The Calov Bible Commentary (3 volumes) from the library of J. S. Bach (now in Concordia Seminary Library in St. Louis, Missouri.)
Table of contents (passages marked by Bach)
- Genesis
- Exodus and Leviticus
- Numbers and Deuteronomy
- from Joshua to Chronicles
- Psalms
- Ecclesiastes (Prediger)
- Prophets
- Gospels
- Epistles and Apocalypse
Contrary to what is commonly said, Bach’s copy of the Calov Bible Commentary (6 parts in 3 volumes) is not filled with personal notes, but with simple markings, mostly highlighting passages in Luther’s commentary that Bach found remarkable and noteworthy. Moreover, there are many corrections (printing errors)…
And four fascinating annotations on music: Here they are in two different formats:
– texts + short commentary.
– In their context: Exodus and I/II Chronicles
Preliminary remarks
- To avoid misunderstanding: The “Calov Bible” is not an edition of the Bible, but a publication in six parts (books), bound in 3 volumes, containing excerpts from Luther’s reflections on Life (sermons, commentary, remarks), compiled by Abraham Calov (1681-2). The explanations are inserted between the Bible Text, following the verses.
- Here the title pages of the six books – photos and transcription
- About this bible commentary and the authenticity of the entries (i.e., handwritten by J.S. Bach), an article of the first modern editor (1985): Howard H. Cox 1994: The scholarly detective… I copied parts of it. (1994)
- About Abraham Calov’s (and Luther’s) hermeneutics: a summative overview of his works and excerpts from Luther’s statements about the Bible (copied/summarised by Calov in the introduction)
Short introduction
The markings (underlining, inverted commas in the margin) signify that Bach was ‘triggered’ by the texts he read there. They are emphatic signs; and, when accompanied by NB’s, this is exponentially so; and when there is also hand-penned text, even more! Bach says: Mark this sentence, this phrase, this explanation, the message… They are remarkably interesting. So, they direct the reader to the text he (Bach) was reading. Why not follow Bach’s markers, and read what he found remarkable. That’s the aim of this website.
Apart from the four annotations, already mentioned, the marked texts don’t deal with music as such, but with life. They show that Bach was interested in a lot of things: gems, spices, numbers, money, genealogy, geography, etymology, politics, ethics, and justice. Het found insights and life lessons in the commentary, for which mainly Luther is to be credited, whom Abraham Calov (editor/compiler) quotes abundantly. Almost one-third of Bach’s markers are found next to excerpts from Luthers ‘Vorlesungen’ on Prediger Salomonis, Ecclesiastes. Bach must have found them very appealing.
Crucial for the understanding of the Old Testament part of the commentary (Luther/Calov/Bach) is some knowledge of the exegetical/hermeneutical principle, called typology. Christians read the Old Testament (a Jewisch Book) typologically, i.e. as a foreshadowing, ‘vor-bild, vor-spiel’, ‘prae-figuration’, ‘vorher-sage’, of the message God wants to deliver to humankind in general: There is salvation through Christ. This hermeneutical (exegetical) method was nothing new (it goes back to the Early Church). However, Luther accepted this as the literal sense (= following in the footsteps of Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples), i.e. as the intended meaning (infused in the text by the Holy Spirit), the only real meaning. This has far-reaching consequences. It meant that one should not linger in the shadows, but seek out the light (cf. Plato’s parable of the ‘Cave’). The “Schattenwerck” – typus – of Israel’s faith and order1 is only rightly interpreted in light of the “Gegenwerck” – anti-typus – the heavenly reality, as revealed in the New Testament). Abraham Calov makes this point in “point 11” in his introduction (ZueignungsSchrift ††2v)
Für das Eilffte haben ebenmäßig die Figuren und Fürbilde Alt. T. nicht können hindan gesetzet werden / damit das Schattenwerck / und der Typus durch den Anti-typum / und das Gegenwerck selbst recht verstanden und erkläret würde.
For the eleventh point, likewise, the figures and images of the Old Testament cannot be discarded, so that the shadow and the type are comprehended and explained correctly by the anti-type and the real thing.
This also has a significant impact on understanding Bach’s glosses on music in Chronicles (In I Chronicles 28 (29):21 the word “Fürbilde” occurs (even twice, if one reads a bit further)), but also to ‘understand’ why reading in the Old Testament was such a fascinating exercise for Lutheran christians: It was a challenge to see the ‘real thing’, behind, through the ‘shadow’. I know, it’s an obsolete hermeneutics, but fascinating when done in its proper context: pre-modern era.
All marked texts have been published before in a translation by Ellis Finger (in J.S. Bach Calov Bible, edited by Howard Cox (Ann Arbord, Michigan, 1985. pp. 395-455)
Dick Wursten, Reformationday 2024
- The Old Testament symbols; the term is derived from Hebrews 8:5: Moses’ tabernacle was a shadow and example of the true sanctuary revealed to Moses on the mount ↩︎