After the prophet has gone through the neighboring nations and peoples, he finally comes back to his people. And here arises the question, of what kind of desolation he speaks? Some take it generally of the last judgment, that it is, as it were, a resolution of the particular threat which he has hitherto treated. But I think he is talking about the desolation that is to take place at the time of the faithful Tyre, that is, the desolation of the synagogue and its people, of which Christ speaks Matth. 24, 15.
V. 1. Behold, the LORD makes the land empty and desolate.
In another place he calls the synagogue a vineyard whose wall is torn down because God withdraws his protection and blessing from it. For after the prophets, Christ, and the apostles, along with the rest of the saints, were taken away from it, the entrance to it was open to the Roman beasts.
V. 2: And go to the priest as to the people.
As long as the land of the Jews still existed, their commonwealth was very well established and ordered; but when the Romans come, there will no longer be any difference either among the offices or among the estates. Therefore, both the priesthood and the kingdom must necessarily fall. For neither the
Religions nor communities exist unless the offices and persons are distinguished from each other in a certain order.
V. 3 For the Lord has spoken these things.
4 He adds this restriction against the presumption of the Jews, who surely despised these threats because their city was both holy and well fortified. The Lord has spoken these things," he says, "and they will necessarily come to pass.
V. 4: The land stands miserable and ruined (defluxit terra).
The land" means the Jewish land that was inhabited by the Jews. The word defluere actually means "to wither," to indicate that the synagogue will never return to its former state, just as a leaf that withers never becomes green again.
The highest of the people in the country are decreasing.
(6) He says expressly, "the highest," to indicate that the rest shall be saved. For he distinguishes the high from the low, therefore it cannot be understood of the last day.
V. 5 The land is desecrated.
So far he has talked about the punishment, now he talks about the guilt and says that it was threefold. Firstly, that it was "the
They had "profaned the land" through their hypocrisy and zeal, which came from ignorance. Secondly, that they had "sinned against the law" by works that were obviously contrary to it, and that they had perverted it, as is written in the fifth chapter of Matthew, v. 20 ff. Third, that they did not believe the promises of Christ, nor accept him when he came 2c. For this is called "letting go of the everlasting covenant." And this last part convinces us that the prophet's words are to be understood only of the desolation of the Gentiles. For the Gentiles had no covenant with God, because one wanted to understand the law of nature by it. But this is too forced. Furthermore, notice that these sins are more with the teachers than with the people. For they are the ones who change the law and let the law go. But these are still small sins, by which the commandments of the moral law are transgressed, compared with those sins by which the promises of Christ and the word of the gospel are rejected.
V. 6. Therefore the curse devours the land.
8 The prophet looks herewith at the curses Deut. 28, 15. ff. The description of it is rich in words and adorned with pictures.
V. 7-11. People lament wine in the streets.
9 He calls the grief of those who complain that the city is desolate and empty, and that there is no one left to sell wine or other things necessary for living.
V. 12: The gates are desolate.
10. there is no council meeting, no court of law there, no courts are held there.
V. 13. 14. for it is going on in the land and among the people 2c.
(11) Translate this passage thus: "For it is the same in the land and among the people, as when an olive tree is plucked up; as when the wine harvest is over. But this is a figurative speech. "The vineyard" is the land of Judea; the grapes are both the
The nobles are the mob; the grape pickers are the Romans. Just as when the grapes are gathered, some remain because of the carelessness of the grape pickers, so Judea will be devastated, but there will still be some remnant who will be saved and gathered into the church of the faithful. These remnant are the apostles. "They shall lift up their voice," that is, they shall preach the gospel, and extol the mercy and grace of Christ, and "shout for the glory of the Lord," not for their works or the righteousness of the law. "But the glory of the LORD" is the victory of Christ, by which he has become a LORD over all, and has trodden the devil, sin, death, and the world under his feet, as Paul treats this passage in the Epistle to the Colossians Cap. 2, 13. ff.
This "shouting" will be heard, not in the corners of the Jewish land, but "from the sea"; that is, it will be spread everywhere among the Gentiles, and go through the whole world. He understands the Mediterranean Sea, which Paul sailed through, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles.
V. 15. Travel now to the Lord in doctrinis.
This means that the gospel will bear much fruit and will not be preached in vain, for the Gentiles will believe and praise God. Furthermore, what the Latin translator has given: In doctrinis, that must be translated in vallibus [in the reasons].
V. 16. We hear songs of praise from the end of the earth.
14 This is a lament by which he weeps for the unbelief of his people. The Gentiles eagerly receive Christ, believe in him and rejoice, "but I am so very meager", that is, few of the Jews accept this Christ, the majority despise and hate him, as John says [Cap. 1, 11]: "He came into his own, but his own did not receive him" 2c.
