Martin Luther on Psalms 121:1

The 121. Psalme. I will lift mine eyes vnto the mountaynes, &c.

The argument of the Psalme. The Psalme going before was a prayer for the preseruation and continuance of the word of God & found doctrine, against pestiferous tongues and wicked opinions: For that is the chiefest assault that Satan maketh against the church of God. Now this Psalme I take to be as an exhortation to the faithful, This Psalme containeth the doctrine of faith. for it conteineth the doctrine of faith. Which faith is a knowledge of thinges inuisible and to be looked for, and resteth in the promise & word of God. But because Gods word excedeth the capacity of man, & the thinges which it promiseth seeme either absurd & vnlikely, or impossible or else incredible & against al reason, therfore they which haue once begun to beleue, haue nede of continual exhortations, to stirre them vp against ye tētations of the flesh, which striue against faith & the word of God, least the spirit being pressed downe with the heauy burden of the flesh, should be vtterly vnable to thinke of spiritual and heauenly things. For our life is full of troubles, tossed with continual tempests, as they which are sayling on the sea, and we are caried away euery moment with the blasts of tentations, whiles our mindes are assailed either with prosperitie or aduersity, with wealth or pouerty, with glory or ignominy, with ioy or sorrow. And hereof yet doe fellow much more greuous & daungerous tentations: that is to say, security and desperation. Therfore when these stormes blowe, it is necessarie that we shoulde be stirred vp with continuall exhortations out of the worde of God, whereby we may learne to resist the same. And thus doe I vnderstand this Psalme, that it is a doctrine whereby we are admonished & taught that we shoulde haue our faith exercised and stirred vp with continual exhortations so long as we liue, least we being ouercome with the cares of this world, should forget and neglect the rich blessings and euerlasting treasures of the life to come.

Verse. 1. I will lift mine eyes vnto the mountaines from whence my helpe commeth.

These words do include a cōparison betwene the mountaines which bring helpe and succour, & the mountaines that bring desolation and destruction: as euery doctrine of faith & euery promise importeth also the contrarie, if you haue respect to the flesh. The godly haue a promise of Christ that he will be their helpe and succour: but if we looke to the outward appearance, Christ himselfe hanging vppon the crosse, seemeth to be vtterly forsaken. In like maner there is a comparing togither of contraries to be vnderstande throughout this whole Psalme: A cōparing of contraries As though the Prophet should say: when tentations & trialls of faith are at hand, one runneth to this place and an other to that, seeking for helpe & succour diuers wayes: As amongst my people some runne to Bethel, some to Gilgal, some to Bethauen, as mountaines from whence they looke for helpe and succour. Euen as in popery they run to euery stocke and blocke, as to their onely patrones and helpers, with kneeling, knocking, creping, kissing and licking. For the reliefs and comforts are infinite which the heart beleueth and seeketh after when it is in trouble and distresse. And it is a wonderfull thing to see howe ready it is to receiue helpe and comfort▪ any way else▪ sauing onely of God. The commendation of faith. This is then the praise and commendation of faith, that it looketh onely towardes the healthfull and comfortable mountayne which is in Ierusalem, & refuseth the succour of all other mountaines. Thus the prophet casteth his eyes aside (as it were) vpon the wicked, who forsaking the helpe of the Lordes mercie and goodnes which was then in Ierusalem, sought reliefe and succour in other mountaines.

In like maner in the kingdom of the Romish Antichrist there are infinite feets and swarmes of Monks and other supersticious votaries, some holding of Augustine, some of Benedict, some of Francisce, &c. which by their vowes and monasticall life thinke to obtaine the kingdom of heauen, hoping also by these comforts to ouercome the terrour of Gods wrath & heale the woundes of conscience. And this is alwayes the inclination of mans nature to follow his owne wayes and to forsake the wayes of the Lord. Therfore Dauid sayth: Some forsake the temple & abhorre the mount Syon, but I abide in the simple way of faith & true religion, which is the healthfull hill that the Lorde him selfe hath appoynted. In that he calleth it the healthfull hill or the hill from whence helpe and succour commeth, he reiecteth and condemneth all other hills which haue a shewe of helpe and succour. Such I meane as is visibly wrought in the seruice and honour done to the idols, but true helpe they giue none. So the Iewes sayd that Baall shewed more present help in the temple then God. So they cry in Ieremy: VVe will doe sacrifice to the Queene of heauen: but thy commaundement we will not doe: for since we left to doe sacrifice to the Queene of heauen, the sworde and famine hath consumed vs: And thus forsaking the temple and the true worship of God, they ranne headlong to all impietie.

