First part.
How Noah was commanded to go into the box, and proved obedient to the same.
V. 1. And the Lord said unto Noah, Go into the box, thou, and all thy house.
I. Now that the great building of the box is built and finished, God tells Noah to go into it, because the time of the flood, of which the Lord had told him a hundred and twenty years ago, is now at hand. This is all so that Noah would understand that God would take care of him, and not only that, but also that he would have, as Peter says in 2 Epistle I, 19, a rich and abundant word, so that his faith would have strength and comfort in such distress. Because he had told the world about the flood for longer than a hundred years, he was undoubtedly challenged and afflicted by it in many ways.
In addition, this wrath, as I have often said, was terrible and great, and a human heart, especially in the first world, in which there were more pious people than now, could not comprehend or understand that God would destroy the entire human race, excluding only eight people, through the Flood. Therefore, Noah, as a holy, righteous, kind and compassionate man, will have often experienced many a struggle in his heart, and will not have heard the voice of the Lord without great sorrow, so that he threatened all flesh with destruction. For this reason, it was necessary for God to comfort and strengthen the faith of a fearful and sorrowful man with a rich word, so that he would not fall into doubt.
3 For the Lord to call him to go into the box is as if he had said to him, "Do not doubt, it will surely be done.
and the time has already come for me to bring my punishment on the unbelieving world. But you shall not tremble nor be afraid (as faith also becomes very weak in the saints at times), I will take care of you and your house. Such a thing would have been impossible for us to believe, since we must necessarily conclude that everything is possible for God to do.
But here again Moses keeps his way of speaking, that he says: "The Lord spoke. And I am particularly inclined to think that these words were not spoken from heaven, but were spoken to Noah by a man. For although I am not opposed to the idea that such things could have been revealed to him by an angel or the Holy Spirit, yet if it can be said that God spoke through men, then it should be done in honor of the ministry. Thus I have said above that many things of which Moses writes that God spoke them were spoken through Adam. For even if God's word is spoken by a man, it is nevertheless truly God's word.
(5) Since Methuselah, Noah's grandfather, died just this year when the flood came, it does not seem inconvenient to me that we consider this to have been Methuselah's last voice (for Lamech, Noah's father, died five years before the flood) to his grandson and, as it were, his testament, that he may have said to him on his deathbed: Dear son, as you have hitherto been obedient to the Lord and have waited in faith for this wrath, you have also experienced that God has faithfully protected and preserved you against the wicked: so you shall not doubt in the future, the pious God will take care of you. For now it is time for the end to come, and not only my end, which is an end of grace, but of the whole human race, which is the end of the world.
This is the end of the wrath. For after seven days shall the flood arise, of which thou hast so long spoken unto the world, but in vain. So I consider these words to be spoken by Methuselah himself, but they are attributed to God because the Spirit of God spoke them through Methuselah. And so I gladly interpret such things, where it can be done (as here in this place), in honor of the ministry of preaching. For since it is certain that Methuselah died this very year when the flood came, one can safely think that these were his last words to his grandson Noah, who heard his words and accepted them as if they were God's words.
006 The Jews also have their peculiar thoughts concerning these seven days, that these seven days should be given in honor of the hundred and twenty years of Methuselah, that his seed might mourn him: neither is there any harm in such thoughts; for his pious generation shall have done that which is due.
(7) However, the foregoing understanding of the ministry is not only credible, but also useful. For it is certain that God does not always speak miraculously and by special revelation, especially where the ordinary ministry of preaching is concerned, which he has ordained for the purpose of speaking to men, teaching, instructing, comforting and admonishing them.
8. and God has earnestly commanded His word to parents, as Moses often says, "You shall say these things to your children," Ex. 13, 14; then to the teachers in the church, as Abraham says Luc. 16, 29: "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear the same." For where the office of preaching is, we are not to wait for any revelation, either inwardly or outwardly, or else all the states of life would be confused; but so it shall be: in the church the preacher shall teach, in the council-house the authorities shall rule, the house-rule shall be ordered by father and mother. For these are all the offices of men ordained of God: therefore they shall be used, and no other revelation shall be looked to.
(9) But I am not opposed to Noah hearing the Lord after Methuselah's death.
talk. For God speaks to people in two ways: First, and commonly, through the public ministry of preaching, that is, through the parents and teachers in the church; second, through inward revelation or the Holy Spirit. But this he does only in special dealings and very seldom. Therefore we should know that we should not abandon the word and wait for new revelations, as the enthusiasts do. For this is where erroneous spirits come from, who then confuse the world with their dreams, as the example of rebaptism shows.
For I have seen thee righteous before me at this time.
(10) This is certainly a terrible picture of the first or "former world", as St. Peter calls it in 2 Epistle 2:5, and it can be seen as if he compared something special to our world with this word. For what more abominable thing can be said than that we hear here that Noah alone is righteous before the Lord? And there is a similar picture of the world in the 14th Psalm, where it is said in v. 2. 3. that the Lord looks down from heaven on the children of men, and sees if anyone is wise and asks after God. "But they," he says, "have all gone astray, and are all unfit; there is none that doeth good, not one."
