V. 1. Woe to Ariel, Ariel!
Just as he described the taxation at the end of the previous chapter and comforted the godly, so he describes here the complete destruction and threatens the godless with the sword of the Romans, just like Christ in the 24th chapter of Matthew, who also seems to have taken some words from this. However, at the end he returns to the promise of the Gospel.
(2) But he calls Jerusalem "Ariel," that is, a lion of God, and "the camp of David," to indicate their presumption. For therefore they were secure, and despised the threats of the prophets, because the kingdom was promised to David and his seed, and because their temporal government and priesthood were instituted by God. But the promises of God shall fall to those who are of a broken heart, not to the hopeful in whom God has an abomination.
You hold seasons.
3.c ) The most prominent cause of the Jews' presumption was this, that they kept feasts, and daily services, new moons and seasons appointed by God. Under this pretext they were puffed up against the gospel. That is why the prophet ridiculed them. Well," he says, "continue bravely with sacrifices! It will happen that you will perish together with your sacrifices. Thus he abolishes the whole law and all the practices of the law in which the Jews put their trust.
V. 2. and shall be a right Ariel unto me.
This is a right lion of God, against whom I will argue through the Romans. Before, he set it active, a lion of God who overcomes by God; but now he sets it passive, who has been overcome by God.
c) Instead of § 3, the 1532 edition says: Your annual sacrifices will not help you. For he abolishes the whole Mosaic service.
that is. As if he wanted to say: Because my Ariel, and my saints and devotees do not want to believe the preaching of the gospel, but fear the apostles and my servants, I will again make them afraid and sad. But he looks at the contrast: Now they are bold, insolent and presumptuous; but then they will be full of sorrow, and will be destroyed.
This can also be applied to our times. The pabst with his appendage is Ariel. He has a proud name. He does not call himself a sheep of God, but a lion, because he has a lion's strength, and possesses the kingdoms of the world along with his own. Therefore he believes that he wants to break through, because he carries the name of the church, with which he is hopeful against God and Christ, and misses that he is insurmountable, while he is possessed by devilish and not by divine power together with his own. Therefore he says: You will be my Ariel, in a suffering way, whom God will fear, tear and destroy. This will certainly happen, according to the prophecies of Daniel, and the revelation of St. John.
V. 3. 4. You shall speak out of the earth.
6.d ) This is a description of the distress that was to follow the destruction of the city and that still continues among the Jews today. As if he wanted to say: You boast now as if your voices were God's voices; you speak as if God had commanded you; but it will happen that this priesthood, which has raised its mouth to heaven, will hardly murmur unpleasantly from the earth, that is, that the divine power to teach will be changed into an earthly one, and after the word of God is taken from them, they will be plagued with human statutes.
7 But this is an important text. For so it goes with all who hear the word of the
d) Instead of §§ 6-8, the 1532 edition has the following: The word of God shall be taken away, that thou teach nothing but statutes of men. This is what we obviously see in the Jews today, that they only murmur in the corners.
If they do not want to accept the truth, they will later, as punishment for their contempt of the Word, accept lies and human statutes, which are truly earthly teachings. Thus, even today we see the Jews toiling away with very miserable and petty works, which are nothing but inventions and statutes of men. This is the deserved punishment that follows the contempt of the Word.
That your voice be like a magician's.
8. it is exactly what he said above [Cap. 28, 11 sf: Ye shall be deprived of the word, and shall teach according to that which the belly, as your teacher, shall bring in unto you, even according to carnal doctrine. For this is a general rule, that those who have once forsaken the Word, thereafter all follow that which human reason prescribes. "Sorcerers" he calls those who speak out of their heads. Even today the Jews are like this, deprived of the teaching authority. The gospel, however, is publicly proclaimed, while they murmur carnal, foolish and vain doctrines in corners. This very severe punishment, which we still see today in the wretched Jews, should remind us to act the word with greater care and diligence.
V. 5. And the multitude that scatter thee shall be as a thin dust.
9. your enemies will be like the sand of the sea.
And that is suddenly to happen soon.
