In this chapter, the prophet answers the wicked who attributed the present calamity not to their sins but to the word of God, just as now, after having begun to teach the word of God, everything is burning with discord and murder. Now the wicked, who are hostile to the word, say that the gospel is the cause; and they see only this, that the world is oppressed with calamity. For their sins they do not see, nor the utter ingratitude of persecuting God's word, which in truth are the cause why God hastens His chastening or calamity.
But God is wont to do so: as often as a calamity is imminent, he sends his word beforehand, as a messenger of the calamity, so that the wicked may be invited to repentance, and the godly may learn patience, so that, strengthened by the word, they may be able to endure in the future calamity, and not, as the wicked, overcome by the calamity, succumb. Thus before the flood of sin was Noah, before the destruction of Jerusalem Christ and the apostles; and now, in our time, before the future of the Turk, and before the dreadful day of judgment, Germany has been given the clean gospel.
The order of this chapter is as follows. He says that the cause of the present tribulations is not his teaching, but the sins of the people, and adds a list of the sins and the punishments for them. Finally, he comforts the pious and adds the promise that these tribulations will come to an end, not because of any merit of the people, but because God has had mercy on them; as it is said in the 79th Psalm, v. 9: "Lord, forgive us our sins for your name's sake.
See, the hand of the Lord is not too short.
4. although God would like to help you 1) and He could, but your sins
1) Erlanger: Vo8 instead of: vos.
stand in the way, that he cannot do it. For the prophet sees the grumbling of the people, who fasted, sacrificed, and observed holidays in their time of need, and yet felt that their misfortune was growing daily. They blamed the cause of this on Isaiah, just as even today the adversaries blame the cause of the present troubles on us. Here it is necessary for the godly to cry out: "The hand of the Lord is not too short"; the fault is not in us, but in you, who resist the word and have no new one over the exceedingly great sins you commit daily. Repent by recognizing your sin and asking for mercy, then God will be with you.
V. 3. for your hands are stained with blood.
5 This is a register of sins. The first one is that they are killers. For they have killed the holy prophets, even as ours kill the ministers of the gospel today.
V. 4. There is no one who preaches righteousness.
6. they do not teach the righteousness of God, but their own. The same he denotes by the word "judge". So he rejects both, the teaching and the life. Because these two pieces are connected with each other.
With misfortune they are pregnant, and give birth to trouble.
(7) This is what the hypocrisy and righteousness of the flesh do. They appear to be pregnant, but they give birth to a ridiculous mouse. For however much a monk labors, all his doings and works are in vain, because he trusts in a vain thing and in the vain idol of his heart.
V. 5. 6. they hatch basilisk eggs.
8. this image is a stab at the doings of the hypocrites, such as Matth. 3, 7. viper-breedings
are called. For no one judges and condemns others so harshly as those who are devoted to human deeds and works. For by hypocrisy they cover their poisonous judgments and bitter hatred, and justify themselves as if they were not guilty of these vices. Therefore the prophet puts this poisonous nature on them. What do you do, he says, with your teaching but hatch basilisk eggs? That is, your teaching makes the most bitter 'people who know nothing but to judge, slander, and persecute others. If you do not understand this, look at the examples of today. The holy fathers in the monasteries, and the highly respectable (eximii) doctors in the high schools become almost executioners of the pious. And so is the whole papacy; and yet they never repent of this cruelty, but keep their masses and their ungodly services quite safely, in order to gain for themselves some praise of holiness.
And act cobweb.
(9) Their works shine and have a great appearance of holiness, but in reality they are cobwebs, that is, poisoned and useless works. For as the cobwebs look somewhat like a web, but are not fit for clothing, so the works by which, as ungodly men think, righteousness is brought about, are vain and useless. But the hypocrites will be preserved in the divine judgment by their works, just as he will be protected from the wind and the cold who would wear a garment made of cobwebs. It is a most excellent picture.
Eat from their eggs.