11) And this judgment of the world rhymes well with the saying of Christ Matth. 24, 38. 39; because the last times are to be like the time of Noah, Christ says Luc. 18, 8: "When the Son of Man comes, do you think that he will also find faith? Therefore it is terrible to live in such a wicked and godless world. Now is still, praise God, because we have the light of the Word, a golden time. For in our church the sacraments are in proper use; pious and God-fearing preachers teach God's word loud and pure; the authorities, though weak, are not yet so bad that they cannot be hoped to improve. But Christ's prophecy speaks of a terrible time, namely, that it will come to pass that when the day of the Lord is at the door, there will be no righteousness in the world.
The teachers who have been created will be nowhere to be found, and the church will even be suppressed by the wicked. We are also threatened with similar advice from our adversaries. For the pope and his ungodly rulers are determined that the ministry of preaching should be abolished altogether, and that everyone should be allowed to believe what he wants; but the righteous preachers should all be suppressed or corrupted and kept from perseverance with gifts and presents.
(12) Therefore, we should pray all the more diligently for our descendants and work earnestly so that the teaching may be inherited by them purely and righteously. For if there had been more godly teachers in Noah's time, it might have been hoped that more pious and righteous people would have been found. But because there were so few of them, that Noah alone is praised as righteous, it can be assumed that the pious teachers were either strangled or let themselves be led to heresy and idolatry, so that Noah, "the preacher of righteousness," as St. Peter calls him in 2 Epistle 2:5, remained righteous alone. And after the rule of the authorities was turned into tyranny, and the rule of the house was disrupted by adultery and fornication, how could the punishment have been omitted any longer?
(13) We also have to wait for such a danger, since the last times will be like the time of Noah. And the pope and bishops spare no effort so that the gospel may again be dampened and well-established churches may be disturbed. Thus the world strives with all its diligence for such a time that would be like and similar to Noah's time, in which the bright light of the gospel would be extinguished and everyone would live in error and darkness. For when the preaching will be abolished, neither faith, nor prayer, nor the righteous use of the sacraments will be able to exist.
14 Moses writes here that the previous world had such a form at the time of Noah, since it was, as it were, the youth of the world and the best part, and everywhere the most important of all.
The people who were the finest and, for the sake of their long lives, the most skilled and experienced. How will we fare in this nonsensical age of the world? Therefore, we should not put off caring for our descendants, but pray for them daily.
(15) Just as the first world was highly corrupt, it was also subjected to terrible punishment, so that not only the adults, who had angered God with their sins, perished, but also the innocent youth, who neither understands nor knows what is right or left. And no doubt many of them will have been deceived by their simplicity. But God's wrath makes no distinction here, but assaults and corrupts the old with the young, the witty and understanding with the simple-minded.
16 Such a terrible punishment also moved and caused St. Peter, the apostle, that he led out like a mad or possessed man with such words, which we still cannot understand to this day; for thus he says 1 Epist. 3, 19. 20.: "Christ, made alive according to the Spirit, went in the Spirit and preached to the spirits in prison, who did not believe, since God once waited and was patient in the days of Noah, when the ark was prepared, in which few, that is, eight souls were kept by the water" etc.
This is certainly a strange judgment and almost a foolish speech, so that the apostle has presented this terrible spectacle, as it can be seen. For Peter indicates with these very words that there might have been an unbelieving world to whom the deceased Christ preached after his death. If this is true, we cannot doubt that Christ would have brought Moses and the prophets to the same prison, so that he would make a new and faithful world out of the unbelieving world. St. Peter's words are actually based on this opinion, although I do not want to say anything certain about it.
18 Nevertheless, there is also no doubt that those whom he calls an unbelieving world are not godless despisers and tyrants, of whom it can certainly be said that they are damned.
if they had perished in their sins. But it can be seen that he calls the young children and others, whom their simplicity has prevented from believing, an unbelieving world. For they have been carried away and carried away by the world's adversities, not unlike a strong river, so that they have perished at the same time, and only eight souls have been preserved.
19 In this way Peter strongly emphasizes the great and terrible wrath of God, and yet at the same time praises the patience of God, that he did not deprive those of the saving word who at that time did not believe or could not believe, because they waited for God's patience, nor could they be persuaded that it would come to this, that God would put the whole world into such terrible punishment.
(20) But how this came about we do not know. But this we know and believe, that God is marvelous in his works and is able to do all things. He who therefore was able to preach alive to the living was also able to preach after his death to the dead. For he hears, feels and grasps everything, even though human reason cannot understand such things. But it is no disgrace to us if we do not know some of the secrets of the Scriptures, for the apostles had their own special revelation, and anyone who would dispute much about it would be presumptuous and foolish.
