world would now be filled with the cry that this misfortune has come upon Hungary on account of the Lutheran heresy. What slanders there would have been! Now they have to look for somebody else to blame. God has, it seems to me, seen to it that there are no grounds for such slanders.
Nevertheless, as St. Paul writes to the Romans (15:4), Holy Scripture is a book of comfort and teaches us patience. Therefore I have gone ahead with the publication of these same psalms to comfort
Your Royal Majesty, insofar as God grants us comfort, in the midst of this great and sudden misfortune and sorrow with which Almighty God has afflicted Your Royal Majesty at this time. He has not done this because He is wrathful or displeased, as we might easily suppose, but because He wants to discipline you and to test you. Through this experience Your Royal Majesty should learn to trust solely in the true Father who is in heaven, to find your comfort in the true Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, who is also our Brother, indeed our flesh and blood, and to take delight in your real friends and true companions, the holy angels, who surround us and take care of us. For although it is understandably a bitter and difficult lot for Your Royal Majesty to be a widow so early in life and to be deprived of your husband, nevertheless the Scriptures, and especially the psalms, will give Your Royal Majesty a great deal of good comfort against this and show you in detail the sweet and kind Father and Son, in whom certain and eternal life lies hidden (Col. 3:3). And certainly anyone who has come to the point that he can see and feel in the Scriptures the Father's love toward us will easily be able to bear all the misfortune that there may be on earth. On the other hand, anyone who does not feel it cannot be genuinely happy, even though he is bathed in pleasure and joy throughout the world. No misfortune that can ever befall a human being is as great as the misfortune that befell God the Father Himself: after all
His miracles and deeds of kindness people finally spat upon His dearest Son, cursed Him, and put Him to a most shameful death on the cross. Of course, everyone thinks that his own misfortune is the greatest, and he is more concerned about it than about the cross of Christ, even if He had suffered ten crosses! This is because we are not as strong in patience as God is; this is why smaller crosses trouble us more than the cross of Christ. But may the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3) console Your Royal Majesty in His Son Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit, so that you may soon be able to forget this sorrow or at least bear it courageously. Amen. Wittenberg, November 1, 1526.2
Your Royal Majesty's obedient servant, To comfort those who are impatient because the wicked do evil and yet remain unpunished and very fortunate for so long.
1. Fret not yourself because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers.
How directly the prophet grasps and strikes the thoughts of the heart in this temptation! He lists all the reasons for it and says first: "O man, you are angry, and it seems to you that you have good reason to be angry. For there are wicked men, and they are doing wrong and much harm. Yet they are prospering so well that human nature thinks it has just cause to be angry. But not so, dear child. Let grace, not nature, rule here. Curb your anger, and calm yourself for a little while. Let them do their evil; let them prosper! Listen to me; it will not harm you." Then man says: "Yes, but when will it stop? Who can stand it for long?" He replies:
2.For they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
This is a fine illustration; it is frightening to the hypocrites and comforting to the suffering. How wonderfully he takes us out of our own sight and puts us before the sight of God! Before our own sight the mob of hypocrites grows green, blooms, and increases until it covers the whole world; only they seem to amount to anything, as the green grass covers and adorns the earth.
But in God's sight, what are they? Hay that is soon to be harvested. The higher the grass grows, the closer are the scythes and pitchforks. Thus the faster the wicked grow and the higher they soar, the closer is their downfall. Then why should you be angry, since their wickedness and their good fortune are such a brief thing? But you may say: "What am I to do meanwhile? What shall I hold on to until that happens?" Listen to the great promise:
3. Trust in the Lord, and do good; remain in the land, and make your living in faith.
Now he brushes aside all impatient thoughts and puts the heart at rest. It is as if he were saying:
"Dear child, don't be impatient. Do not curse them or wish them anything evil. These are human and - 92 wicked thoughts. Put your hope in God; wait to see what He will make of this; go your own way. Do not on anyone's account give up doing good, as you have begun to do, wherever and to whomever you have the opportunity to do it. Do not return evil for evil, but good for evil.
