, from which we eat and drink, and have every need; as the Lord's Prayer also proves, when we say, "Give us our daily bread. Here we confess with the word "give" that it is God's gift, and not our creatures. And if he did not give, not a grain would grow, and our cultivation would be in vain. Yes, it is such a strong gift that it must be wonderfully preserved by God's power until we get it and enjoy it. For how soon could all the grain in the earth rot, freeze, rot, be eaten by worms, be drowned by water? And if it already grows, how soon could it be spoiled with heat, weather, hail, eaten by beetles and other animals? And who can tell all the journeys that the grain and wine must endure before it reaches the ground? There it is also eaten by worms and flies away. The devil would not let a stalk or leaf rise and grow where God did not prevent him.
Therefore, when we look at a field or grain, we should not only recognize God's goodness, but also his power, and thus think: O dear grain, how out of rich, mild goodness God gives you to us so fully; but also, how with great power he protects you from the hour you are sown until you come to the table, how even through countless journeys of all misfortune you have come! How mightily he snatches you through all the devils' fingers and hands, which grasp at you, shoot and strike, so that they destroy you and kill us with hunger. Yes, yes, we should think so? We have other things to do than to recognize such grace and power of God. It is we who have done the most with the grain. If we had not worked, God could not have given anything. So we go about with hard sticks and blocks, and in the meantime we practice usury and miserliness and quarreling 1) with such mighty, gracious gifts of God, persecuting both God and man with them.
1) Quoß - to do something unethically; Low German: quasen.
But a pious, believing heart sees here how our work of plowing, sowing and the like would be lost if God's gift did not help us. Although we should do such work diligently and seek our food from the earth, Genesis 3:17, 23, we should not rely on it as if we found it with our own hands. It takes more than our hand. God must give blessing and prosperity to it, after which it is also powerfully preserved against all devils, not only this fourth benefit, but also all three mentioned above. For the devil does not grant us any of them; God must give them and preserve them against his wickedness.
V. 15. He sends his speech to the earth, his word runs fast.
Here he shows the golden art by which God performs and gives all such benefits; he says: it costs God no more than a word, which means: fiat, Gen. 1, 3. For he may not use a hammer, anvil or tongs to make the bolts strong. He must not use stone or lime to make peace. Neither may he add wives, merchants or minters, that he may make the children rich and happy within. Neither may he add plow or harrow, that he may fill us with wheat; but he saith unto bars: Be firm, and they will be firm; and to the citizens, Be rich and blessed, and they will be rich and blessed; and to the borders: Peace be with you, so there is peace; and to the earth, Bear wheat, so it bears wheat; as the 33rd Psalm, v. 9. also saith, "When he speaketh, there it is," and Ps. 78:45, "He spake, then came Undevil."
38 So here also: "He sends his speech to the earth", that is, he speaks to the earth and everything that is on earth. In the same way the 107th Psalm, v. 20, speaks of those who are deathly ill and yet recover: "He sends his word and makes them well"; that is, he says: "Be well, and you will be well"; so that he needs no medicine, but he makes them well with his word. Item, Ps. 148, 8.: "Fire, hail, snow, vapor, and tempest wind his words do"; that is, they do as he speaks with them. His speaking or speaking is as much as creating; as we read Gen. 1, 3. that he created the world through his
Speak. And Paul Rom. 4, 17: "He calls to that which is not, that it must be or become."
39. and "his word", he says, "runs fast", that is, it happens quickly and as soon as he wills. And as soon as he speaks, there it is, as Gen. 1, 3: "God spoke, and it came to pass." It is not such a rotten, sick, dead word as the word and commandment of men is; even though they say and command a great deal, nothing or even little happens; for even the word or commandment of kings and lords happens little and slowly. It does not run thus; it creeps and creeps with good leisure, as one says: It is the commandment of the Lords; that is, it does not happen. Yes, if God's word does not come and say, "What you call king and prince, let it be done," nothing will come of it. He must add his word to it, and give power to the prince's commandments, and fear and obedience to the subjects, otherwise it will be called and remain a lord's commandment.
