First part.
Of Isaac's beard and circumcision, and of the banquet that Abraham made about it.
(1) I have often admonished that good attention should be paid to the time as it is described in the histories of the holy Scriptures, so that we may see which patriarchs lived at one time; for in this way the history becomes very clear. So Abraham saw the whole lineage, which is described in this first book of Moses in the 11th Cap. V. 10. ff. is described. For he lived with Noah 58 years, and with Shem 31 years; and Arphachad lived with Abraham 84 years; but Salah lived 3 years after Abraham; and Eber 64. Peleg lived with Abraham 48 years; Regu 78; Serug 101; Naher 49; Tharah 135. But has not this been a very beautiful glorious time, in which the word has been spread very abundantly by so many of its teachers, some of whom, as Shem, have seen the first world, that is, they have seen the fathers before the flood, as, Methuselah, who saw the first man Adam; and yet Satan has had such great power in the children of wickedness and unbelief. Therefore also Sodom was destroyed, and the kingdoms of the world were destroyed in many ways; even Abraham was destroyed by the Chaldean religion, which had a great, glorious appearance.
The first one was seduced, but was called back by Shem and the other fathers. And Ham, the son of Noah, had brought such idolatry into the world. Therefore Japheth also fell away, and the line and order of the lineage of Christ remained only in the house of Shem, from whom the promise came to Abraham. So the description of the time of history gives a light that it becomes clear when you look at the whole time and how it happened in it.
V. 1, 2, 3: And the Lord sought Sarah home, as he had spoken, and did unto her as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the time which God had spoken unto him. And Abraham called his son that was born unto him Isaac, whom Sarah bare unto him.
2nd Moses is very rich in words in this place and repeats almost all the sayings twice, so that he may praise us especially the great, rich joy of the holy patriarch, who not only received a safe place and a gracious king after so many terrible tribulations he had encountered, but also Sarah became pregnant and bore him a son, who is an heir to the promise. Now if parents have great joy when children are born to them naturally, without promise, how much more did Abraham rejoice when he was born?
How could he have rejoiced when his son was born to him, for whom he had waited for so many years since he was promised to him? What he had hoped for and believed until now is now present in reality, and that I am talking about it, the promise has now become a man and has been born.
(3) How great joy he felt there, we cannot sufficiently understand. For what Abraham believed had been invisible and impossible until then, but now it becomes visible and very possible; for us as an example, so that we may learn that there is no real, lasting joy in this world, except the joy that the word brings where it is believed.
4. but that he remembers the definite and certain time, it is so that he may impress upon us the promise, and that we may regard the word of creation more than the work itself. Therefore Isaac was born on the same day on which Sodom was destroyed a year ago, so that the pious and God-fearing parents might have joy, so that their great sorrow and heartache, which they had felt since that time, might be repaid. For God does both: He leads into hell and out again, He also grieves and rejoices again.
(5) The fact that Moses so often refers to and introduces the word of God or the promise in this history is not because the birth, which is common among us, is without a word. For the word that God once said, "Grow and multiply," is still today, powerful today, and sustains nature in a wonderful way. But how many are there who believe or see? Therefore, as Augustine says of the five loaves, John 6:9, that he who at that time fed five thousand men still feeds the whole world today with such a miraculous work, so we can also rightly say of the birth of man that it is still as miraculous today as the birth of Isaac was.
6. but these great miraculous works of God have come into contempt among us, because
they are so common and happen almost daily. Therefore, God produces a new work at times, not as if it were greater, but to show that the common works that happen daily among us are equal to such special works and come from one source, that is, from the almighty Word of God. For the annual growth of grain, and the preservation of all things, animals and plants, is as great a miracle as that in the wilderness the five loaves were thus multiplied. And it is not in vain that Christ everywhere in the gospel thus impresses the images or parables of the creatures and holds them up to us; but we are deaf, blind and even stiff-necked, and wonder at no things, but only at those that have a special appearance and semblance.
(7) That the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea and over the Jordan, Exodus 14:22, were great and glorious miracles: but who is surprised that we also pass daily through the great sea? For what is it but that, while the nature of the waters is to overflow and cover the earth, yet by the power of the word which God said, "Let the waters be gathered together," Genesis 1:9, the earth exists, and both the lowest and the highest waters are held up, hovering over us, and so in truth we dwell all around in the midst of the waters.
(8) The same may be said of the birth of man. For what a great thing it is, no one understands, and yet it is despised, according to the old saying: Vilescit quotidianum, what is daily and common is not respected. But original sin is one cause of this, from which shameful fornication also came, as well as other disgraces, burdens and work, sickness and other misfortunes. For where one feels and senses such things, there the work of God is buried and buried at the same time as the Word, and people begin to shy away from this holy state, which is wonderfully blessed by God.
9 But that's the way it is with all the
God, namely, that they are covered and, as it were, sullied with many troubles, miseries and misery. Whoever sits in the secular government, help God! how much trouble and unpleasantness does he feel. The citizens are disobedient; even severe punishment cannot maintain discipline and order; but the envy and hatred that the rulers must bear for the sake of punishment is almost an unbearable burden. In addition to this, there is also the real enemy, Satan, who disrupts and agitates the rulers and regiments with all kinds of ailments. But do you think that he who considers all this right would allow himself to be used as a regimental person? He who therefore wants to govern in such a way that he may keep a peaceful heart, will have to put these aversions out of his sight and look only at the Word and God's will. There he will see, as it may be with everything else, that he is in such a state, which is pleasing to God and into which he has stepped by God's command.
(10) The whole world has nothing better, nothing more delicious, nothing more noble than the dear church, in which the voice of God is heard resounding, and in which God is honored with right worship, that is, with faith, right invocation, patience and right obedience. and yet the same church is so darkened and covered with the cross, tribulation, shame and contempt that the world judges there is nothing on earth more shameful or harmful than the church itself. Yes, look at our Lord Christ Himself: what can be more miserable and wretched than He has been? "We saw him," says Isaiah, Cap. 53, v. 2, 3, "but there was no form to please us. He was the most despised and unworthy" etc., "that they hid his face from him": and yet he is the Son of God, a King of honors and the Savior of all men.
011 What wonder is it then, that there are few men that regard aright the glory of the marriage state, and the miracle of birth? For this is where the proverbs came from, that they said: A woman is a necessary misfortune in herself, item: She is a very vexatious thing. But if we
If we paid attention to the word, we would judge it differently. But now we are blinded by original sin, so that we pay no attention to the word, and only look at that which annoys us. Therefore, we should learn to look at the word and God's will, and then we will suffer and endure everything with a patient heart, no matter how hard and difficult it may be.
(12) Moses separated the sin of fornication from the work of God, as he often recalls and repeats how Sarah conceived and gave birth, as the Lord had said; item, in that age of hers in which the heat of fornication had ceased. In this way, we should also learn to separate the infirmities brought by original sin from the creatures and works of God. I am certain that I was created a man. Now the marriage state is an order of God: "It is not good that man should be alone," says God the Lord in Genesis 2:18 etc. But there is a lot of unpleasantness, plague and tribulation. But what is the matter with that? Is it not better that I thus please God, that God hears me when I call upon Him, that He saves me in anguish and distress, that He provides me with many benefits and blessings through a pious wife and a faithful helpmeet whom I have given myself? etc. Whoever makes his reckoning in such a way, places himself in the beautiful paradise. For, as the prophet Habakkuk says Cap. 3, v. 15: "Thy horses go in the sea, in the mud of great waters; yet thy chariots retain the victory," etc., so it is also in both the home and the world, and also in the church. Everything is full of toil and labor, and yet those who look to the Word keep a good peaceful heart, and feel help and comfort. Your God often puts on a beggar's cloak, as is done in comedies, when he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
(13) Therefore the prophet also calls him a hidden God, Isa. 45:15; for under the curse is the blessing; where sin is felt, under it is hidden righteousness; item, under death, life; under affliction, comfort. But you must look to
see the word. For those who do not have the Word follow their feelings and their reason, and remain without consolation in their weeping and mourning. Why do the monks hide themselves in the monasteries? So that they may be free from the unpleasure and toil with which the whole world is overwhelmed. And this was also Pope's thought that he chose and established celibacy and celibate status. Although in this way he sought me, that for this reason he and his group should be held holy. But one should not flee the unpleasantness and burden that God has imposed on human nature for the sake of sin.
(14) Instead, one should consider the beautiful splendor of the divine word, with which God has adorned the rule of the house and the world, as well as the church: then it will follow that we will not let ourselves be annoyed or challenged by displeasure, harm or accident: which did not exist in paradise, but are necessary in the world to conquer nature with it. And the monks, if they flee in the world, find this twofold in the monasteries, for the devil also dwells in the desert. Therefore, remember, and let this be of primary concern and command to you, that you be in such a state of which you may certainly say that it is ordered by God; which no monk can say of his monastic life, and no pope of his celibate life.
15 This is the reason why Moses praises the birth of Isaac in so many words and exalts it so highly, so that he may remind us that nothing should be looked at so much as the word. Those who do this see that the whole world is full of miracles. But the eyes must be pure, otherwise even the most excellent works of God are held in low esteem, because they are so mean and happen daily, and thus the honor of the word and the works of God is even obscured. Physicians look neither at the word nor at the glory of the miraculous work of the birth of man; but even if they do not know the right causes, they must praise the work itself and be amazed at it.
They do not. For they put off filthiness and sweat, or what is cast out by the natural course, that is, fornication in the work of birth, and look only at the work of birth as it is in itself: they consider how the members are set in order to it, and how they are skillful; item, what each one's office is in it, etc., and do such things as they have not such spiritual wisdom as the word indicates.
16. but we see about their wisdom also on the will and word of God, namely on the spiritual crown, so that God has adorned the marriage state. "He created them," says the Scripture Gen. 1, 27. 28., "a male and a female," and Cap. 2, 18: "It is not good that a man should be alone; I will make him a wife. He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply" etc. This is the golden crown that all pious, godly spouses wear on their heads. And this does not prevent the impure world from opening its mouth and eyes, like swine, to the dung and filth, and considering only the unpleasantness and toil in the same state. On the other hand, we should learn to understand our goods, which are true goods, and then the desert will become a paradise, so that we may at least tolerate and overcome any harm or accident that may befall us. That is why Moses so diligently repeats and impresses upon us the word of God and the promise.
V. 4. And circumcised him on the eighth day, as God had commanded him.
(17) Abraham gave his son a name by divine command. For thus the angel of the Lord had said that he should call him Isaac. He also circumcised his son on the eighth day. And Moses adds: This was done "as God had commanded him. As Abraham therefore did all things according to the word and the divine commandment, so we also ought to take care that we do nothing without the word, and that we are not found in any such state or work as we might yet doubt.
18 The papists accuse us harshly,
that we do not accept their self-chosen works and services; but this is a part of our doctrine, that we do not choose any way of life or work of which we do not have an explicit word or command from God. But I am speaking of such works as belong to the worship of God. For reason has its own special course in worldly matters, which governs it without the word: but no one can boast of divine service unless he has the word, and that the same divine service is wrapped up in the word as in a little cloth, and is as it were resolved and surrounded with it. Then there will be no temptation or trouble in this world that we cannot overcome. For even if we have to go through water and mud, we will still be victorious and overcome, as the prophet Habakkuk 3:15 says, because he promises us that the chariots of the Lord, even if they go through the mud, will still be victorious.
(19) So we also have the most precious treasure that the holy patriarchs had, namely, the dear word of God. Therefore we must take care to preserve it, and not suffer the adversaries to lead us astray from the right way, which is the right way, into the wilderness, which is full of thorns, and accept their own chosen services. Let them first prove their thing by word, and then we will follow them. But that they speak highly of the authority and great renown of the Fathers, as of Augustine, Gregory, and likewise of the Conciliar, we reply that such things are of no concern to us. We want to have the word: Augustine and the Conciliar are not the Word: therefore we will not walk in their ways, according to the saying of Christ Matt. 10:5, "Go not ye into the way of the Gentiles. "etc.
V. 5. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
20 Moses wrote this not only because of the number of years, but more because he wanted to praise the miracle, namely, that God had blessed the old man in such a way that he was still able to live in the hundredth year of his life.
The first year of his age he begat a son, because his body was outdated and unfit. Here Moses also separates the pure work of God from the impurity and disgrace with which original sin sprinkled the work of God. For since Abraham is a hundred years old, everyone can easily see and understand that he would not have gone to Sarah if God had not commanded him to do so. About the counting of Abraham's years, whether he was the firstborn or not, we have said a little above, and it is certain that both the Jews' and Lyra's reckoning is false and wrong, for it takes away sixty years. But of this we will speak in another place.
V. 6. 7. And Sarah said, God hath prepared a laughter for me: for he that shall hear it shall laugh at me: and said, Who shall say of Abraham, that Sarah bare children, and bare him a son in his old age?
In this place, the grammarians quarrel very much with each other. For the word sachak they draw on various interpretations, when it actually means to play, laugh, joke etc. As, in the other book, Moses says in 32 Cap. V. 6: "The people sat down to eat and drink, and stopped playing." In the books of Kings it says, "Let the boys make themselves out, and play before us," 2 Sam. 2:14, that is, let them attack one another with their weapons, that they may wound and cut one another down. And after this, Gen 26:8, it is written of Isaac: "The king saw Isaac playing with Rebekah," in which place, as the Jews interpret it, Moses speaks of Isaac as having known his wife, as married couples are wont to do. Therefore, there are many grammarians, but even more grammarians, who cannot be counted. But among them all you will find none of whom you would say that he is a learned Hebrew. For since with them the things and things in themselves or the right truth is gone and they have lost them, so now also the language or the words have fallen, that they are also deprived of them.
22 Therefore, let us take the meaning out of the thing itself and stop the bickering of the
Grammatists let drive. So the correct meaning of the word is that it actually means to laugh, ridere. Therefore, when Sarah says, "God has made me laugh," she is indicating that she is quite happy about it and is heartily rejoicing that a son has been born to her, and that this was not just a carnal joy, as other mothers tend to have, of whom Christ says John 16:21 that after the birth they no longer remember the previous fear: but Sarah's joy was a joy of the Holy Spirit, because she had truly become a mother through God's blessing.
(23) For until now she had been considered a cursed woman because of her barrenness, to whom God does not grant even the common blessing; therefore, she will undoubtedly have considered herself a sorrowful and miserable woman. Now, however, when the son is born to her, she also boasts of the divine blessing and is completely joyful, saying: "God has now also made me laugh, so that I am joyful from the bottom of my heart because of this blessing, which has happened to me quite unawares.
(24) This understanding is confirmed by what was everyone's opinion at that time. And what wonder is it that those who have no regard for such opinion still doubt the words? For all the time before the birth of Christ, among the Jewish people, the blessing of matrimony was considered a great thing, just as barrenness was considered a curse.
(25) But today this blessing is not considered so great, because the pope has instituted the celibate state, which is to be a holy life. But those who live in wedlock, though they lack this blessing, are not afraid of God's wrath or of man's contempt: they are only concerned that they would like to have children and heirs, but do not feel God's wrath in their conscience. Because of this work and blessing, men have begun to do differently than was right, the whole world has turned around and changed at the same time.
At that time this holy matron lived in the greatest sadness, and the more she felt that she was deprived of the blessing, the more she was grieved about it. But now that the Lord has blessed her so richly that she not only gives birth to a son, but to such a son who should be the father of the Lord Christ, she has found in her, above the carnal joy, also the exuberant joy in the Holy Spirit. Therefore she leaps for joy and speaks such words, which are like sighing, so that she pours out the great exuberant joy and gives it to the day. For she knows that from this son of hers shall be born the one who shall redeem the whole human race from the eternal curse. And these are not only joyful, but also shameful words, as if she wanted to say: The Lord has not only caused me laughter and exuberant joy in the Holy Spirit, but before men all who hear this will also mock me. For it is fitting for young women to bear children, who are sent to give birth because of their youth; but that I, an old woman, who am now outdated and feeble, almost a dead body, should give birth, is that not worthy of laughter? As she leaps for joy before the Lord, so she is ashamed before men.
27 It is common in all languages, however, that the words sometimes have their true meaning, sometimes also a figurative one. That is why the word sachak, which "actually means to laugh according to its proper meaning, is used to mean something like mocking, called antiphrasia after the figure of speech, which is very common among the Hebrews; just as in the German language we call a bad boy a pious child, a noble little herb, in just such a way. And in this way I also interpret the laughter in this place.
28. "The Lord has made me laugh." This is actually spoken, for laughter means joy. But that she adds, "People will laugh at me," means that they will reproach me as a lecherous, old, lewd woman.
But praise be to God, who has prepared this laughter for me! If people laugh, I laugh too, and I know that the Lord has made this laughter for me. So these words are of one who rejoices very heartily, and yet at the same time also considers how the world would make a laughing and mocking out of it.