"You might get the idea that you want to run away and move to some other place, in order to be rid of them and get away from them. Not so! Remain in the land; go on dwelling where you are. Do not on their account transfer your home or change your country. Rather you should make your living in faith and go on doing your job as you did before. If they frustrate or harm you and provoke you to run away, never mind. Keep your faith, and do not doubt. God will not forsake you. Just do your part, go on working and making a living, and let Him prevail. You should not stop supporting yourself if they frustrate you at one point or another; for you hope that God will make up for this somewhere else, as He did for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who also faced this temptation."
4. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
That is, do not permit yourself to be vexed that God lets them prosper so; indeed, take pleasure in it as the very gracious will of God. Content yourself with His will. Then your dissatisfaction at the prosperity of the wicked will pass away. Look, here you have this comforting promise: "He will give you all that your heart desires." What more do you want? Only be sure that instead of this vexation you find joy and satisfaction in the will of God. Then your enemies will not only do you no harm, but your heart will also be full of peace and will joyfully await the fulfillment of this promise of God.
5. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.
This does not mean that you should loaf. But commit your ways, your work, your word, and your walking to God, and do not be bothered by them. Committing our way to God does not mean that we do nothing. It means that though the hypocrites may denounce, ridicule, slander, or frustrate what we do, we must not give in to them or quit, but keep right on with it, letting them have their stubbornness and entrusting the whole cause to God, who will make it come out right on both sides.
6. He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday.
This is the greatest worry of those who are weak in faith: they are vexed that the wickedness of evil men should put on such a fine appearance and have such a good reputation. They are afraid that their own cause will be beaten down and obscured, because they see how high and handsome the raging of their opponents is. Therefore he brings this comfort and says: "Dear child, it does not matter that they beat you and your cause down with clouds and rain, minimize your reputation in the sight of the world, and bury you in darkness, while their cause is soaring and shining like the sun. If you commit your business to God, hope and wait for Him, then you may be sure that your right and vindication will not remain in the darkness. It will have to come forth and become as evident to everyone as the brightness of noonday. All those who have beaten you down and obscured you will come to naught. All you have to do is to wait, so that by your raging, discontent, and vexation you do not hinder God in this undertaking." Therefore he continues his admonition:
7. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.
It is as if he were saying: "It will tend to vex you when you encounter misfortune in a righteous cause, while they get along very well in their wickedness and do not disappear, as you wish they would.
You see the wicked man succeed so well in all his evil devices that a proverb has been coined about it:
'The greater the scoundrel, the greater his success.' But be wise, dear child, and do not let that get you down. Cling to God, and your heart's desire will come—in abundance! But it is not yet time; the scoundrel's success must pass by and have its appointed time before it is all over. Meanwhile you must commit it to God, take your pleasure in Him, and find satisfaction in His will, so that you do not hinder
His will in you or in your enemy. For that is what happens when people will not stop raging; either they ram their cause through headfirst,3 or they smash it to bits."
He uses a fine Hebrew word here: "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."4 Just as an embryo in the mother's womb lets God form it, so in this case you have been conceived in God, and He will form you in the correct shape if you will only be still.
8. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
See how diligently he warns us not to repay evil with evil or to follow the example of the wicked because of their success, as our nature continually urges us to do. What does such anger accomplish? It
- 93 does not make things better; it only mires you down even deeper. And even if everything went as well as possible and you came out on top and were the winner, what would you have won? You would have hindered God, lost His grace and favor, and become like the wicked evildoers, whose fate you would share. Thus he says next:
9. For the wicked shall be cut off; but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land.
It does not matter that you did not start it or that you had provocation, for the judgment is simple and direct: Whoever does evil, with or without provocation, will be cut off. This is also evident throughout the world and throughout history. But he who waits for God will endure even when the evildoer next to him perishes, if only he can wait long enough! The wicked men are so ripe that there is simply no stopping them now. They are fastening a stubborn misfortune around their necks, and it will ruin them.
For the ripe grass must become hay, even if it dries up of itself on the stem. A wicked man is more intolerable and dangerous to himself than he is to anyone else, as we can see from the examples of murderers, thieves, tyrants, and the like.
10. Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there.
