V. 1. If I want to heal Israel, first find the sin of Ephraim and the wickedness of Samaria, 2) how they practice idolatry. For though they are plagued with thieves among themselves, and with robbers by heart; yet 2c.
The following sermon is also a legal one. It contains a punishment of idolatry and threatens the sure sinners with punishment. There is no difficulty in the matter here, only the grammar is somewhat obscure because of the images, which (as foolish reason judges) are somewhat harsh; but if we look at them more carefully, although they are crude and taken from the midst of life, they depict the aspirations of the idolaters quite accurately. It is clear from this passage, however, that just as the church has had the same enemy at all times, so also the temptations are the same. For if you compare the despisers of the Word that we have today with the Israelites, you will say that one egg could not be more like another.
The Lord complains that since he is anxious to heal Israel, Israel, even more so at the beginning, as if driven by the spirits of hell (furiis), is most eagerly engaged in idolatry.
2) From here on, the following in Latin reads like this: Hula operantur rnenäavinrn, läeo venit kur st latro toris sxoliat.
and to sin more licentiously. It is something wonderful and almost unbelievable, but look at the examples we have before us and you will say that it is still happening today.
The Lord has made known to us through His Word the right worship of God, that we should believe the Gospel and call upon the so merciful Father in the name of Christ, through whose merit or death we are freed from sin and death. Therefore, idolatry and false worship are condemned, and men are exhorted to set aside the ordinances of men and earnestly engage in the good works commanded by God. But is not the godlessness of the papists revealed here and the wickedness of the Church of the Antichrist? They also try to suppress the true doctrine by force of arms, the ungodly services of the masses, the idolatry in the invocation [of the saints], and what other abuses there are, they now begin to defend seriously and, as much as they are able, they fortify them. Thus also Israel killed the right teachers and pressed with all the greater fury on its services, since
3) Erlanger: tarnen rniseriooräiarn instead of: tarn rniserivoräern.
it heard that they were punished by godly teachers.
But how did the Lord avenge this stubborn wickedness? The thief has come, says the prophet, and the armed man has invaded the land, that is, as we say, at home and from without they are plagued and plundered. For he does not call him the thief who breaks through the wall by night and secretly takes away what he can, but the lies, the deceit, the avarice, the unjust violence, the injustice that the citizens do to each other, the unjust public burdens that are imposed by stingy authorities. For these are the most pernicious thieves, by whom the commonwealths are plundered. To this trouble at home, he says, comes from outside the enemy and wars.
Do we not also feel this in our time? The princes rob their subjects most shamefully. The citizens among themselves know no measure of their avarice. And in addition, there is the Turkish tyrant, as well as other wars. Thus poor Germany is oppressed on both sides, but it is ripe for punishment, so that in fact, as the old man says in the comedy 1), not even the goddess of salvation herself could save it, even if she wished it. And we, who nevertheless boast of the Gospel, are not entirely without these punishments, for we see that the same damage to the commonwealth is also going on with us, the harmful thief and the plundering enemy. Therefore, these are also punishments of our sins, because we misuse the gospel and do not walk worthily according to it.
V. 2. Yet they do not want me to see their wickedness. But I can see their wickedness, which they do everywhere.
This is a punishment of safety, which is the most harmful evil, because it keeps away repentance, by which alone the access to the relief of public distress is open. In these sins, says the prophet, they continue as surely as if they were sure that I do not know. But I know it very well, because these sins are constantly before me.
1) lerent. 4, 7, 43.
eyes, and cannot be overlooked. Therefore, they will give rise to more severe punishments.
But see also here our adversaries: do they not behave as if they had heard a voice from heaven that they would flee from the wrath of God? as John [Matth. 3, 7.] says to the Pharisees. But this is for the comfort of the church, that God says that the wicked are constantly before His eyes. For when the punishment is not there, and the idolaters cruelly persecute the godly, the hearts of the godly are often challenged, as if God were busy with other things and did not care about His Church. But indeed, God sees not only the deeds that can be seen with the eyes, but also the counsels and the intentions and the innermost part of the heart, therefore He will not always let them go unpunished.
V. 3. They put off the king by their wickedness, and the princes by their lies.
Here he actually speaks of the sin of the priests, who not only did not punish idolatry, but also tried to gain the grace of the princes by their idolatrous services. For the wickedness of which the prophet here speaks is not a civil, but an ecclesiastical one, which includes ungodly worship and ungodly doctrines; therefore he calls them "lies." For the simple are deceived, and thinking to make themselves agreeable to GOtte, they offend him to the highest degree. Thus, when a monk fasts, when he zealously worships the saints, when he says masses, he is in truth making a fool of himself with lies, for these are not acts of worship, but blasphemies and the highest disobedience to GOtte.
