These last two chapters deal with the final destruction of the kingdom and the priesthood of this time.
V. 1. [Strike at the pommel, that the posts lift; for their avarice shall come upon their head 2c.]
"Strike", smash, smash all who find at the top and at the bottom, the first and the last. "The knob" or the extreme end. "And he smote them in the head all" (, so it should read according to the Hebrew instead of: avaritia in capite omnium). The word "avarice" (in the Vulgate) comes from "unjust good" (commoditas) 2c. Behold, so it must read, And he hath broken it in the head of all. It is a short text, but a right opinion: all must fall 2c. "The head", that is, I will break the priesthood and the kingdom. All that will be left in the people will be nothing but a shaking of the posts. He indicates that the people have no fixed abode on earth and wander about. In Habakkuk (Cap. 4, 13.) it says: "You break the head in the house of the wicked" 2c. This is prophesied of this people. "Strike at (the) neck," at the head. Nowadays this people of the Jews is nothing but a trunk without a head. That is, this whole kingdom and priesthood will be disturbed. This moving and wandering throughout the whole world is the quaking of the posts. "That the posts should quake," that is, that they should wander about through the whole circle of the earth. He interprets what the quaking of the posts is, and says: "And he shatters them" 2c. By further execution he lays it out even abundantly, "Their offspring (residuum) I will slay with the sword." The quake comprehends many things in itself. It will not take place that they could escape.
V. 2. (And though they be buried in hell, yet shall my hand fetch them from thence 2c.)
Educet, that is, "shall bring them out". - This is said of an assumed trap (potentialiter): I will deprive them of all refuge in such a way that if someone (vergrübe) into hell 2c., I would lead them out, pull them out 2c.
V. 3. (And if they hid themselves right away 2c.)
1) Absconderint [s stands for: "to get stuck".
V. 4. (And when they went captive before their enemies 2c.)
2) "And if they go" [2c.], [the sword] shall slay them, slay them. - "I will keep mine eyes upon them," that is, I will take heed of them, to do them harm, not to do them good. [They shall not come out of my sight.
V. 5. (For the LORD of hosts is such a one 2c.)
"The Lord" is (in Hebrew) adonai. - Defluet ("it will be flooded"), it will be devoured, we also had above (Cap. 8, 8.). That they cannot escape is due to the fact that they do not have a man as their enemy, but God. It indicates the presence of the divine majesty, before whose face the mountains melt. - "It shall come upon them utterly, like waters," that is, destruction shall come upon them like a flood, "like a downpour" with impetuosity and violence, that is, "they shall perish utterly."
V. 6. He founds his tabernacle (fasciculum suum) on the earth.
He sets forth the majesty. He describes the one of whom he said that he strikes at the knaus 2c. It is the one who can see everything that is on earth, sitting on his chair. - Fasciculus is an assembly. He founded his church by the word,
1) This is what the Weimar edition has drawn to V. 2.
2) Here, the Weimar edition has the verse number "3."
that it shall reign in the midst of its enemies. The devil "wants to overthrow it", but cannot, because the Lord has founded it on the earth. - He cries to the waters of the sea, signifying the rain.
V. 7. [Are you children of Israel not like the Moors to me?]
Numquid non is as much as nun. - "Of Cyrene" [in the Vulgate, should be "of Kir"]. 1) Tyr or Kir is a region in Assyria unknown to us, which we have had above [Cap. 1, 5. and 4, 2.]. The prophet anticipates an objection. The opinion is: With GOD there is no respect of the person. This people boasts very much that they are the seed of Abraham. They despise all other nations in comparison to themselves. You are the property of God if you abide by God's word. You do not, therefore you are the people] against whom the prophets have spoken. I transfer fire kingdom to] the Gentiles. I am a guardian in such a way that I will not spare you for your sake. Those who have sinned will be punished. See the passage in the Acts of the Apostles [Cap. 10, 34. f.]. "I tear away," may it be Israel, [or] "call as thou wilt." Ye children of Israel are no more mine than the Moors are. As if to say, "Only remember that I will spare you; is equal to me as much Moor and Jud." Note here that GOD cared for the Gentiles even then. See in the fifth book of Moses [Cap. 32, 7. ff.] what he has done to you, and that for the sake of your fathers 2c. Hear my judgment.
V. 8. Behold, the eyes of the LORD look upon a sinful kingdom 2c.
This is Summa Summarum: Wherever there is a sinful kingdom, there are my eyes over them to punish. "This I have proved in" the kingdom of Caphthor (Cappadociae), Assyria 2c. "He casteth them out" 3) 2c. I have set my eyes on all the kingdoms 2c.- "Although I have not punished the Hans Jacob.
1) Supplemented according to the Altenburg manuscript.
2) Supplemented according to the Hall manuscript.