29 The piece that follows: "Who could tell it to Abraham himself?" is also interpreted in many ways: and here again I see many grammarians, but no true Hebrews. Therefore we may rightly presume to be masters over all rabbis and Jews. For the things spoken of do not come from words, but words have their origin from things. As Demosthenes answered one who asked him: How one should speak rightly? So, if you speak nothing, but that you can and understand well. For where the thing to be spoken of has first been well considered and rightly understood, the words to be used for it are found of themselves, so that the things to be spoken of can be rightly stated. Therefore, here too, the meaning must be deduced from the nature and character of the things.
30 Sarah was happy and full of wonder that she could not sufficiently express the joy she felt in her heart. If my son Isaac, she said, was not already in the cradle, "who would be able to tell" my husband "Abraham that a son was born to him? In German, it can be given a little more clearly: Who would be allowed to announce it to Abraham, such a great glorious miracle? But the name of Abraham is better interpreted as it is called in grammar materialiter, that is, that it means the house or lineage of Abraham. As if it wanted to say: Who could believe nevertheless always or who thirsts to say that to Abraham a son was born, since he was hundred years old and his wife of ninety years? Who could have thought that it was possible that a son should still be born to these two? Therefore these are words of spiritual and bodily joy; for where the heart rejoices in the right true God, the flesh rejoices outwardly.
also. As we also see that the body is moved when the heart is sad. This last mind, methinks, is somewhat more real than the previous one.
(31) Now here the Jews raise a question: Why did Moses say of Sarah that she would bear children, when she had only one son, Isaac? and they pretend that Sarah spoke these words at the great banquet, which follows soon after in the text. For since the other women would not allow themselves to be persuaded that Sarah had truly given birth, but must have bought a boy from a poor woman and foisted him, Sarah is said to have suckled many children at this banquet, so that all the women saw this, and is thus said to have rejected the suspicion of a foisted child.
32 Thus it is done for the sake of the Jews' lies. But would it not be much simpler to say that the plural is used for the singular? As if it were said that he who has found money has found only a penny, and one is therefore called a father because he has children, when he has only one child. This is a very mean way of speaking in all languages; but because the Jews do not understand the thing spoken of, they cannot handle the words and grammar properly. Just as it happened with our sophists. Since they lost the things that belong to theology and holy scripture, they were actually in darkness like the blind. For this is always true, that ignorance of things brings with it also ignorance of words; and those who then want to argue about things from words must be lacking. For one must have practice and experience in the things themselves; but those who do not have it, it is impossible for them to be able to speak properly.
V. 8: And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast in the day that Isaac was weaned.
Augustine asks here: Why Abraham had made a meal, and such a
great feast, not on the day of Isaac's birth or circumcision, but when he was weaned; although the day of birth is considered more suitable for feasting and rejoicing, as it is customary among almost all peoples that they keep the birthday glorious: so also the day of circumcision was commanded by God, none of which can be said of the day of weaning? And so Augustine concludes that this question cannot be solved unless one spiritually understands the joy that one has because of the birth of Christ, since one does not need milk but strong food. I do not relate this opinion of Augustine's in order to reproach or malign the good pious man who alone has touched this point, but that it is good and necessary that these holy fathers at times be found equal to us, that is, that they be men, so that the glory of our God may stand firm, who is strong in our weakness and wise in our foolishness and error. This is not known to the papists, who make articles of faith out of every saying and word of the Holy Fathers, which one should not contradict even in the slightest. But God is strange in His saints, and so strange that He shows us His wisdom through their fall and error. Therefore, one should believe only the one Word of God, and not the canons, not the sayings of the holy fathers, only as far as they agree with the Word, as Augustine says of himself and of his books. For no one has power to burden the Church with new articles. As far as this question is concerned, I will leave St. Augustine his judgment and opinion, but it is not to be suffered that he treats this history only spiritually. For one should interpret the histories as they are in themselves; for they are not without understanding, however bad and small they may be to be regarded.
34 Therefore we may think of this holy man Abraham that he did not want to follow the use of the Gentiles, either because the Holy Spirit or the holy fathers and forefathers, who
The Israelites, who were still alive at that time, remembered and admonished them. As also Deut. 5, 18, 9. forbids that the Israelites should not follow the way of the Gentiles and especially of the Egyptians. Therefore it is also true that the time of the weaning was very convenient and comfortable to have a meal. When Ishmael was circumcised, he was already thirteen years old and was able to endure the pain and circumcision because of his age: Isaac, however, was a child of eight days when he was circumcised; therefore it was necessary for him at that time that his parents should pay some attention to him. For circumcision brought with it great pain, just as we see in the book of Joshua, Cap. 5, vv. 8, 9, that the people of Israel kept silence and rested until they were healed from circumcision. And it is told of Simeon and Levi in chapter 34, v. 25. V. 25, that they attacked the saints on the third day, when the pain from the wound was most intense. We can say the same about the day of birth, because it often happens that not only the child but also the mother is in danger after the birth; so that these two days of birth and circumcision were not convenient to prepare a banquet, so they postponed it until the time when the child was weaned and was now fresh and healthy. This should be my cause, where I should give an answer to such a question.
35 But we must also note the teaching here, namely, that the holy fathers also held banquets. For Abraham undoubtedly invited the king to this meal, as well as the priest Shem or Melchizedek with his household and other fathers, and must have ordered the kitchen a little better. For Moses did not say in vain that he had made a great feast. Therefore the saints, especially when they are burdened with sadness and affliction, may well be refreshed and refreshed bodily; as the Scripture says, Proverbs 31:6: "Give wine to the afflicted souls"; item, in the 104th Psalm, v. 15: "Wine gladdens the heart. For on this the
The main purpose of the banquets is to make the heart joyful and to revive the spirit after sadness. For God is hostile to sadness, and when hearts are burdened with it, they cannot praise God or thank Him.
Therefore, at this banquet there were not bad, lowly people, but the holy patriarchs, who thanked God for confirming and fulfilling His divine promise, and not only refreshed the body with glorious food, but also refreshed the heart with holy conversation; as Paul says in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. 14, v. 17. V. 17, that our hearts are filled with food and gladness through divine blessings.
(37) Therefore this text should be well remembered against the sad and sour hypocrites, who with their strange and strange fasting torture the body almost to death, and do not wait for the proper need that God has given and ordained for them, but hurt themselves and wear themselves out, so that they are neither good nor able to do anything. But one should take the middle road, for that is the very best: "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambers and fornication," says Paul in Romans 13:13, 14, "but tend the body, but in such a way that it does not become lustful"; and lest that should follow of which the Scriptures say in Exodus 32, Cap. V. 6: "The people sat down to eat and drink, and stopped to play." The Germans are still in the habit of not having such banquets, since the cost is too high. The Christians, however, hold their banquets to gladden their hearts and to give thanks to God for His good deeds; as Moses says, Deut. 16:11: "You shall eat and be glad before God your Lord.
38 It is also to be noted in this place that God shows his grace to Abraham so tangibly. He had promised him a son, but for a time he withheld such a promise, leaving Abraham to be satisfied with the word alone, believing the promise, and simply hanging on to that which is invisible: but it will come in its time that the invisible will become visible: we should also imitate this and take it upon ourselves. We
Believing that our flesh shall rise again at the last day, it shall be as sure with us as if it had happened already: for we have the word, and the same spiritual consolation which Abraham also had.
39 Therefore, just as we were nothing a hundred years ago, so when death consumes our flesh, that same flesh will again come forth from nothing and live. Thus the things which we now have tangibly teach us how the things to come, which we are yet to have, will be. Therefore, let no one particularly object that Abraham had the promise. For have we not enough promise in holy baptism and in the Lord's Supper?
40 Without this alone being the difference between us and Abraham, that Abraham believed the promises, but we do not believe them. Abraham by faith made visible things out of invisible ones; we cling only to that which is visible, and do not feel God tangibly in ourselves: as Paul says in the Acts of the Apostles, 14 Cap. V. 17 ff. that God leaves us some certain testimonies, so that He may testify that He is present with us and wants to do us good.
41 However, Abraham had a special privilege, freedom and advantage, not to be despised, which we do not have. For he was sure of his heirs and descendants, that his sons would both live. For above (Cap. 17. V. 20.) when he was reminded of God's word, he learned that from Ishmael twelve princes would be born, and he also knew that from Isaac Christ would be born. This example we see only in Abraham and his lineage; for there is no one among us who could be certain that his children or descendants should live so long. But this is only a bodily benefit. For as far as the spiritual promise is concerned, we are either equal to Abraham, or we are still a little higher than he: and if we could only believe as Abraham believed, we would be in paradise, yes, we would be in heaven.
For we are not baptized into the house of Crassus the Roman or Julius Caesar, but into the kingdom of heaven; to the same we are absolved, and fed with the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper: and yet we lie there snoring at so many rich promises which Abraham did not have, being quite sluggish, not thanking God, not rejoicing even in spirit.
(42) That therefore we lack not the promises, but the faith which Abraham had. With the papists, however, the teaching has also fallen away. For they teach nothing of faith, teach nothing of God's word, which absolves from sins and comforts people; neither do they teach anything of the promises, but teach only of the merit of their own works. Baptism is quite dead with them; they absolve only those who have repented of their sins and confessed them: but those who use the Lord's Supper, they teach that they do such a work in it only that they may show themselves obedient to the church: of the forgiveness of sins and that one should go with right faith, they teach nothing. But it behooves us to open our eyes and look rightly at the goods we have, thanking God for them and rejoicing in them, as Abraham did, who rejoiced not only in spirit but also in body.
Second part.
As Sarah requires Abraham to cast out Ishmael with Hagar, and as
God commanded Abraham to obey in this.
V. 9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, that he was a mocker.
43) Some are of this opinion that this happened on the same day that Abraham had the supper, because it displeased Ishmael and Hagar that they made such a fuss about the supper, and because of it they spoke some abusive words.
have. But the circumstances indicate that this happened some years later, since Isaac had already been weaned, and the quarrel lasted not one day, but several years. And St. Paul indicates this when he calls it Gal. 4, 29, the time of persecution. Nor was it a quarrel of little things. Ishmael wanted to have the privilege of the firstborn, and his mother, Hagar, was very hopeful because Abraham had become a father through her. His brother advanced this to the boy Isaac, since he was able to understand the injustice and persecution in his old age, and perhaps he will have drawn the majority of the household to his side, as if he alone were the heir to the promise. For that he had heard of the twelve princes who were to be born of him, this will undoubtedly have given the young boy courage, so that he will have puffed himself up and become proud; he will have let himself dream that he will hold the reign alone, and will have despised Isaac beside him. Which is what his mother did to Sarah, who, though she was a holy matron, was somewhat weak according to the flesh. For as I have often said, the saints are to be praised in this way, so that we may have examples of patience and weakness in them.
44 Therefore Sarah finally became impatient with such contempt and unjust violence, after she saw that otherwise no help or advice could be found, but that Hagar and her son would be expelled from the house. She therefore let this matter come to Abraham, and as I also said above, this quarrel lasted not only one day, but Sarah had to suffer such unjust violence for several years and still kept silent. But it seems as if Hagar had incited her son, and had always fostered and increased such quarrels in the house, which is why Sarah attacks her with very harsh words, as follows in the text.
V. 10. 11. And said to Abraham, Drive out this maidservant with her son; for this one
Maidservant's son shall not inherit with my son Isaac. The word pleased Abraham very much for the sake of his son.
(45) First she calls the mother, because she was the chief cause of the protracted quarrel, but she does not call Ishmael by name, and thus shows Sarah contempt by calling him the son of the maidservant. We have just praised the holy matron Sarah, because she was obedient to Abraham and called him lord; which is truly a very high, excellent virtue in a woman, when she is obedient to her husband, honors him and fears him. Yes, you say, where then is such reverence of Sarah toward her husband? For her saying to Abraham, "Cast out this maid," etc., is spoken and commanded in a domineering manner enough; and since, as the circumstances indicate, this quarrel lasted a long time, Sarah will doubtless have grieved her husband many times, and will have been anxious for him, and will have desired that the mother should be put out of the house with her son. For there was no improvement in either of them, and they were able to decorate their things finely against Sarah in front of Abraham and all the household. It is a very common custom in the world for those who have wronged others to defend themselves and lay the blame on those who have been wronged.
46 Because Abraham either believed too easily or was too slow and lenient with the punishment, it can now be seen as if Sarah had, as it were, commanded her husband what he should do and that she should make him a servant, as she had now forgotten the previous humility and complacency toward him.
(47) But the holy matron did not forget her duty. Therefore the words should not be understood as if they were spoken out of pride, and as if she wanted to command him what he should do: but Sarah was moved by great and rightful causes to sue the mother and her son. For they were very hopeful, and also wanted such a hopeful journey.
They were insolent and presumptuous beyond measure, which was not to be suffered, that they might reign in the house and be Abraham's heirs; therefore they despised Sarah and made a mockery of her son Isaac.
48 Therefore, Sarah's words should be understood as pleading, and that she appealed to her husband for help with great reverence and humility. Oh, my dear husband, she will have said, we will truly not be able to have peace unless you intervene with your power and take Hagar and Ishmael out of the house; for they are going about wanting to oppress me and my son, who alone is the rightful heir. So she asks her husband for help, and does not command him what he should do. For though she was the matron of the house, she did not take so much authority that without Abraham's foreknowledge, and without his counsel and will, she submitted herself to expel Hagar: but let the matter first come to the master of the house with due reverence and humility, and she showed what was her counsel and way to unity. What she says about the inheritance should not be understood as meaning that Ishmael should be excluded from the inheritance, but simply that he should not be made an heir with Isaac, but that Isaac should keep his inheritance separately.
49 And this counsel of his wife grieved Abraham greatly; for he loved his first son as another man, and did not keep the promise as diligently as Sarah did. And the fatherly heart prevented him from doing so. For the saints also have their affections and inclinations, by which they are hasty and carried away. Therefore he considered it unreasonable that he should exclude his natural and right son from the inheritance. On the other hand, Sarah makes an essential distinction between the son of the maidservant and her son: and, as Augustine says, she was not moved or angered in a feminine way, but she speaks from the Holy Spirit, and keeps the certain promise of her son, which she had heard.
50 Ishmael also had his promise, for thus says the Lord to Abraham in the 17th chapter. V. 30: "I have also heard you concerning Ishmael. Twelve princes shall he beget" etc. Sarah, however, paid more attention to the words the Lord spoke about her son in the same place (v. 21), namely, when he said, "But I will establish my covenant with Isaac." Abraham did not consider this part so diligently because of his great love for his firstborn son, as Sarah did, who makes a very fine distinction between her son and Hagar's son: first, that Ishmael is the son of the maidservant, but she considered herself to be the right housewife, as she was; second, that Hagar, as a maidservant, is not powerful in her own right, but she is free, and therefore should not suffer the maidservant's son to be considered equal to the free woman's son. For this reason, it was unreasonable that a bondwoman should be subject to oppress the free and proper housewife, and that the son of the bondwoman should want to trample under the feet of the son of the free woman.
These causes make the holy mother courageous, so that she freely and unabashedly asks her husband for help; but Abraham, when he lets his fatherly inclination for his son be forced upon him, opposes it as if he did not hear it. Therefore, these pious spouses will undoubtedly have come together not once or twice, but many times, and will have had many fights together, since the father always excused Ishmael. Because Sarah was upset by so much injustice and disgrace, she had reason to look at the promise all the more diligently. For the saying of the prophet Isaiah is true, when he says Cap. 28, v. 19: "Affliction teaches to take heed"; item, that one says: Optimum condimentum fames: Hunger is the best cook. For those who are burdened with affliction understand the Scriptures the better; but those who are secure and without offense read the Scriptures as if they were a poem by Ovid. But why this is written is shown by St. Paul in Gal. 4:21 ff, and we have diligently treated the same text in the same place in our interpretation of the epistle. For it is not
in vain that this holy mother thus fights against the will of her husband, so that Ishmael may not come to the same inheritance with Isaac. She also called Ishmael her son; for thus she says of Hagar in the 16th chapter above. etc., and Ishmael also called Sarah mother, as Abraham taught him; because she was his right mother, although she was not the natural mother.
52 Therefore the Saracens used this word, that Ishmael was Sarah's true son, and they boasted of the privilege of the firstborn. But Sarah makes a distinction from the promise and does not want Ishmael to be equal to her son in inheritance. And she certainly did not invent such a difference out of feminine thoughts or impatience, but the promise indicates it, since God clearly says: "I will establish my covenant with Isaac. Abraham did not think about such a difference and exclusion as well as Sarah; therefore he will have become very unwilling to Sarah's request and judgment, and considers it that one does not deal with Ishmael properly, and does not want to allow Sarah to make a no out of his yes.
053 For all the household were of opinion that Ishmael should be Isaac's joint heir, and that he should be superior to Isaac, because he was the firstborn. Because of this, the mother Hagar and her son held themselves in high esteem, and Sarah and her son despised Isaac, which then gave rise to a great disagreement between the holy spouses.
54) But it is to be noted that this quarrel or disagreement did not arise over small things, and that Sarah was not moved by feminine sense or inclination; she had great and very just cause, namely, the promise of God; about this she disputes, and does not want it to be taken away and withdrawn from her son. Abraham, on the other hand, is also moved by a just cause not to exclude Ishmael, for he recognizes that he is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.