V. 4: They are all adulterers, like an oven that the baker heats when he has kneaded and leavened the dough and let it rise.
Here he explains what wickedness and what lie he is talking about, namely, the shameful adultery, that they have departed from the true God, and like an adulterous woman have gone to strange wooers, to idols and forbidden
Divine services. The likeness actually serves to illustrate the fierce zeal that is in the idolaters. For they are hot like an oven when it is heated. As for the grammar, I consider that the sense is correctly and actually rendered.
V. 5 Today is the feast of our king (they say), when the princes began to be mad with wine; so he calls the scoffers to him.
The brevity here makes the text dark, as it is wont to do. But the prophet has nothing else in mind here than to interpret the parable of the heated oven. Under the name of a becker the godless teachers are introduced; these knead the flour, that is, they lead the people to idolatry; then the oven is heated, that is, the people are invited to idolatry by new ceremonies and services, as he says: "Today is our king's feast," that is, a special celebration. Therefore the princes revel at court, but in the temple godless services take place, and the authors of them are in great favor with the king. 1)
It is not unlike that great princes celebrate their birthday with great pomp in the churches, with many masses and other ungodly ceremonies. As in the first Psalm, v. 1, the prophet calls the godless teachers "mockers", who falsify the Scriptures with their interpretation. But this is in truth mocking God and men.
V. 6 For their heart is in hot devotion, like an oven, when they sacrifice and deceive the people; but their becker sleeps all night, and in the morning he burns brightly.
This goes also to the priests, who are the authors of the godless services. These, he says, "when they deceive the people," that is, when they deal with idolatry, are like a heated oven, that is, they burn with tremendous desire to increase and strengthen idolatry. For they see that in this way they have access to the favor of the princes, and in this way they also increase their wealth quite handsomely. But these plots will not go out happily for them, because just as if the
1) Erlanger: inZratia instead of: in Zratia.
If the fire, while the becker is lying there overcome by sleep, bursts out of the heated oven and engulfs everything in flames, idolatry will be the ruin of the kingdom of Israel.
V. 7. They are still as hot with devotion as an oven. Though their judges be eaten up, and all their kings fall, yet there is none among them that doth worship me.
Here he says without a picture what he said above about the fire burning in the oven and consuming the Becker himself.
At this point, however, the stages of ungodliness must be noted. The first is that the idolaters are not satisfied with your words, but the more diligently God admonishes them through the prophets, the more fiercely they lay on idolatry. This sin is followed by their punishments, for the judges and kings fall, and the people are plundered by the neighboring pagans.
The other sin is that, just as they did not listen to God when He kindly called them by the Word, so they do not care about Him when He strikes them. They imagine that their misfortune has other causes than their idolatry. So also Isaiah complains in the ninth chapter (2), v. 13, that the people do not turn to him who smites them. Therefore also in this piece the counsel of God is in vain. For just as God wanted to turn them away from idolatry through the word, so He also sends punishments for the same purpose, so that they may recognize their sins and return to the right path through repentance. But since neither by words nor by blows anything is accomplished, what else can be expected but desolation?
Therefore, this passage teaches about the intention of God in punishing sins. For he does not intend to reject and condemn us because of sin. In this way he calls us to repentance, that we may depart from evil, and call upon him. For this is the way to meet the wrath of God, if we combine repentance with prayer.
But what do the idolaters do? Even if
2) In the editions: in I. oaxits.
they feel the punishments, they do not consider that they are imposed by God in His wrath. Therefore, they do not call upon God, but call upon their idols. They call upon people by whose power they hope to help themselves out of the present misfortune. Thus, those who follow the papal religion today feel the Turks and other calamities, and therefore ask for salvation. But they do not pray to God, they put their trust in their works, they rely on the intercessions of the saints, yes, they even call upon the saints, while only God should be called upon in the name of Christ. For in this way one asks for a benefit from grace in vain, which God has promised to the Church.
V. 8. Ephraim mingles with the nations; Ephraim is like a cake that no one turns over.
This is the third sin, that they not only do not call upon God, but also rely on human help, and connect themselves with the pagans through alliances. But this also goes badly for the idolaters, for they become prey to those with whom they associate, as the image of the cake proves, which can be understood in two ways. For a cake that is not turned over burns and becomes ashes, since it is always exposed to fire on one side only. But perhaps it is more appropriate for this passage to understand it in such a way that the prophet intended to show by this image that Israel would be eagerly plundered by the Gentiles, just as people who cannot bear hunger devour the cakes half cooked, and cannot wait until they are baked. Therefore, what he adds is, as it were, an interpretation. He uses the word like Moses, 2 Mos. 29, 2. 3. book 7, 12. where he speaks of mixing the flour with oil, and he does the same in this passage with the equation of the cake.