10. when they will say: It is peace, and are in the midst of the flowering of their presumption, then shall the Romans break in. For because the wicked believeth not, therefore all calamities suddenly overtake him. For the wicked is always full of hope in the promises, and without fear of calamity. Therefore, it cannot happen other than that misfortune finds him unprepared and so corrupts him.
V. 6 For you will be visited by the LORD of hosts.
This is a summa, as it were. You will be showered with all kinds of storms and misfortunes.
V. 7. But like a night vision in a dream.
(12) He also threatens the Romans that they will perish because they are not moderate in their anger, but also rage against Zion, that is, the godly. They will perish, he says, like a dream. But this is a comfort to the godly, to whom it seemed as if the Roman Empire would last forever and rage against the church. He says, "It will not last forever, but will pass away like a dream. For just as parents, when they have chastised their child, throw the rod into the fire, so God throws away the wicked as a chastisement rod after he has used them, and corrupts them.
V. 8. for as a hungry man dreams.
This is a parable full of consolation. The Romans and all the adversaries of the church are hungry and thirsty. They thirst for the blood of the godly, and make believe that they can overcome them, even that they have already overcome them. But they only dream and perish themselves.
14 Furthermore, this likeness also comforts us today against our adversaries, who are hungry enemies and seek to devour us. But according to the flesh, it appears that they really do so. For the flesh cannot judge otherwise, seeing that blood is shed daily by the ungodly, that many godly are killed daily. What else can the flesh conclude here but that the enemies are watching, devouring and devouring the church? And yet a Christian, against this outward appearance, should think that all this power of the Romans is like a hungry and thirsty man who sleeps, who thinks in his dreams that he eats and drinks; but in fact he does not eat and drink, but hungers and thirsts. This is a good simile for comfort. Thus the Romans, after they had shed the blood of an infinite number of the martyrs, 1) thought they had destroyed the kingdom of Christ. What was this opinion but an empty dream, since we see that still up to these lines so-.
1) Jenaer and Erlanger: Naduisssut; Wittenberger: tiunsisssnt.
Christ and the Christians have remained, but the Roman Empire has fallen.
(15) This must also be done against the pope and against all other temptations. All the teeth of Satan, all the raging and all the efforts of the papists, by which they seek to oppress us, are a dream in the sight of God, with which they not only accomplish nothing, but are also splendidly deceived. From the outward appearance it seems as if they were devastating and tearing down; but it is only an empty imagination, and a deceitful face, according to which they make themselves think more that they are doing it than that they are really doing it. Thus they think they want to devour the church. But what they do is not devouring, but dreaming of devouring. They will know this one day when they wake up, either at the hour of death, or at the time of the visitation, or at the last day. So you will see after ten years that the princes and bishops, who are now raging so much against the word of God, will be destroyed, but the gospel and the confessors of the gospel will have remained unharmed.
16 Thus it was thought of Muenzer before the world, when he went along thinking that he wanted to suppress the pope and the Lutherans at the same time, so that he alone would rule, that his teaching alone would be praised, that he would put this into practice. But the outcome has shown that he did all this in a dream, not waking but sleeping. Thus the Sacramentans and Anabaptists have visions and dream in their sleep; they do not see the true word, the true kingdom of Christ. But they imagine that the pope will perish at the same time as Luther, but that their doctrine will remain, and that Germany, France, Italy, and the whole world in general will accept it with great applause. This is a dream in which they make believe that they eat and drink. But what will happen? When they awake, the sacraments will remain whole and in their value, just as they have remained since the time of the apostles; but they will perish.
(17) It is an excellent similitude. For imagine a man who is asleep, how great is the power of deception then. For he who lies in a deep sleep cannot
realize that he is being deceived by the dream. He thinks that the thing really happened. Therefore, when he dreams that he has found a treasure, he rejoices over it, and is glad, as over a thing that has happened in earnest, and he cannot get beyond these dream images, but judges that the thing he has seen is true. So it is with everyone who is deceived by any opinion of the flesh; just as all heretics who are deceived by images which they see, as it were, in dreams, cannot think otherwise than that they have the most constant truth. Therefore Jude in his epistle [v. 8.] baptizes them with a very appropriate name, calling those dreamers who follow carnal wisdom. For however wise they are according to the world and according to reason, yet in divine things and in the matter of religion they are nothing but dreamers, who can make no distinction between an empty imagination and a true thing, between a dream and a real thing, but say according to these their empty dream images: Bread and wine are not the body. This is a certain thing and the truth itself, as they wrote, but that it is nothing but a dream, they do not see.