(21) Such a revelation is this also of Christ, that he taught the souls of those who perished at the time of the flood. On this not badly can be drawn the article in the faith that Christ has gone to hell. St. Paul also had a revelation of paradise, of the third heaven, 2 Cor. 12, 2. 4. and other things, which are no disgrace to us, even if we do not know them. But it would be presumptuous of anyone to be regarded as knowing it. St. Augustine and other teachers also have many speculations when they speak of such things: but who would not believe that the apostles had such revelation, which Augustine and others did not have? Now we come back to the text.
(22) As I said, this is a terrible picture of the world, that God shows that He has seen the one Noah righteous before Him, and remembers neither the little children nor others who were innocently deceived. But we should notice the little word "before me". For this indicates that Noah was not only justified as far as the other tablet is concerned, but also as far as the first tablet is concerned, that is, that he believed in God and sanctified His name, preached and called upon Him, thanked God and condemned false teaching etc. For to be righteous before God is to believe in God, fear God, not. To say mass or to help souls out of purgatory, to become a monk etc. as was taught under the papacy.
(23) And this word is also to condemn the former world, because it despised the works of the first table, and was also evil and corrupt at the other. For Noah laughed at them and mocked them like a fool, condemning his teaching as heresy, yet he ate and drank in safety and lived well and joyfully, Matt. 24:38. Therefore Noah was not righteous before the world, but a condemned sinner.
24 Therefore God, or his grandfather Methuselah, comforts him with this word, that he should not turn to the blind and ungodly judgments of the world, nor ask what the world is like or what it says, but that he should close his eyes and ears and pay attention only to God's word and judgment, so that he may believe that he is righteous before God, that is, that he is pleasing and pleasing to God.
(25) And truly this was a great faith of Noah, that he could believe such a word. I, for one, could not have believed it; for I feel how hard it is when all men's judgments go against one alone and condemn him. How we are condemned not only by the pope, but also by the Sacramentarians, Anabaptists, and other innumerable judgments. But this is all a joke and child's play, if one compares it with the righteous Noah, who, without his children and pious grandfather, does not find a single person in the whole world, who is condemned either by his religion or by his religion alone.
life. We have, praise God, many churches that are at one with us, and our pious princes do not refuse any danger to which one must submit for the sake of protection of doctrine and religion. Noah did not have such patrons and protectors, but in addition had to see that his adversaries had been idle in quiet peace and had had good lazy days and pleasure. If I had been there, I would truly have said, "Lord, if I am righteous and please you, but they are unrighteous and do not please you, how is it that they are so well off and have everything? Why doest thou do them so much good in all manner of things? whereas I, with mine own, have all manner of trouble, and am almost forsaken of all help? And what can I say, I would have to despair in such distresses, if God did not give me the spirit that Noah had.
(26) Therefore Noah is a very glorious and beautiful example of faith, who steadfastly, like a hero, stood against the judgment of all the world, and could believe that he was righteous, but the rest of the world was wrong.
27 When I consider the noble men Johannes Huss and Jerome of Prague, I must marvel at their undaunted courage and steadfastness, that these two have been allowed to stand against the judgment of the whole world, against the pope, emperor, bishops, princes, colleges and all schools in the entire empire.
(28) And it is very useful to look at and contemplate such examples often. For since this battle with the world is strengthened and sharpened by the prince of the world, who dares to strike despair into the heart with his fiery arrows, we must be prepared not to give way to the fierce enemy, but to say with Noah: "I know that I am right before God, even though the whole world condemns me as a heretic and unjust and falls away from me. For so the apostles also fell away from Christ and left him alone, Matth. 26, 56, but he says: "I am not alone", Joh. 16, 32. So the false brothers left Paul, 2 Tim. 4, 16. Therefore this is not a new or unusual thing.
Danger. Therefore, one should not despair even in this, but remain bold and undaunted over the pure doctrine, as it also curses and condemns the world.
V. 2, 3: Of all the clean livestock, take to you seven and seven, the male and his female. But of the unclean cattle take one pair each, the male and his female. And like unto them of the fowls of the air, seven and seven, the male and his female; that seed may live upon the face of the whole earth.
(29) It seems that God takes a special pleasure in talking to Noah, so he is not satisfied with telling him once what to do, but repeats one thing in one word, which reason considers useless talk. But to such a heart that wrestles and struggles with despair, nothing can be too much nor enough for it to be informed of God's will. God looks at this effect of a tempted heart and keeps repeating the same thing, so that Noah can understand from this rich conversation and many words that he not only feels abandoned, even if the whole world has abandoned him, but also has a kind and favorable God who loves him so much that he almost, as it seems, cannot get enough of talking to him. This is the reason why the same thing is repeated here. But I have said above how God spoke to Noah, namely not from heaven but through a man.