(10) If anyone accepts their doctrine, he is lost, for it is ungodly and false. If someone accuses it, they begin to rage and rage, and seek how they may destroy him. For this is what he means by the words, "If you trample it, an adder will come out."
V. 7. Their feet run to evil.
11 These are their glorious virtues. But this is how it goes: the holier someone is without the faith
the more merciless and cruel he is against the faithful. Such hypocrites can do nothing else but kill, condemn, judge, slander, and surpass all executioners in cruelty. The reason is that they think they are doing this out of zeal for righteousness. Therefore, while others are slow to kill others, and kill, either because they have been provoked to it by their passion, or have been carried away by it, these run, they do not crawl; and that of their own free will, since no one compels them to it but their insatiable cruelty and diabolical hatred. That is why Christ and John call them vipers [Matth. 3, 7. 12, 34.]. But we seek by the Spirit and the grace of God not to destroy them, but to save their body and soul; but they will not.
V. 8. They do not know the way of peace.
(12) They do not know the way to peace, since they are frightened by misfortune or by the judgments of God. But the way of peace is this: that without merit, even with the greatest fault, one believes in the mercy of the Lord, as the 55th Psalm, v. 23, commands: "Cast your concern on the Lord. But it is a great thing to set up thus, and to walk apart from oneself in a strange righteousness, which one neither sees nor understands, but hears in word alone. All that is apart from this way is corruption and terror of the conscience.
Therefore, notice that the saints of works and all those who have departed from the sound doctrine cannot be certain of what they are doing, but their conscience is always trembling, and in uncertainty they waver to and fro. Nevertheless, they challenge those who disagree with them and try to bring others to their way by death and other tortures, on which they themselves live with an evil conscience.
V. 9. Therefore, justice is far from us.
14 Here he adds a lamentation. But it seems that this speech was given at the time when the king of Assyria devastated Judea. But it is natural that this is the case:
When misfortune strikes, hearts turn to religion. That is why they complain here that through so many doings and works with which they toil, they neither become better nor have it better. "We wait for the light," they say, that is, we think that our fasting and our other deeds should avert the present misfortune; but nothing comes of it; likewise, "We grope like the blind," that is, we soon make this or that attempt to remedy our misfortune; but this also deceives us.
(15) Thus, this passage contains nothing but the lamentations of a people who have been abandoned by divine help and who are struggling to preserve and save themselves by their own strength and efforts. But because they do not believe in God, all their efforts fail.
V. 10. We grope after the wall like the blind.
(16) This can be understood by conscience, but I would rather take it away from the punishment that in distress many attempts are made, which all fail.
We bump into each other at lunch.
(17) Though they have the word of the prophets, for that is the light of the day, yet they forsake it, and turn unto other things.
V. 11. We are all growling like bears.
18 When the wicked see that their attempts are in vain, they become angry and grumble. This is the attitude the prophet wants to express here.
V.12. For our transgression before you is too much.
19 This is the cause of the calamity. The Lord could and would help us; but he allows us to be given away because of our sin.
20 This is what happens to us when we want to pray. For if we are to pray for the state of the church, our prayer first of all prevents the raging and cruelty of the adversaries, who violate the word in the cruelest way.
Then, the negligence of princes and of those in public office; thirdly, the unbridled insolence of the mob, which is so great that it hardly seems to have been so great at any time. Then we sin, each of us without measure, in our offices, and in all this no one repents. These things truly hinder our prayer, that we pray with doubt. For it seems as if God will not hear us in the face of such great wickedness of the world; and yet one should not despair. But we feel that we are being separated from God because of our sins, as the prophet says here.
V. 14. That is why the law also receded.
(21) We do not punish our sins or the sins of others, nor do good to anyone through good works.
Because the truth falls in the alley.
Those who preach the word of God purely and loudly will be killed. Nothing but human fools are taught publicly.
V. 15. That there is no law.
(23) No one condemns and punishes sins; indeed, they justify and defend them as if they were righteousness, just as now the papists do not repent of their tyranny and cruelty.