V. 9. 10. But strangers devour his strength, yet he will not know it; he also has gray hairs, yet he will not know it. And the hope of Israel is humbled before their eyes; yet they turn not unto the Lord their God, neither inquire of him in all this.
The prophet summarizes two things in this passage, namely the certain punishment and such a great blindness that they do not see where the punishment they feel comes from. For if they thought they were being punished for idolatry, they would let it go, but they do not.
What he adds of the gray hairs is rightly explained by the broken forces of the kingdom, as the comic poet [Terence] calls old age a disease. For Jeroboam, under whom the prophet lived, found the kingdom miserably torn. But there is nothing to prevent it, if it is taken in such a way that it serves to make sin great, for such shameful ignorance is more abominable in an old person than in a young one.
That he says, "the hope of Israel is humbled", we have interpreted above in the fifth chapter. Therefore, it is the highest sin if, after neglecting the Word, one does not respect the punishments that God lays down with the intention of bringing the erring back on the right path, as the prophet shows in this passage, when he says, "that they do not turn to the Lord and do not inquire after God". For "to turn to the Lord" means to renounce idolatry, and "to inquire after God" means to follow the word.
V. 11. For Ephraim is like a tempted dove that does not want to notice anything. Now they call Egypt, then they run to Assyria.
This simile is very beautiful, also taken from the household. The dove is most easily deceived among all birds, that it forgets its nest. Thus he says that Ephraim also became accustomed to a foreign nest, leaving God and the Temple, and seeking help, not from God, whose name dwelt at Jerusalem, but from the neighboring Gentiles, the Egyptians and Assyrians.
Isaiah also uses the simile of the doves Cap. 60, 8. when he prophesies about the apostles and evangelists, but praises them for knowing their windows and not being led away from the word as their right nest to ungodly teachings. Therefore Christ also wants the apostles to be like the deaf [Matth. 10, 16], as far as the simplicity and the truth are concerned.
innocence. By the way, he adds: "Be wise as serpents", because the foolish doves are deceived and get used to strange nests. This does not have to be the case with a disciple of Christ, for they must demonstrate a wise simplicity. For "simplicity" is to look at nothing but God's honor and the salvation of one's neighbor, "prudence" is to beware of Satan's snares and to rely only on the Word.
V. 12. But as they run to and fro, I will cast my net over them and bring it down, as the birds of the air; I will punish them as one preaches in their gathering.
This is finally the reward of the godless being and the outcome of the godless alliances, which are undertaken in the hope of human help. There is an emphasis in the pronoun "my" when he says: "My net", because it is of such a kind that the wicked cannot escape. But the likeness includes both the safety of the wicked and their sudden and accidental destruction.
What is written in Hebrew, "according to how one preaches in their assembly," is a familiar figure of speech. But it refers to the punishments that Moses threatens the wicked. So also Isaiah often says that not even one of the things threatened by the Lord will fail to happen. For, as the Gospel testifies, they used to read Moses on the Sabbath days in their schools or assemblies. But we are to consider that the same punishments will come upon each one of us if we do not keep the word and repent, and if we do not cease from ungodly worship.
V. 13 Woe to them that they depart from me; they must be destroyed, for they have gone astray from me. I would have redeemed them if they had not taught lies against me.
This is the conclusion of the present sermon. But it must be noted that the Lord everywhere adds his person: "They have departed from me", "they have become apostates from me", "they teach lies against me", "they do not call on me", "they think evil of me". Therefore, how do we punish the sins according to
If we distinguish between the sins of the first tablet and the sins of the second tablet, we are to conclude that the prophet is not speaking of the sins of the second tablet, but of the sins of the first tablet.
"To depart from GOD" means to let go of faith in GOD and to trust in people and rely on their help.
"To become apostate from the LORD," that is, to change the worship of God and to commit idolatry.
"To teach lies against the LORD," that is, to profane the name of GOD by ungodly teaching.
"Not calling on the LORD," that is, desecrating the name of GOD by calling on it falsely.
"To think evil of the Lord" means to remember that one wants to hold on to and spread false worship. And this includes the persecution of the word, as well as the abuse of peace and the other gifts that the wicked use to defend their idolatry.
He mentions these sins in the following conclusion and threatens that it will happen that they will be destroyed because of them. Therefore, warned by their example, we should learn to beware. We, too, are poor sinners, but by God's grace we escape these sins against the first table, since we hold fast the right services and the pure doctrine; therefore the hope of grace remains for us. But those who combine ungodly doctrine with ungodly worship, as our adversaries do, what else can they promise themselves but ruin.