(40) But when God says to the earth, Green, and it shall green quickly; Let the stalk grow, and it shall grow; Bear wheat, and it shall bear wheat; and all things come to pass quickly and speedily, as we see before our eyes, that his word walketh not, but runneth; yea, it leapeth, and doeth it in a leap, and in a moment. So when he calls for peace within the borders, peace is immediately there, which no other prince's command can create or maintain. When he blesses the people in the city, and calls them lucky, then happiness strikes quickly, since otherwise no trade nor advertising can help. When he calls the bars to be strong, the city is well guarded and protected, since otherwise no wall or fortress can protect or guard.
41 Therefore, this verse confirms what we said above [§ 7 ff.] about the four benefits, that they are not and should not be called our art or strength, but God's benefits. And if God did not create everything through His word, all our effort and work would be of no avail. For with all man's labor we could not bring a stalk out of the ground, nor raise it, nor feed it with wheat; nor defend a dog, nor make peace with it.
to create in the borders. Nor to gain a penny, except to become rich and blissful. Nor to ward off a fly, except to keep the bars firm. It says, "His word", and not our hand; "His speech", and not our art, creates it and brings it about. So this verse shows the reason why David attributes the four benefits not to us men but to God, for which he calls us to give thanks. The reason, he says, is that you do not do it, nor can you do anything, but he says it, so you have it; his word and his command create all that you have.
(42) It is also comforting for us to have our faith stirred up and strengthened. For since we hear that we have such a God, who creates all things and does them so easily that it costs him no more than a word, we should gladly trust him with all our heart and soul, and believe that he can and will give and help all things, against all the gates of hell. O! whoever could believe that it is true that God can do everything with one word and so easily, of whom would he be afraid? if the Turk had besieged him, or even the whole world, what could they do to him, if he held God's word so mighty and powerful? [Surely before such a man the Turk should be as dim as a fly. But we do not believe it, but look at our strength; what we find that it is not able to do, we consider it as if God could not do it either, and so we despair and despair. Again, what we are able to do or have, we do not believe that God has created and given it to us. Oh, we are unbelieving and ungrateful, shameful, wicked children.
V. 16. 17. He gives snow like wool, he scatters tires like ashes. He casts locks like morsels; who can remain before his frost?
(43) Here he introduces an example of winter to confirm his teaching. Winter is like summer in that it makes the land look desolate and barren, bearing neither grain nor fruit, so that it seems as if nothing can ever grow from the earth. And he who had not seen winter before might well despair, and think, heaven
and earth had become hostile to us, and wanted to kill us with hunger and frost; or [there] should probably be a Manichaeus belief, as if there were another God of summer, who would be gracious and kind to increase and nourish men, and another God of winter, who would be angry and wicked to starve and destroy men. But now it is the same one God, both in summer and winter, although he is much different in winter than in summer. The winter looks like death, wrath and all evil, against the summer, which looks like life, grace and all good.
(44) So that we may become even stronger in our faith and not doubt that God can easily create and do everything with a single word, David tells us to look at the winter in contrast to the summer, in which God shows us what He can do and how He always does it. He lets snow, ripen and freeze in winter, which no man can suffer. For of course no man would be able to live a real winter, where he should be without fire and heat, and live only the sun (as he does in summer). In the same way, all creatures would not be able to grow a grain or ripen some fruit in winter. Now, if God can so transform and remove the winter, and bring back the summer, that you have to forget about the winter, and does it so easily that it only costs one word, how much more should you believe that he can help you out of your winter and all your troubles so easily and with one word? He can find wheat where you are in famine. He knows how to make peace where you are in danger of war. He can give happiness to the city where it is spoiled. He can make the bars strong where they are broken or weak; and all this easily, with one word. Cause, he can make summer out of winter with one word, which is greater and more than to help you out of your trouble.
For what can be the misfortune of a single man, city or country, compared to the winter, which is the misfortune of the whole human race and of the whole world? And what is the winter, but an annual flood of sin or annual ruin of the whole world,
that it might even be killed, as the first world was drowned by the flood of sin? But what are the rooms, ovens, hearths, fires, straw, wood, furs, to keep us warm, but Noah's archa, wherein we are preserved in winter, that we freeze not? even as Noah with his own is preserved in the archa, that he drown not; otherwise we must surely perish from winter, as the Psalm also saith here, "Who can abide from his frost?"