(30) As for grammar, this place shows that habehemah means not only cattle, that is, the larger animals, but also the smaller ones that are used for sacrifice, such as sheep, goats, and the like. For the way of sacrificing was not first invented or ordained by Moses, but has always been in the world, inherited and passed on from the patriarchs to their descendants; as the example of Abel in Genesis 4:4 shows, who offered sacrifices to the Lord from the firstlings of his cattle.
31. by the way, I have said above at the end of the sixth chapter, how it is to be compared and rhymed together, that God here means to take into the box "seven each", above
but "one pair each" alone. Therefore it is not necessary to repeat. Because Noah was miraculously preserved, he thought he had to add the seventh individual animal to the three pure pairs, so that he could thank God after the Flood for His gracious help and salvation.
V. 4. For yet seven days will I cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth every living thing that I have made.
Here you see how diligently God assures Noah and makes him certain of all things. He appointed seven days; after these, he said, the rain would follow forty days and forty nights. But he uses special, emphatic words, saying, "I will cause it to rain"; for it was no ordinary rain, but at the same time the windows of heaven and the depths were opened (v. 11), that is, first much water poured down from heaven, and then also a great force from the earth. For it must have been a great quantity of water that went up fifteen cubits above the highest mountains. Therefore it was no ordinary rain, but a rain of the wrath of God, so that God wanted to destroy "everything that has a being" on earth. For because the earth was corrupt, the Lord also corrupts it, and because the wicked contend against the first and the second table, God also contends against them with heaven and earth.
Therefore, this history is a certain proof that although God is patient and long-suffering, He does not always leave the wicked unpunished. For since, as Peter says in 2 Epist. 2, 5, "He did not spare the former world," He will much less spare the popes or emperors who persecute His word. How much less will he also spare us who blaspheme his name, because we do not live according to our profession and faith, but sin wantonly against our conscience every day! Therefore, we should learn to fear God and accept His word with humility and be obedient to it, otherwise the punishment will also seize us, as Peter says.
V. 5-10 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. Now he was six hundred years old when the waters of the flood came upon the earth. And he went into the coffer with his sons, and with his wife, and with his sons' wives, before the waters of the flood: and of the clean cattle, and of the unclean, and of the fowls, and of all the creeping things that creep upon the earth, there went into the coffer unto him in pairs, male and female, as the Lord commanded him. And when the seven days were expired, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
34 This can be understood from the foregoing. And with this, Noah's faith is praised, that he obeyed God's command and entered the ark with his sons and their wives with constant faith. God could have preserved him in countless other ways; He did not use this way, which seems foolish, as if He knew no other; for what could be impossible to Him who preserved Jonah in the midst of the sea and in the belly of the whale for three days? Jon. 2, 1. ff. "Now by this manner is praised Noah's faith and obedience, whom this way to receive, pointed out from heaven, nothing vexed, but accepted it with simple faith.
Second part.
How the flood broke in and devastated everything.
V. 11, 12: In the six hundredth year of Noah's age, on the seventeenth day of the second month, that is, the day when all the fountains of the great deep broke out, and the windows of heaven were opened, and rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
35 Here we see that Moses is very rich and superfluous in words and always repeats the same thing to the point of annoyance. For how often does he remember the animals? How often does he say that Noah went into the box? How often does he say that Noah's sons went into the box with him? But this alone must be judged.
Let spiritual people do this, for they alone know and see that the Holy Spirit does not repeat anything in vain.
Others, however, who are weak in spirit, may think that this is why Moses so often repeats and imagines the same thing, that when he wrote this, God's anger was so intense in his heart. For grieved and upset hearts like to repeat one thing; as David, 2 Sam. 18, 33, repeats the complaint of his son Absalom. So this repetition here indicates that Moses had taken these things deeply into his mind and was deeply distressed about them. For this image of wrath hovers so much before his eyes and ears that he cannot refrain from it; he must think of it often, even with the same words.
(37) Poets and historians do not do this, but they present a thing with various effects, they present it in a large and extensive way, and they have many words. But Moses uses short words, but repeats them often, so that the reader, after so much recollection of such important things, may think for himself, and not see and read in others, but experience in himself the true affects or movements of the heart.
(38) It can be seen that Moses, with such constant repetition, not only wanted to portray a picture of his heart, which was most grieved at the description of these things, but also that Noah, full of the Holy Spirit and ardent love, was grieved and sorrowful to death over the future great disaster, and after seeing that he could neither advise nor help, could do nothing else but mourn and lament such distress. For he has seen the certain destruction that should befall the wisest, noblest and bravest of men. So David mourns his son Absalom, because he cannot help him to live, 2 Sam. 18, 33. And so Samuel mourns, because he sees that Saul is finished, 1 Sam. 16, 1.
39 Therefore, this is not a vain tautology or repetition, for the Holy Spirit does not drive vain and unnecessary words, as the coarse and sated spirits think, who read the Bible soon when they read it.
