V. 1. [Thus saith the Lord; For three and four vices of Moab will I not spare them; because they have burned the bones of the king of Edom to ashes].
1) Here again there is nothing certain about history, which is mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. The Jewish fables do not please me, because they do not make us certain through Scripture, and because there is no sacred history by which we can become certain. -I think that this passage is to be understood figuratively, namely that "the bones" do not refer to the bones of the body, but to the strong and the rulers and the mighty, who are capable of using weapons and waging war. For this is how the strong and mighty are used to be called "bones" in the holy scriptures. Therefore the prophet punishes the insatiable anger of the Moabites in the rage, because he remembers the burning of the bones of the king of Edom (because it must not be read incenderit [as it is written in the Vulgate, but combusserit].
We see in these scriptural passages the miraculous judgments of God, which we think are coincidence or luck, namely, when some nations are defeated by other nations in battle, while the armies of other nations are defeated. All this happens through the judgment of God, and in addition, the Almighty God also avenges the injustice done to the Gentiles, so that we learn that God is the Lord of the whole world, that everything happens according to His will, and that it is as the Apostle Paul says [Rom. 3:29], that God is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
V. 2. [But I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall consume the palaces of Kirioth; and Moab shall die in tumult, and in shouting, and in sound of trumpets]. 2)
1) D. begins like this: This prophecy of Moab is more correctly connected to the first chapter. But here one asked etc.
2) Vulgate: Dt rnittum lZnom in st d6voravit asciss Oariotlr; st mormtur in sonituin.
olanAorö tnb "a6.
I think that Carioth should be read appellatively, namely: of the city. 3) - Instead of: in sonitu it should read more correctly: "in the tumult". - And in the trumpet-hall" [that means in the rejoicing. - After the prophecies against the Gentiles are finished, he now returns to what he had undertaken and begins to prophesy against Judah. 5)
Thus saith the Lord; For three and four vices will I not spare Judah; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, and have been led astray by their lies, which their fathers followed. 6)
He punishes Judah because of the most noble of all vices, namely because of idolatry, since they had left the right worship and the word of God; for they always suffered from this ungodliness 7). For abominations and idolatry inevitably follow when we fall away from the right word of God; that this has happened we see both here and in all of Scripture. - Instead of et mandata ejus, it should more correctly read: "rights". What difference there is between commandments and rights we will say elsewhere; here it is enough to distinguish that "rights" are ceremonies concerning God, which can be changed according to the times. 8) Thus, in the second Psalm, it is foretold of Christ that He will establish the law of God, or the counsel, or
3) D.: eivitabis, which we have assumed, while the manuscript offers vivitas. - Instead of Ourlotk, the manuscript reads Oiriotü. The Zwickau manuscript has our Lesarst, dre of the Vulgate.
4) D. t: adjacent.
5) D. f: and here we will begin the first sermon.
6) Vulgate: Uaeo dielt Dominu8: 8uper tridus seeleribus duda 6t supsr ynatuor non oonv6rtam 6 um, 60 <znod udjoosrit l6Mm Domini, st mandata ejns non 6nstodi6rit; d666p6rnnt 6nirn 608 idola 8NU, P08t YNL6 adiorant Mtr68 6orum.
7) D.: the holy people
8) The words: "which, however - can", are missing in D., are also in the manuscript only in the margin, but provided with insertion marks. In the Zwickau manuscript: Hnod tompor6 potost mutari swas can be changed with the time^.
he will preach the decree of God; he will preach a far different council of God than those in the Old Testament, namely, he is the eternal Son of the Father, he will rule, he will be the king of the whole world, he will condemn all that there is in human righteousness, also that which is brought about from the law of God; but one must believe in him, one must kiss him etc., as the whole Psalm indicates, otherwise we would lose the way to righteousness etc. - Instead of: deceperunt eos idola sua it should more correctly read: errare fecerunt eos mendacia1 ) sua [their lies have led them astray]. He gives the reason why they must be rejected, namely because they have followed the godless ways of their godless fathers, the lies with which their fathers acted godlessly against God, and which they godlessly continued to fortify. God wants us to look only at His word, so that we do not follow or approve of what our fathers followed or approved of, so that those will be disgraced who today, contrary to the revealed word of God, claim the great number of demonstrations and the length of time, seeing that the children are punished who followed the ungodliness of their fathers, which the Lord also forbade in the law, Deut. 18, 30: "Keep my statutes, that ye do not do after the abominable customs that were before you" etc.
V. 6. For the sake of three and four vices of Israel.
So far the prophet has made a digression and, as it were, given a prelude to the prophecy, now he begins the real prophecy against Israel, which he has undertaken. But the sum of the whole passage is this: The prophet punishes the wickedness of Israel and condemns their tyranny and unbelievable avarice, saying that they have sold the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of shoes, that is, that they have not kept a right court, and have by no means obeyed either equity or the law.