This explains what was said earlier (v. 2), that they are like the grass which is quickly cut down, and it is intendedto quiet our impatience, which is afraid that the wicked are living too long.
But you may say: "Yes, but I can see that the unrighteous ordinarily live long and are even buried with honor!" Answer: That surely happens because the other side has not guided itself by this psalm but has frustrated and ruined the cause by its anger, rage, threats, complaints, and cries. Because no one there committed his cause to God and waited for His will, the judgment of the preceding verse has come upon both sides, and those who have done evil have been destroyed all together. But if one side had been converted to God, then the other side would certainly and swiftly have perished alone, as this verse says. That is why we do not see a demonstration of this verse in the world today. For everyone impatiently ignores God and takes it upon himself to defend himself by right or might. Thus God is frustrated in the work for which this psalm praises Him.
11. But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in great peace.
This also substantiates what was said earlier (v. 9), that the righteous shall endure after the destruction of the evildoers. It does not mean that they will remain on earth forever, but that even here on earth their cause will achieve success and peace, a peace which they have earned by their suffering, their patience, and their inner peace.
12. The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him.
This is said for the consolation of those who are weak in faith, who do not want to endure the attacks of the wicked and are vexed that God does not punish them right away but lets them get along so well. I have translated impius with "wicked";5 for it actually means one who does not trust in God or believe in Him, who still lives on the basis of nature, by his own resources and his free will. This is especially true of the hypocrites, those who seem to be learned or saintly. Such are in our day the pope, the bishops, the priests, the monks, the theologians, and other such people, whose nature compels them to rage against the holy Gospel, as we see them doing continually. But how does their raging and raving help them?
Listen to what follows:
13. But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees that his day is coming.
How could we receive a greater comfort? The raging enemies of the righteous use all their power and wickedness and are bent on devouring the righteous (that is, the believer in God). And God has such contempt for them that He laughs at them, for He sees how brief their rage will be and how soon their day will come. This does not mean that God laughs as a man laughs, but that it is truly ridiculous to behold how, despite their rage and their ambitious plans, these madmen do not make one whit of progress. They are like the silly fool who would take a long spear and a short dagger and try to bring the sun down from the sky, and then would dance for joy, as though he had really accomplished something.
14. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those who walk uprightly.
Here "sword" and "bow" mean the poisonous and evil tongues with which they slander, ridicule, distort, denounce, and defame the cause of the righteous, in order to kill the righteous and exterminate them through hate and persecution. Thus Ps. 57:4 says: "The teeth of the sons of men are spears and - 94 arrows, their tongues sharp swords." With them they swing at the righteous to fell him and murder him, that is, not only to kill him but to have their wicked way with him and to besmirch him.
He calls the righteous "the poor and needy" because they are despised and worthless before the great and mighty strutting and bragging of the wicked. But what do the wicked accomplish? Listen:
15. But their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
That is, they will have to eat their wicked words and choke on them eternally, so that their conscience will be pierced by them in death and will be tortured eternally. In addition, their bow will be broken. It is all useless, and all they accomplish with their raging is that they bring eternal misfortune upon themselves. These poor miserable people! Therefore no one should become excited over their hate and abuse. This is necessary that they might prepare their own bath in hell, even though human nature finds such words of abuse difficult to bear. But the person who is guided by this psalm joins God in laughing at them, and he sees their forthcoming end.
16. Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.
Human nature is also irked because the wicked are wealthy, numerous, and mighty, while the righteous man is poor and lonely. He has very little to begin with, and they take even this away from him and keep him from making a living. Therefore the Holy Spirit comforts His dear child and says:
"Do not let it irk you that you have so little and they have so much. Let them be rich and sated here. It is better for you to have a little with the favor of God than to have a big pile of goods not only from one wicked man but from all of them, with God's disfavor, as they do. Listen, too, to the judgment on your poverty and their riches":
17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
The "arm" or hand are the entourage of the wicked. They are so great, mighty, and powerful because there are so many of them sticking together. Thus the arm of the pope today are the kings, princes, bishops, scholars, priests, and monks, on whom he relies but about whom God does not care. Every wicked man has the crowd of the mighty on his side; for riches and might have never, or at least very seldom, stood on the side of the righteous.