Did he then tolerate and endure that Sarah wanted him to be cast out of the Zause?
(55) From these causes such discord arose in Abraham's house; and no doubt, as it is wont to happen, each part had some who kept it with him and always stirred it up. Those who therefore say that domesticity is a common state can learn from these examples that in the married state there are much harder trials and temptations of faith, hope, love, patience and invocation than can be found in all monasteries. For the monks do not see and feel such hard and severe trials, but they suffer trials like swine, and begrudge others that they have better bread and wine than they do.
(56) But these spouses contend with one another about the promises, and do so in fear and obedience to God, and in right humility. But such high virtues are obscured by the name, that they are works of the laity and common to all husbands and wives. This, however, is said to be an excellent virtue, that one lets oneself be locked up in a monastery, tortures oneself with many fasts, sees sourly etc.
But history serves to comfort the spouses, so that they do not think it is a great miracle that even among dear friends, and those who are holy and pious, quarrels and quarrels occur. One should rather consider that in marriage there are so many exercises of faith and love, while the self-chosen services of the monks are nothing but dirt and filth. For what kind of holiness can that be, that you do nothing but what pleases yourself? And yet the monks know how to boast that they have denied themselves and what they have.
(58) But this is a right denial, when we willingly leave what we would like to keep and defend with only right, as nature is assured in it by divine command. So Abraham is a right natural father of Ishmael and is also one flesh with Hagar. Such are the most profound"
Therefore, he feels that the innermost part of his heart is being attacked. In addition, there is also the commandment of God that he should defend his wife and feed and care for his son: and yet Sarah asks and desires vehemently that the mother and son be cast out; not that they have angered Abraham (for they will no doubt have held him in great honor), but because they have mocked Isaac.
Now this is the torture and the real suffering, of which the whole papacy understands nothing at all because of the abominable and celibate life, therefore they call the life of the married couple a worldly life, although it deals with the highest exercises of a spiritual life; for in married couples the highest affects are attacked and exercised, which they have against God and men. As Abraham also feels such a challenge in this place, who is forced by two different laws, namely, by natural and divine law, to defend his wife and son. And his fatherly and natural mind prevents him from seeing the promise so clearly; that is why they came into such sharp conflict, and why such a hard quarrel arose between him and his Sarah: for our example and consolation, so that if there is any displeasure and disagreement among us, we may remember that this is the way things are in this common life, and that this is the way things should be done.
(60) We should also take another comfort from this, namely, that we know that those who want to live a God-fearing and Christian life, whether in the home or in the world, and also in the church office, will not lack the cross and persecution. Abraham is a high priest in the house of God, and has undoubtedly served God rightly: but what happens? Here he is tempted by God Himself, and is commanded to obey Sarah. For thus Moses goes on to say:
V.12. 13. But God said to him, "Do not be offended because of the boy and the maid. All that Sarah hath said unto thee, obey it. For in Isaac shall thy seed be given thee.
munt. I will also make the son of the maid a people, because he is your seed.
Now Abraham must simply renounce his opinion and chase out his most beloved son together with his most beloved wife. Who would not understand that this is a much heavier burden than for a monk to wear a cap and a rope? So also those who are in the secular government and at the same time God-fearing have many a devil plaguing them, many a burgher they have. But those who are in the preaching ministry make enemies of the whole world. Therefore they are fools who desire to be married, or to be in the government, only that they may have good days and live well. Therefore, the three celestial or divine regiments, of which the gross asses, the sophists, talk so much and which they call hierarchy, are nothing other than the domestic, secular and ecclesiastical regiments: and those who live outside these three ranks, they live in a self-chosen rank, which God has rejected and condemned in all the prophets.
(62) Now Abraham has very holy thoughts, and his will is right and good. For he understands from divine and human rights that he is obligated to take care of his wife and son, and yet he is forced to destroy them both. For there would have been no end to the quarrel if God had not intervened. But God proves by His own testimony that Sarah did not speak out of carnal inclination or irritation, nor did she command her husband with any pride what he should do, but that she asked him humbly and reverently, even though she already had a very good thing. In sum, the whole history shows that Sarah behaved respectfully and well toward her husband: but in this place she is forced by God's commandment to do something against her husband's will. However, she does not do this out of feminine impulse or anger, but because she had suffered so long, and had been well exercised and tempted by humility, faith, hope and love, she finally overcame herself, that she
She prefers the word of the promise to the duty she owes her husband, for then each man must remain in his profession, so that he may not do anything against the word to please any man.
This day we also do what our office entails, and pray for the emperor and for the other princes also, who are very hostile to our doctrine: but we see that our prayer is in vain, because they will not be converted to the word. Then our faith is tested and tried, so that at last we must conclude and say: If a part is to be lost, the world may rather perish and perish than God and His dear church.
(64) Abraham had not been so diligent about the promise, so God repeated it and now clearly says: "In Isaac shall the seed be called unto thee. Therefore, God does not condemn Abraham's good will and rightful inclination to love his wife and son, but He only leads him to the promise, which puts Ishmael off, that God also wants to make him a great nation: but He has reserved the covenant for Isaac alone. The pious, God-fearing mother pays attention to this difference, but Abraham does not pay attention to it because of the great love he bears for his son. Therefore, he is commanded by God to obey what Sarah, who kept the word, had said.
65 And this was undoubtedly done either by Shem, or by one of the other patriarchs to whom Sarah brought this matter: he pronounced this judgment against Abraham. And because it agrees with God's word, Moses rightly says that God Himself settled this dispute with His judgment.
(66) The promises were twofold: the temporal promise was made to Ishmael, but the eternal and spiritual promise was made to Isaac. Therefore, the judgment was easy to find, since Ishmael wanted to rule over Isaac, that this would not be suffered, and as it is said afterwards (Cap. 25:23) about Jacob and Esau, that the greater serves the lesser before the world.
shall be. Thus she heard the interpretation of the promise in the 17th chapter. V. 19, 21, which Abraham had received from the fathers who lived at that time, namely, that an everlasting covenant had been established with Isaac, who was not only born of the promise, but was also to bring the blessing, that is, the Lord Christ Himself, who blesses all those who believe in Him.
(67) Ishmael, on the other hand, had only a temporal promise, and because he became puffed up and proud and despised Isaac, he was justly cast out. This is written for our instruction, so that we may learn to serve God in the most holy obedience, even if we are only husband and wife, or, as the papists call it, even if we are already laymen.
For in Isaac shall the seed be called unto thee.
(68) This saying should be diligently remembered to shut up the Jews, who argue and conclude against us Christians: All who are Abraham's seed are Abraham's heirs: we circumcised Jews are Abraham's seed: therefore we are heirs also. But again, they that are not Abraham's seed cannot be Abraham's heirs: ye Christians are Gentiles, and not Abraham's seed: therefore ye boast in vain that ye are the church; for that is called being Abraham's heir.
69 The Jews insist and defy this argument, and rely on it as on strong battering rams, and thus boast against us and deceive our people with it; just as I hear is to happen among the godless princes. Yes, this is also the right reward for the fact that now and then they expel pious, godly teachers and pastors and drive them into misery, leaving the poor people completely defenseless and inexperienced and ignorant in religion. Because they are deprived of the word, they cannot resist the arguments of the Jews. For one cannot deny any of them, one must leave the Jews this title and name that they are Abraham's seed: and can we also
not deny that we are Gentiles and do not belong to the physical lineage of Abraham.
70 But St. Paul, as a right experienced master, has finely resolved this argument of the Jews Rom. 9, 6. ff. and Gal. 3, 16. ff, since he denies the first proposition of the first proof and argument, namely, that this speech is not true in general, that all those are Abraham's heirs who are Abraham's seed: and sets against it what no Jew can deny, namely, that Ishmael is a true seed of Abraham and born of his flesh, and yet is rejected, having no part with Isaac in the right inheritance.
71 Therefore St. Paul answers the first sentence by making three kinds of Abraham's seed: one is carnal and has no promise of Christ; such a seed of Abraham was Ishmael, who was born of Abraham's flesh. The other seed is also carnal, but has the promise of Christ. So Isaac also was born of Abraham's flesh; but he had the promise, namely, that God would say, "I will establish my covenant with Isaac." Of the third seed Paul says that it is not carnal, but is alone a seed of promise, which, though it does not belong to Abraham's body or flesh, yet it holds to faith, and accepts the promise made to Abraham.
Therefore the first sentence of the first argument of the Jews is wrong, because they conclude: All who are Abraham's seed are also Abraham's heirs; for this is not true of Ishmael. Therefore history compels us to make a special proposition out of the general proposition, where the argument is to exist otherwise, namely, that one says: Some and not every seed of Abraham is Abraham's heir.
(73) Now if the Jews add the other proposition, and say that they are the same seed, and Abraham's heirs, it is necessary that they also prove it, as it is proper. For we can prove that they are Abraham's seed, just as Ishmael was. But Ishmael is excluded from the promise; therefore it follows that the Jews are also excluded.
(74) Therefore a proper definition and explanation must be given as to which is the true seed of Abraham, who also has part in the promise. Here the history shines before us, as St. Paul gloriously proves from Genesis, namely, that those alone are heirs who are of the promise, whether they are the fleshly seed of Abraham or not.
And here we see how the other argument of the Jews is to be refuted. For in it the first proposition is not right either. For it is not at all true that they say that those who are not Abraham's fleshly seed cannot be Abraham's heirs, for the promise makes them true heirs of Abraham, as can be seen in Isaac. Those who therefore accept the promise with true faith are also true children of the promise and heirs of Abraham; just as John the Baptist says in the Gospel of Matthew in 3 Cap. V. 9: "I tell you, God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones." If they come from stones, they do not have to come from Abraham's flesh and legs.
Therefore the text is clear in itself. Ishmael is the seed of Abraham, truly born of his flesh; therefore he also called Abraham father, and Abraham again called him his son, and yet he is cast out of the house. But Isaac, who was born of promise, remains an heir in the house alone, because the promised seed is given to him and he believes the promise.
The Jews do not think of this, for they have lost the true doctrine of the promise and faith, and cling only to the fleshly birth, which in itself is nothing unless the promise and faith are added to it. So Absalom also is David's son according to the flesh, but because he does not believe, he is lost and condemned. Likewise also the people that died in the wilderness were Abraham's children: but because they believed not, they were destroyed. Now it is impossible that a child of the promise, Abraham's heir and God's people should be lost.
(78) Therefore, the true and proper means of inheritance is nothing other than the promise. For this alone makes heirs even of those who are not children of the flesh. But the fleshly birth is only a value and cause, so weak and incompetent that even if you were truly born of Abraham's flesh, you would still not be Abraham's heir. Therefore St. Paul rightly says that the true heirs are those who hear the promise and believe it, that they are the same as those born of Abraham. Flesh born or not. For the promise, which is the word of God, is so powerful and mighty that it calls to that which is not that it is, Rom. 4:17, and that also, as John says, Matt. 3:9, out of stones children are raised up for Abraham. The flesh or fleshly birth cannot do this; only the Word, which is almighty, can do it.
(79) I have said before that there are two promises: one is the passive promise that happens to us; the other is the active promise that we accept with faith, which alone makes us, who are Gentiles by nature, heirs of Abraham (Rom. 4:16), brothers (Matt. 12:49) and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Therefore the Jews boast in vain against us that they are Abraham's seed. It does not follow that they are Abraham's heirs, unless they accept the promise and believe in Christ.
80. they are indeed Abraham's seed, born of his flesh and blood, but the same fleshly birth does not make God's children; as John 1:13. it says: "Who are not of the blood," that is, who have no fleshly birth, or are children after the flesh of Abraham; "nor of the will of the flesh," that is, who are legitimate legitimate legitimate children, or are adopted as children; "nor of the will of a man," that is, who are of the prophets, who have governed and taught; as the popes of today boast of the order and succession of the bishops: "but those who are born of God", that is, those who believe the promise and accept it with firm faith.
For it is not enough to be born of Abraham's flesh, nor would Isaac himself have been an heir of the promise where faith had not been added to it.
81 Therefore know that there are three kinds of seed: one is natural without promise, the other is natural with promise, and the third is not natural but has promise only. Of these three kinds of seed, the only one that is rejected is the one that is carnal, without promise, as can be seen in Ishmael. And this rejection takes place primarily so that, as we learn from St. Paul, this difference may exist between the children and the heirs; so that we are not led into the error of the Jews, who think that it is enough that they have Abraham as their father. For the rich man, Luc. 16, 24, also calls Abraham his father; but it is in vain. For only those are considered Abraham's children who cling to the promise that they are born of Abraham's flesh, as Isaac was, or not. So Christ says Joh. 8, 39. 40. to the Jews: "If you were Abraham's children, you would do Abraham's works. But ye do the works of your father the devil." Let this be said to refute the obstinate Jews, who boast so highly that they are born of Abraham's flesh and blood.
But such a game still exists today, if one can speak of it, and it has been like this from the beginning of the world among all peoples. The Jews are stiff-necked and even stubborn because of their fleshly birth, and boast that they alone are God's people. But look at the Turks, and you will see that they also rely on such carnal comfort. For since they are always so fortunate in their wars against the Christians, and have greatly strengthened and increased their great power with many great victories, especially in these last times, they first of all take from us in the highest security this title or name that we should be God's people, since we are so often slain and defeated by them: but to themselves they ascribe this glory, that they are God's people, since they are daily so fortunate.
especially against the Christians. For where the Turks war against the Tartars and Persians, they have no such luck.
83 Therefore, since they are elevated by their fortune and fattened by their victories, they consider us dogs and swine, as Sanherib did before Jerusalem, Isa. 37:10. For there his fortune also makes him a blasphemer, so that he boasts that his idols are stronger than the God who dwelt in Jerusalem. After that, the idols of the Romans subjugated almost the whole world to the city of Rome. Therefore, the Romans believed that their religion was the best and most pleasing to God. Just as the Jews now pride themselves on their fleshly birth, so do the Turks today believe that there is no other people under the sun that can be God's people but they alone. And if you ask them what the reason is and how they want to prove it, they tell you about their great victories, their fortune, power, money and goods: but they have nothing of the promise of God, nor do they know anything about it. They do not recognize the majesty of God, who also allows the kingdoms of this world to come to the unworthy and godless. For the Turkish empire, as great as it can ever be, is nothing but a morsel of bread which a rich householder throws to his dogs.
The Turks do not know this, but the Christians know it well and therefore consider the whole world with all its riches to be nothing. For they wait for another life, which is also better, in which a star will be more beautiful and more lovely than this whole world is. But they have a good and certain reason for their judgment, namely, the promise of God, which is revealed to us in the Son of God, while the Turks have their stinking Alcoran, their victories and temporal power, on which they rely. But I would also like to believe that in the places close to the Turks, many poor Christians become fainthearted because of this trouble and fall away from the faith, namely, because they see that they are miserable, while the Turks are always in prosperity and have great luck.
85 Therefore, such Christians should not be
They need to have faithful teachers who can remind them that God's goodness and grace should not be measured by perishable things, such as wealth, great power and victories, but should be recognized by eternal goods. For this is a small sign of divine majesty, that he gives great kingdoms and great riches to this world, which goods he scattered in general since he created the world. But this gift shows what the divine majesty is, when we are raised again from the dead and will dwell in a new world eternally. Therefore this is nothing at all: God gives me great kingdoms, gives me money and goods, from which it follows that I have a gracious God in Him.
86. Rather, we should say: God gives us his promise, which concerns eternal life; therefore he is also gracious to us in truth. And this text is to be used by us for a proverb: "In Isaac the seed shall be called unto thee," that is, he shall be the rightful heir who has the promise and believes it. Where there is no promise, or where the promise is not believed, even though there is great wealth, honor and power, and the kingdoms of the world, there is still no church, nor a people of God. In sum, it is Ishmael who is cast out of the house, and is not Isaac, the rightful heir. So does the pope with his own, wanting to be the church alone, when we should know for certain that they cannot be the church: Cause, because they are not children of the promise, that is, they do not believe the gospel, but persecute it. Though they may boast of succession, office, and proper authority, yet, if they believe not the promise, they are no more than Ishmael in Abraham's house; that is, they are not heirs, but children of perdition.
This difference, as can be seen from what has been said before, is made by Moses, Christ Himself, John and Paul; indeed, the other commandment proves it clearly enough, since it commands that one should not use the name of God uselessly, that this is a false church which does not take the name of God.
and yet abuses it so shamefully.
88. But this is so that we may be comforted by it. For the name of God is terrifying, to be feared. But because the false church leads them against the members of the true church, they cannot fail to be frightened. When the pope puts us under ban, he does so by using the name of God: therefore it should be known from the second commandment that those who abuse the name of God are the only ones who want to be the church. For thus the church and the name of God must be distinguished. The name of God is glorious and holy, but it is often shamefully misused. There we should not fear, but be despisers, not of the name of God, but of those who misuse the name of God and want to frighten us with it. And so you should also judge the church.
