I'm not sure what Java expressivity problem Spring is meant to solve. XML configs are basically just a duplication of what would be done in a static initializer

I'm not sure what Java expressivity problem Spring is meant to solve. XML configs are basically just a duplication of what would be done in a static initializer, except you lose type-checking and get to find your wiring mistakes at startup time instead of compile time. Autowiring annotations can be nice when you first use them, but become inscrutable magic once some other poor sap has to come along and make changes to the original project setup. I just don't understand what is so horrible and inexpressive about a static initialization block. The only possible purpose I see to Spring is if for some reason you really need to be able to change how your dependencies are injected at runtime. (90% of Spring apologists point to this, and 99% of them never use it in practice.) Even then, I don't see how a Spring XML config file (which I have seen run to 4000+ lines, to my horror) is better than just reading some settings out of a properties file to pick an implementation in your static initializer.