But what does it matter? Only trust in God, for it must all be broken. You should not become excited about it or let it irk you. God is holding you up; you will not sink. His arm and His hand are over you and have a firm grip on you.
18. The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide forever.
God recognizes their days, their appointed time;6 that is, because they trust Him fully and do not want to know when and how their help is to come, God takes their side. And though it seems to the wicked that God has forgotten the blameless, this is not true; God knows well when it is the appropriate time to help them. As Ps. 9:9 says: "God is a Helper at the appropriate time," and Ps. 31:15: "My times are in Thy hand." It is as if he were saying: "They are poor and few in number, while the others are rich and numerous. But never mind; they will still have enough and will not suffer want. God knows well when it is the appropriate time to help and counsel them, and they trust in Him without relying on their own help and counsel."
In addition, their heritage will be eternal, not only in the world to come but also in this world. For they will and must always have enough, even though they may not have extra grain, as the wicked do.
God is their grain and their granary, their wine collar and their entire property. Hence there follows:
19. They are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance.
When war or hard times come, it will be disastrous for all those who put their reliance on their granary or wine cellar or property; for this is quickly dissipated and used up. Thus trouble and disaster come upon those who used to be so brave and proud. But because God is their comfort and their grain, the righteous will not suffer want. Before this would happen, all the angels would have to come down from heaven to feed them. For the Grain in which they trust will not let them suffer want, temporally or eternally. How about the wicked? Listen:
20. But the wicked and the enemies of the Lord will perish; even though they are like a precious meadow, they will vanish like smoke.
Such striking language and such a contemptuous judgment on these great, mighty, and rich nobles!
He says: What if they were the richest and most precious meadow, where plenty of everything would be growing! That is indeed what they are, for they have plenty; they are the golden, rich meadow in the - 95 world. Nevertheless, they must perish, yes, disappear and vanish like smoke. Where are those who used to be, who used to have great possessions? None of them remain in our memory, while the righteous remain in memory and in honor. Therefore, dear child, let them be as rich as they please. If you consider the outcome, you will find that their whole cause is smoke, because they are the enemies of God and hate and persecute those who are His. You should also be comforted because he calls them the enemies of God, although until now they have been called only your enemies. Thus you should know that God is taking your part by making your enemies His enemies as well.
21. The wicked borrows, and cannot pay back; but the righteous is generous and gives.
This is a comforting difference among possessions. Not only are the possessions of the wicked perishable and transitory, but they are evil and damnable possessions, because they have only been heaped up and have not been distributed to those in need. This violates the nature of possessions.
The possessions of the righteous, on the other hand, not only have no end—because he trusts in God and waits for his possessions from Him—but they are truly useful possessions which are distributed to others and are not just heaped up. Thus he has enough, even without temporal grain, and gives enough to others too. This is a genuine possession. Even though you may not have much, it is God-pleasing and useful. The wicked have a great deal, but it is unchristian and useless.
When he says: "The wicked borrows," this is not to be taken to mean that the rich take possessions away from people; it is used as a parable or proverb. The person who borrows much and does not pay back is heading for the time when he will be dispossessed. So the rich and wicked receive much from God and borrow from Him, but they do not pay Him back by distributing to those in need (which is why they received the possessions in the first place); therefore their possessions will come to an evil end and vanish like smoke. This interpretation is substantiated by his comparison of the wicked with the righteous: one gives, and the other does not, even though they both receive from God. Therefore the receiving of the wicked is compared to borrowing and not paying back, while the possessions of the righteous man are not a loan or a debt but a free gift from God, put to a good use for himself and for his neighbor.
22. For those blessed by the Lord shall possess the land, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
You see, he calls the wicked "cursed by God" and the believers "blessed by God," lest their great possessions and your poverty depress you and act as an obstacle to your faith. What more do you want?
