PSALM SIXTY-NINE

Let their eyes (namely of lust) be darkened, so that they do not see (v. 23) vanity but permit the spirit to see truth. And always bend down their back so that [the flesh] may not lift up the neck against the spirit nor raise the heel against it or bend it down.

And pour out Thy indignation upon them (v. 24), namely—by fasting, scourging, afflicting—cold, heat, hunger, thirst, nakedness, and men persecuting in word and deed. And let Thy burning anger overtake them, so that it cannot get away but is completely mortified and crucified.

May their camp be a desolation (v. 25), that is, let no sin, no enjoyment, nothing worldly or carnal in the senses remain, but let them be desolate. And let no one dwell in their tents. Let every lust of the flesh perish, and let no stimulus to sin remain in his members. This tropology the apostle describes very well in Rom. 6–8, where he says (Rom. 6:12): “Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, etc.”
This can also be understood profitably in another way, namely, that such ungodly people might realize that such great punishments have come upon them and continue to threaten them and, indeed, that every saint might fear lest they be upon him. And thus, in the explanation of these verses, add knowledge to the ungodly and fear to the saints, so that “Let their table become” may mean: “If only they would realize, if only it would be revealed to them, if only they understood and knew that their table is a snare for them!” For thus it foresees the future for them, it wishes that they themselves might foresee the last things, according to the word of Moses in Deut. 32:29: “O that they would be wise and would understand and would discern their last end!” In this way their table becomes a stumbling block to them when it happens, and it happens to them when they understand. [As long as something is not known to have been done, it has not yet been done to him or with respect to him. But it happens with respect to him when it is known to have been done.] For, as I have often said, Scripture customarily speaks and makes itself known in the manner of those to whom it happens. Therefore here, too, he says, “Let it be,” since without doubt it is, or as it might be, so it will certainly have been. But it has not yet happened to them or been done to them. So we must deal in a similar manner with what follows. –Martin Luther