(46) Therefore, if God can help the whole world out of winter and out of its annual flood of sin and death, you should learn to trust and believe in this mighty example of divine power, which is set before your eyes every year, in all your troubles. Behold, as the wicked do here, yet believing nothing, they can say in winter, Eh, it shall be summer again, and are sure that there shall be no everlasting winter. So learn thou, and every man also, to say in his winter: Well, let it snow, ripen and freeze, however bad it may be, so it will be summer again and good, God will not let it snow and freeze forever; as the 55th Psalm, v. 23, says: "He will not let the righteous have trouble forever."
And, what is even more comforting, the snow, frost and freeze is his (he says), he creates them himself, and they are not in the hands of the devil or the enemy; he is powerful over them, therefore they do not have to be cold any longer, nor do they have to be cold for us, because he wants them, and we can well endure them; as St. Paul teaches in 1 Cor. 10:13, "that God does not let us be tempted beyond our ability, but brings out the temptation in such a way that we can endure it. If the devil had the frost in his hand, not only would there have to remain winter and eternal frost, and no more summer, but it would have to freeze so hard that all men would freeze to death in one day, and become like ice floes; but God's winter and frost is not eternal; and although it is hard and in itself infallible, it nevertheless gives so much fire, warmth, straw, etc., that we can bear it until summer, when it must cease altogether.
(48) And this David shows finely, when he compares the snow to the wool, the frost to the ashes, the locks to the morsels. How sharply and precisely the man has looked at God's work.
see! Why does he not compare the locks to the pebbles, and the rice to the sand, and the snow to the water? Could he not find closer similes that rhyme better than these? And if the first two rhymed a little, how do locks and morsels rhyme together? Oh, he speaks comfortingly, and wants to teach us to recognize winter correctly, so that we should love and praise God, even for the winter itself.
(49) Winter and frost are infallible (he says); but that thou mayest see and understand how it shall be pleasant unto thee, and not destroy thee, God hath painted and formed in the snow, the hoar frost, and the locks, signs which comfort thee, and teach thee otherwise than they doom. For, behold, the snow is fashioned like wool. With this God wants to say this much: The snow shall not kill you; yes, it shows you wool, and you shall have wool and warmth, so that you can endure the winter; before the snow itself would have to become wool, and not only mean. Nor shall the frost kill thee; yea, it showeth thee ashes, which is a hearth, because it is wont to be warm, that thou mayest know that thou shalt not be without warmth in winter, that thou mayest overcome the frost. Nor shall the locks kill thee, but they shall show thee morsels, that thou mayest know that in winter, though nothing groweth, yet thou shalt not die of hunger, but shalt have something to eat.
50 Thus the three pieces: Wool, ashes, morsels, as three prophets, not only indicate that winter should end and summer come again with warmth and food, but also teach and comfort, as three preachers, that even in winter itself, before summer, there should nevertheless be so much warmth and food that we overcome winter. And so the future summer is not only prefigured and formed in snow, hoar frost, locks, by the parables of wool, ashes and bites, but is also mixed in the midst of your present winter, so that it does not have to be all winter, but there should also be something of summer in it. For as much as there is warmth and food in it, so much is of summer in it; just as the sun in winter (though less and weaker than in summer) also shines and warms. Such painting and picture is also
presented in the clouds through the rainbow that we shall be safe from the flood 2c.
51 This is now the fifth benefit, that God also gives us summer in winter, over and above that summer in snow, ripeness and closure will be promised and prepared in the future. But who respects such a blessing? Who thanks him for it? It is true that he needs winter for his glory, so that he can prove his power in it, when he can so easily change such a cold, hard, barren time into a rich, happy, joyful summer; but at the same time he teaches and admonishes us to recognize his benefits and to be grateful. For winter teaches us well what a noble time summer is (where we would like to notice it, or could notice it before stony hearts), and what praise and thanks he deserves with it, but we are used to it, like the sun itself. And such daily use of divine goods makes them too common, contemptible, and low, that we regard them as if we had nothing, or ever nothing special. But if someone were to receive a hundred guilders as a gift from a human being, that would have to be called a great blessing, and would give more joy than God can give with all summer and winter. Fie on you, you shameful unbelief!