But the Holy Spirit has herewith indicated to the reader that he should not think that he is concerned about a little thing with these words. And yet Moses, even in such repetition, indicates some things that are not found in all the Gentile Scriptures, such as that he writes that Noah entered the ark in his six hundredth year in the other month and seventeenth day of the other month.
(40) This is the subject of dispute here: When did the year begin? There are two delusions about this. The first is that the beginning of the year is the joining of the sun and the moon, which occurs first before the equinox in spring. Therefore in the 2nd book Moses Cap. 12, 2. the same moon is called the first. If the Flood came in the other moon and on the seventeenth day, it came almost at the end of April, that is, at this time, when the year is most beautiful and the world is green again, the birds are singing, the cattle and animals are happy and cheerful, and a new form of the world appears after the harsh winter. But it was all the more frightening that death and destruction of all things would come, since one hoped for joy and, as it were, a new life for all creatures. And to these thoughts rhyme also the words of the Lord Christ Matth. 24, 38. where he compares the last time of the world with the time of Noah and says of eating and drinking, free and other signs of joy.
The other opinion of the beginning of the year is that it begins with the new moon, so first before the equinox in the autumn is, when one has collected everything from the country. But they put the beginning of the year here because Moses calls the same moon the beginning of the year. And this beginning of the year they call the beginning of the civil year, but that at the equinox in spring they call the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; for Moses' ceremonies and celebrations last from that time until day and night are equal in autumn.
Now Moses speaks of the common year,
so is the deluge!) invaded in the autumn moon or October, which opinion Lyra is also. And it is true, the autumn and winter is more convenient for the rule because of the wet signs. In addition, because Moses writes afterwards that Noah had left the dove in the tenth moon, which came again and brought a green olive branch, so it can also be seen as if it is right, if one sets the beginning of the Flood in October.
(43) But I do not like this reckoning of the Jews, that they make two beginnings of the year. For why do they not take four beginnings? Because there are four times in the year, distinguished by the equinoxes and the solstices; therefore the beginnings of these times must be distinguished. Therefore, it is much safer to follow the order that God has made: according to it, April, or the new moon, is the first month after the equinox in spring. For that the Jews also put a beginning of the year in the autumn, because the equinox in the autumn of the year is called the end, they do this out of ignorance; for Moses calls the same time of the year the end for no other reason than that the work in the field had come to an end and all the fruit had been harvested and gathered.
(44) Therefore this is my opinion, that the flood came in the spring, when everyone took comfort in the new year and hoped for it. For the death of the wicked is such that they fall to the ground when they say, "There is peace, there is no danger," 1 Thess. 5:3. And nothing hinders such a mind that is written afterward of the green olive branch; for some trees are green for and for, as the box tree, the firs, spruces, cedars, laurels, olive trees, palm trees etc.
(45) Now what is this that Moses says about the wells of the great deep being broken open; item, about the windows of heaven being opened? For such things are not read at all in all the Gentile writings, though they have searched out the secrets of nature with great diligence. But you must distinguish here so that you understand the depths of the earth for another thing, the cloudbursts
or window of the sky for another and the rain also for another. Rain is common, but the windows of heaven and the depths being opened is an unusual and tremendous thing.
Here the teachers are almost all silent and do not interpret anything. But we know from holy scripture that God, through his word, has appointed and prepared a place for man and other animals to dwell in the dry land above the water, contrary to nature. For it is against nature that the earth floats above the water. For if you throw a ball of earth into the water, it will soon sink; but the dry land floats above the water by the power of the word, by which the sea has its purpose, as Solomon says, Proverbs 8:29, and Job, Cap. 38:11. 38, 11. And where by the power of the word the water would not be kept within its purpose and circle, it would break out and devastate everything. Therefore our lives are protected at all times and miraculously preserved by the Word; as the floods over certain regions prove, that is, when at times a whole city or country is drowned by a body of water, as a testimony that we would have to fear and feel such danger every day if God did not protect us in particular.
(47) As the water is under us and under the earth, so is the water above us and above the heavens. Which, if it fell by its nature, would in a moment be consumed by water. The clouds hover over us as if they were attached; and how much great terror they cause when they let themselves down at times! But what would happen if they all fell down? As they would fall down according to their nature, if they were not fastened by the word and kept in their place.
(48) Thus we are surrounded by water everywhere, and have nothing more to protect us than a roof or covering made up of the softest matter of all, that is, the air we breathe. This carries the clouds and holds up such a great load of water, not because it is so by nature, but because of God's command or the power of the Word.
(49) When the prophets look at such things, they marvel at them, for this is both contrary to nature, first, that such a great burden floats and flies and yet does not fall. But we, who are as it were blinded by the daily habit of such things, do not see them, nor do we wonder at them. That we are not covered every moment with water, which is under and above us at the same time, we have to thank the divine majesty, which arranges and maintains the creatures so wonderfully and for this reason is to be praised and glorified by us.