3) In the original: "auff", but we think that "aus" should be read.
will destroy them, says the Lord. This is the way of the prophets: after the threat they simply add promises and consolations. The kingdom will perish, but still the remnant will be preserved. I will receive a shoulder from the mouth of the wolf and a grape from the whole vine, as it says above [Cap. 3, 12]. The prophet looks at Christinn.
V. 9. But behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations.
I will not crush all Israel, but I will preserve a remnant. The head, the kingdom and the priesthood, I will strike down to the neck, but from the body I will preserve remnants, which I will bring to another kingdom. I will so command that you shall see that it is not the government of men. - Concutiam is actually "to shake, to shake". "They shake their heads at me," Ps. 22:8. The people "shall" go "about thus" in all the world, go astray on earth, says Hosea [Cap. 9:17.s, "as in a sieve" 2c. What lapillus is, I do not know; I think it is the dust of the grain. I will sift them, the house of Israel, in such a way that not a stone shall fall to the earth. I will make it so that they cannot escape this movement. "It shall be shaken," and none shall fall out of the sieve. None will be able to escape this sifting and shaking and rattling; "all must go into the sieve" 2c.
V. 10. All the sinners among my people shall die by the sword, who say, Calamity shall not be so near, nor meet us.
As if he wanted to say: [They say,] "the prophets lie," we are the property, the people of God 2c. Thus the prophet anticipates the objection and turns their presumption back on their head.
V. 11. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down 2c.
This is cited by Jacobus in the Acts of the Apostles [Cap. 15, 16J. After the
4) Instead of mutars in the Erlangen and Weimar editions, nutars is to be read, which is found in the Altenburg manuscript.
Kingdom and the priesthood is so disturbed, "I will bring this about": I will gather 1) [all over whom my name is named] 2c. This is actually said of the kingdom of Christ. ["Afterward" (Acts 15:16.),] that is, since the ruin of the head and of this kingdom is at hand. - "The tabernacle of David," that is, the people themselves, the "tribe of David," the kingdom in which the future Messiah was to reign. This kingdom was shattered at the time of Christ. Among the much despised remnants were Joseph and Mary, the kingdom of David was at that time a dead stump; but at that time this dead root shall be revived and the stump shall flourish. I will gloriously establish a new kingdom. [Aperturas, that is,] the breaks, 2) "where it is torn, I will mend it," that the kingdom may be new "and merry, lovely." A beautiful simile: "from a tent behind the door", 3) from broken walls 2c. But it points to Mary, from whom the flower came forth 2c. - "Before time" "As [she] ever was, so beautiful will I make it again."
V. 12: That they might possess the remnant of Edom.
[I will make it so, my tabernacles, that not only shall they possess [the tabernacle], but also the rest of the Gentiles shall dwell therein. There is an emphasis in Acts [Cap. 15, 17.] on the word "ask for the Lord" (requirant), here on the word "possess" 2c.
1) In the Weimar edition, eonArsAado is, as we think, incorrectly highlighted as a keyword, because it is not in the Bible text here.
2) Here the Weimar edition has again emphasized the explanatory word rnxtnras as a keyword.
3) In our original: "von eyu zceld hinder der thur", which is probably a transliteration for "hut".
V. 13. Behold, the time is coming, says the LORD, that one will both till and reap, and both press and sow. 4)
The seeds: "it will be a miraculous thing, work", that is, the speed will be so great that one cannot comprehend it, "that" the harvest "shall soon go upon him" who is "tilling", that is, one will be tilling at the same time and reaping at the same time, that is, the word of God will bring forth quick fruit 2c. The swiftness of the word will cause this, that they will be converted at the same time and bear fruit at the same time 2c. With the Jews "they have plowed long and martyred", here the work and the fruit will be at the same time. - ["And all the hills will be fruitful."] Culti ["fruitful"], that is, they will be lovely, that is, the church where the Word reigns 2c.
V. 14.5 ) [For I will turn the prison of my people Israel].
He is talking about the spiritual captivity. Above he said the people of Israel will never return 2c. - ["That they should clench the desolate cities" 2c.] He speaks of the church, that is, it will be multiplied.
V. 15. [For I will plant them in their land 2c.]
Instead of dedi it should read dedero. - I will give them a land from which they shall not be cut off; before I gave them such a land from which they are cut off 2c.
Τέλος.
4) Vulgate: Leee this vsniunt, dieit vonnnus, et eornxrkökydvt arator in688or6ln, 6t ealeator uvae initt6nt6in 86U16N, while our original offers only: "Leee this verneut arator, his, sernina, es" 2c. We have considered arator, seinen as mnemonic words belonging to the biblical text, but have drawn sernina to the following.
5) Verse number and keyword are missing in the Weimar.