V. 16. And he sees that there is no one there.
24 [Quia non est vir] is a Hebrew way of speaking. For the Hebrews use the word vir for a pronoun, as Ps. 80,1 ) 18.: Confirmasti virum dexterae tuae [thou hast confirmed the man of thy right hand], that is, [thy hand be] 2) over that which is in thy right hand. So here it means "that there is no one", as much as, there is nothing for the sake of which God can be gracious to the people.
1) In the editions erroneously: I^sal. 78. The Vulgate reads: 14ut uauuns tun super viruiu üexterue tuuo, et super tüiuiu üouuuis, ^ueru eouürmasti tilü.
3) Added by us for the sake of easier understanding. It seems to us that also here the relation is deficient.
That is why he helps him himself with his arm.
25 Now he adds a consolation for the godly. The world has many wicked, and deserves to be turned upside down. But I am mindful of my mercy; for my name's sake, not for the sake of any righteousness they have (for these are nothing), I will help my own. So now he spares Germany, so that he does not subject it to the Turks and other enemies, that his arm, that is, his word may help, which is nowhere else so pure and so loudly acted. And Christ, whose name is attacked, defends himself without taking our sins into consideration.
And his righteousness sustains him.
26 This is what restrains him, so that he does not pour out his wrath on us, because he is merciful, and therefore he does good even to the ungrateful.
V. 17: For he begets righteousness.
27 Namely, to strike down the enemies of his people and to destroy the king of Assyria. For here, too, he looks at the attitude of those who pray, who are hindered by their sins. As if he wanted to say: You feel your sins, and therefore you despair of help; but I will deliver you. And though the adversaries have just cause against you, for ye are very great sinners, and have deserved these punishments, yet on that account they shall not destroy you; but I will redeem you for mine own sake, and not for yours. For I am righteous and keep my promises faithfully.
V. 18. Yes, he will pay for the islands.
(28) All this must be understood by the outward enemies of the Jews. But this passage teaches us that in the afflictions which our sins have earned, this is the only way of praying that the Lord will look to his name and to his word, not to our sins. Such is the prayer of Daniel and many of the Psalms.
V. 19. That the name of the Lord may be feared by the downfall.
(29) The Lord will do all these things to defend himself and to spread his name throughout the whole world.
V. 20. For to those in Zion a redeemer will come.
30 Paul uses this saying in a different way, Rom. 11, 25. ff. But here it is a general saying, as if he wanted to say: As often as God takes away a present misfortune and redeems His own, He does it through the word. Therefore, Paul, according to his custom, makes a special one out of the general saying, and applies this saying to the case of the synagogue. As if he wanted to say: I recognize that the Jews are fallen and blinded, but they are not yet completely rejected. For they have the promises and the word. But as long as the word will last, so will the redemption. The Gentiles will be added to the rest, and so they will all become Israel.
31 For when he says, "It will come," this is not to be understood of the future of a person or a new Savior, but of the spiritual future of the Word and the Spirit. As long as the word will last, he says, so long will also the redemption of Israel last, namely that some will be converted all the time. But it is already enough for the fulfillment of the scripture that at least some Jews are converted from time to time. If anyone wants to follow Paul's opinion here as well, he must draw this entire chapter to the redemption of Christ and to the blindness that befell the Jews at the time of Christ.
V. 21. Covenant.
32. Christ's Passion and the New Testament.
My Spirit, who is with you.
From this passage, Paul astutely deduces the redemption of Israel, that it should not be completely lost. Because the word of the gospel remains in the world, the spirit must necessarily remain as well. But the spirit is followed by faith, faith is followed by the fruit of faith and the cross, the cross is followed by calling, the calling is followed by the calling, the calling is followed by the calling.
But salvation will follow. Thus, at all times, some will be converted. This is the article: I believe a holy church, and it agrees with what Christ says [Matth. 28, 20.]: "I am with you always, to the end of the world."
34. but it must be noted that this is the church and this is the true seed, where the Spirit of God and the Word are; the Spirit of God is first in the one who teaches, but the Word is first in the one who hears.