But you will say: Why would God that Idolatry should haue such successe? Euen to trye our fayth, and whether we doe truely beleue and worship one God, according to that commaundement: Thou shalt haue none other Godds, &c. True it is in deede that Idolatry hath great successe: Idolatry prospereth and flourisheth for a time. yet is it but for a time. So said King Achas: The goddes of the Kings of the Syrians doe helpe them: therefore will I also seeke their fauour, and they shall helpe me. But what sayth the Scripture? The gods of Syria were the destruction both of them and of all Israell. And this is the end of all such false trust.

So doth Mammon likewise helpe his worshippers: For he is a great god, and bringeth to them libertie, ioy and comfort. He lifteth them vp to wealth and dignitie: he maketh them to swell with pride and glory. Humane helps and comforts. But howe long? For the time of this fraile & brickle life: but in death he doth not only forsake them, but driueth them downe to the deepe pit of hell. Therefore whatsoeuer worldly and visible comfortes and delightes the heart of man can here desire or enioy, he findeth them vncertayne and shortly must forsake them, and yet withall they bring vnspeakeable tormentes and afflictions of mind, and lead men into such blindnes that they haue no regard of God at all: who doth not delight his true worshippers with vayne pleasures of this worlde which endure but a moment, but replenisheth them with euerlasting ioyes. For thus he sayth: I will see you againe, and your heart shall reioyce, and your ioy no man shall take from you. Let vs learne therefore to cleaue fast to the Lord our God, and those inuisible comforts: and if trouble come (as we can not looke to be without a crosse) if we seeme to be desolate and distitute of all comfort, yet God hath a time when he will shew him selfe to haue a care of vs, and we shall finde that the afflictions of this life are not to be compared to the glory which shall be reueiled on vs, as S. Paule comforteth vs.

This is then the sense and meaning of this verse, that fayth is a knowledge of thinges inuisible, and yet to be looked for, least we shoulde thinke it to be but a meere speculation, as some doe make it. There are thinges to be looked for of the which we haue experience in this life, that is to say, a good conscience, a ioyfull heart, an inuincible faith, which is able to stande against all stormes of tentations, against pouertie, enuy, reproche and sclaunder of the world, against errours and false doctrine, and euen against death it selfe. Thus we must learne to know the nature of faith, namely that it is a will or knowledge or an expectation resting vpon the word of God, which word sheweth and setteth forth vnto vs inuisible helps, and yet to be looked for as certaine and vnfallible: and although we thinke it long before they come, yet will they come, when it shall be most to our ioy & comfort. And this is it that these words of the Prophet doe here expresse: I lift vp mine eyes to the hils from whence my helpe commeth. Here he sheweth him selfe to be destitute of helpe and succour, and yet in sure hope and expectation thereof, he looketh vp vnto those hills and hopeth for inuisible comfort.

In like maner must we doe also. I am in distresse or affliction of body or mind: I am in necessity and can see no meanes how to liue, how to maintayne my family, how to escape this daunger or that. Here is the hart oftentimes oppressed with sorrow, and miserably vexed, as though there were no succour, no comfort, nor remedy to be founde. But here must we be certainely perswaded that there is help and succour prepared for vs, and the time therof also appoynted of God, although we know not when it shall be. But by this we may learne what a hard matter it is to beleeue when the hart must yeld and consent to any thing contrary to that which both we se, heare, & feele. I my self haue bene oftentimes in wonderful great daūgers, when the whole world (as it were) conspired against me. For the Pope my mortall enemy and the enemy of my Christ, did not cease to stirre vp against me, what power and terrour so euer he was able to deuise. Here reason woulde rather perswade me to kepe silence and say nothing, then to teach and bring my selfe thereby into trouble and daunger. The help of the Lord. For reason can neuer see the Lordes maruelous help and deliuerance, which is inuisible and hidden from the eies of the world: therfore it thinketh onely of that which it seeth, that is to say, destruction.