(18) Thus this parable contains a general consolation for all those who are in tribulation, and it pictures our adversaries that they will pass away in a short time, like a dream, and that they will wear themselves out with such suggestions, which are nothing but imaginations. For in thinking that they devour and swallow, they themselves are devoured and swallowed. But this must be taken in the spirit. For after the outward appearance the opposite is before the eyes.
V. 9. solidified.
19 Here is a new lesson about the blindness and desolation of the Jews, that they become so hardened that they rage against Christ to the point of frenzy. It seems that Paul had drawn this passage from the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. He uses frightening words. First, "hardened," as if you were "stunned," so that it seems as if deaf people are being told a fairy tale when Christ is preached to you. Secondly:
"Be blinded," that you may not see with hatred and malice. Third, become drunk, that is, completely drowned in your opinions and actions. Fourth: "Stagger," that is, teach inconstant things that cannot make conscience certain.
(20) Here someone might ask: Why does he command such things? I answer: It is not a commandment, but a bitter permission, and as it were an imprecation, which comes from the displeasure of the heart. Since you do not want to accept the word, go on as blind men in your actions 2c.
V. 10. For the Lord has given you a spirit of hard sleep.
21 He says, "The Lord has poured into you"; not that the Lord Himself teaches in such a way, but He allows it to happen when He withdraws His Spirit, which they would not accept. So also he says, "He hath closed your eyes." For when the light (which they reject) is taken away, darkness must remain. So that it may be understood, God does not blind by effect [evil] (effective), but by taking away [good] (privative).
Your prophets and princes.
22 These are terrifying threats that neither in the secular government nor in the priesthood is there anyone who is not involved in errors and lies.
23 Likewise, as we see, it is the same today. For the Lord has given them a spirit of hard sleep, so that, say what you will against them, it is said as to stones and wood. The best bishops and theologians among them have drowned in error. These are followed by the princes, the nobility and the rabble, and they are all blind. But by this passage the ground of proof is dissolved, on which they lean most, reproaching us: Thinkest thou then that so many popes, bishops, and princes err, and that thou alone knowest the truth? The Prophet answers: Yes, they all err, because GOD has poured into them a spirit of deceit. For He does not look at the multitude, or the strength, or the wisdom of men.
V. 11, 12. That also all (prophets) will be visions.
(24) All the visions, that is, the prophecy, of which ye boast, shall be as a sealed book; that is, by your ungodliness ye shall cause yourselves to shut up all the holy scriptures; as we see in the Jews today. Although they have the clearest scriptures about the future of Christ, by which they must confess that Christ has come, and although they see that a good part of the people in the whole world follow this faith, they alone do not accept it and do not believe that he has come. Thus the book remains closed to them, so that they cannot understand it. Not that the fault lies with the holy scripture, that it is dark, but with the readers, who bring blind eyes with them.
(25) What is clearer today than that Christ is our righteousness, and not our works? and yet the adversaries fight most fiercely against this doctrine. The fault is not in the doctrine, but in the eyes of those who cannot and will not recognize it. For they have closed eyes, and snore, and are frozen like the drunken, that they cannot see the revealed truth. There is nothing brighter than the sun, and yet the blind see no better, for the fault of their eyes. Christ also says, "The light has come into the world," but because of this the world does not see it, because it loves darkness more than light [John 3:19]. Thus this passage applies not only to the Jews, but also to our times, for our consolation, and so that we may learn to treat your words of God with greater reverence, lest we also be afflicted with such blindness. The fact that there is no teacher in all universities today who could correctly interpret a few chapters of Paul, a few Psalms, is due to their eyes, not to the Scriptures. For they are deceived by dream images 2c.