V. 18: He speaks and it melts; he lets his wind blow and it thaws.
52 It says that snow, frost and freeze must go away, and summer must come again, as is now said, and that it is not man's work to drive out winter, just as it is not man's work to snow, ripen and freeze, or to be winter. For it does not come as and when we will, but he speaks, that is, as above [v. 15.], "he sends his word," or speaks to the winter, and .tells it to depart, so it happens immediately, and melts both snow, hoar-frost, and ice. And that one must not only believe, but also grasp, that only God's word melts the snow, frost and ice, and drives away the winter, so no one can say that God uses a fire or heat for this, as we must do, if we want to have something hewn up. Nor does he need the sun to do this, but it tends to happen according to the sun.
to bake harder. Yes, just when it freezes hardest, when the snow is deepest, when the ice is thickest, then suddenly it lifts, and the weather breaks, and thaws out with force. Rath, how does this happen? Where does it come from? There was no fire or heat before the thaw, but the most severe cold; nor did the sun, for it thaws without the sun, so that it cannot be seen in the sky.
Reason can answer nothing to this, for thus: The weather breaks, but who breaks it, that it cannot say. But David says that God breaks it. And he indicates with what he breaks it. Not with fire nor heat, but with his word. When he says this to winter, frost and snow, it no longer holds, and his wind comes, and melts away in two or three days what has been frozen for a whole winter. Where would the world take so much wood and fire that one day it would melt frost and ice, I am silent about a whole winter's frost? There are vain great miraculous deeds of God, but have been despised by daily reputation, and nothing is thanked for it.
54 Also David says here: it is "his wind", as he says above [v. 17]: "his frost. For it takes a special wind to make it thaw. Not just any wind does it; God must bring it forth, and by His word it must come to be called, otherwise all the bellows, and all our breathing, would not melt snow, nor drive away winter. But when God's wind comes, which belongs to it, it thaws quickly, regardless of the fact that no heat has preceded it, which would have softened the ice and snow. Yes, at times the thawing wind is almost cold, so that it seems as if God drives out cold with cold, and winter with winter, so that it may be seen that it is not the creature that does it, but his word or his speaking; who also made the furnace of fire cool without cold for the three men of Babylon, and extinguished the fire for them without water, and the fire had to be fire, and yet not burn. It is equal to him to quench fastnesses with fire, and to warm cold with cold.
55This is what David marvels at here, and praises God, who drives away the winter so wonderfully that he does not use fire and
Heat takes to it, but a cool wind or air. How could it be more strange that the air, which is much thinner and softer than water, nevertheless breaks the hard ice so easily and turns it into water? But water cannot do this. That is why it is called "God's wind" and a special wind, which does not break by nature, but by God's calling and speaking, turns snow and ice into water so soon and so easily.
(56) And it is fine that God takes a wind for thawing and not something else, so that the figure and spiritual meaning may rhyme finely with it. For the spiritual winter must also be driven away by the wind, and not otherwise. The spiritual winter is of two kinds: one when the inner man is frozen in sins and dies in the same cold; there is snow, frost and ice in the hardest way. This winter is made by the law and the devil with his temptations. For since they are not sins in the Holy Spirit, but poor afflicted consciences, the snow is like wool, the frost like ashes, the ice like morsels. For there is hope and promise that such a winter (as we have seen above) will not come.
(§ 43 ff.) and the summer, namely forgiveness of sins, must come, and when it is time, the wind, the Holy Spirit, comes and blows the gospel among such cold sinners, and forgives their sin and comforts them; then it thaws, then it flows, and the winter is gone.
The other winter is when the outward man lies under the cross and is in all kinds of tribulation. This winter is made by the evil, shameful world, which shows us no fire of love, but only frost of hatred, and wants to have us badly dead. But even here the snow is like wool, the frost like ashes, the ice like morsels. For there are some pious hearts that love us, nourish us and encourage us, until the wind of God comes and delivers us from such frost, or converts the hearts of the enemies to become friends, and turns winter into summer, Saul into St. Paul; as there are many such promises and consolations in the Scriptures, that the heathen who persecute the Christians shall honor them greatly, and the kings who raged against them before shall be their nurses and their friends.
Servants are softened and raised by the Spirit of God.
