Cap. 10, 15 [That the king of Israel should go down early in the morning] 1)
Instead of in mane or sicut mans,.it should rather read [in] aurora.
This is the opinion of this chapter, that the idolatry of this people is an ingrained evil. They are called transgressors from their mother's womb 2) 2c., says Isaiah [Cap. 48, 8]. "It has clung to them from their mother's womb" that they are evil, "never let go of your naughtiness" 2c. So says Stephen in the book of Acts [Cap. 7, 51. ff].
"In the dawn the king of Israel is taken away," or: the king has ceased in the dawn, that is, suddenly 2c. That is, I have made this people glorious, so that all nations marvel at this kingdom. This is an advancement of the benefits received and given in the execution from Egypt, and a reminder; namely, from the beginning:
V. 1. Since Israel was young,
I have loved them very much, always done them good. My love has preceded them 2c. Wherever they were called, there they went; me they should have followed, but when a new teacher arose, then they followed that 2c. "For forty years he 3) [God] tolerated their ways," says Paul in the Acts of the Apostles [Cap. 13, 18.].
V. 4. I made them draw a human yoke (In funibus hominum [traham eos] etc. ),
That is, I will catch them with benefits 2c. by which men are caught. - "And walk in cords of love," that is, in a gentle yoke. Thus Christ says [Matth. 11, 30.]: "My yoke is gentle and
1) In the Vulgate, this text is drawn to the first verse of the eleventh chapter, and it is so interwoven with it in the interpretation that we had to leave it there.
2) Instead of korraati, which provides our template, the Vulgate will read voeati.
3) Instead of toleravi, read toleravit. Vulgate: snstinuit.
my burden is light." 4) Even this yoke did not please them, rather they sought other gods 2c. - "I helped them bear the yoke on their neck," that is, I made light the yoke that weighed down their neck 2c., that is, always I delivered them from the yoke they endured 2c. - Instead of ut vesceretur is better: that I gave them food.
V. 5: That he should not return to Egypt (Non revertetur).
Again a threat: 5) So I have done to them 2c., therefore they shall not return to Egypt 2c. He [Luther] has read of revertentur. 6) This not returning to Egypt means that the Lord wants to subjugate this people to the king of Assyria, and that the help of Egypt will not help them 2c.
V. 6. Therefore the sword shall come upon their cities (Cepit). 7)
The king of Assyria took many cities, especially the tribe of Naphtali. - Instead of electos [in the Vulgate], the Hebrew says: "bar". It is the way of the Hebrew language to call the princes bars, mountains, strongholds, walls. - "And devour, for the sake of their nobility." That is, they will fall in their raths, that is, for the sake of their raths 2c. The counsels were very pernicious (pessima) to the counsels.
V. 7. My people are tired of turning to me. 8)
This is what you must understand about the spiritual return. It began through Christ when the gospel was sent to the whole world.
4) In the original, the predicates are mixed up.
5) Erlanger eomininatio; Weimarsche: eovarninutio. The latter is probably a misprint.
6) A remark of the rewriter. - In Luther's Latin translation, ne revkrtsrsutur is written.
7) Our Vulgate offers: Ooepit.
8) Vulgate: Lt xoxulus rn6U8 peväedit aä rsüitnm rntzum; fuZurri antern inaxonetur eis sirnul, Huock non auksretur.
That is, they will be in abeyance, they will be stalled until I return 2c. - Jugum autem. This is a very dark passage. It speaks of a bodily burden from which the people will never be freed.
V. 8. What shall I make of you, Ephraim? 2c.
As if to say, I will not protect and liberate you. "What shall I make of you?" "How will I make you?" 2c. In Jeremiah [Cap. 49, 18.] 1) it is said of Sodom [and her neighbors] that not even one hand shall remain, so "that nothing can be carried away," 2) that is, this kingdom shall be destroyed at the same time. - ["But my heart is of another mind."] Conversum, that is, changed. He promises a particularly great mercy. It grieved the Lord according to his great mercy. "When he hath made it too much," it is said: it repenteth him 2c., as if he would say, It repenteth me that the people are thus afflicted.
V. 9. that I will not do according to my fierce anger 2c.
I don't want to exert all the violence of my anger. - "And not a man." In Hebrew, "a man." As if to say: I strike and heal; a man wants to eradicate everything completely (totum), I do not. A glorious promise of the mercy of GOD: I want the name of mercy to remain inviolate, and to take refuge in me. Satan wants no Christian to remain. In the midst of death He promises mercy. If I press thee, thou shalt take refuge in me, "abide here!" Nature wants to flee when it is pressed by God. "To me, to me!"In tribulation. [Compare above 3) Cap. 6, 1.: "When it is evil to them" 2c. - "And I am the Holy One," for He makes holy and righteous. - Note: To enter among men (ingredi)
1) In the Weimar edition, in the margin: "Jer. 23, 14.", but we think that the passage we have referred to is more appropriate.
2s In the original: "davon kan tragen"; transposed by us for easier understanding.
3) One of the two supra in the original is to be deleted. Here the punctuation in our original is poor. Both the Erlanger and the Weimarsche offer: "In tridulatlons, suprn in tridulntione ete. supra 6. 6."
and to go out means to have one's being there. - "But I will not come into the city" (ingrediar), that is, I will not have my being in cities 2c. He describes the nature and consecration of his future kingdom in a few words: it will not be a fleshly kingdom, but a spiritual one, free in spirit; it will not have cities 2c. "The kingdom of God does not stand in outward appearances" [Luc. 17, 20. f.].
V. 10. And he will roar like a lion.
That is, they will follow the Lord who will make his voice sound like the roar of a lion. Thus it is said in Amos [Cap. 1, 2.]: "The Lord will roar out of Zion" 2c., that is, the gospel will be preached as with the great roar of a lion and with a great voice 2c. This is the lion of the tribe of Judah, which shall roar for his young and elect against the enemies and ungodly 2c. - "And when he shall roar, they that are toward the west shall be afraid." That is, they will flee. This is such a flight as happens in the camps when there is a tumult, "army flight." The word means both fright and flight. Filii maris [the children of the sea --- "so are toward evening"]; so: fortitudo maris, that is, a very strong wind that is always at the sea. It means the sea which the Jews call the evening [west], that is, the peoples who dwell on the midland sea will not resist but will obey it.
V. 11. [And those in Egypt will also be terrified (avolabunt), like a bird.]
Avolabunt and "they will be terrified" is the same verb [in Hebrew] they will flee to the LORD who strikes them. Not only the Jews, but those who are toward evening (filii maris), the Assyrians, the Egyptians will follow the LORD at his roar 2c. "This is of the sayings of one," which Paul adduced in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans [v. 16. - "And I will set them in their houses," that is, I will gather them into the church, into the many mansions that are in my Father's house. And he promises them gifts 2c. This is the summa of the preached gospel 2c.