V. 13. Therefore this people draw near to me with their mouths.
26. because ye are hypocrites, I will cleave unto these your outward works, and unto this
Do not turn away from the appearance of holiness. You rather mock me than revere me. Therefore I will mock you again.
27 But notice how much he attributes to the hypocrites that they draw near to God. They have a zeal, and are earnestly intent on the service of God. Likewise, they honor God. However, because the heart is without faith, therefore he rejects and condemns their greatest service to God.
(28) So today the papacy wants to be closest to God, and we admit it, as far as the ministry is concerned; yes, we also hear this from them, that they teach that Christ suffered for us. If one looks here at the lips and at the mouth, they teach quite the same as we do. But if I go further, and thus conclude, If Christ suffered for us, why then will I make myself blessed by my works? here they begin to depart from us, and to show publicly that they teach only with their lips that Christ suffered for us, but mean something else in their hearts. For if they were truly of this opinion from the heart, they would not expect righteousness from works.
29. This passage thus serves us so that when they condemn us as heretics and say that they are God's people, we can admit to them that they are God's people and closest to God, but, as the prophet says here, with the mouth and with the lips; for the rest, with the hearts they are very far from God. This is to keep us from hypocrisy. For this is how the wicked are wont to boast: God's word, God's word, God, God, the church, the church 2c. With this pretense Satan deceives the unwary. For since he cannot deceive otherwise than by the appearance of godliness, therefore he also imitates the speeches and works of the godly in his limbs, as the Germans say in Proverbs, "In GOD'S name all calamity lifts itself up."
(30) But when the prophet says, "They honor me," he speaks according to the opinion of the wicked. For they do not honor the true God, but the idol of their heart. For they make a strange opinion of GOD; as, a monk who thinks that GOD looks at his robe and at his vows, but at the ge
He does not see Christ crucified. But such a God is nowhere; therefore he does not honor and serve God, but the idol of his heart, and his opinion, which he has made of God without God's word. But this is the true religion and the true service of God, that Mari knows that God is such a God, who wants to make blessed in vain and by grace, for the sake of Christ; but because the wicked use the name and the word of God falsely, therefore he says that they honor him, but only with the tongue 2c.
And fear me according to man's command.
31. Their fear of me comes from human commandments and human statutes. Fearing God among the Hebrews is as much as honoring God (Deum colere) among the Latins, and the fear of God is the same as worship or godliness. Therefore he says: The service and the religion which they practice against me has completely turned into human statutes. They honor me and approach me in such a way that they prefer the teachings of men to the words of God, and esteem the observations of the statutes of men higher than those of the true service of God.
But it is a completely golden text for us. In the papacy they were stricter about the commandments of men than about the ten commandments. Fornication, adultery, death, and theft were sins, but there were whole seas of indulgences in which these commandments were wiped out and drowned. But if you either did not let yourself be blessed or did not have a candle in the mass, these were such sins that could not be forgiven, against which there was no indulgence. Thus, with them one has the greatest patience with the contempt of the commandments of God, and shows the greatest severity in observing their own commandments.
The same thing happened in the monasteries. Since in them pride, hatred, idleness, lechery 2c. prevailed in the highest degree, they were nevertheless considered the least sins. But going out of the cell 1) without Schepler, transgressing the forty-day fast 2c., that was a sin that could not be forgiven.
1) Erlanger: [sllam instead of: esUarn.
could be given. Thus the Jews killed Christ, who were full of unbelief, pride and envy; but to go to Pilate Hans, likewise to eat with unwashed hands, was the highest sin among them [Matth. 15, 2].
34. But should not such things move God to anger and punishment? What householder would endure such disobedience and mockery of his commandment if he told his servant to prepare the table, and in the meantime he would go idle and refrain from doing so, or take great pains to prevent a spider from making its web, or otherwise undertake to do something else? Would he not have the most just cause to be angry with the servant and to give him blows, seeing that he not only omitted his command but also mocked it, as if it were more important to remove the spider's web than to prepare the table? And God should nevertheless endure such negligence, disobedience and mockery from us, His creatures? to whom He has done much good?