In all these stormes, how my mind was stablished in God, what my faith and hope was, I will here say nothing. Albeit in these great daungers (I graunt) my minde was oftentimes troubled, and yet at the length the inuisible help of God, being hidden from myne eyes, and from the eyes of the whole worlde, appeared: so that not onely my deadly and mightie aduersaries could not haue their wills vppon me, but also the preaching of the Gospell had more prosperous successe, & more mightely encreased then euer it did before. Therefore, forasmuch as flesh can not see the inuisible things of God, let vs so humble our selues vnto the obedience of faith, that we may learne to say: I lift myne eyes vnto the hills. There is sure helpe prepared, though I can by no meanes see or perceiue the same, and flesh seeth & also looketh for the contrary. So doe these wordes expresly and liuely set forth the nature and strength of faith, and what it is.

Why he sayth to the hills, and not to the Lord. But why sayth he, I lift myne eyes to the hills, and not to God? And againe, why doth he mention moe hilles then one? for that seemeth to maintayne Idolatrie. To the first I aunswere that this and such like places: as, he send thee his helpe from the holy place, doe teach vs yt God will be heard, worshipped, looked for, and prayed vnto according to his word, and not according to our imaginations. So sayth he in Exodus: In what place soeuer I shall leaue a remembrance of my name, there will I visite thee, and blesse thee. Therefore the Iewes were alwayes bounde to the temple of Ierusalem, in what place or countrey soeuer they were, and also when they prayed at home in their owne houses, to turne their eyes toward Syon. The prayer of the godly pleased God euen in Babylon, farre from the temple and from Ierusalem: but yet in this respect, because they sunge and praied to that God which dwelled in the hill Syon, and there had erected his tabernacle.

And this is the cause why the Prophetes condemned all other kindes of seruice and worship done vnto God in other places. For it was not enough to say: O God which didst bring thy people out of Egypt: For so Ieroboam also spake vnto God, and sayd truely of him, and perhaps prayed more earnestly then they that were in Ierusalem, and in the temple. Such a fayre shew and pretence of true holines hypocrisie is wont to make: and Idolatrie is oftentimes more earnest & vehement then true pietie. But why did not such prayers please God? Forsoth because other hilles were not chosen & appointed of God to that purpose, neither had they the word and promise of God. Wherfore God would not heare their prayers but only in that place, or at least, turning thē selues both with eyes and heart towards Ierusalem, if with their bodies they could not be present. Daniel therefore being in Babilon, when he was about to make his prayer vnto God, turned himself towards Ierusalem, not only because Salomon in his prayer vnto God besought him that if they at any time shoulde be driuen out of their countrey, & turning them selues towards this place should make their prayer vnto him, he would heare them and bring them home againe: but also because God will be worshipped in yt place which he hath chosen, that all wandring deuotions and worshipping of God after mans imaginations, might be auoyded.

We which are in the time of the new testament, are not bound to any external place, as Christ sayth: The time shall come when they shall worshippe me neyther in this mountayne nor in that. Christ is our spirituall Sanctuarie: Our mountayne. for God will heare no man but through him onely, according to the saying of Christ: VVhat soeuer ye aske my Father in my name. &c. By him therefore we offer vnto God the bullockes of our lippes: For without Christ we can neither beleue, trust, nor obtayne any thing. This is the principall poynt of all our doctrine, and therefore we must lay sure hold on it. There haue bene many which haue gone about to please God without Christ. So Arius, albeit he robbed Christ of his diuinity, ye he would seeme to acknowledge a God whom he professed and worshipped. Monks and other religious Sectaries thinke to please God with their will works, vowes, & monastical life: Yea & in the whole kingdom of the Romish Idoll, what other meanes do they seke to please god withall? yea what other Christ do they make vnto them selues then their own works, inuētions, and traditions? All these lift vp their eyes, not to the hills, to the which Dauid loked, that is, they do not loke only vnto Christ: For he alone is that hill & holy Sanctuarie which we must lift vp our eyes vnto, that like as the Iewes had no Sanctuarie but that in Ierusalem: so we should haue no other Sanctuary to flie vnto but this one and alone, euen Iesus Christ the sonne of Mary.