(89) It is indeed a miserable and sad thing that we should be, as the papists lie to us, rejected and dead members of the church: but let us make a distinction between the right use of the name of the church and the abuse. Ishmael also calls Abraham his father, but quite differently from Isaac. But if this reason exists, as no one can deny, not even Satan himself, namely, that this is the church, which has the promise and believes in it, then it follows that the pope with his followers is not the church, but that he misuses the name of the church. For he is an enemy of the promise, and persecutes those who believe the promise.
90 Therefore it is certain that the name of the church is very often misused. For not only heretics, but also Turks and Jews call themselves the church. Whoever therefore simply says that he is the church, says nothing at all, but must prove it, or we shall rightly despise the same name of the church, for it is misused there. And again the other commandment compels us to make a distinction. For just as the
name of God is misused, so the name of the church is also misused. For the church is nowhere, but there alone, where the word is, and they that believe the word; as this text saith, "In Isaac shall the seed be called unto thee."
91. But the pope persecutes the word and uses the name of God uselessly; therefore it follows that he is the Antichrist and the abominable beast, Revelation 13:1, which has the name of blasphemy written on its forehead, that is, which teaches nothing but blasphemy and misuses and profanes the name of God forever. In the Gospel, John 14:23, Christ says: "He who loves me will keep my word"; therefore, those who want to be God's people or the church must have the word of Christ, that is, the divine promises, and that they also keep them, that is, believe them. And these are the ones whom the Father loves, to whom he comes to make his dwelling with them. But that the pope and his followers should keep the word of Christ, the same is so far lacking that they alone are those who stiff-neckedly hold and persecute the word of Christ.
92. But because they thus frighten us with the name of the church and of God, let us make the distinction which the Holy Spirit makes in the other commandment, namely, that some use the name of God rightly, but some also misuse it shamefully. The right use of the name of God is where the Word and the promise are: but where the Word is blasphemed, there the name of God is misused. Therefore, this should not frighten us. For we know that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have no dwelling place with such people, but the devil himself dwells with them; as can be seen in their foreheads, on which the names of blasphemy are written, Revelation 14:9.
In sum, God's people are no other people than those who have God's promises and believe them. But those who rely on and defy works, laws and other gifts, as the Jews and Turks do, are not the Church, for works, laws and such other things are not the promise.
But in our churches we keep the right confession of right doctrine, accept the promise, and keep the word of Christ, so that even so many of them have been killed over it, and still some will be killed, for the word's sake alone, that they will not forsake the confession of the gospel. These are the true signs that prove that we are the true church and that the pope and his followers are the church of the devil. But what shall we say to this? The papists baptize, administer the sacraments, absolve people from sins; that is why they are the true church: and we cannot deny that we have not come into the fellowship of the true church through their ministry, that we have been baptized by them.
95 To this objection I would answer: The outward sacraments, and likewise the word, may well be administered by the ungodly. Judas did not belong to the church for his person and yet he was also in the church office, and those who were baptized by him were baptized correctly. We may say the same of the papists, who are blasphemers and ungodly in themselves, and yet their office is powerful when they baptize, administer the sacraments, and absolve; but so far as they retain the essentials which belong to the institution of the holy sacraments. For though they be blasphemers, yet am I no blasphemer, who use and believe their ministry, but truly obtain by faith that which is offered me in divine promise, though he be ungodly who proclaims and announces the promise unto me.
For this reason it is not enough that one has the name of the church, that one is called a bishop, cardinal or priest. All this, as Paul says Rom. 9, 6, is carnal and only refers to the person; God, however, does not look at the person. And we are not to look at this carnal appearance either, but are to look at the word and make a proverb out of this history against the papists, so that we say: Abraham has two sons: one is carnal and does not have the promise of Christ; the same one persecutes the other.
the other son, who is the heir of the promise. This is still the case today and will always be the case, and has been the case from the beginning. For Cain, the firstborn, also usurped the promise and strangled his brother Abel over it, Genesis 4:8.
(97) Therefore, I say, there are two kinds of churches, just as there are two kinds of children of Abraham: one who is slain and suffers persecution, and the other who slays and persecutes her brothers, just as Cain and Ishmael did. But each has its certain fruits. The false church blasphemes and persecutes the word; but the true church keeps the confession of right doctrine and suffers persecution with patience. As we stand today and confess the word before Caesar and before the whole world.
The papists, on the other hand, deny the word of Christ, and they subordinate themselves to suppressing it with their impious decrees and commandments. These fruits of praise and blasphemy, confession and denial, are evident. Therefore, we cannot doubt that the church of the pope should not be the church of the devil, although the pious can use their office, which they administer in the church, properly, if they only keep the essentials, that is, what belongs to the holy sacraments according to the institution of Christ.
99. Therefore, we should diligently remember this text. For he contends against all those who glory in the flesh. The Jews boast of their blood, that they are the seed of Abraham. The Turks boast of their victories and great power. The pope boasts of the succession, that the ministry came to him from the apostles. But we say that they do not follow one another correctly when they say: We are the successors of the apostles, to whom the ministry was inherited, therefore we are also the church. For here it is thus written in the text, "In Isaac shall the seed be called unto thee," and not in Ishmael. This is what is said: God's people are not those who have fleshly succession, but those who have the promise and believe it, they are God's people.
100. for the name of God is written on
is used in two ways: once blasphemously, and the other time sacredly. In the true church it is holy and to be feared:' but in the false church it is not to be feared. For this consolation should always be firmly kept, and should also be daily impressed upon our minds, which the other commandment teaches us, namely, that the name of God is greatly abused.
In schools it is customary to say that words, if they have more than one meaning, do not serve to teach others. For those who use such words only make their teaching confused and erroneous: therefore they teach nothing at all. Thus the name of God, item, the church, is also not used in the same way. For some use it well, but others use it wrongly and evil.
(102) Therefore, when the pope says that all who do not accept his decrees incur the wrath of God, this is a terrible word in itself, but it is an aequivocum, that is, it has more than one meaning and is not properly used; therefore, I do not pay any attention to the pope's threats and thunderbolts. Thus, according to the dialectic, the name of the church also means nothing; for a dialectician accepts no word unless it has only one meaning.
Therefore, this is the true church and congregation of God, which does not take the name of God in vain, but hears and keeps the word of Christ, that is, believes the promises of God. When I hear the name of the same church, I fall on my knees in true humility and bow before it, for I am certain that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell in it. But if those want to adorn themselves with the name of the church who do not keep the word of Christ, but pursue it and walk in their own chosen worship, then the word, which by its nature has only one meaning, becomes such a word, which must mean more than one thing.
104) For this reason, it would be a great folly to be afraid of a painted man holding a sword.
It is also foolish to be frightened by the name of the church when it is used blasphemously and unjustly. For it is only a painted church or a larva of the church. But this is the true church, since Isaac is the son of promise; there one should fear the name of the Lord; there is our salvation and blessedness, and also our strength and stronghold, as Solomon says, Proverbs 18:10: "The name of the Lord is a strong castle; the righteous runneth thither, and is protected."
In sum, where the word of Christ is and is kept, that is, believed, you should not doubt the church, even if the one who gives the holy sacraments or teaches and preaches is already ungodly and a blasphemer. For the word of the Lord does not return empty, but brings forth fruit; just as the rain moistens and makes fruitful etc., Is. 55, 10. 11.
Therefore we say in our faith: "I believe a holy Christian church", that is, the one that has the Word, by which all things are sanctified, as Paul says 1 Tim. 4, 5. But this same church must suffer Ishmael, their persecutor, until Sarah and Isaac begin to speak and to plead, that is, until the right church with constant praying and crying obtains from God that Ishmael must be cast out; although Ishmael cannot believe the same until he experiences it by deed.
I will also make the son of the maid a people, because he is your seed.
107 The Lord commanded Abraham to let Ishmael go out of the house. But lest anyone should think that he had forgotten the promise he made to Abraham of the twelve princes (Cap. 17, v. 20), and as if he had regretted it, he now repeats the promise and adds that he will do this for Abraham's sake, whose seed is Ishmael. Thus the natural son is cast out, but is still set up as the mighty king of this world.
(108) For this reason one might say, Is this casting out, where one is made king of a great nation? For the heirs
and descendants of Ishmael took the whole side or line at noon and the Saracens are still a great nation today. Therefore, this history belongs to the purpose that we should learn from it that God distributes the kingdoms and dominions of this world even among those who are wicked and rejected, not for their merit, which is nothing, but for the sake of Abraham, that is, for the sake of His Church, which alone intercedes in the world for the kings and dominions, so that they may have a quiet and safe place to stay in this life, and that in peace the Word of God may spread further and further.
But as the Turk persecutes the church, so he does not believe that the prayer of the church should help him, which prays for all rulers; as Paul admonishes 1 Tim. 2, 1. 2. He attributes this to his Alcoran and his piety. For he boasts of the right true religion and the right worship, namely that he is hostile to the images that are painted or carved, but he hates and persecutes us Christians as idolatrous people.
The king Alexander also did not understand that he had such great fortune for the sake of the church and congregation of God, and yet it is nevertheless true that the prayer of the right church alone preserves all kingdoms for the sake of the small group of the pious, which must have its home in this life. So also what our emperor Carl has in this world, he has for the sake of the church of Christ and through her prayer. Therefore, this part of this text is well to remember, that God says to Abraham, "Because Ishmael is your seed." For Abraham's sake, that is, for the sake of his virtue and piety, Ishmael is made emperor and monarch.
Dear God, how unfair it is that all the kingdoms of the world are sustained and flourish through the prayers of the Church, and yet the poor Church is oppressed and so miserably trampled underfoot by them, whom she so faithfully helps with her prayers; for it is the Church alone to which God has commanded this diligence and care, that she may
for the kings, as St. Paul exhorts 1 Tim. 2, 1. 2.; and the same for having peace, discipline, good order and security to spread the word and to gather a church by the word; as the histories of the first reigns and monarchies of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires testify.
(112) Therefore, as far as this history is concerned, Abraham must abandon his opinion: Sarah, however, breaks through and achieves what she had set out to do, because she looked at the promise a little more closely and understood it better than Abraham. For God also reveals something to the small and lowly, so that the great may be humbled. Now follows another battle, which belongs to the other table, as the previous one belonged to the first table.
Third part.
Of Ishmael's and Hagar's expulsion, and of their miserable state in the desert.
V.14. Then Abraham arose early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and put it upon Hagar's shoulder, and the lad with her, and let her out. Then she departed, and went astray in the wilderness at Beer-saba.
This is truly a miserable story, if you look at it carefully, even though Moses described it very briefly. Now that Abraham is certain of God's will, he hastens to obey God, gets up early in the morning, gives Hagar no money, prepares her for an unknown and lukewarm way with no clothing at all: but lets his most beloved wife, who had first made him a father, simply go away with her firstborn son, and gives them only bread and a bottle of water, or a sack of bread and a jug of water. These are the goods that Ishmael the son and Hagar his wife received.
114) But if it is not to be seen that it is an abominable thing that the mother, who was burdened with the son, should thus miserably wander about, and moreover to an un
to a place known to man, even to a vast and arid wilderness? He gives her no servant or maid: the mother is driven naked and naked with the son, who is also naked and naked, from the right father's house and inheritance; they carry nothing at all away with them, but only a little bread and water, which no doubt would have been food and drink for a few days. If he had given them wine or provided them with money, their misfortune would have been even worse.
(115) Now it can be seen according to reason that Abraham acted somewhat tyrannically and cruelly; but that is to kill the fatherly inclination toward wife and child, which are the two most violent inclinations. For we are not to think that Abraham was a Wendish peasant; he was a true God-fearing, pious, gentle, humble and merciful man who also loved his enemies.
Why then did he treat his wife and son so badly and miserably, as if they were his enemies? Where is the fatherly heart here? When the angels came to him, and he had not yet recognized that they were angels, he presented them with butter and a calf, and cakes: but here he thrusts his firstborn son from his inheritance into misery, as if the fatherly heart had died and gone out of him in a moment. For let each one of us ask his own heart. If you had a pious and conjugal wife in marriage, and a true natural son were born to you by her, and were not by nature a hard unkind man, could you overcome or even drive away the paternal inclination so that you should not at least give your natural son a servant with him, who would at least show him the way and guide him?
Therefore Abraham would not have done this without great struggle and great pain. For he was not a block or a stone, but let his beloved wife go with great groaning and many tears, which he shed over her; for God changes nature in the saints.
do not kill, also do not kill the affections. So it is also similar to the truth and well to believe that neither Hagar nor her son Ishmael will have laughed, but that they were frightened with all their heart when they heard this new message that they had to go to misery.
118 Therefore this deed, that Abraham thus drove out his wife and son, is described in a frightful and pitiful manner, though it is a few words. And if Abraham had not heard the promise and comforted both mother and son with it, he would have had to worry that they would have been in danger of life and limb because of the wolves, bears and lions in the desert. In sum, Abraham could not have dealt so harshly and unkindly with the sodomites, who were nevertheless wicked, evil people; for he had prayed for them and had, as it were, died over the prayer.
Now, if the monks who live in the monasteries are holy, what can you find in them that is equal to this hard and difficult work, that he overcomes even the two greatest inclinations against his wife and son and gives way to the commandment of God through guilty obedience? Therefore Abraham is an excellent example of obedience, faith and all good customs, but especially of right obedience to God. For these things did not happen so briefly as the words say, and yet they had to be described in this way, so that we might learn from them that, according to the example of Abraham, one should love God above all things, and so completely that you should not love anything in the whole world in this way, not even your wife or children, or even your own body and life. And if Moses had wanted to describe everything that happened, he would have had to have a big book just for this one history. For who could tell what weeping and devilry both the mother and the son will have suffered?
For this reason they will have moved Abraham and Sarah themselves, and finally the whole house, to have compassion on them and to weep for their sakes. First of all, Abraham and Sarah are both admonished.
that they would suffer with patience, so that they would have to be cast out. For the same would be the will of God, which He would have specially expressed by a certain word, that Ishmael should leave his father's house and his fatherland, and wait for God's blessing in another place and not in the land of Canaan. Moreover, they will have said that God is constant and 'true and will not forsake them, but will abundantly bestow upon them what He has promised, namely, a very mighty kingdom.
This I have not invented, but the circumstances themselves, and what Moses also told above (Cap. 17, v. 20.), make it clear that one should look at these circumstances. For the history of the Sodomites teaches how gracious and merciful Abraham was even against his enemies. How could he have refrained from weeping here, when he let his wife and firstborn son go away with so little food?
My dear Hagar, he will have said, I have not forgotten what I owe to you and your son, my flesh and blood, and would gladly keep you both with me, and show you the works of love as I owe: but God's commandment is there, compelling me and commanding me to do otherwise. Therefore, for God's sake, suffer and endure with patience that both of you must be cast out naked and naked. God does not want you to become rich from my good, but wants you to feel his blessing in another place. etc.
What could be more useful to us for the teaching and remembrance of the great works of God than this very history? For it reminds us that one should not delay or argue long when one has God's command and order. For God delights in obedience, but He is hostile to delay. The inherent inclination also made Abraham a bit misguided, so that he was distressed and thought: Where will my poor wife and her son stay? Where will she find a place to live?
Who will protect and defend her, if injustice and violence happen to her? But faith, since it has been so assured and strengthened, has subdued and strangled all these thoughts, though not without difficulty and great pain, and has remained simple in this hope that God will provide for them and have respect for them; for he has them, he thought, better than I can have them, and will also be able to help them better than I can.
124 Therefore, this is an example from which we should learn that we should only do quickly, without delay and without much dispute, everything that we know we are commanded to do in God's word. When Christ says John 21:21, 22 to Peter, "Follow me," Peter goes on as if he had forgotten the command, and takes care of John, and worries about him, saying, "Lord, what is this?" But the Lord rebukes him, saying, "What is it to thee? Follow me."
Therefore Abraham does right: he does not dispute where Hagar will go with her son; he simply looks to God's commandment, which commanded him to cast out the mother with the son. Such examples and practice are seen in the holy men. The monks, as I said above, know how to boast much about how they have denied themselves; item, about their mortification and killing: but their killing is when they see that a brother sitting with them is given better bread or better fish. But in Abraham we see rightly how the flesh is crucified, and how his will, even as it is holy and righteous, and assured of God's commandment, is put to death. For this is God's commandment, that a man should love his wife, protect and defend his children, and also gather them something so that they may feed themselves etc. Such a natural will and holy inclination to kill is commanded to Abraham here, and thus to leave both wife and son, so that they also do not have to take a penny from so much of his property. If this is not an example of right killing, I do not know what killing should be called. He loves them both, the wife and the son; but since he is commanded that he should
When he is supposed to expel them, he obeys God without delay, who has called him to do so, and cuts off all disputation and lets them go, whatever the outcome or end with them in misery.