Isn't this comfort enough to make you patient? Even if you do not have a surplus, as they do, you will still have enough, and you will possess the land. This does not mean that you are lord of the world, but you will be well enough off on earth and dwell at peace in the land. For God blesses you temporally and eternally because you trust Him, even though you are cursed and insulted by the wicked. On the other hand, the wicked and rich may have a surplus for a while; but they will come to ruin and will not remain on their land and possessions. They will surely be evicted, and someone else will be installed there, because God is cursing them and withdrawing His grace from them temporally and eternally. For they do not believe in Him, even though they have blessings and endowments from men.
Wherever the righteous are, therefore, they have enough on earth and remain in their possessions. On the other hand, the wicked are uprooted, wherever they may be in their possessions. This is demonstrated by all the principalities, empires, and great estates which we see passing back and forth from one line to another.
Thus, you see, you have the judgment which is soon carried out regarding temporal possessions: the righteous man must have plenty, and the unrighteous must come to ruin, because the righteous man trusts God and uses his possessions well; but the unrighteous man does not trust Him and does not use his possessions well. Thus we read that Abraham and Lot were rich and that they gladly extended their hospitality to pilgrims (Gen. 18–19). Therefore although they had no land and grain of their own, they remained in the land and had plenty.
23. The steps of a man are from the Lord, and He establishes him in whose way He delights.
Still more comfort! Not only are you to have plenty of temporal possessions; but everything you do, your whole life and conduct, will succeed and prosper, because you trust God, surrender yourself! and your cause to Him, and remain yielded to Him throughout your life. Thus you cause Him to find pleasure, delight, and satisfaction in advancing your works and ways. But this is opposed by the fact that a God-pleasing way of life receives no support but only hindrance and rejection from the wicked. This is
- 96 a vexation for human nature. Therefore one must find consolation in God's approval and support of our way of life, regardless of the hindrance and rejection of the wicked.
24. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong; for the Lord is the stay of his hand.
Here "falling" could be taken to mean that the righteous man sins occasionally but then stands up again, as Solomon says (Prov. 24:16). We shall not follow this interpretation, however, but hold on to the idea that here "falling" means that the righteous man is sometimes defeated and the wicked triumph.
So it was with David, who was pursued by Saul and by Absalom, and with Christ, who was crucified.
Such "falling" does not last long. God does not let the righteous man lie in rejection but takes hold of his hand, lifts him up, and causes him to remain standing.
With this the Spirit consoles and answers anyone who would think to himself privately: "Yes, but I have observed that the righteous man had to go down to defeat and that his cause fell into the ashes before the wicked." "Yes," He says, "dear child, but do not let this bother you. He may fall, but he will not stay rejected. He must rise again, even though the whole world should doubt it. For God seizes him by the hand and lifts him up again."
25. I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.
You see, he provides further assurance by citing his own experience. And truly, daily experience does substantiate this, and all men must acknowledge that it is so. If someone is so desolate that he must hunt for his bread, this is a sure sign that he has lacked faith and, therefore, deserves to be desolate.
But this hunting for bread or begging bread must be understood to mean that the righteous man does not suffer hunger or die of starvation, even though he may be poor and have little to his name. Though he may not know where his next meal is coming from, he still manages to eat. If one person does not provide him with food, another does; he must surely get his food somewhere, and those who do not contribute to his support are sinning. Although the rich man did not give anything to poor Lazarus (Luke
16:21), Lazarus still had food, however meager it may have been. God does not spare His saints poverty, but He does not let them be defeated or destroyed by it.
26. He is ever giving liberally and lending, and his children become a blessing.
Now he is speaking about the righteous man who has possessions and children. He says that even though such a man gives and lends liberally every day, he and his children will still have plenty. God's blessing consists in this, that they will have plenty both here and hereafter, suffering no shortage of either food for the body or salvation for the soul, even though they often have no surplus.
Thus we see how God deals with the believers in the matter of providing temporal food and of defending their cause against the wicked, to assure us on both counts that He will not forsake us and that we shall have enough to eat. And this is really what happens if we believe and if we do not permit the prosperity of the wicked to irk us or provoke us. Therefore he says in a concluding summary:
27. Depart from evil, and do good; so shall you abide forever.
It is as if he were to say: Let God do the worrying. Just do what is right, and let nothing provoke you into doing wrong. Remain just as you are, and let what happens happen. As St. Peter also says (1 Peter
5:7): "Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you"; and Ps. 55:22: "Cast your burden on God, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved."