(58) These are first of all the right, high miraculous deeds, which are signified by physical winter and summer; but it is the sorrowful devil that God may nowhere obtain thanks. For where are they who praise God and give thanks for the dear wind of the Gospel, through which we were raised from the cruel frost of the papal tyranny, since everything was frozen to the ground, by the decree of God, who had sent us such strong cold and error for the sake of our wickedness? Well, God is used to it, and his happiness in the world is not different from always doing good, and always being ungrateful, forgetting, despising, even blaspheming, desecrating, and suffering all wickedness for it; as the children of Israel did, and also served other gods, and killed his servants.
V. 19. He shows Jacob his word, Israel his customs and rights.
(59) Hitherto he has given thanks to God for the benefits of temporal goods and worldly status; here he gives thanks for spiritual benefits, which are greater and higher in all measure than temporal goods, though they do not have such a glorious appearance as temporal goods, but are of little reputation, namely, God's word or sermon. This is the precious treasure that brings all happiness, both in this life and in that, and so abundantly that whoever has it is glad of it even in the greatest poverty and misery, and would not give for all the world's good, but would much rather do without all things, even life, and would rather be in death with it than live in misery without it; but there are few who have it rightly.
(60) That is why David put this blessing last, at the end, when a song should sound best. But who can tell how great this blessing is? For who can tell all the virtue and power of the divine word, when all holy scripture and preaching, and all Christian books, do nothing but praise God's word? as we do daily with writing, reading, preaching, singing, writing poetry and painting. For this good deed remains and keeps us even when those good deeds pass away, and when we, through death, die.
leave the same and separate us from each other. But this one does not leave us, nor does it separate from us, but penetrates with us through death, and snatches us out, and brings us into an eternal life, where there will be no dying nor sorrow of death. More about this elsewhere 2c.
61 But he puts three names of the divine word. First he says: "his word"; then: "his customs"; last: "his rights". Let us now distinguish between them: "Word" is to be the divine promise, in which we are to believe; for promise and faith belong together before all other commandments and 1) works. "Customs" shall be the order and manner of worship; as there have been the priesthood, temple, altar, with their vestures, garments, works, sacrifices, and doctrines 2c. The "rights" are to be the commandments in which God ordered the people of Israel how they should live toward others and practice good works of love; as the commandments of the other table teach, along with all the rights that Moses drew from them; as the fifth book especially proves. Such three things must be in all people who are to be God's people; just as we Christians also have the promise of the Gospel, the sacraments, the preaching ministry, and finally the teaching of good works.
V. 20. He does not do this to a Gentile, nor does he let them know his rights.
The Gentiles were enemies of the Jews all over the world, especially their neighbors, mostly because the Jews boasted that they alone were God's people, and thus condemned all Gentiles as God's enemies. For the devil cannot leave it alone; where he sees God's people, he awakens all the world against them, and what wants to be God's people must consider that all the world will become enemy to it. Therefore the Gentiles again boasted and greatly despised the Jews, especially because they saw that the Jews were a small group and had a small kingdom compared to all the Gentiles, who had great kingdoms and empires among them.
63 This is the point of this verse, and David praises this great good deed above all good deeds.
1) "und" is Conjectur of the Jena edition; in the original: "vor".
As if he were to say: "Well, let him who boasts, I will let it happen that the Gentiles are equal to us in the former benefits and temporal goods, or even far, far superior; they have stronger bars, more people and goods, greater, greater peace, more and better wheat than we do; God lets them have winter and summer, sun and rain, heaven and earth as abundantly as we do, and even more abundantly. But this I know well, that they cannot boast that they have God's word, that the Lord is their God and they are His people. They will leave this glory to us, and will not imitate it. But we know, and may surely boast, that he is our God, and we are his people. For we have his word, which he has given to us, and not to the Gentiles.
64 Further, because they cannot boast of God nor of His word, they cannot properly boast of God's temporal goods and bodily benefits. For they do not know that they are God's gifts; and therefore they cannot give thanks for them, but boast of the goods and powers in themselves, not as of God's gifts. And so the goods and power are their God, on which they insist, defy, boast. O wretched boasters, defiers, and boasters, who neither have nor know God, nor understand his gifts and benefits, but make gods out of the creature, in which they trust and boast.
(65) What good would it do for any pagan to have a whole world if he did not realize that it was God's gift, and that God did not have his word, but that the world had to be his God, comfort and defiance? Would that I had a city, a house, a chamber, even a stable, only to know that the Lord was my God and the stable his gift. For what can he lack who has God or God's word, if he has nothing else, and is like poor Lazarus, even in death?