(35) Therefore, this passage teaches and comforts us against the Pabstics, that we do not do as they do, but rather turn around and esteem the commandments of God higher than the commandments of men, as they esteem their statutes of men higher than the word of God. This is what Paul said [2 Thess. 2, 4.], that the Antichrist exalts himself above God and all worship; not that he ascends to heaven, but that he rules over the consciences by his statutes, as we have learned. For the terror of the pope was so great that even I would have been more offended by a single word spoken against the pope than if someone had spoken against all the commandments of God.
(36) As has already been shown above (7 ff.), it is always the case that once one has departed from the word of God, one's heart soon falls into the statutes of men. For there can be no middle road, but men are governed either by truth or by imagination. Therefore, the godly honor God in truth, but the godless honor God in appearance and according to their delusion.
This delusion gives rise to various worship services, through which they hope to please God.
This is by far the most serious and harmful thing, that the wicked are more afraid of their false worship than the godly are of their true worship. There, even the smallest things torment and frighten the consciences, as those have experienced who have followed the monastic life with seriousness. Therefore, this is the noblest fruit of ungodly worship and of the statutes of men, that they give the consciences an empty terror where there is nothing to fear; as the 53rd Psalm, v. 6, says: "There they fear, where there is nothing to fear." On the other hand, where one should fear, in the transgression of the commandments of God, there is the greatest carelessness and the greatest contempt. Thus, through the statutes of men, one despises the true God, and on the other hand has the highest reverence for his invented God.
V. 14. That the wisdom of his wise men might perish.
Wisdom" is the knowledge of God and religion. "Mind" is the judgment that we see what is at odds with religion and with divine service. If one takes away these two pieces, what will remain but lies, falsities and idolatries? as we see in the Pabstism, which is actually described here. For they boast of their own wisdom, when in fact wisdom has been taken away from them. They press upon us with the prestige of the church. They honor God only with the tongue; but of faith and truth they know nothing. Thus they also kill the flesh outwardly with fasting, while this should be done with prayer and faith. Therefore, every godless person is a fool when he is the wisest; and he is stupid when he is the most understanding.
V. 15: Woe to those who want to be hidden from the Lord.
(39) Hitherto he has spoken of blindness and of the punishment of ungodliness; now he adds this also, that they defend these errors and lies. He says: "They want to
be hidden, and speak: Who beholdeth us?" For they think they want to be safe under the appearance of religion and righteousness, even with God.
40. This is also what our adversaries say today when we threaten them with judgment: After the Lutheran GOtt I ask nothing, if he is also not favorable to me. Therefore, this passage is a gloss on the words of the 14th Psalm, v. 1.: "The wicked say in their heart, There is no GOt," namely, whom the godly preach and teach; and on the words in the 10th Psalm, v. 11.: "GOt has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it." This is the real title of the wicked, that where the true God is, speaks, works, there, they say, he is not. On the other hand, where they themselves speak and work, they say: Here is God. This supreme impropriety moves the prophet to the terrifying exclamation:
V. 16. 17. How are you so wrong?
41 This is a severe punishment of the hypocrites, who are secure in the confidence of their works. No work says to its master, "You did not make me," and you say this to me. So he threatens to take the kingdom of God from them and give it to the Gentiles who bring forth its fruits, Matth. 21, 43. And elsewhere [Deut. 32, 21. 1: "I will provoke them in that which is not a people" 2c.
42. "Lebanon," that is, Jerusalem, which has the priesthood and the kingdom, which are like trees, shall become a field, and the field,e ) that is, the Gentiles shall be accepted as God's people instead of the Jews.
V. 18 For at that time the deaf will hear.
The kingdom of God and the preaching of the gospel is snatched from the Jews and spread among the sinners, the Gentiles; the gospel is preached to the poor, who recognize that they are blind and deaf 2c.
V. 19. The poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
(44) This is a very good saying, wherewith he takes pleasure in all our works and in all our doings.
e) The 1532 edition continues here like this: that is, the people of the Gospel become a Lebanon.
For this reason we have peace and joy in Christ, because the peace that is sought through us is weak, but the peace that is sought through Christ is strong, as he himself says [John 16:33]: "In me you have peace, but in the world you are in fear. Now when we are pressed either with sin, or with despair, or with some outward evil, let us look to Christ, and comfort ourselves with the hope of the promises which he has given to the godly. But no one does this but the afflicted, who recognize their blindness and foolishness. Thus the prophet rejects in one word all that in which men can put their trust apart from Christ, but especially spiritual things.