28. For the Lord loves justice; He will not forsake His saints. The righteous shall be preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
You must not fear that the justice of your cause is being defeated, for that is impossible. God loves justice; therefore it must be preserved, and the righteous must not be forsaken. If He were an idol who loved injustice or hated justice, as the wicked men do, then you would have reason to worry and to be afraid. But now that you know He loves justice, why do you worry, why are you afraid, why do you doubt? His saints are preserved not only temporally but eternally; and the wicked, with their children and everything they have, are cut off.
Here "saints" does not mean those who are in heaven, about whom the Scriptures speak only rarely, but more generally those who live on earth, who believe in God and by their faith have the grace of God and the Holy Spirit. This is why they are called "saints," as we all are if we truly believe.
29. The righteous shall possess the land, and dwell upon it forever.
- 97 That is, as was said earlier,7 they have plenty here on earth, and they do not need to look to anyone except God for a place to stay in the world. For God does not forsake them. If He does forsake them, this is a sign that they are unrighteous and wicked, without faith and trust in God. Thus it is settled that we should do only good and remain on our true course in the world, letting Him do the worrying and the working. Now there follows an explanation of the cause of the righteous, which brings on this conflict between him and the wicked.
30. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
This is the basis of the conflict: the wicked refuse to listen to the wisdom and justice of God. They persecute it, condemn and denounce it as foolishness and injustice. Because these rascals are successful at this for a while, the righteous are irked and provoked, and it incites them to wickedness and vengeance or impatience.
Therefore this psalm teaches them to be still and to go right on with their duties: teaching, writing, and speaking wisdom and justice; entrusting their cause to God; letting the wicked bite, rage, scowl, slander, strike, draw their swords, bend their bows, and build up their mobs and their power, as has already been said. For God will set it right, if only we wait for Him to do it, staying on our course, and not letting them make us quit or give up. Ultimately the judgment of this verse must prevail and become as clear as noon: that the righteous man has been speaking justly and wisely, and the wicked have been foolish and unjust.
31. The Law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.
He speaks justice and utters wisdom because the Law of God is not in a book, not in his ears or on his tongue, but in his heart. No one can rightly understand the Law of God unless it is in his heart, and he loves it and lives according to it; this is done by faith in God. Therefore although the wicked make much talk about God and His Law, and boast that they are teachers and experts in the Scriptures, they never speak justice or wisdom. For they do not have it in their heart; therefore they do not understand it.
They are deceived by the outward fact that they cite the words of Scripture. For this reason they rage against the righteous and persecute them.
In addition, the steps of the righteous do not slip but go straight ahead, safe and sure, in good conscience, because he is certain of his cause and will not let himself be seduced by the laws and doctrines of men. But the wicked always fall and slide around, and their step is uncertain, because they remove the Law of God from faith and thus misunderstand it. Thus they wander about as their own ideas lead them or the laws of men instruct them to do first this, then that work. First they are instructed to act one way, then another; and they slide around as they are led by the nose, one blind man leading another
(Luke 6:39). As they do not understand correctly, so they do not walk correctly. Yet in defense of their slippery teaching and life they rage against the certain teaching and life of the righteous and try to establish their point of view in undisputed control.
32. The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him.
It is vexing and intolerable to him that his teaching and life should be denounced as unjust and unwise. All he thinks about, therefore, is the substantiation of his cause. He cannot evade the presence of the righteous man who denounces his injustice. His perversion, therefore, brings him to the point where he wants to get rid of the righteous man, to kill him, so that his way of life may be just and blameless.
This is what the pope and his followers have always done and are still doing, as we see very well. They do not even have the Law of God in books, much less in their hearts. And yet they claim to be the ones who promulgate wisdom and teach rightly; they never stop raging and bellowing about it like mad dogs.
33. But the Lord will not abandon him to his power, or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
God does indeed let the righteous man get into the hands of the wicked, but He does not leave him there. They may kill him, but they will not destroy him. Their judgment is in vain, despite their boast that they are doing it in God's place or in God's name; for the judgment of God is contrary to theirs.