66. Again, the heathen, while they boast of their goods and power, boast of their great robbery and theft, as thieves and robbers, and as enemies of God and blasphemers, and their glory is vain shame. For since they hold God's goods and do not realize that [they are] God's goods, and they have the-
If they have the same from him, nor give thanks for it (as they cannot, because they do not keep his word), it is just as much as stolen and robbed property, and especially because they also deny and blaspheme God, and make other gods out of their property, in which they trust. It is as if a prince lent a possession to someone, and the feudal lord did not want to recognize that he had such a possession from the prince, but denied, blasphemed and persecuted him, and chose another prince as feudal lord: that would be a thief and robber, and an enemy of the prince in his own possession. Therefore the 76th1 Psalm, v. 5, calls such heathen kingdoms "mountains of robbery", that they rob and steal their goods and power, both before God and the world.
In contrast, a pious David and God's people can boast that he has neither stolen nor robbed anything. For he confesses that it is all God's own; he gives and lends it to him, so that it may be his own, and his glory is pure honor, as a faithful servant of God, whom he knows, thanks and serves. This makes it all that he has God's word, through which he is enlightened and taught to know God and His good deeds. Even though he does not have as much as the Gentiles, there is nothing wrong with it; he has it with honor and grace before God, and sings from the 37th Psalm, v. 16: "The little that a righteous man has is better than the great goods of many wicked men. For they have it with all shame and dishonor before God, as the robbers. Now I would rather have a penny than a pious man, nor many thousand guilders than a rogue. But the wicked does not ask for anything. Money is his god, he sticks to it.
68 O that we could boast like this now and sing this verse! because we so surely have God's word, and the other hand is so exceedingly defiant and glorious, relying on emperors, kings, princes, that is, on their goods and power, and having neither God nor His word, neither thinking nor giving thanks for their goods and power, as for God's gift, but making their goods and power their god, robbing and stealing, as the thieves and huskies of God, all that they have, and possessing
1) In the original and in the editions: 86th Psalm.
all with dishonor and dishonor, and their boasting is also vice; and, gloat! deny, blaspheme, and persecute God their liege lord, with all his servants and all his kingdom. (Since God will give them little happiness and salvation, amen, than he will do without that).
69) But we can boast that God has given us His word. Let them now be rich, and us beggars; let them be mighty, but us weak; let them be happy, but us sad; let them be glorious, but us despised; let them be alive, but us dead; let them be everything, but us nothing: what then? They still have no God, but must make a beggarly, lantern-like God themselves out of their pennies. O the wretched matter to the God! O merciful God forge! But we have God, and boast of the right God. They must leave us this ruby, against which all their kingdoms are rotten dung and muck.
70 Whether we have to suffer zero much, what harm is it? It is said, if you want to be a Christian, sufficit tibi gratia mea, thank you that you have my word, and through the word myself. What harm is there in need, hunger, pestilence? What harm to you from the throbbing of the harassers? from the courage of the peasants? from the rage of the papists? from the disgrace of the whole world? from the wrath of all the devils? You have God's word, and they have not. You are with me in grace, and they are not. You are my child, they are my enemies. Rather, let my word be to you than myself, even a treasure, even a kingdom, even a kingdom of heaven in your poverty, misery and sorrow. My word remains forever, and you also in the word; your misery, and that arrogance, passes away, before one means [it].
Note lastly that David is not boasting here of the great miracles God performed for the people of Israel, which glory is right and glorious, but of the word of God. For of all miracles, signs and deeds, the word is truly the highest, the best, the most certain. Therefore, observe and note that God's people are the most certain 4) to be recognized, and the highest comfort is to have God's word, as he says here. For with it he sets himself against
2) Erlanger: and us.
3> Erlanger: "denn" instead of: dein.
4) Walch and the Erlanger: allergewissen.
all the world, saying, "Come, whoever has what he has, God will not do to any people on earth as He has done to me. Yet they do not have the word of God, nor do they want it, nor are they worthy of it, for they do not have it.
persecute it and consider it an abomination. But it is my highest treasure and comfort. Therefore, Jerusalem, praise such a Lord, praise such a God, Zion; praise and extol everything that has breath! Amen.