V. 20. When the tyrants have an end.
When this happens, there will be an end to "tyrants" of consciences everywhere, who weigh down consciences with the statutes of men. There will also be an end to the godless despisers, and "those who watch for trouble," that is, the righteousness of works.
46 But with the word "watch" he emphasizes the zeal of the saints of works. For the children of this world are much wiser and more ardent in their pretensions than the godly are in theirs. Thus no teacher is so diligent in sowing the truth as the heretics and originators of sects are in spreading their errors. In the same way, in worldly matters, no one is as diligent in his office as a miser is in collecting money. This is a figurative expression, that he calls the righteousness of works "toil" (iniquitatem); for it makes consciences sad, depressed, and restless.
V. 21: Who make people sin by preaching.
(47) By treating the word of God ungodly and declaring it in an ungodly way, they thereby fortify and defend their righteousness against true righteousness. "In the gate," that is, in public.
The saints are not the only ones in the ministry. There is also an emphasis in the word "reproach," because they attach false accusations to the saints, by which they seek to make their doctrine suspect among the hearers, just as they call us heretics and rebels today, and kill under this name, while, according to their own public testimony, both are false.
Departure by lies (frustra) from the righteous.
(48) One must get used to such expressions of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit calls him righteous whom the world calls a heretic. Likewise, the Holy Spirit calls the teachings of the ungodly, which they call the word of God and the holy doctrine of religion, spit. Therefore, it is not only useful but also necessary to diligently search for and treat such contradictions in the holy Scriptures.
(49) In the same way, the little word "without cause" (frustra) is to be taken. For the wicked do not say that they hate us without a cause, but they say that they have the greatest causes. Thus Christ says Ps. 69:5, "They hate me without a cause." Caiphas, however, did not want to hate Him without a cause, but he had the greatest cause, namely that the people should not believe in Him [Joh. 11, 48.]. But that cause, which is the greatest in the sight of the world, is "without cause" in the sight of God.
V. 22. Dam says the Lord.
50 When the ungodly teachers are so cast out that the freedom of the gospel is heard everywhere, then the fruit of the word will follow. The poor will rejoice and hope in the Lord. But he does not add in vain, "The Lord who redeemed Abraham." As if to say, The ungodly teachers have hitherto taught another God, that is, an idol of their heart. Just as we see that a monk makes up for himself a god who walks in a cap and is shorn, that is, a god who approves of the cap and the plate. According to this image of his heart, he then sets himself up with the outward work 2c.
Jacob shall not be put to shame again.
This is a fine contrast. Until now, my people were ashamed and sad under the godless teachers, they were not improved with their works righteousness, because where Christ's righteousness is not there, the hearts there must be disgraced. But now that not our righteousness but Christ's righteousness and merit are preached, hearts are lifted up. Rom. 5:1: "Now then we have been justified by faith, and have peace with God." For the prophet speaks of trust, so that we may stand before God and not be put to shame.
V. 23. For when they see their children, they will sanctify my name.
52 He calls the believers "works of his hands" because no one comes to Christ unless the Father draws him [Joh. 6, 44]. These sanctify his name, not their name, they give thanks for the benefits of God, they praise the grace that was shown to the world through Christ. "And will sanctify the Holy One in Jacob, and fear the God of Israel," for by "the Holy One in Jacob" he secretly points to Christ, in whom the seed of Abraham, that is, the faithful are sanctified.
V. 24: For those who have an erroneous spirit will take understanding.
(53) Not only the deceived people will be converted, but also a part of those who deceived them and persecuted the word. This is how Paul was converted. "And the babblers shall be taught," that is, who are quick (prompti) to teach, which is common to all ungodly teachers. But for this reason he calls them babblers, because they speak of nothing but low, earthly, useless, uncertain things, out of their own heads, not out of God's words. Thus, the prophet broadly describes this teaching of the church, which was gathered by the gospel.