Thus it is described how Hagar and Ishmael were cast out, and how they took their leave and had to go away. And as you see, this is indeed a pitiful description, for no part of them was able to refrain from weeping. It was almost a burden for Ishmael and his mother that he and his mother had to leave his father, who was rich, pious and holy, and his whole church: But it was hard for the father, that he had to let them leave him, poor and miserable, and henceforth be deprived of both their fellowship; which was also a grief to Sarah herself and Isaac. But they both obey the will of God and kill the innate inclinations, even those that are the strongest, namely, those that one has for wife and children, for whose sake we also take the greatest danger and misfortune upon us in this life. This means, however, to keep the vow of chastity, of which the lazy bunch of monks, even those who want to be the most holy among them, know nothing at all.
The last part that Moses adds, namely, that they went astray in the desert, is also part of the reason why one should have had so much more compassion for them. They had no one to guide them on their way, and because they did not know where to go, they went astray in the desert. But the same word, that they went astray, indicates that they were so lost and troubled in their hearts that they themselves did not know where they were going, as is the way when one is in fear and distress. Now we know that women are by nature weak-minded, and are hardly troubled even by a slight accident: what then shall we think of Hagar, who thus miserably went astray in the wilderness with her son, having had no one to guide her, having no sustenance on the
Way, has had no human help. Now, however, a greater and more distressing accident has also occurred, as follows in the text.
When the water in the bottle was finished, she threw the boy under a tree, and went and sat down opposite from afar, a bow shot away, for she said: I cannot watch the boy die. And she sat down over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
This history could not have been described in a more cruel and miserable way, although Moses passes through it briefly and does not say much about it, as is his way. The mother and her son had water for three or four days to refresh themselves in the desert, but after that they had no more water. Because of this, death was near to them both, and that because of thirst, which is an unpleasant thing in nature.
Now whoever would bring a long charge against Abraham here could accuse him of being a murderer of his own son and wife. For he has given cause for it to come to this with them, as he casts out his own flesh and blood as horribly as it can be seen. And Moses himself also uses such words, which are horrible enough. He says that Ishmael almost died of thirst, and that his mother threw him under a bush, and that she overcame her motherly heart and left him so that she would not have to watch him die. Who would believe this now, if Moses had not written it thus? So one misfortune usually follows the other. This firstborn son has been expelled from his father's estate, has been deprived of all his father's goods; now the misfortune also comes that he is in danger of his life in the desert because of hunger and thirst.
This is a terrible and miserable spectacle, that the mother lays the boy down in the grass under the bushes. For her heart is so broken with fear and sorrow that she cannot see her son die. Yes, you say, this accident would have been a good thing for Abraham beforehand.
We should have thought and not rushed, especially in such a matter, which was against all natural love.
Now I have said above that this example should be diligently remembered, so that we do not argue long when God commands us to do something, but that we obey Him in it without delay. And we will truly not be able to easily imitate this obedience, which Abraham performed here. But what the monks do, namely, that they wear caps, do not eat meat, and do not touch money, all these things we could easily do.
For this reason Abraham was not a common Christian or a confessor of God, but a martyr above all other martyrs. For who is there among us who does not know how strong is the inclination that one has toward wife and child? It is easier for a father to suffer death than to abandon his own, or to suffer great violence or injustice.
And yet all things must and must yield to the commandment of God; and it is not because you wear a black or gray garment that you want to be a Christian, but you must put all that you have in danger, not only your wife and child, but also your own body and life. For thus Christ clearly teaches Matth. 10, 37: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me," that is, when I come with my word and commandment, then you must forget everything that you have and possess in this whole world.
Now tell me, what have you ever heard or read of this denial in any monk? They may write on the door of their dwelling: Deny thyself! but if thou wilt estimate the matter according to deeds and works, this is said by them nothing else than this: Leave a poor kitchen, for instance, and go to one that is abundantly and well provided for; flee toil and labor in this world, that is, as occurs in the house and worldly regiment, and have good days in the monastery, mast thyself like a sow and begrudge no one nothing. O how is this such an easy killing, how pleasant and pleasing it is to the flesh!
The more patient and merciful Abraham was, the more praiseworthy is his obedience, namely, that he prefers God's commandment to all things and loves God above all things, so much so that he drives his most beloved son and wife out of the house as if they were his enemies. It is true that this expulsion is miserably described, that the poor boy cries out miserably, since he must now die of sheer thirst and his mother cannot help him in the desert; for if you want to estimate it according to outward appearance, you will consider it an atrocious deed and will blame Abraham severely for it: but what else should he have done or could he have done, since God had commanded him to do so?
(136) Although Ishmael is expelled from the house of Abraham and his church, yet, as I have said above, that without a doubt many of Cain's descendants have been converted to the church of God, I have no doubt that Ishmael and his descendants will also be converted to the true church of Abraham. For it is not the opinion of this repudiation that he should thereby be completely excluded from the kingdom of God, but that he should know that the kingdom of God is not due to him by natural right, but that it comes to him by pure grace.
For God does not give anyone anything out of debt, according to the saying Rom. 11:35: "Who gave him anything before? It is also no one's merit what he gives us; for ours would be ill-kept if God were to be our debtor; indeed, we are all his debtors. Therefore, when he gives us something, he does not give it out of debt and by right, but out of grace, which he offers superfluously and abundantly to all those who believe his promise.
Ishmael must learn this lesson with his mother, because they both wanted to act against Isaac according to the law. But after this presumption, that they thus rely on their law, has been killed by this hard expulsion, I do not doubt that Ishmael will again have gone to Abraham with his mother; for I will let
the Jews' opinion that Keturah should be Hagar.
139 This history therefore serves to teach us that we have nothing by right, but that everything we have comes to us only by grace. The Jews want to be Abraham's heirs by right and possess the blessing, because they are born of Abraham's flesh; but if they could give up this right and forgive themselves of it, and have recourse to God's grace and mercy in Christ, then they would become partakers of the blessing.
140 Thus the pope boasts on account of the succession, and with the same right he ascribes to himself that he alone is the supreme bishop in the church: but we must by no means yield to him this in the church. If he wanted to be first or supreme by grace, we would tolerate him: but because he insists on his right and insists on it so hard, we cannot stand that. We say the same of his statutes. If they allowed them to remain free, we would be patient with them; but because they make them necessary, we reject them, and in that case we are harder than any anvil or diamond can be, who would otherwise be softer than wax if we were allowed our freedom.
The monastic life should be judged in the same way. The monks have their rules and their special practice; they insist on these as their own right, and consider that eternal life is due to them by right. But who told them to do this? And is this not a great impiety, that God, by grace, for the sake of His Son, promises us everything abundantly and also gives it to us, but that we throw away His promise and are so presumptuous that we may arrogate to ourselves eternal life as if by right?
Therefore God declares Himself with this example of Ishmael that He is not indebted to anyone. Therefore, let no one boast before him and be presumptuous because of his righteousness or merit: but let all the world be guilty of falling down before him and asking for mercy and grace.
Ask for kindness, and say with one accord with David Ps. 143, 2: "Do not go into judgment with your servant."
143. all this is taught to us by Ishmael, who, after being killed in this way, simply renounced his right and then came to the promised inheritance as a sojourner; as St. Paul says to the Ephesians Cap. 2, v. 11. 12. says of the Gentiles. For I believe that the children and descendants of Ishmael also joined the congregation of Abraham and became heirs of the promise, not as of right, but by accidental grace, as we said above about Cain's family.
This is the reason why the son is cast out of his father's house naked and naked with his mother, who was also naked and naked, and why he is cast out with her alone into the wilderness, even into death, hungry and thirsty, so that the harmful animal might be killed in him, which is called the presumption and false delusion of one's own righteousness, right and merit before God.
For with God nothing is valid but grace and favor, and if the Turks, the Jews and the pope with his followers would take hold of it and accept it through Christ, they would be blessed. But now they are blinded and reject grace, and rely on their right and merit; therefore they must be eternally damned.
This text, about the trials and tribulations that Abraham and Hagar had in this place, belongs entirely to theology and holy scripture. For, as I have said, it was a great trial to Abraham that he had to drive out his natural son and his legitimate wife so unkindly, that he did not provide either the wife or the son with anything, but let them both go away to certain death. For Abraham was not a hard stone, but he was full of the Holy Spirit, who makes people meek, humble, kind, gentle and willing.
147 Therefore, this is a strange history, but it is described by this holy man.
The same patriarchs are an example for us, so that we may learn to love and honor God above all things. So he was commanded above (Cap. 12, v. 1) that he had to leave his father's country; and in the 45th Psalm, v. 11, it is said to the church that was gathered from the Jews: "Listen, daughter, forget your people and your father's house" etc., and Christ also says Matth. 10, 37: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me".
In the other table the commandments of love toward the brethren are understood; but when a new commandment comes, as when Saul is commanded to kill the Amalekites, 1 Sam. 15:3, then we are to become their enemies, persecute them and kill them, and forget all love, even if one should slay his own son, as Abraham does. For this word, when God says in Exodus 20:5, "I am the Lord your God," cancels out the other word, when we are commanded to love our neighbor and honor our parents.
Therefore we see two kinds of death in Abraham: the first belongs to the first table. For there he stands in battle over the promise of God, which Abraham wants to make common to his two sons against the word; but this inclination of faith is killed in him, and Abraham must learn from his wife which is the right understanding of the promise.
The other killing belongs to the other table. For there he must forget God's command to love and do good to his wife and son. These examples are to be taught diligently in the churches, for they are in fine accord with the gospel, which teaches that the word of faith is to be preferred to all things on earth. Abraham, therefore, having been taught by such exercises, did not hope to obtain the promise in this life, but understood them of other greater things than the goods of this world could be, although he still had to be afflicted with such great and severe trials and tribulations, since the inheritance of the promise had already been given to him.
151: For the knowledge of the eternal life is a
Faith in the future Christ and the hope of the resurrection of the dead are the right true goods; he waited for them through the promise, and did not let the serious accident he encountered prevent him from doing so, namely, that he had to wander around in the wilderness, have no home of his own, and drive out his wife and firstborn son. All these things a carnal man regards as contrary to the promise, but in truth they are good exercises by which faith is tested. Which exercises are necessary to us, but to the flesh they are exceedingly heavy, yea, they are impossible for it to bear.
The words that Abraham gave Hagar a bottle of water and bread are briefly spoken, but they also show how it was such a wretched thing. For if you only look at the circumstances, you will see that they are so horrible that words cannot describe them enough. It was not Sarah or one of the servants, but Abraham, the father himself, who prepared his wife and firstborn son for the journey, put bread and a bottle of water on their shoulders, and commanded them to leave the house.
This story is similar to the one where he was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22:2). For the heartache would have been somewhat more bearable if he had ordered one of his servants to do this, but he would have gone to another place at that time. But now he himself must prepare them both for the journey, and must be present to see them go away: therefore he will have to put aside the fatherly affection he had for his wife and son, and express himself as a hard, unkind, cruel man, and as if he had never known it.
Such immeasurable fear and great love for God Moses considered worth recording, since Abraham not only looked at this misery, but also caused it and brought it about. But if another had done this, and his wife,
If he had been a householder for twenty years, more or less, and had thus been cast out of the house, what do you think Abraham would have done? But now, because God so commands him, he himself executes this atrocious deed. And wants to teach us with this example that one should do everything for the sake of one's neighbor, but if we are commanded by God to do something else, then we should have nothing in this whole life that should be so pleasant and dear to us that we should not become hostile to it, even our own life; as Christ says Matth. 10, 39: "He who hates his life will find it.
This means to forget his father's house, as the 45th Psalm v. 11 says. It is truly a miserable description, which I can hardly read with dry eyes, that the mother and son could thus patiently bear the fact that they were driven out and that they must thus go into misery; therefore either Abraham, the father, stood there and with weeping eyes spoke the blessing after them and wished them happiness with his prayer, or else hid himself away in some corner, where he alone wept and lamented his misfortune and the misery of these wretched persons.
For he was, as I have often said, not a block or a stone, but had a heart that was full of faithfulness and love in the highest degree toward his neighbor, and much more toward his own household, namely, toward his wife and his firstborn son. So where one temptation follows another and tears over tears always flow down the cheeks, there is a right death, and these are the right exercises of faith, which also kills innate love. Therefore you may say of the monks' and nuns' killing, of which they know how to boast, that it is all lies and vain folly.
157 Bersaba, which place is thought of in the text, is situated near Egypt. In the same place there may have been flocks of sheep and large cattle; for the people of the place lived from cattle breeding and lived in huts.
used to. There Ishmael and Hagar came into a new danger, which also frightened the mother and made her almost nonsensical with impatience; as Abraham may also be regarded for having proceeded too cruelly. Although it had a different opinion with him; because he obeyed the commandment of God".
Ishmael is dying of thirst, and since the mother cannot watch such a sad spectacle, she lays him down in the grass under the bushes and goes a little further away from him, as if she wanted to leave the boy lying there, who does not behave differently, but as one who now wants to die; however, she remains sitting not far away from him, so that she could hear the groaning of the dying boy. We learn, however, what a great misery and accident it is when one has to wander around in misery outside of his homeland among unknown people, since he does not have a certain dwelling place. This misery and accident is even greater, which is indicated by the circumstance in this place, namely, that Hagar is a mother and a wife, and walks alone, moreover in the desert, since she was so suddenly expelled from a large house, and now she lacks food and drink, and her son lies there and must die of thirst.
She might well have had water from Bersaba, for there the shepherds undoubtedly had their tents: but the poor wretched woman is quite lost, not only outwardly in her body, so that she goes astray, but also in her heart she is so distraught that she does not know what she is doing. This is a theological rule and trial, that Satan always makes those who are miserable and distressed even more distressed, and that he makes those who are bodily lost also inwardly distressed and troubled in heart. For so he is wont to do, as the German proverb says: Where the fence is lowest, there he always wants to climb over; and on which side the chariot hangs, there he also hangs himself, so that he may overturn it.
Therefore, in addition to this misery and accident, very sad thoughts have also come, which the devil can well prepare. Oh, where shall I go now, she thought.
I, poor woman, who am so miserably expelled! There is no God in heaven who would have mercy on us, nor is there a man on earth who would take care of us. God will be hostile to us, that is why he will also let us perish here and die of hunger and thirst in this desert.
This is the poisonous and harmful addition, from which Satan gets the name, that he is called a Leviathan, because he can make a spiritual accident out of a bodily one, and always puts on one burden the other, which is even greater. Job says in 40 Cap. V. 20, that he cannot be pulled or driven by any means, that is, he cannot be driven away by human strength: he is a real leviathan, who always puts something on one part of the cart and presses it down with it, and completely overturns the cart that is tilted.
Therefore, this was a great challenge, much more severe than hunger or thirst can be. Because of this, she became so distraught that she herself did not know what to do, otherwise she would have looked around for a well, for example, and thought that there must be people in such a place; but she got so caught up in the additions and increases of Leviathan that she thought that where there was only a grain of tribulation, there were several hundredweight. Thus in the holy revelation of John Cap. 12, 10, Satan is called "the accuser of our brethren. For those who are sure, he makes hard as steel, as our antinomians are; but those who have a weak and fearful heart, he strikes down with his terror, as if thunder were striking them.
163 Therefore Hagar is not only challenged because she was cast out externally, but also because she was spiritually forsaken; and so she despairs even unto death. The water was out, but not far from it was a whole well, but Hagar does not think of this, for she is drowned in the lying thoughts that Satan has given her, thinking, "Behold, Abraham is a man and a prophet of God, and in his house alone is the true church; it is he who will keep you and your son.
What more certain sign can you have than this, that you do not belong to the church?
For my part, I would not like my heart to be struck with such arrows, for I have experienced how dangerous wounds are caused when some minister refuses to absolve me and rejects me from the holy sacrament; whether it be for lesser causes, I believe that I would run away in despair and give myself away as Judas did.
Now Hagar heard this judgment, that she should be cast out with her son, not from a lowly servant, but from the most high patriarch himself, who is the father of the promise: How thinkest thou then that she shall be afraid?
We have just heard from Lot that he was so despondent and darkened by his sorrow and grief that he did not see even with his eyes, and did not know what he was doing; for his heart was so overtaken with great pain and danger that all the senses in his body died as it were. Therefore they call it ^χστασις, that is, a rapture, which is so violent that Lot did not even know what he had done with his daughters. Hagar also had such a hard struggle here, and Moses indicates the same with the word, when he says how she went astray. For she was so sad that she could not see anything; her despair made her deaf, dumb, blind and completely forgotten, and even killed all her senses.
But thou seest that here the law is first spoken of, before the consolation cometh; which is against our antinomians. Ishmael and his mother Hagar were proud of Isaac, because they were also Abraham's seed, and put off their inheritance because they were related to Abraham in the flesh. This thought and sense therefore had to be killed in them, namely, that they first learned the law and thereby were killed. But those who are killed by the law must then be raised up again with the word of God, and
comfort them, for they have repented of their sins and are not secure and hopeful, as Ishmael was.
Therefore this text teaches us what the right practice and office of the law is, and St. Paul calls these words of Sarah, when she says: "Push out the maid", words of the law. He does not say, "What does Sarah say?" but, "What does the Scripture say?" Although Moses with his written law was not yet present, the law was nevertheless in his use and practice; for "to cast out" is a word of the law.