50 This is the reason why Moses says here with a diligent and clear word that these were broken out. For he wants to indicate that they were closed by divine power and, as it were, sealed with a seal of God, as they still are today; God, however, did not open them with a key, but tore them out by force, so that the sea, as it were, overflowed. covered everything with water. But let no one think that God had a hand in this, because it is said here that he broke open the depths. For the Scripture speaks according to our understanding and indicates that God has imposed it and no longer stopped the waters, nor increased them with the word, but has let them go out and rage freely according to their nature. That is why the sea was overflowing, so that it seemed to be overflowing.
It is said that in Hülle, which is in our neighborhood, a salt well called the German Spring is said to swell and rise so violently for some time that it overflows where it is not drawn. It is also said that at one time the city of Halle was ruined by such a violent outpouring of this well. If a well was able to do this, what do we think happened when the sea and all the waters poured out such a quantity of water? That is why the people were rather hurried, because they became aware of the danger. For where could they have fled, when all the waters poured out so mightily?
52 Not only has this happened, but the windows of heaven have been opened, which were closed before the same time, as Moses indicates with this word.
They are the same as they are today. The world may have thought that such an opening was impossible, but its sins have made it possible.
53) Moses calls windows nothing else than openings of the sky. For when it rains now, it seems as if the water penetrates, as it were, through the pores of the clouds. But at the time of the Flood, it did not go through the pores, but out of the windows with all its might, as if a great barrel of water were poured out with violence and suddenly, or a hose of water were broken in two. Moses also uses the words so that it appears and seems to us to be so.
For this reason, water has penetrated the earth with all its force, both from heaven and from the lowest depths of the earth, until finally the whole earth has been covered with water and the fertile whole earth has been corrupted by the salty water. One does not read anything of this kind in other books or writings: only the holy Scriptures indicate that this happened to the world, which thus surely sinned, and that through God's goodness the waters hanging on the clouds are still stopped today, which otherwise by their nature could do nothing but fall with great force, as happened in the Flood.
V. 13-16. On the same day Noah entered the box with Shem, Ham and Japheth, his sons, and his wife, and his sons' three wives, and all kinds of animals after their kind, and all kinds of cattle after their kind, and all kinds of creeping things that creep upon the earth after their kind, and all kinds of birds after their kind, and everything that could fly, and everything that had a foot; All these went to Noah into the box of pairs, of all flesh, having a living spirit within; and these were male and female of all flesh, and went in as God commanded him.
55 Here Moses begins and makes wonderful words, so that such an abundance of words might well hurt tender ears, that he repeats the same thing so often and, as it can be seen, without any fruit. He does not have enough of it, that he says in general "all kinds of things".
Birds", but makes three kinds of birds. Among these is zipor, which is commonly understood to mean a sparrow. But this text sufficiently indicates that it is a generic word for all or even many birds, so it is undoubtedly taken from their song or voice, Zi, Zi. Thus he also makes three kinds of animals. After that he also uses many words in the description of the Flood. He says that the waters took over, grew and covered the whole earth. And since he then tells what followed such waters, he is also of many words: "All flesh", he says, "perished"; "All that had edema died"; "All was destroyed" etc.
(56) But I have said above that Moses repeats the same thing against his custom, so that he forces the reader, as it were, to stand still and to recognize and consider such a great thing a little more diligently. For this is such a wrath, which no one can sufficiently consider or interpret, that it destroys not only man but all his possessions and goods. Therefore he wants this wrath to awaken the hardened sinners who feel no sin.
Therefore these are not idle or forgiven words, as industrious and spiritless readers consider them to be; but they provoke us to the fear of God, and present the matter to us as clearly as if we saw it before our eyes: that by contemplating such a great wrath we may be humbled and begin to fear God earnestly and to refrain from sins. For it can be seen that Moses did not write such things without many tears. For he sees this spectacle of divine wrath so completely with his eyes, heart and mind that he cannot refrain from it; he must repeat it often. He does it, however, without a doubt with the intention that he may leave such thorns in the hearts of pious readers, which stimulate and drive them to the fear of God without interruption.
(58) But it is useful for us to picture this thing before our eyes and to look at it for a long time. For how do you think it would have made sense to us if we had come into the box and seen how the water was violently closing in on all sides?
and the poor people swim so miserably in the water and perish without all help and salvation? But we should think that Noah and his sons were also flesh and blood, that is, such people who (as he says in the Comedy) thought that everything that is human could also affect them. Now they have sat in the box forty days, before the box was raised from the earth. In such a time everything was destroyed, which had lived on the earth from humans and animals. They saw such misery with their eyes: who would doubt that they were not moved by it in the most extreme and violent way?
(59) Now the box floats in the water an hundred and fifty days, in the wind, in the waves, and in the water, not having a harbor and a ford, nor a man's company. Therefore they are now and then beaten and driven by the water and wind, as if they had been expelled and cast out of the world. Is it not a miracle that these eight people did not die of fear and sadness? But surely we have stony hearts and are sticks and stones ourselves, that we can read such things with dry eyes.