1) mtznäneia set by us according to the Zwickau and Hall manuscripts, instead of iäola in the Driginal and in D.
2) "the lies" is missing from D.
They have not followed the right, but have only taken care of their avarice; therefore, they have not taken care of the righteous. For in this way all those must be judged who are without fear of God, that they do not look at God's order and the right, but only want to satisfy their own desire and are extraordinarily devoted to avarice etc.
V. 7. They tread the head of the poor in dung.
Instead of: Qui conterunt super pulverem one reads more correctly: In pulverem absorbent [they devour into the dust (of the earth)). He uses the word "devour" in order to emphasize their godless nature and their presumption to bend the law, as if he wanted to say: They make the poor nothing but dust, 3) they do not give justice to orphans, widows, or the poor, who are already miserable enough and whom I want to be taken into consideration, but they turn the law in favor of the noble and powerful, as is also said in Hosea. The same is what follows:
And hinder the way of the wretched.
According to the Hebrew it means: the way of the miserable they bend or turn. But "the way" means the affairs, the things, and it is the opinion: they take so no consideration at all for the poor that they not only neglect but also oppress those whose ways they should guard, whom they should take in protection, whom they should let themselves be commanded before all etc.
It sleeps son and father with a prostitute.
So far he has punished the extraordinary tyranny and avarice of Israel, now he also condemns their free fornication, of which he says that it was so great that even father and son were not afraid to commit fornication with the same maid; so much so that they had no regard for respectability and chastity. And this could easily happen among the Jewish people, since the maids were serfs, as well as the servants, whom they abused for their fornication.
3) D. †: and trample him down like dust,
So that they may desecrate my holy name.
That is the goal of all godlessness, that is what it all boils down to, that the holy name of God is blasphemed and desecrated. The name of God has been invoked over us, that is, we have become children of God by grace, co-heirs with Christ; in short, whatever names God is called by, we are also called by them when we believe; we are called righteous, holy, wise, even gods. But God's name is blasphemed and profaned for our sake and through us, if we do not walk worthily, if we walk and live differently than befits Christians, if we give ourselves over to ungodliness and impurity etc.
V. 8. And at all the altars they feast on the pledged garments.
Here he accuses them again of avarice, saying of the unjust good and robbery which they had extorted from the poor, namely, that they had kept the pledged garments contrary to the law. For it was prescribed in the law that no one who had received a pledge from his neighbor, who owed him something, should keep the pledge during the night, if the one from whom he had received the pledge was poor [Deut. 24, 12. f.]. But like this law, all the others were very much despised.
And drink wine in the house of their gods from the sweetened.
For they used to extort unreasonable fines (mulctas --- fines) from the defendants. Behold the exceeding wickedness of the priests: It was wholly forbidden to the priests, when they would go into the tabernacle, to use wine, as the law says [Deut. 10:9.]. Here, however, he says that they were not content to despise the law of God in such a way, but that they also drank such wine, which they had obtained in the most unjust way, namely, extorted quite unreasonably. Thus they took no account of what was good and godly. Therefore, it is as if he meant to say: they took unreasonable fines in order to buy wine for it, in order to feast, and from the pledged clover, in order to drink the wine.
In the end, the people who had been forbidden by the Lord to keep even overnight made themselves splendid cushions in order to be noble and to let their desires run free. The words of the prophet are fiery and extraordinarily violent. For he does not accuse them of simple indulgence and splendor, but says that they live deliciously on unjust goods and what they have robbed from the poor, forgetting all divine laws.
Here the question arises, why the prophet punishes the desecration of the temple, which Israel had, while he should rather have praised the desecration of the godless temples, which were erected against God's word. For Israel had no temple built according to God's word, but only Bethel; but there was only the One Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, built according to God's word and order.
1) I answer: Nonetheless sinful-
1) From here on until v. 9, D. has this explanation instead of the following: Here it does not come into consideration what or where they did it, but with what heart and in what attitude they did it. For although it was the service of a false god, of which they had no commandment from God, yet, because in that service their hearts were sure and despised God, they despised the true God and not an idol. Therefore, we read in the histories of the pagans that the greatest punishments often followed the contempt of idols. Known is the defeat, which the Gauls suffered under their leader Brenno at Delphi, because of contempt of the deity. Known is the misfortune of Pyrrhus, which followed the plundering of the temple of Juno in Italy. Such punishments have befallen the godless people of God not because they despised the idols, but because the contempt of the true God, whom they did not know at all, was followed by the contempt of the other religions, which, although they were blasphemous, were nevertheless considered by them to be the service of the true God. Thus, the perjury of the pagans was followed by certain punishments, not because it was not allowed to misuse the name of Jupiter or Castor, but because they did not know the name of the true God and used the name of the idols instead, which they worshipped instead of the true God, they misused the name of the false God for their own benefit, out of an ungodly neglect and contempt of all religions. But those who have the knowledge of the true God are not only free, but are even commanded to despise and condemn all idols and all idolatrous worship. And this very condemnation of idols arises from the fear and love of God and of the true religion, not from the contempt from which perjury, neglect of pagan worship and the like arise among the pagans. With
They did it in an ungodly way because they acted against their conscience. For they thought that they had done this service to the true God and not to the idols, and therefore the prophet judges them according to their conscience. For although it was by no means a right service of God, since it was done without the word of God, indeed, against the word of God, and they did not serve the true God, nevertheless, since their conscience punishes them, they are accused of ungodliness. Therefore, the prophet says;
In their gods home.