(169) Therefore let us reject the antinomians, who would cast away the law from the church, and teach repentance by the gospel. It is right to say that people should be lifted up and comforted, but we must also say who they are whom we are to comfort, namely, those who, with Ishmael and his mother, have been cast out of their home and fatherland, and are famished and thirsty in the wilderness; who groan and cry out to the Lord, and are not far from despair. Such people are the right listeners of the gospel.
But those who think that they are in grace, for the sake of fleshly advantage, are proud and presumptuous because of their own righteousness and holiness, do not believe that they are in the wilderness, but in paradise; neither do they know what it is to err in the wilderness; they are not humbled, not killed: they must be beaten and crushed with the hammer of the law, yes, they must even be destroyed.
But this is done by the law, which says, "Cast out the maid with her son, for he shall not be the heir," Gal. 4:30, which is saying this much: We are all by nature outside of grace. For as far as our nature is concerned, we are children of condemnation, and it does not help that the Jews are Abraham's seed, that when we are born we bring with us our understanding, our reason and the law, and that we can to some extent add our will to it: all this still does not help at all to salvation. But from
All that is of the law and of the will of the flesh and man, it is said, "Cast out."
For God cannot suffer or tolerate the pride and presumption of Ishmael, that is, He does not want us to boast about our physical birth, or about our powers, our free will, our wisdom and justice. For all these things must be put to death, and we must despair of them all; as in this place Hagar also despaired. When this has happened and we have been cast into hell, then it is time that we are called again by the comforting and sweet word of the gospel, which does not say: "Cast out", but: "Be of good cheer, "no son, your sins are forgiven you", Matth. 9, 2. Therefore the scripture says that it is God's work to cast into hell and to lead out again, to kill and to make alive again, 1 Sam. 2, 6.
And this is the reason why Ishmael had to be cast out with his mother, that the horrible and shameful pestilence, the presumption of his own righteousness, might be killed. For he thought thus: I am in the house of Abraham, therefore I am also an heir. This confidence and presumption is such a poisonous pestilence and harmful pestilence that it cannot be killed, but only by the utmost despair, namely, that man is deprived of all that he has, divests himself of it altogether, and almost despairs of God Himself and His grace, and feels that he is rejected and cast out by God. This is what the Father and true Abraham, that is, God Himself, must do to us. For the Church and Christ Himself, as well as righteousness, are of no concern to us. For the church and Christ Himself, as well as justice, are of no concern to us unless the harmful presumption is first overcome and killed.
For this reason, the antinomians are worthy of hostility from anyone who wants to defend themselves with our example, since the reason why we taught about God's grace in the beginning is now clear. The accursed pope had even oppressed the poor consciences with his human statutes; had all the right means, help and consolation, since
with which the poor despondent hearts might have been saved against despair, taken away: what should we then do but raise up again the oppressed and weighed-down hearts, and hold out to them the right consolation?
We also know that we must speak differently to those who are full, tender and fat. At that time, we were all outcasts and very afflicted. The water in the bottle was out, that is, there was no comfort. We lay like the dying, like Ishmael under your bush. That is why we needed such teachers, who held up God's grace to us and taught us how to refresh ourselves.
The antinomians want the doctrine of repentance to begin immediately with grace, but I did not hold the trial that way. For I knew well that Ishmael had first been cast out and despondent before he heard comfort from the angel. Therefore I followed the example and comforted no one, but only those who had previously repented and grieved over their sin and had despaired of themselves, whom the law had frightened, the Leviathan had attacked and even made dismayed. For the sake of these Christ came into this world and does not want the smoldering wick to be extinguished, Isa. 42, 3. Therefore He calls Matth. 11, 28: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden."
Ishmael was not such a man before he was expelled from the house, but he was proud and sure, and an antinomian epicure. I, he says, am the lord and heir in the house; Isaac and Sarah shall depart from me. Should this hopefulness have been praised and tolerated in him, or should he have been punished for it? How could he be punished in any other way than to be expelled from the house together with his mother, and to take nothing with him from Abraham's house except the reward of the law, that is, bread and water? For this is what the law does: it leads the thief bound to the gallows; but before he is strangled, it refreshes him with a drink of water, but at last the water is lacking and death remains; that is all the law does.
Therefore let us learn that God is hostile to all the hopeful; but those who are humbled and have felt the power of the law, He comforts, if not by man, then by an angel from heaven. For he does not want such people to be lost, just as he does not want the secure and the proud to remain in Abraham's house.
(179) But a teacher and preacher in the church must be learned, skillful, and experienced in both these things, that he may both chastise and contriteize the unruly, and comfort again them that are chastised and bruised, lest they be utterly despondent, and be swallowed up of the law. If our nature were not so corrupt because of our sins, we would not need the preaching of the law at all. But God cannot do anything to us by His grace because of our hardness and deepest security, unless He has first broken and crushed our iron and steel-hard hearts with the law.
Therefore St. Paul interprets this text according to the letter and says: "All who are of the synagogue are such people. We also learn by daily experience that not only the Jews, but also all men are of this mind; as I said above about the Turks, who presume to be God's people because they have such great fortune and so much victory; item, about the pope and his church, who bear the name of the church because they sit in high office and honor. In sum, this history depicts all of them in such a way that they cannot be saved unless they are led to death and despair. For they all presume to obtain God's grace and forgiveness of sins through the fleshly birth and their ability to do so.
I still remember that at one time a godless man and a great enemy of the gospel fell from a scaffold while looking at the building that had been erected in that place. Since he felt no harm from the fall, for no limb was injured, he cried out with a loud voice:
Now I know that I have a gracious God. This is what the world tends to do. It misses itself in bodily benefits and creates such a delusion that God is gracious and favorable to it; this is our nature and way. Therefore, it is necessary that it be killed, which is done by the law.
For this reason, anyone who wants to be an heir of the promise must abandon everything that is not a promise, just as St. Paul did to the Philippians in chapter 3, v. 8, when he called the righteousness of the law filth. V. 8, where he calls the righteousness of the law filth. For nothing is valid in the sight of God except the promise and grace held out in Christ. The flesh also has its gifts, but nothing is due to it except bread and water. Eternal life does not come to the children of the flesh, but to the children of the promise, that is, to those who believe in Christ.
It is a glorious thing that God has given a blessing to husbands and wives, saying, "Grow and multiply"; but this blessing is bodily, and remains only to fill the earth. For however holy and pious the father and mother may be, the same does not help the children born of them: they themselves are not saved. But if they are to be saved, they must become children of the promise and believe the promise themselves. For this cause we all must be baptized: and that thou art baptized, I profit not by it, but must myself also be baptized, and believe.
Thus, Ishmael's rejection is a proof that affects all men, the whole Church from beginning to end: that the first birth does not belong to the Kingdom of God and that without faith in the promise of Christ no one can be saved. For this reason it is a foolish thing that the papists cry out that they are the Church. For the church is not such a people as is to be looked upon and understood according to the great multitude or people, wisdom, power, wealth, honor, succession, office, and such like things, much less according to the worship services of their own choosing; but is a people of promise, that is, who believe the promise.
(185) If, then, they say, "The pope is the head of the church, therefore all that is
he commands, divine and good; so you shall say that such does not follow. For the pope knows and understands nothing of the Scriptures, much less does he believe the Scriptures. He is an outward shell of the church, but is not the church; indeed, he challenges the church and persecutes it, as Cain persecuted his brother Abel, and does this for the sake of the promise, which he usurps, even though he does not believe. Therefore, let no one be frightened by the great and splendid titles and names of ordinary succession, by their profession and office.
The Turks also boast that they are creatures of God and swear by God, the Creator of heaven and earth. The pope boasts that he believes in Christ, namely, that he is the Son of God and Redeemer of the whole world. In the meantime, he establishes monasteries, masses, fasts, the service of the dead saints, and other such things, but all in vain. For these are the works of thine own creation, who art made of flesh; they are the fruits of an evil tree. But if the tree is to become good, you must become a member and person of the promise, that is, you must accept grace and rely on mercy alone. Which cannot happen unless you accept the word of promise with right faith. Ishmael is a true natural son of Abraham, but he is not an heir.
This is St. Paul's argument and proof, which no man can overthrow. We see and grasp that the papists persecute the children of the promise as Ishmael persecuted Isaac. If therefore the false confidence which they have conceived is not killed and destroyed with all the excellent gifts which come from the flesh, they will never be saved. Look at the Turks, how they are adorned with such great power and wisdom, and the pope and his cardinals are also very wise men. So Plato, Cicero and Socrates were also great men, but therefore they are not the church. Because they do not have this essential difference, so that the church is separated from the world, namely the promise. Therefore, we give the pope and his people the well
that they have wisdom and great honor, and that they also have the succession and the ministry, but they are not yet the church. For they still lack the essential difference, which is that one must believe the gospel. But those who do not believe the gospel are not the church, nor do they belong to the kingdom of Christ.
Therefore, dear Squire Pope, your papacy must first be killed and you must be destroyed before God, or else you will never become even the smallest member of the church. These are harsh words and very unpleasant to the papists; but it also hurt Ishmael that he had to be cast out and separated from the church, and be considered such a member as would be cut off from the church. And nothing harsher or more burdensome can happen to us common people than to be deprived of all hope and comfort.
This temptation often plagues me myself, so that I almost look around for good works to rely on, namely, that I have taught and preached a lot, served many people and done good, and suffered a lot of injustice without my merit: but when the right moves and battles come along, I feel that all this is nothing, and I am driven to the point that I must also say and confess with David, Psalm 32, v. 5: Lord, I am nothing, but only a poor sinner; item, when he says in the 116th Psalm, v. 11: "I said in my fear, All men are liars," that is so much said: All men are vain, who deceive and are deceived; item in the 143rd Psalm, v. 2: "Go not into judgment with thy servant."
(190) But with this hope alone do I arise, that I may see that in the gospel comfort is promised to those who are oppressed and troubled by their sin, and hope to poor despondent consciences; and that to those who are led into hell, heaven is promised. And this is a certain sign of this hope, that the Son of God, without our foreknowledge, sacrificed Himself for us on the trunk of the cross to God His Father.
191. where now the people in this way
are first humbled and brought to despair, and as they despair of themselves, so they also begin to be confident for Christ's sake; so they become children and heirs of God. But many are found who do not want to be humbled, but still intend to take revenge and grumble against those who punish them; such are hardened and hardened in two ways.
Therefore, when you feel that you are being humiliated, lie down at the feet of your heavenly Father and say: O dear Lord, if you deal with me in this way, I will suffer it with patience and confess that I deserve much harsher punishment; therefore have mercy on me: if you do not want me to be an heir, then deal with me in such a way that I may remain a servant: yes, as the Canaanite woman Matth. 15:27, I will not refuse to be a little dog in thy house, that I may at least eat the crumbs, which otherwise shall fall to the ground, and be trodden under foot. You do not owe me anything on account of any right, so I will abide by your grace and mercy.
This is the right way by which we come to grace and salvation, but there are few who hear it, and even fewer who obey it, believe it and accept it. The Jews recite these words daily in their prayers, and say: Praise be to God, who sanctifies us above all other nations on earth; but this is no prayer, but is the highest blasphemy, as the 109th Psalm v. 7. says: "Their prayer must be sin." For God is not such a God as accepts persons, but holds out His word to all men, and wants them all to believe and be saved; He makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile, but wants to be one God of all men. Therefore, let no one make such a claim or boast as the Jews do; but let us all humble ourselves and confess that we are nothing; but what we are, that all comes from the grace and mercy of God.
194 Paul also was puffed up and proud because of his righteousness; but since he had the
When he heard the voice of Christ at Damascus, whom he had so surely despised before, he trembled and was terrified, and said, "Lord, what do you want me to do? Where was his glory then, that he was Abraham's child, of the family of Benjamin, a Pharisee, a disciple who had diligently studied and learned the law? Just as Ishmael went from the law to the promise, and from death to life, and from hell to heaven, so did Paul. For this reason, he subsequently treats with such great zeal and spirit this disputation on the promise and merit, on grace and good works, namely, that the promise alone and nothing else makes heirs; that fleshly birth, circumcision and other works of the law do not.
Fourth Part.
How the angel appears to Hagar and helps her, and what happened to Ishmael afterwards.
V. 17. Then God heard the voice of the boy. And the angel of God called from heaven to Hagar, and said unto her, What is the matter with thee, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy as he lies.
He does not call him Abraham's son, but only a boy, which name is common to all men, and says that his cry is heard. But Ishmael, since he was so close to death, would undoubtedly not have claimed that he was born of Abraham. For since the sorrow and fear of death are upon him, he forgets it, and the Leviathan, of whom we said above, has also come, that is, Satan, who has also killed him spiritually by the power of the law.
Therefore, there was nothing left with him but the inexpressible groaning of a despondent heart that he confessed that he was not worthy of his father's house and inheritance; as the prodigal son says in the Gospel Luc. 15:21, "I am gone.
no longer worthy to be called your son." God sees and hears this groaning. He cried out with his mouth and lamented, but the anguish of the heart and sorrow was the most prominent thing, which was followed by the crying and deep sighing of the heart. To such music, which seems very sad and miserable to us, God is more pleased than to any other service; as He says Isa. 66:2: "I look upon the wretched, and the brokenhearted." For where one is secure, God is angered.
197 There is a story told of Anthony, the hermit who first began the monastic life, that he desired to know what kind of companion he would have for the great honor and glory in eternal life, because he was very pleased with himself for the sake of the solitary life he led. Therefore he heard in a dream that in Alexandria there would be a shoemaker or tanner who would be his journeyman in the same glory. Then Antony marveled at this comparison and went to Alexandria to see the same man, who would be like him in holiness. For he thought that the shoemaker must be an excellent and highly gifted man. When he comes to him, he finds him at his work, so that he can feed himself and his wife and children; therefore he says to him: "My dear shoemaker, I know that you have God before your eyes, and serve him faithfully and rightly: I beg you, tell me, what do you do, what do you eat, what do you drink, how or when do you pray, do you also keep watch and pray all night long? No, says the cobbler, but in the morning and in the evening I thank God for His gracious protection, that He has governed and preserved me, and I ask Him to forgive all my sins for Christ's sake, after which I humbly ask Him to govern me with His Holy Spirit and not to lead me into temptation. When I have made such a prayer, I deal with my leather, and see how I may feed myself and mine. I do nothing more about this, except to take care that I do not act contrary to my conscience.
When Antony hears this, he is astonished and understands so much from it that the self-chosen services are not proper services, and that for this reason one should not rely on them. Such grace not only befell Anthony, but it is also an admonition to all descendants, so that God would help His dear church, that people should not give way to the self-chosen services, which always bring with them this harmful pestilence, that one should rely on them; which false trust must be killed in all ways.
For neither poor and insignificant clothing, nor hard and meager food, fasting, long prayer, much watchfulness, nor any work whatsoever, can help us to come to eternal life; only trust in God's grace and mercy, or only the promise, is what makes us blessed. If it is without it, then only confess freely and say: I am nothing, I do not belong to the inheritance, I am driven away from my father's house. This is the voice of the boy Ishmael, which the Lord heareth: and to them that cry unto him he sendeth his angels from heaven.
200 Therefore this is a very great comfort to all those who feel and sense that they are cast out, that is, who recognize their sin and are terrified of God's judgment. For God will not and cannot reject such wretched and afflicted hearts, Ps. 113, 6. And if such people had no other comfort of men, an angel would rather have to come down from heaven to comfort them. Therefore God is called a God of the miserable and afflicted, who does not extinguish the smoldering wick, Isa. 42, 3. But after the carnal trust in Ishmael was killed, he became a true child of the promise, and what he had demanded before as by right, but still did not obtain, the same now happens to him by grace in the utmost need and despair.
This is a strange thing, and it is well worth noting. Since Ishmael feels and senses that he has been rejected, he is closest to God and God loves him the most, and he can hear the voice and the groaning of the wretched Ishmael.
Do not despise the afflicted boy. If God had not heard him there, he would have been eternally lost. But this is impossible for God, for He is gracious and merciful, Ps. 103, 8, who does not take pleasure in the death of the poor sinner, Ezk. 33, 11.
(202) Therefore let us learn well this rule, that no other people on earth can become Abraham's children except those who are broken in spirit, and that by special and pure grace. Therefore let no man presume on any thing, neither let him despair. But our nature is like this: in times of peace, when things are going well, it is presumptuous, and in times of war and strife it is even despondent; but since one should take the middle road, and where there is trouble and danger, one should not despair, but should rely on God's grace and mercy and call upon His name, according to the saying in the 50th Psalm, v. 15. Psalm v. 15: "Call upon me in trouble, and I will save you"; item, as he says in Psalm 91 v. 16: "I will show you my salvation" etc.
(203) But people must also be reminded that no one should think that by repenting of sin, of which we have now said much, one can earn God's grace, as the sophists falsely teach. For there are many who do not hear the word; there are also many who hear the word and yet do not believe. For the word is spoken to us all, and this is a common word, so at the same time it concerns us all, since he says Exodus 20:2: "I am the Lord your God." But the presumptuous despise it; but those who despair do not believe that it concerns them. Therefore one must take the middle road, according to the common saying: In the middle is safest.