We see this in our times too. The pope and his followers condemned John Hus.8 But despite their condemnation, their cries, their alarms, their rage, their anger, their bull, their ammunition, their seal, and their excommunication, he continues to be prominent and famous. No bishop, university, king, or prince has been able to do anything about that. This has never happened to a heretic before. A single
- 98 dead man, an innocent Abel, makes the living Cain, the pope, with all his entourage, into heretics, apostates, murderers, and blasphemers, no matter how much they may foam at the mouth about it.
34. Wait for the Lord, and keep to His way, and He will exalt you to possess the land; you will look on the destruction of the wicked.
Once more he urges trust in God and welldoing, because our weak and unconverted nature finds it difficult to take a chance on God, to wait for that which it nowhere sees or perceives, and to divest itself of that which it does see and perceive.
We have already pointed out adequately what is meant by "possessing the land," namely, that a righteous man continues and has plenty even on earth. In addition, if he has too little temporally, he has so much more spiritually, as Christ teaches when He says (Mark 10:29–30): "Whoever has left a single thing will receive a hundredfold in this world, and eternal life besides."
I do not deny that this "possessing the land" may be understood as applying, not to each separate righteous man individually but to the group or community. Although some are destroyed for a time, their seed and their teaching will ultimately prevail. Thus the Christians have remained in the world, and the heathen have passed away, even though many Christians were tortured and destroyed for a time by the heathen. As Ps. 112:1–2 says, "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments! His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed."
In addition, however, each individual also has enough for himself, and God gives him what he needs and requests. If God does not give it, the righteous man is so acquiescent that he does not want God to give it to him and forbids God to give it to him. He is so at one with God that in the sight of God he both has and does not have, just as he pleases. As Ps. 145:19 says, "God fulfills the desire of all who fear
Him; He also hears their cry, and saves them."
When he says here: "You will look on the destruction of the wicked," this does not refer to a simple looking. But in keeping with the usage in the Scriptures it means to look in accordance with one's wishes, to see what one has long yearned to see, as we say: "That I would like to see!" Thus Ps. 54:7 says: "Thou hast delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies"; that is, I have seen my desires carried out on them, that I was redeemed, and they were destroyed. And Ps. 112:6–8 says: "The righteous will never be moved until he sees his desire on his adversaries." And Ps. 91:8 says: "You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked." Again, Ps.
35:21 says of the enemies: "They open wide their mouths against me; they say, 'Aha, Aha! our eyes have seen it!'" Thus Micah 4:11 says: "Let our eyes gaze upon Zion!"; that is, O that Zion might prevail, as we should like to see it do! This is the usage here too: "You will look at what you have yearned to see: the destruction of the wicked." This manner of speaking is very common in the Scriptures.
35. I have seen a wicked man overbearing, and towering like a laurel of Lebanon.
Here he cites another experience as an illustration and example of the wicked man. Earlier he cited his experience regarding the righteous man: that he had never seen one forsaken. Here he describes his contrary experience regarding the wicked man, who passed away, and he says: He was so rich, mighty, and great that everyone was afraid of him; whatever he said, did, or permitted, that was said, done, and permitted. For this is what the Hebrew word ִר יץעָ means, which I have translated with "overbearing."
It also means what he adds to it: He strutted about and was arrogant, pressed himself to the fore, acted as though he were something special, and towered over everyone else, just as a laurel is always green before the other trees are and has a special glory ahead of the others, especially ahead of the tame trees or garden trees. It is not just an ordinary bush or a lowly tree that needs to be tended and cultivated, something which the wild trees and laurels do not need. So one must look at this wicked nobleman and say: "Gracious sir, dear nobleman!"
36. When people passed by, lo, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.
David saw this demonstrated in Saul, Ahithophel, Absalom, and others. They were mighty in their wickedness; but before one could look around, they were gone, until one was prompted to ask: "Where did they go?" Is it not true that in our day Pope Julius was also such a man?9 What an ִר יץעָ and terrible lord that was! But how he disappeared before anyone had a chance to look around! Where is he now, where is all his strutting and boasting? Thus we should only be still, and those who are now raging and