Thus am I wont to aunswere to the first doubt, that Dauid fastned his eyes vpon the holy place & thither directed his praier, which place was in Ierusalem, in the which was the memoriall of the name of God which he had made vnto him selfe. Before that time it was in Siloc & Gibea where the Tabernacle was. In these places he heard the prayers of his people, and he receaued their sacrifices: but in other places he neither receaued praiers nor sacrifices: for there was not the memoriall of the name of the Lord which he had made to him selfe, but the memoriall of Idolls and Idolatry, which the impious Iewes had imagined to themselues. But nowe in the newe Testament the name of God dwelleth in Christ and his Church, which is one body with Christ, whereas is the word of God, baptisme, the supper of the Lord, and the exercise of obedience towards God.

To the second doubt thus I aunswere, that albeit he seemeth to prophecy of the church of the new Testament, in the which are many hilles, that is to say, God in Christ heareth the prayers of the faithfull in euerie place, neither is prayer and the worship of God bound to any externall place, yet may it be that the Prophet therefore spake in the plural number, because there were two hils in Ierusalem, namely mount Sion, and the mount called Moria, where the temple was. And moreouer (as I sayd before) the plural number sheweth a contrariety betwixt those hills and the hils of the Idolaters. As if he should say: The Idolaters run to their mountaines, but I will abide still in these hills, wherein my soule deliteth aboue all other.

Moreouer, where he sayth: I lift vp mine eyes vnto the mountaynes from whence my helpe commeth: it is the voyce of faith. For the flesh thinketh the crosse and all calamities to come from these hilles, and therefore calleth them not the hills from whence commeth helpe and comfort, but desolation and destruction, when it seeth it selfe in hatred with the worlde for religion, in pouertie, in tentations, in daungers, in terrours. This seemeth to be a desolation and a casting away from the face of God and a descending into hell. Against his iudgement of the fleshe fighteth faith, and iudgeth not according to that which it feleth and seeth, but according to the word which the Lord hath spoken, which biddeth vs lift vp our eyes to inuisible comfortes, and to become (as it were) inuisible, and by faith, in pouertie to beholde riches, in heauines and sorrowe ioy and comfort, in desolation and destruction helpe and succour, and when we seeme to be cut of and to be cast away from God, euen then to beleue and by faith to lay sure handfast on Gods eternall mercie and grace in Christ: As Dauid here did, who was afflicted and felt no comfort, and yet he sayth: I lift vp myne eyes to the hilles from whence commeth my helpe. Thou must lift vp thine eyes therfore, and in no wise fixe them vpon the present troubles, calamities, or afflictions whatsoeuer the fleshe seeth, feeleth, or suffereth: for that is to obey and consent to the eyes and the eares, that is to say, to harken to the flesh, which is alwaies ready to perswade thee that God is angry with thee, that he hath forsaken thee, that thy daunger is such and so terrible that thou canst neuer escape it. Here therefore thou must lift vp thine eyes to the hills of the Lord, and harken to the voice of God, who sayth and promiseth that helpe shall surely come from those hills: which albeit for the tyme it be inuisible and can neither be seene nor felt, yet is it most certayne and infallble. They that are in wealth, glorie and dignitie lift not vp their eyes to these inuisible thinges, and therefore they are puffed vp with pride and caried away with all noysom lustes. But such as are in pouerty, contempt of the worlde, afflicted in body or minde, are forced to lift vp their eyes, that the helpe which is inuisible may be made to them visible by fayth, according to the promise of God made vnto them in his word.

These are the words therefore of a man that felt the same that we feele, that is to say, our hearts to be oppressed with sorrow and heauines, when we thinking our selues to be desolate and forsaken, can see no succour: when we see, not riches but pouertie: not glory but ignominy, shame and confusion. In these calamities the heart is an heauie burden, weying downe to the grounde the eyes and the head, that they can see or thinke vpon nothing else but terrene and earthly thinges. Therefore he exhorteth vs by his owne example to lift vp our eyes, and looke to inuisible thinges which the word promiseth we shall certainly enioy. Thus we see the nature of faith liuely set out in this Psalme. Nowe followeth, as it were an explication what hills he speaketh of.