(204) For the sake of Hagar, it is reasonable to wonder that she was not frightened and ran away when she heard the voice of the angel in the wilderness. But I have said that her heart was so troubled and distressed by great fear that she did not consider who he was who was speaking. As it is also the case of St. Petro Ap. histr. 12, 7. ff. When he is awakened in prison by an angel and led out of prison, he does not know,
that it is serious, what happens with him, but means, something happened to him in the dream. But there is no doubt that the angel of Hagar appeared in the form of a man.
205. Because the word of God is never preached in vain, Hagar is first raised from death by the voice of the angel: Then she is enlightened by a new light of the Holy Spirit, and from a handmaid she now also becomes a mother in the church, who afterwards instructed her children and admonished them with her example, so that they would not become proud; For she had also been a proper wife of the holy patriarch Abraham and had borne him his firstborn son, but the same fleshly advantage or privilege had done her no good, indeed, the same honor had been a cause that she had become proud and hopeful; but for the sake of such hopefulness she had been cast out, and having thus been humbled, she had finally come to grace.
(206) As in our time, we also who have lived in monasteries. We tell others about our cross and torture, on which we relied and thought we were sitting in God's lap; but now we have been enlightened by God's word, we call the same righteousness all, on which we then relied, with St. Paul Phil. 3, 8. vile filth and harm.
207. Since Hagar was instructed in this way in the school of the Lord, she then taught many disciples very well in the most important article taught in the church of God, namely, that no boasting according to the flesh is valid before God, for she lay in one bed with Abraham and was nevertheless cast out of the house. If anyone wants to boast about this, he should boast about the Lord, that he knows the Lord, 1 Cor. 1:31, that is, that he has the promise and believes it, because without this faith the rest is all in vain.
The words of the angel are very short in Hebrew, as: "What do you lack, Hagar? But they are not to be understood as if they were harsh words, so that he would attack her, but they are words of comfort. Ah, he says, why do you weep, why do you sigh, what do you desire? You have no reason to feel this way.
fear. Stop crying, God cares for you and your son. He has thus willed to chastise you. Now that this has happened, he wants you to hope in his mercy and to take care of everything that is good for him. You also prayed with your son before in the house of Abraham, but there God did not listen to you, because at that time your prayer was in hope and contempt of your brother. But in this place he has now heard you; therefore believe that here is his church. For where God hears prayer, there is the house of prayer, there is the church, there is the inexpressible groaning of those who despair of themselves. So this, which is said so clearly in the text about the place where Ishmael is, must be understood as said emphatically.
And so the angel is sent from heaven to comfort the almost dying Ishmael and his mother. Because the medicine and help is so delicious and expensive, it is clear that the illness they both had must have been great. For not a man, but an angel is sent to those who are afflicted with misery and grief here, and we are also shown here why they were also cast out in the first place, namely: Not that God was hostile to Ishmael and Hagar, but that this false cause was invented by Leviathan; but God's counsel and will is that they should be humbled and learn to rely solely on God's grace and mercy, and not on any merit or carnal worthiness.
Now this was written by the Holy Spirit, so that the whole world and all descendants might learn that this sentence is universally and undoubtedly true, namely, that we are saved by grace and not by merit or works. For there was no other remedy or means to ward off the pride and hope of merit and worthiness, except that Ishmael would be expelled with his mother from the holy church of God that was in Abraham's house. But since this could not have happened without great pain and many tears, the fruit that resulted was nevertheless much greater, namely,
that through such a way they came to grace and became blessed.
This, I say, is the ultimate cause of this miserable and pitiful exorcism, namely, that God wants to teach that we are saved by grace alone, or primarily through faith, which grasps and accepts the grace held out to us in the promise. For the natural children shall become like unto them that are not natural children, and yet believe, that there may be one God of the Jews and also of the Gentiles: that the Jews may not boast of their carnal advantage, and the Gentiles may not despair because of their unworthiness and sins.
And this is the highest article of our faith. If it is taken away, as the Jews do, or falsified, as the papists do, neither the church can exist, nor can God retain His glory. Which honor is that he is gracious and merciful, and that he will forgive our sins and make us blessed for the sake of his Son.
Therefore, this apparently sad history is a comfort to us who are poor, miserable sinners and come to the church without any worthiness or merit. But we have an equal place with those who are natural children. For with God there is no respect for the person, and with Him alone the promise is valid; for it is God's word that endures forever, Isa. 40:8.
214. But what reason can our adversaries have to doubt this doctrine, which they so vehemently dispute, when we say that we are saved by grace alone and not by merit? What, after all, moves them to do this? For it is much more certain in itself if we believe that we become children of God by grace rather than by merit. For if it depended on merit, we could never be sure when we had merit enough; therefore we could not be without danger of eternal damnation. What, then, causes the papists to prefer to rely on works and their own merit rather than on the promise and grace of God?
The first cause is that they do not believe that God is a Creator of heaven and earth.
fear. Stop crying, God cares for you and your son. He has thus willed to chastise you. Now that this has happened, he wants you to hope in his mercy and to take care of everything that is good for him. You also prayed with your son before in the house of Abraham, but there God did not listen to you, because at that time your prayer was in hope and contempt of your brother. But in this place he has now heard you; therefore believe that here is his church. For where God hears prayer, there is the house of prayer, there is the church, there is the inexpressible groaning of those who despair of themselves. So this, which is said so clearly in the text about the place where Ishmael is, must be understood as said emphatically.
And so the angel is sent from heaven to comfort the almost dying Ishmael and his mother. Because the medicine and help is so delicious and expensive, it is clear that the illness they both had must have been great. For not a man, but an angel is sent to those who are afflicted with misery and grief here, and we are also shown here why they were also cast out in the first place, namely: Not that God was hostile to Ishmael and Hagar, but that this false cause was invented by Leviathan; but God's counsel and will is that they should be humbled and learn to rely solely on God's grace and mercy, and not on any merit or carnal worthiness.
Now this was written by the Holy Spirit, so that the whole world and all descendants might learn that this sentence is universally and undoubtedly true, namely, that we are saved by grace and not by merit or works. For there was no other remedy or means to ward off the pride and hope of merit and worthiness, except that Ishmael would be expelled with his mother from the holy church of God that was in Abraham's house. But since this could not have happened without great pain and many tears, the fruit that resulted was nevertheless much greater, namely,
that through such a way they came to grace and became blessed.
This, I say, is the ultimate cause of this miserable and pitiful exorcism, namely, that God wants to teach that we are saved by grace alone, or by faith alone, which grasps and accepts the grace held out to us in the promise. For the natural children shall become like unto them that are not natural children, and yet believe, that there may be one God of the Jews, and of the Gentiles also: that the Jews, because of their carnal advantage, may not boast, and the Gentiles, because of their unworthiness and sins, may not despair.
And this is the highest article of our faith. If it is taken away, as the Jews do, or falsified, as the papists do, neither the church can exist, nor can God retain His glory. Which honor is that he is gracious and merciful, and that he will forgive our sins and make us blessed for the sake of his Son.
Therefore, this apparently sad history is a comfort to us who are poor, miserable sinners and come to the church without any worthiness or merit. But we have an equal place with those who are natural children. For with God there is no respect for the person, and with Him alone the promise is valid; for it is God's word that endures forever, Isa. 40:8.
214. But what reason can our adversaries have to doubt this doctrine, which they so vehemently dispute, when we say that we are saved by grace alone and not by merit? What, after all, moves them to do this? For it is much more certain in itself if we believe that we become children of God by grace rather than by merit. For if it depended on merit, we could never be sure when we had merit enough; therefore we could not be without danger of eternal damnation. What, then, causes the papists to prefer to rely on works and their own merit rather than on the promise and grace of God?
The first cause is that they do not believe that God is a Creator of heaven and earth.
and of the earth. For if they believed that they were God's creature and God their Creator, they would never hold their merit or works against Him, nor would they be proud or presumptuous on account of anything. For how can the Creator be compared to the creature? The creature is made of nothing; therefore, all that the creature is capable of is nothing, namely, where one wants to rebel against the Creator, who gave the creature its essence. Therefore Job says in the 4th Cap. V. 17, 18, 19: "How can a man be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than he who made him? Behold, among his servants there is none without blame, and in his messengers he finds foolishness. How much more, they that dwell in the lime houses, and that are founded upon the earth, shall be eaten of the worms." Therefore, it is evident that the papists neither believe that God is the Creator nor that they are creatures, since they reproach God for their merits and works, and would rather rely on their works than on God's grace. But what is it that that which is nothing wants to argue with God, its Creator?
The other reason that the papists doubt the doctrine of justification by faith is that God does not deal with us according to His majesty, but takes human form and speaks to us throughout the Scriptures as one man speaks to another. He asks Adam in Paradise Genesis 3:9: "Adam, where are you?" as if he did not know, if Adam did not tell him. The saints cry out everywhere: "Arise, Lord, why are you asleep? Yes, Christ himself says in the Gospel Luc. 6, 38: "Give, and it shall be given unto you," and establishes, as it were, a society and fellowship with us, so that he speaks everything to us without majesty and, that I call it, from the humble form of God. But it happens as it is said in the common proverb: Where one makes oneself too mean, one is despised.
217. But God condescends and humbles Himself because of our weakness, for we cannot tolerate or tolerate our weakness.
that he should speak to us in his majesty. These are words of majesty, of which St. Paul says Rom. 11, 35: "Who has given him anything in advance to be repaid to him?", item Rom. 9, 18: "He hardens whom he will"; item Job 4, 18: "Before God no one is innocent." Who can bear these words? And yet, when he lets himself down for our sake, that he may speak to us as a householder speaks to his servants, he is despised by us, and we take it that he needs our money, our fasting, our praying and our watching. etc.
218 Therefore, the kindness and fellowship that should reasonably provoke us to accept the goodness and grace of God makes us presumptuous and proud. He speaks to us of himself as if he were a man, like us; he presents himself as if he does not know where Adam is; he presents himself as if he were asleep; he rents out his vineyard and promises the workers their wages. We abuse this kindness and humility of his, and take him for a tailor or cobbler, who gives us nothing out of grace, but does everything according to our merit. This is an insufferable presumption and worthy of eternal death.
219 Yes, they say, nevertheless the promise is there Luc. 6, 38: "Give, and it will be given to you. What is that to you? Do you therefore say that you do not celebrate a creature of God? But if you are a creature, then you are nothing compared to the Creator, and it is in vain that you reproach him with your merits and works. Do you not see that Ishmael is driven out of the house when he becomes proud and hopeful because of his fleshly birth, and that he must then almost die in the wilderness? But the same is very useful to him, because through it he is redeemed from arrogance and obtains grace.
The 100th Psalm says v. 3: "He made us, and not we ourselves. Why does the Holy Spirit remind us of this, as if no one knew? Answer: Truly the whole world needs this teaching, for all who rely on their works do not know that the Lord made them, and they need to be reminded that the Lord made them.
they would humble themselves before the Creator and would not presume to have any wealth. For all that they have, they have from God. The ignorance of creation and the fact that God shows Himself to be so kind to us makes us proud and presumptuous.
Therefore it is necessary that the Lord give us a master, as the 9th Psalm v. 21 says, and kill us with Ishmael, so that the saying of St. Paul Ephes. 2, 8. 9. may certainly stand: All that we are, we are by faith and not of works, by grace and not of merit, even naturally, and according to the body and flesh, how much more supernaturally and according to the Spirit; that we may simply say: Have mercy on me, dear Lord God. This is what Ishmael and Hagar learned in the desert.
The fact that Ishmael was driven out of the house teaches us how God is so fiercely hostile to pride and presumption. Here again, learn how God deals with those who are humiliated. Hagar sits and weeps very violently, and is in the greatest despair; for she sees that she and her son have been cast out and banished from Abraham, the father of God's Church, which is truly an abominable thing. For the law does not joke, but truly strikes down the hearts and humbles them, that with all their strength and works they have earned nothing but eternal damnation.
Therefore the angel comes as a comforter, and brings nothing but vain words of comfort from God Himself: but Hagar is silent, for she cannot answer him because of weeping. For where the heart is taken up with great sorrow, mourning and grief, speech also dies and remains silent. Because she is silent to the angel's words, the angel absolves her of her sins and tells her not to be afraid.
Therefore, you should know the difference between the Law and the Gospel. She had previously heard a sad judgment that God wanted her to be cast out with the boy. Such a voice of the law depressed her proud spirit, especially since she was challenged in the wilderness. Where now a heart
When a man is afflicted with such fear and distress, he cries out with constant groaning: "Lord, do not cast me out of your sight," Ps. 51:13. But what this is, to be cast out of God's sight, is understood only by the saints, that is, by those who are well tried and humbled: but those who still dispute about their merits and works do not understand it. Therefore follows the right voice of the gospel, which is thus, "Fear not," that is, you who have hitherto been crushed by the law, rejected and banished, shall now have good hope that you will be helped. That you have been driven out and that the water is gone; item, that you are in the vast wilderness, and your son lies there as if he were about to die: all this frightens and distresses you, and it would not be far from killing you. But God tells you not to be afraid. Just as everything else frightens you and makes you fearful, so this favor and grace of God shall raise you up again etc.
But the fact that she is thus comforted by the angel shows that she was in the highest fear, trembling and terror. For what else would it be necessary to tell her that she should not be afraid, if she had not been extremely frightened and distressed? The Antinomians and Epicureans feast, play, sing and jump: therefore it would be in vain to say to them that they should not be afraid. But Hagar, together with her son, is extremely frightened and despondent, not only because the water in the bottle has run out, but rather because there is a lack of spiritual water, and she now feels that she is banished. She had well understood that she had cried and prayed in vain until now, for she had been hopeful and proud; but now her prayer is heard, because she has a broken heart and is dead with her son. God is a God of the humble and lowly, not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles, but He resists the proud, 1 Petr. 5, 5.
226 But see how the angel knows how to moderate his speech so finely. He says not that the voice of Hagar is heard, but of the son: and yet he speaks not to the son, but to Hagar. For she as the
Mother was most grieved and distressed for the sake of her son, who was now almost closer to death than to life. Now that she hears that he is in grace and that he is promised a great kingdom or a great nation, she is completely restored and comforted, and nothing prevents her from this joy, so that she is not immediately reinstated or called to the former place from which she was expelled. God," says the angel, "has heard the voice of the child" in the place "where he lies," as if to say: "You shall make no distinction before God between the house of Abraham and the tree under which your son lies. Even though you are not in Abraham's house, be careful not to doubt that you and your son belong to the same church and congregation.
227 Abraham is the father of the promise, and in his house is the true church; but that thou art now excluded from it, methinks it is a wretched thing. Therefore you think that you would like to be a maid and your son a servant in Abraham's house, but it is not necessary; it is enough that you are humbled. For as far as the nature of the place is concerned, this place where you are now is no less than the house of Abraham. For here God speaks with you, in this place he hears the prayer of your son, therefore he also has a church here etc.
Thus does St. Paul everywhere. He makes the Gentiles and the Jews equal, and makes no other difference between them, except that the natural children of Abraham trusted in God's word. The Gentiles did not have this advantage, namely, that Christ should come from their seed; and yet they are compared to the Jews as far as the grace of salvation is concerned, if they only believe in Christ.
229. as we see here that God has an open ear to hear the voice of Ishmael, who lies outside the house of Abraham in the wilderness under the tree and cries out to Him, namely, that this reason and main doctrine may stand firm and certain, that God will give glory to the lowly and humble.
and that the Lord is well pleased with those who fear Him etc., Ps. 147, 11. And as Peter says Acts 10, 34. 35. 10, 34, 35: "Now I know with truth that God does not look at the person, but in all people, whoever fears Him and does right is pleasing to Him," whether he is circumcised or not, for this is certainly the result of the circumstances.
For this reason, this text is worthy and necessary that we explain it in so many words and at such length. For it is true that if our worthiness and merit were to count for anything, we would already be lost. Therefore, the papacy is worthy that everyone should be hostile to it; for everything is done according to the person and the worthiness of the people, that one is a monk, a nun, a priest and is in the celibate state etc.
They all think: We are poor, we are not married, we fast and pray, therefore we will surely enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but this is the Ishmaelite hope, which God cannot suffer. And shall we thank God for it, when He takes away this confidence in our merit through many a trial, and teaches us that we are justified by grace through faith and not by the merit of our works.
232) For this reason it can be seen how God is so strict and serious, and so cruelly dealt with Ishmael, this has been a useful and necessary seriousness, first for the sake of Ishmael, who could not have been humbled in any other way; then for our sake, so that we may have hope and trust in Him, that we alone may be saved by His grace and mercy, as the Jews themselves were; as Peter says, Acts 15:15. 15, 9. 11.
Therefore, God does not only hear those who cry out to Him in Abraham's house, where the church is, but also under a tree, only that you humble yourself and hope that He will be gracious to you through Christ. And thus is confirmed the noblest article of our faith and our highest wisdom, namely, that those are not children of God who are born of blood, of the will of man, or of the will of
but of God, John 1:13, that is, those who believe the promise. For by this promise alone will he save those who are not proud and presumptuous because of birth or merit, but who believe in Christ. Now this is the preaching of the angel: but to this he also gives a command.