The fact that he says: "I wanted to redeem them, but they teach lies against me", goes back to the time of Jeroboam. Although Jeroboam was a godless king, he was fortunate because he brought back to the kingdom of Israel what the forefathers had lost, namely from Hemath to the sea, 2 Kings 14:25.
V.14. Neither do they call upon me from their hearts, but they listen in their camps. They gather together for the sake of grain and Mosiah, and disobey me.
They do cry out, and from the heart, for that is what their need urges them to do; but this is the fault, that they do not cry out to the Lord from the heart.
For they came together by their idols, and called in a forbidden place; for the temple at Jerusalem was appointed for prayer; therefore also they that were absent in body turned their faces thither. But Israel despised the temple and had idolatrous temples built without the Word and against the commandment of God, which the prophet here calls "camps," for he alludes to the similitude of adultery. It is especially remarkable that the prophet calls the idolatrous calling a "hearing" (ululatum - howling), for just as a musical harmony delights the ears, so a howling offends the ears. The right call is a very sweet music for God, but the wrong and idolatrous call offends his ears and heart in the most serious way.
But this saying should be written on the walls of all churches, especially those in which the pews of the chaplains are. For since nothing else happens there but people shouting at each other with the highest zeal, the prophet indicates here what is wrong with this service.
The first and almost the highest infirmity is that if this is an invocation, it is not only without heart, but also without all understanding; I will refrain from saying that this invocation of the saints or men elevated to gods (divorum) is altogether idolatrous.
The second error is that in truth, as the Prophet says here, "they gather for the sake of grain and mosi." For if this work were not exposed to this reward, they would never gather for these efforts. Therefore, their God, whom they worship with these songs, is not the God of heaven, whom they do not know, but bread and wine, which they eat and fatten themselves with.
The third fault is that they perform this service in such a way that they resist GOtte with the greatest effort and zeal, that is, the pure doctrine, which they would like to condemn and eradicate as a heresy. And indeed, this godless kind of people dares to ask why we have done away with the in so many respects godless service from our churches?
V. 15. I teach them and strengthen their arm, but they think evil of me.
This also belongs to the times of Jeroboam. But he remembers two and very high benefits; the first is that he instructs through the prophets and sends the word. For this time had five excellent prophets, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and Nahum, all of whom exhorted the people to repentance, prophesying that the Assyrian would lay waste their land unless they converted and forsook idolatry.
Then 'he also strengthened their arms, that is, God graced the worldly regiment with peace and victories, as we told shortly before about Jeroboam. But how have they used of these gifts? Against me, he says, they think evil, that is, they misuse peace and victory to suppress the word and the right worship, and to fortify their idolatry. For the word does not mean merely "to think," but to be intent on something with diligence and earnestness.
V. 16. They are converted, but not rightly, but are like a false bow; therefore their princes shall fall by the sword; their dread shall become a mockery in the land of Egypt.
This is the resolution. Even if I strike them because of their sin, I do not remedy anything. For when they feel their plagues, they do not turn to me, but call on their idols and seek help from men.
Therefore, what will finally be the end. You will be like a false bow. The bow is made to hit the enemy. If the string breaks or something like that happens, it is useless. So here he threatens that even though the kingdom of Israel will lack neither counsel nor action, all its undertakings will be disastrous because of its sins. Thus he interprets: "Therefore their princes will fall" 2c.
The opposite sense is in the 127th Psalm, v. 4. where he compares the children of those who let themselves be ruled by GOD to the arrows in the hand of a strong one, for he indicates blissful rulers. But here the arrows are indeed in a hand, and in a mighty hand, because the kingdom of Israel was under
Jeroboam in beautiful bloom, but the bow is wrong, that is, they fall in their enterprise. And this happens because of the distrust of their tongues, because they are reproachful against the godly teachers and gloriously praise their power and means of help, by which they hope to be safe. For Egypt will deceive them, therefore they will be laughed at.
The Hebrews follow a different opinion, for they call a false bow that which is drawn in falseness, so that when you think it will hit on the right, it will hit on the left.
ken meets. And on this opinion the Septuagint Ps. 78, 57. have translated the word XXXX by a "loose bow" (versatilem), στρεβλόν, which is easily directed hither and thither. And it is not inappropriate for this passage either to have this opinion, that it is not a matter of punishment, but of guilt. Like a false bow they convert, as if to repent. But they do not turn to God, they continue in their idolatry. If you hope that they will go to the right, they turn to the left 2c.