(60) What is the crying, wailing and weeping when we stand on the shore and see a boat overturned and the people in it miserably drowned? Now there is not one boat overturned, but the whole world in the water, which is not only full of grown men and old men, but also of young children; nor are they all wicked and ungodly men, but also many simple women and virgins, who have all perished at the same time. Therefore we should consider that this great affliction moved Moses to speak so many words, so that he might also give us cause to consider such great things diligently. And Noah had such wonderful faith that he was able to comfort himself and his family with the hope of the promised seed, and indeed he considered this promise greater than that the whole world had perished.
V. 16-24 And the Lord closed behind him. Then the flood came up forty days.
And the waters increased, and lifted up the box, and carried it above the earth. So the waters overflowed and grew very much on the earth, so that the box rode on the waters. And the waters overflowed, and increased so much upon the earth, that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits high the waters went over the mountains that were covered. Then all flesh that crept upon the earth perished, of hangers, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all that moveth upon the earth, and of all men. Everything that had a living breath in the dry land died. So everything that was on the face of the earth, from man to beast, and to creeping things, and to the hangers under the heaven, was destroyed from the earth. Only Noah remained, and all that was with him in the box. And the waters stood upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
The box stood for forty days on a level ground, but at the same time the waters increased so that they carried the box upward, so that it floated in the water for a hundred and fifty days. This was indeed a long voyage, full of mourning and weeping. Nevertheless, Noah comforted himself with his people of faith and did not doubt God's goodness, after they had recognized his care for them in the construction of the box, in the provision of food and other necessary things, and finally also in the fact that he had closed the box for them after the flood became violent.
(62) But here there is a question: How is God true, who has subjected the earth to man to build and to rule over it? For God did not create the earth to lie desolate, but that it should be inhabited and bear its fruits to man. But how does this rhyme with this will of the Creator, that he corrupted the whole human race down to eight souls? I do not doubt that this argument will have moved both the Cainites and the godless descendants of the generation of the pious, so that they did not give Noah, when he preached about the Flood, the same reasoning.
have believed. For how is it consistent that God says to Adam and Eve: "You shall reign on the earth"; but here he says to Noah: "The water shall become mighty and destroy all people"? That is why they considered Noah's preaching ungodly and heretical.
63) As the prophets' writings testify, the priests and kings did not believe the threats of imprisonment by the Assyrians and Babylon, for they knew the glorious promises, such as: Psalm 132:14: "This is my rest forever; here will I dwell, for it pleases me"; item Isaiah 31:9: "This is my hearth and fire." Therefore they considered it impossible that the city or the temple should be destroyed by the Gentiles. And the Jews, however poor and miserable they are, still hold fast to this day to this promise, that they are God's people and heirs of the promise made to Abraham and the fathers.
64. so the pope blows himself up with the promises that happened to the church, as Matth. 28, 20.: "I am with you always, to the end of the world". Joh. 14, 18: "I will not leave you orphans"; Luc. 22, 32: "I have prayed for you that your faith may not cease" etc. Although he sees and feels God's wrath, he is so entangled and captivated by these promises that he lets himself and his people dream that his seat and power will remain firm and unshaken. That is why the papists defy us with the name of the church and put themselves off to all kinds of happiness and welfare, as if they could force God to provide them with such a church as they desire and dream of.
Therefore, this question is right here: How does the Flood, by which the whole human race is corrupted, coincide with God's will, who created human nature, with the promise or gift of dominion? And what is answered to this question may also be answered to the other by the Church, namely, that God remains true and sustains and governs His Church, but in such a way that the world neither sees nor understands.
nor understands. He lets the pope at Rome with his own in this delusion that he is the church, lets him be sure of it and use his majesty and great name; but in truth he has cast him out of his church and rejected him, because he rejects the word and performs idolatrous services.
But God has chosen another church that accepts His word and flees idolatry, but is oppressed with the cross, scorn and shame, so that it is not considered a church, but a heresy and a school of the devil. Thus St. Paul says Rom. 2, 17, that the Jews do not fear God, but boast of the law and of God, and yet deny God, revile and anger Him. But because the Jews, who boast as if they were God's people, do so, God is building a church for Himself from the Gentiles, who boast of God rightly and truly and accept His word.
67. But who will therefore prove God false by preserving the church in a different way than men desire or know? The promises of Jerusalem and the preservation of the Temple were the same. These same promises were not revoked when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians. For God had foreknown at that time another Jerusalem and another temple in the Spirit and by the Word, as Jeremiah Cap. 29, 10. 11. prophesied that after seventy years the people should come again and at the same time rebuild the temple and the city. Therefore the temple and the city were destroyed before the Jews at that time, but not before God, who promised in word that they would be rebuilt.