15. further, that he says, "from the end of the earth," meaning the power and course of the
Evangelii. Until now it was common that the hymns were sung in the temple alone; now the song of the glory of the righteous is heard from the sea. The Latin translator has erred in translating: Secretum meum milii. For the word means leanness, not a secret. As if he wanted to say: I am meager; there are few of my people who grasp this justice.
In honor of the righteous (gloriam justi).
16 The word gloria means sweetness, pleasantness. For he means to say that they sing of the most lovely righteousness, which has never been heard of before in the world, namely, that our sins are forgiven, that the world, death, hell, and Satan are trodden down without our powers, and that this victory is given to us without our merit; for I take the singular for the plural; "in honor of the righteous," that is, of the righteous, both that Christ is righteous and that Christians are righteous through him. This will be the most lovely and pleasant song, that all this is given to us by grace and for free.
Woe is me! for the despisers despise.
(17) They not only despise the gospel, but they also despise it with great certainty, and boast about it, as the papists do today.
V. 17. 18. Therefore terror, pit and ropes come upon you inhabitants of the land.
18. "Fear" is that they fear, since there is nothing to fear. For ungodly doctrine makes the heart uneasy. "Rope" and "pit" can be related either to doctrine or to misfortune, that they fall from one error into another, from one misfortune into another.
For the windows in the height are aufgethan.
19th cause because the floods of wrath have overtaken them. But this text actually belongs to our papists. For the same punishment must necessarily come upon them, because they are in the same sin and do not repent at all.
V. 19: The land will be evil, and nothing will succeed, and it will fall apart.
20 These are terrifying threats, that the synagogue and all the wicked will be plagued with perpetual misfortune, seeking vain attempts and means, which will not only be futile and in vain, but will also give rise to greater and more severe dangers and misfortunes. So that this change will last constantly, that misfortune will be followed by futile attempts, that attempts will be followed by new cases, "that there will be no more strength, help, 1) nor luck.
V. 20. The land will reel like a drunkard.
21. it will not be able to resist the calamity; there will be no peace, no safe seat. That is how the Jews are still going astray today.
V. 21. At that time the Lord will visit the high knighthood (militiam coeli).
22 This passage has been explained in many ways; most understand it by the devils. I leave others their opinion, but do not depart from what it is about here, namely the desolation of the synagogue. For "the high knighthood" and "the kings of the earth" he calls the Jewish people, who alone had the service of GOD, and fought for GOD. Accordingly, he threatens that the time will come when the high knighthood and the kings of the earth, that is, the priesthood and the worldly regiment, which were appointed by God, will finally perish. But he uses these magnificent names, "high knighthood" and "kings of the earth", to punish the presumption and arrogance of the Jewish people, who were puffed up by the opinion that they were righteous and had the true service of God, and despised all the threats of the prophets. For they, having the name that they were the high knighthood, did not want to be punished, nor to suffer anything, as we see today with the papists, who boast that they are the church and have the fathers for themselves.
1) Wittenberger: "Das kein stercke helffe."
V. 22: That they may be gathered together in a little tree.
(23) The saying is ambiguous, and can be taken both from the dead and from the living. I would rather understand it of the dead, that the opinion is this: All will be gathered together as in a bundle, and will be kept for the future judgment, where he will punish and judge the wickedness of all at the same time. For this reason he adds, "After a long time." When it is taken from the living, the opinion will be this, that the Jews today will be gathered into one bundle, that is, into one and the same faithlessness and unbelief, and will be kept for judgment 2c.
V. 23. And the moon will be ashamed.
(24) When Christ shall reign through the preaching of the apostles (for these are "the elders"), then both the sun and the moon shall be darkened unto the ungodly remnant of the Jews, that is, they shall be in so much gloom and sadness, pain and anguish, that they shall not be able to see.
that even this light of heaven will be unpleasant to them. For this is how it is with distressed souls: everything that comes before them seems to them to be sad and distressed. This attitude (affectum) of a sad and in many ways troubled mind is described here by the prophet.
(25) Now this is an excellent passage, which testifies that God does not suffer presumption. For even though the worship of this people was instituted by God Himself, and all of their deeds were divine deeds, they still acted because they were therefore hopeful, and thought that they were therefore safe from all danger. So also today the papacy, with its so great crimes and manifest sins, nevertheless believes that it will also be safe from God under the name of the church. Therefore they lose the matter and keep only the empty name. 1)
1) In the Latin editions, the remark to v. 2 of the following chapter was inserted by mistake. Like the old translator, we put it in the correct place.