As if to say: It^was not the true God and not the right house of God, and yet, because they thought that they were serving the true God and did not do so, they acted ungodly. Therefore, their neglecting that service is just as ungodly as if they had done so against the true God. It is just as if it were said of our mass priests and monks: Because these have vowed chastity and poverty and I do not know what other things, and no one is more devoted to unchastity than they, and they are the very richest, living most deliciously, therefore we can accuse them of impiety, since they do not do enough with their vows, which, since they cannot fulfill them, are impious and against God; but because they want to be regarded as keeping them, and yet do not keep them, they are impious etc.
Therefore, the prophet rightly condemns the desecration even of a condemned temple in which idolatrous services forbidden by God were performed. Not as if he wanted a temple built against God's will to be worshipped sacredly and ungodly sacrifices to be performed, but because he does not want both the temple and the ungodly services to be despised out of a" godless carelessness and certainty of heart, with which they did not despise both those ungodly things and the true God. Thus, today we must despise and condemn all sacrifices of the Mass, since we know that there is only one sacrifice through which everything is accomplished, namely Christ hanging on the cross for our sins. But a papist sacristan, who does not have this knowledge, and yet abuses the mass ungodly, that he desecrates it for the sake of profit and treats it with special frivolity, sins precisely in that he does not treat the ungodly work with greater reverence, because he does this out of a special contempt for God and all religions.
V. 9. Now I have destroyed the Amorite before them.
The Lord reproaches them for the benefits they have received and thus punishes them for their ingratitude, since they have not allowed themselves to be moved by such great and innumerable benefits to love God, to follow the word of Him of whom they have always known that He is their protector and Father, who had made them conquerors of all their enemies through glorious victories, as if He wanted to say: "Of course, this is the thanks you give me.
I destroyed its fruit above and its root below. 1)
That is, I have utterly destroyed him, both great and small. For the Amorites are so utterly destroyed and cut off by the root that not one is left.
V. 12. So you give wine to the Nazarenes to drink.
It was not enough that you acted ungodly against my law and drank wine in the temple, but you also gave others cause to sin against the law, namely, by giving wine to the Nazarites to drink, which the law forbids, Deut. 6:3. 2)
V. 13. Behold, I will make it strange among you.
This is a Hebrew figure of speech, as if he wanted to say: As a wagon full of sheaves groans, so I will also see to it that you groan under the wagons of the Assyrians, that is, oppressed by excessive burden and work you shall groan, shall be oppressed again, while you are now proud and puffed up. And it is that he says subter ["under"), which we cannot render suitably in Latin.
1) In the original and also in D., this keyword is negligently indicated: Oontrivi "jus ruäiesna ässuxer. Instead of ätzsupar, kubier is to be read.
S) D. f: And this is also a reason why he disapproves of their actions, namely that while they themselves despise religion out of an ungodly certainty, they also lead the others by their example to a similar contempt, so that they despise God and all religions by this contempt of the vain worship and the ungodly religion par excellence.
V. 14. That he who is swift shall not escape.
He takes away all protection, and threatens that he will destroy everything by which they promise themselves salvation and escape, all strength and effort to escape. It is a Hebrew way of speaking, since he says (in the Vulgate): Peribit fuga (the escape shall perish), which David also used in the 142nd Psalm, v. 5 (Vulgate): "The escape has perished from me", that is, I do not see where I can escape, all hope of escape is lost, I must perish etc. So here the Lord threatens the same, as if he wanted to say: I will surround you with such a great power of enemies, and by the strength in
derer 1) I will instill fear in you so that you will not be able to escape. The mightiest leaders of the armies will flee because they despair and have no confidence in your affairs. So there will be no help for you: the warriors, the leaders, the archers, the horsemen will all be deprived of the hope of victory etc. This is the end of the first sermon in this prophet, because the prophets did not prophesy everything immediately; 2) now another sermon follows.
1) In the editions is so interpungirt: st viribus . aliorum, immittam ete. We think that the comma should be deleted. So has the old translator.
2) The words: "for - prophesied" are missing in D.