68 And so the argument of the Jews is true, that God will not leave the city and the temple. He does this in a different way, because the Jews thought that their city would not have to be destroyed because of the promise: "This is my rest forever", Ps. 132, 14. But God lets it be destroyed because he punishes the sin of his people, and nevertheless cares for his church and protects it, since the pious are reinstated by King Cyrus and build the temple again.
69. so in the beginning of creation the
Here, it is abolished by the Flood not for eternity but for a time, and yet it is not abolished altogether. For although most of the world perishes, man nevertheless remains a lord over everything on earth and will also preserve the same dominion for man. Although it does not happen in such a quantity as the world thought and wanted, it still happens in a few persons, that is, in eight souls, which the world did not think of.
Therefore, God's promise did not fail, but God kept what He promised. But he did not keep it in this way, as the world would have kept it. For he destroyed the sinners, but preserved the righteous, though they were few, and like a seed, which God afterwards multiplied in many ways.
The papists should look to such a judgment of God. For it teaches that God does not let the crowd, nor force, nor even his own promise hinder him from punishing the sin of the impenitent. For otherwise God would have spared the first world and the lineage of the patriarchs, to whom He had given the dominion of the earth. But now he destroys them all and preserves only eight souls.
Would it be a miracle if he were to do the same with the papists? who, though they boast of their age, worthiness, multitude and power, yet because they trample on and persecute God's word, God will reject them and choose another church that will humbly submit to his word and willingly accept the benefits of the Lord Christ, which the pope's church proudly and defiantly despises out of presumption of its own merit.
Therefore, one should not trust in the present, which he has and which is also promised in God's word. But one should look to the word and rely on it alone. Those who do not do this, but fall away from the word and rely on the present, even though they are great, mighty, and very much, will not go unpunished for such apostasy, even though they are strong, great, and mighty; as is shown by the Flood, the imprisonment of the Jews, and the death of the Jews.
their calamity and misery this day, as well as the seven thousand men in the kingdom of Israel.
This argument that the multitude or the great hemp is not the church is strong enough. So one should not look at how holy the origin was, who their ancestors were, what they had and were given to them by God. But one should look at the word alone and judge from it. For those who accept it are truly the ones who will remain forever like Mount Zion, Ps. 125:1, even though they are very few and the most despised in the eyes of the world. As Noah was with his children; by whom, though they were few, God gave man the truth of the promised dominion, though he had not a foot wide upon the earth.
Our opponents insist very much on this argument. They abandon the word and look only at the crowd, appearance and persons. Now the apostles prophesied that the Antichrist would be a respecter of persons, would be bound to the great multitude and antiquity, but would hate God's word and falsify the promise, and strangle those who clung to the word, 2 Thess. 2, 3. 1 Jn. 2, 18. 2 Jn. v. 7. Revelation 20, 8. 9. Do we then want to take such for the church?
For the Church is the daughter born of the Word of God: Word of God, and is not of the Word. Therefore, whoever abandons the word and falls on the reputation of the people, he no longer remains the church and is blinded, and neither the crowd nor the force helps him. So again, those who keep the word, like Noah and his followers, are the church, even though they are very few in number and only eight souls. So today the papists are superior to us in numbers and precede us in reputation; but we are not only blasphemed, but must also suffer many things. So that we must have patience until the judgment comes, in which God will make it clear that we are His church, but the papists are the church of the devil.
77 Therefore, keep this rule, which is written in 1 Sam. 16:7, where the Lord says to Sa.
muel: "Look not on his form, nor on his great person; I have rejected him. For it is not how a man looks. A man looks at what is before his eyes, but the Lord looks at the heart."
(78) Therefore, we should not ask how great and mighty the pope is, who boasts that he is the church and insists on the succession of the apostles, on his majesty and majesty; but we should look at the word. If he accepts it, we are to consider him the church; but if he persecutes it, we are to consider him a serf of the devil.
79 This is what St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:13, 15, that the minister judges everything. For if I alone were in the whole world, having and keeping the word, I alone would be the church, and could judge the rest of the whole world rightly, that it should not be the church. For though they have the power and the ministry, yet they have it without the word, and have nothing in the truth. But we, who have the word, have thereby also all things, though we have neither goods nor power. Therefore, popes, cardinals, and bishops should either come to us or never boast that they are the church, which cannot be without God's word, since it is begotten by the word alone.
80 We are therefore very hostile because they say of us that we have fallen away from the old church. Again, the papists boast that they have remained with the church and want to subject everything to the same judgment and knowledge. But they accuse us unjustly. For if we want to confess the truth, we have fallen away from the Word while we were still in their church. But now we have returned to the Word and are no longer apostates.
(81) And though they rob us of the name of the church, as they think, yet I retain the word, and through it all the ornament and adornment of the true church. For he who has the one who created all things must also have the creature. And so Noah remains a lord of the world, even though the waters overwhelm and destroy the earth. For though he loses what is good, yet he may be said to retain all things, because he retains the word by which all things were created.