V. 18. Arise, take the boy, and lead him by your hand; for I will make him a great nation.
Hagar was able to think like this: What shall I do now that I am reconciled to God? Shall I go again to Abraham's house? Then the angel says: No, I do not command you, I do not want you to be bound to any place, go wherever you please: but only take the boy and lead him by your hand, that is, see that you take care of him, teach him, instruct him and govern him. So he absolves the poor afflicted woman from all banishment and fear, and accepts her back into the fellowship of Isaac's promise, leaving her free to go wherever she wants; he does not want her bound to the house of Abraham or to any other place. As if to say, "It matters little where you will be, only that you fear and worship God and govern, instruct and care for your son, and do not worry about the city, time and person with whom you will be, nothing: do what a mother should do, and know that God will take care of you.
Because of this, she was banished and, as it were, imprisoned, but now she is set free again as a Christian. God could have spoken to her as he spoke at Mount Sinai, but because she was already frightened before, she could not bear the voice of the high majesty.
The Lord also uses such kindness toward us. He speaks to us through the service of men in the ministry of preaching, and thus conceals his majesty, which is terrifying and distasteful to us. But because such a ministry seems too small and mean, first the pastors and church servants, and then God Himself, will also be involved in such a ministry.
The Lord has despised this ministry, and it does not take much for it not to be trampled underfoot. But a time will come when God, who now so humbles Himself for the sake of our salvation, will let His majesty be seen, and will suppress and destroy the sure despisers. Therefore, let us learn to recognize this supreme and immeasurable gift of his, namely, that he has thus manifested his majesty and taken on human form. Therefore, let us not despise the word, but fall on our knees and honor and worship the holy ministry of preaching, through which God humbles Himself to speak to us.
237. for we are truly the people, who, as Moses, Deut. 4, 7. of his Jews, have God near to us and dwelling among us; for by your mouth He speaks to me, and by my mouth He speaks to you; yes, that is even more, the Son of God Himself came down into the flesh and became man, for the sole purpose of enticing us to Himself, and that we should draw hope from this that He would be merciful, and not be afraid of Him, as we are afraid of His majesty, which our nature cannot bear; as it is written 2 Mos. 33, 20: "No man shall live who beholds me"; item Deut. 4, 24: "God is a consuming fire." For this reason he takes upon himself a weak form, which is like us, yes, which is even friendly, before which we should not even be afraid, as we are not afraid of ourselves.
But all this is contrary to the infirmity of our nature, which cannot be healed, namely, that we all look at our works and merits, and thus forget that we are creatures, but God is the Creator, and thus despise the grace by which alone one must be saved. In order that God might prevent and control this affliction, He sent His Son into the world to show us the Father, and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to show and teach us that the Son became man for us and a sacrifice for our sins.
239. that the angel has fulfilled the promise of the
The repeated ban of the great people was very necessary because of the serious ban in which Hagar was. For she will have thought thus: Behold, I have been cast out with my son, and though God has promised me that twelve princes shall be born of my son, yet He will repent of the same benefit, and the promise will be lost, because I am thus banished and cast out; for the ban takes all away. Therefore the angel comforts her and tells her that the promise will be sure. You were cast out," he says, "only because you were humbled and learned that everything you have, you do not have by any right, because Abraham was your husband, but you have it by grace. This has been taught and held up to the whole world by your example. This is the absolution, followed now also by a bodily consolation.
V.19. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the bottle with water and watered the boy.
240 Moses writes everything in a very simple way. I said above about the great fright of Hagar, that she was so excited that she did not see the well that was so close to her. But now, when she is awakened and encouraged by God's word as if from a deep sleep, she opens her eyes and sees the well of water; and since her feet were dull and tired before from sadness of heart, she can now step on it again. For she runs to the well, and fills the bottle with water, so that she again refreshes the weary boy.
The fact that Moses says that God opened her eyes is nothing else than that God, through His word, dissolves and takes away such terror of the heart and agitation; as the 116th Psalm v. 7 says that the soul is satisfied by the word, that is, it is refreshed and comes back to itself, as it were. For in temptations, which are somewhat heavy, hearts come as it were from themselves, that they feel nothing, nor do they feel anything.
understand. In Terence, one says that he is so enraged that he cannot direct his heart to any thoughts. If anger can thus mislead and grieve the heart, what should not the great terror and excitement do, which the feeling of the wrath of God and eternal damnation bring with it?
Augustine says that the heart of man is more alive when it loves than when it lives, as can be seen in lovers; therefore, even in great sorrow the heart is overtaken and crushed, and all the senses die. But this is the power of the word of God, that it revives hearts that have thus died; the word of man cannot do this.
243 But that she waters the boy, the same also belongs to it, that we learn from it, how the affliction had been so great; because the sad thoughts withdraw senses, strength and juice from the body, that the tongue becomes dry, and the whole body of man feels that it becomes weak and decreases. This is the reason for fainting and other distressing accidental illnesses.
V. 20. 21. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a good shot, and dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan. And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
So far we have heard how Ishmael, after he was killed in the wilderness, was accepted again by grace, and learned this reason, that those are not Abraham's children who are born of his flesh, but who believe the promise. For God also requires of us, above the fleshly birth, our own or personal righteousness, which comes to us by grace alone, through faith alone, so that all glory before God may be set aside, Rom. 4:2.
245 But these things are our comfort and doctrine, that we be not proud nor presumptuous because of the grace which we have, nor despondent because of our sin; but that we take the right middle way. For those who are proud and presumptuous sin.
They are against the first commandment and carry the blasphemy of Satan in their hearts, saying, "I am God to myself. But the others, despairing, also sin against the first commandment and blaspheme God, because they consider it that he is not merciful, thus depriving and robbing him of the noblest honor of his divinity.
246 This then is the right middle way, that we should confess and believe that, as it is said in the first commandment, God is our God, and we are His creatures and works. Therefore we should not despair, for we have only one God: nor should we be presumptuous or proud, for we are creatures, and as Isaiah Cap. 40, 6. says, we are nothing and vain dust.
The fact that the text says that God was with the boy Ishmael is a great, glorious consolation, which indicates that when we are humbled, God will open heaven for us and abundantly pour out Himself and all that He has. For not only is Ishmael brought back to the right path, so that he does not continue in presumption, but since he is humbled, he is again placed in the church from which he was cast out because of his presumption; and God Himself sets Himself to be his guardian, governs and blesses him, and is now pleased with everything he does.
For this reason, Ishmael undoubtedly became a skillful and learned preacher, who was instructed by his own example and preached that God is God to those who are humbled; for he used to humble his own, not that he wanted to trample them down and destroy them, but that he might break their blasphemous presumption and that we might be capable of his grace.
In the same way, Ishmael, when he became a husband, brought his wife and his wife's friendship and parents to the knowledge of God; he established a church among the uncircumcised Gentiles, which was like the church of Abraham, without being separated from it in person and place, but nevertheless recognized and confessed the same God, and the same seed, which was promised to the house of Abraham.
(250) This saying, that Ishmael grew, is not to be understood of natural or bodily growth only; for at the time he was under the spell he was about twenty years old: but that God made him great and increased him, first in the word, and in spiritual gifts; "for God," says Moses, "was with him. After that, that he also blessed him temporally, that he begat twelve princes. And there is no doubt about it, Ishmael will have become richer than Abraham was. For he saw the twelve princes who were born of him, but Abraham's descendants did not suddenly arise and become great, although twelve generations came from Jacob, Abraham's grandson.
Therefore we should learn from this how a broken heart is such a powerful sacrifice and how humility is such a pleasing smoke offering to God. For the 145th Psalm rightly says v. 19: "God does what the godly desire"; for they offer a holy sacrifice to God. But in those who are proud and presumptuous, God has an abomination; for he does not find in them the inexpressible groaning.
252 It is almost frightening that it always happens that the descendants fall away and do not prosper. Where the people of Israel have gone, this shows and teaches many miseries and misfortunes, as well as the prisons they have suffered. For the Ishmaelite presumption also affected them. Because they had the word and the temple, they were safe and did not fear the fall, and not only sinned freely without any fear, but also always invented new services. It was the same with the descendants of Ishmael, who, as we see, were drowned and swallowed up in the glory of the fleshly birth, for that is why they called themselves Saracens and not Hagarenes.
But now it cannot be omitted, such a case must follow where this doctrine is annulled and extinguished, namely, that we are children of God by grace alone and not by nature. For this concludes very finely from this cause, that we are children of God by nature.
t all are children of wrath, Eph. 2, 3. and as the 51st Psalm v. 7. says, we are conceived in sins, that is that the clot of the seed from which we are born is corrupted by sin.
254 There are indeed in nature excellent gifts both in the body and also in the soul; but what does God say about them? "Man is hay, and his goodness" or righteousness "is like a flower of the field," Isa. 40:6. Now where this teaching is not, hearts become puffed up and proud, and let themselves dream of their own merit, boasting of the blood, the flesh and the will of the man, as the pope does. For since he has the office of baptizing, administering sacraments and absolving by the power of the keys, he boasts that he is the head of the church. But it is in vain. For although he boasts that he is an heir and successor of the apostles, he does not have the faith of the apostles, and it follows that he cannot be a part or member of the church. For children are not those who are born of the flesh, but those who believe. That he now has the name of the church, the keys and other gifts, I grant him, but he does not yet have the Spirit of God.
255 Moses says that Ishmael was a right rabbi or master to shoot with the bow, that is, a good archer. This is not to be understood as meaning that he could aim finely and hit with certainty, but that he was a brave man of war. For in those days they did not use bows, as is done now, for spectacle and entertainment, but against the enemy; and the Arabs, who are such warlike people, still use bows today, and no monarch or potentate has ever been able to overpower and subdue them. For this reason, the angel said in the 16th chap. V. 12: "His hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him. For just as he did not oppress them all, so he was not oppressed. It may have been his practice that he first tried it by shooting harbors, deer and birds in the wilderness, but the text is primarily concerned with how his kingdom was increased and spread.
Therefore, the descendants of Ishmael fell again into the sin of their father and forgot how to humble themselves before God. The same will happen to our descendants. St. Paul says Apost. Hist. 20, 29: "Out of yourselves shall arise abominable wolves." Thus in our time the Sacramentalists and Anabaptists arose, who in the beginning accepted our teachings, but afterwards raved and raged against us as if they were nonsensical. For Satan practices the same art and the same treachery at all times. The Saracens, as I have said, boast of Ishmael, and do not see that such glory has been destroyed by the ban and banishment: they want to have the honor of their ancestors and not the spirit. So do the Jews.
But it is decided that the descendants must also have the same spirit, faith and promise, or they must not be children of God. I must have the faith and hold fast to the confession that Peter had, or I am nothing, even if I am already the pope. So the church has various gifts, but it is one faith, hope and love that holds all believers together in the one head Christ.
At the end Moses remembers the desert Pharan, so that he may show that the expulsion was not caused for Ishmael's destruction; because Pharan is located near Beer-saba and Gerar, at the borders of the holy land, and also borders on the tribe of Judah, as can be seen in the fourth book of Moses: therefore Ishmael did not live a long way from Abraham's house. Therefore, this close location and neighborhood indicates that Ishmael was reconciled to his father Abraham and his church, although the descendants, as it happens, always fell away one after the other.
259. it is also to be noted that Moses indicates with clear, explicit words that Ishmael took a wife, and in this he did not follow his will, but his mother's counsel; for the example of all young people, that they also follow their parents' counsel and will.
The angel commanded Hagar to take care of her son, to teach him and to govern him; therefore, he was commanded by the voice of God to obey his mother, who gave him a wife. The angel had commanded Hagar to care for, instruct and govern her son; therefore he was also commanded by the voice of God to be obedient to his mother, who takes him a wife from Egypt, and the son follows his mother's advice and will as is proper.
This virtue is praised here by the Holy Spirit, and God also gives His blessing to it according to the promise in the fourth commandment, which reads: "That you may live long on the earth," Exodus 20:12. Therefore, we should also know how to remember our office, and not despise the services of men, which God uses as a means. He wants the children to be governed according to the counsel and will of their parents: if you are obedient to them, you are sure that you have been obedient to God Himself. In the same way, preachers and pastors are appointed in the church: if you hear them, you hear God Himself. Thus, the authorities also lead the regiment because of God and by His command. Therefore, it is Satan's masterpiece that he brings such external offices into contempt.
It is true that the Holy Spirit alone enlightens the heart and kindles faith, but he does not do this without the outward ministry and the outward use of the holy sacraments. That is why Paul is commanded to hear Ananias at Damascus, Acts 9:6. Just as we are commanded to hear the word in the church, so we should not doubt it in the household: if you hear the parents commanding or commanding something, you hear God Himself and are certain of God's will. But if you deviate from the proper office and follow your own delusions and whims, you will not only be of no avail, but you will also seize and accept Satan for God, and you will be quite uncertain of your thoughts, whether they come from God or from the devil.
262. Therefore, Ishmael now receives a great
and rich reward for his obedience in following his mother's counsel and will in taking a wife. For God blesses him abundantly. On the other hand, he curses the disobedient, as the examples teach and show, namely, that in such a marriage, in which the children have entered against their parents' will, there is generally neither salvation nor happiness.
Fifth part.
Of the envy of the Philistines, Abraham's oath and covenant with Abimelech. Item, from Abraham's remaining achievements.
At that time Abimelech and Phichol, his captain, spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in everything you do. Now therefore swear unto me by God, that thou shalt not be unfaithful unto me, nor unto my children, nor unto my nephews; but do unto me the mercies which I have done unto thee, and unto the land wherein thou art a stranger within.
This is a new temptation, as I have said, that God leads His saints in this life in such a strange way that one temptation always follows another. But just as affliction, misery and distress arouse and provoke to prayer and faith, so also the saints, when they are saved from distress and affliction, are aroused and caused to give thanks, so that they praise and extol the grace and mercy of God. Nevertheless, a distinction must be made between these exercises of faith and faith in oneself, just as works must always be distinguished from the promise and faith because of necessity.
For this reason, this temptation, which Abraham is being fanned of here, is a very beautiful and lovely virtue of the devil, namely, envy and dislike, as a tamed evil, which has always caused a lot of trouble for pious people in the world. The cause, however, over which this envy arose
The fact is that God had ordered and prepared an inn for Isaac in Gerar, and that the king had allowed Abraham and given him the freedom to live wherever he wanted. Because everything is quiet and peaceful, and Abraham grows and becomes great through the blessing of the Lord, the Palestinians envy him and begrudge him such happiness as a stranger. Moses excuses the king, who still remembers his dream and speaks to Abraham in a friendly manner and honors him as a prophet of God.
265 But the name of Abraham has somewhat increased envy. For the Palestinians knew well, as the king himself had told them, that Abraham had been promised the land of Canaan and Christ, the promised seed; and since this reputation had gone forth throughout the king's court and the surrounding towns of the Palestinians, the Palestinians in particular did not like him. But when a son was born to him, an old man, by his wife, an old matron, by an extraordinary miracle, they took it for granted that this stranger would rule alone in the land of Canaan.
The devil had enough of this cause to be hostile to Abraham, and aroused the Palestinians, so that they also envied him and became unfavorable. For this is what the common rabble is wont to do: where they see that someone is increasing in goods, honor and power, they become hostile and envious. And when the Palestinians knew from the promise that Abraham would be heir to the land, they feared on their account, even for the sake of their children, and sought counsel how they might oppress or hinder the stranger.
This council was founded by those who were the most distinguished at the king's court. For it is not new that, even though kings and princes are very pious, the court servants, or, as we call them, the councilors, are deceitful, envious, unjust, stingy, and full of cunning and lies. Therefore, what pious princes command and want does not always happen. Today, our princes still maintain and nourish the
Church, and are favorable to the church servants; but what do those of the nobility, burghers and peasants do? Is it not true that they hold one another in contempt and are at enmity with one another for the ministry? So that the devil always stirs up his members against the pious, as he immediately began to do in Paradise.
That is why Abraham fights against envy in this place and shows that he has a strong, undaunted courage. For he knows well that Satan is hostile to all marriages ordered by God and tends to confuse them. Inexperienced people think that the marriage state is such a life, in which there is nothing but vain joy and pleasure; but you will find a lot of sorrow, misfortune and discontent in it, to which a strong and patient courage belongs. So you might find a pious farmer who is plagued by the envy of his neighbors; the foxes and wolves sneak up on his cattle and want to harm him; the servants are careless, lazy and thieving: here such a farmer not only has ample opportunity to do good deeds, but also has the opportunity to learn to be patient.
269. The same thing happened to the patriarch Abraham: he was happy that he had a young heir and sought an inn for him; God also blessed him and made him grow and become rich, adorning him with priestly honor; in addition, the sermon about the promise of the land of Canaan was spread over all of Palestine: Therefore the envy is aroused hard, and as will follow, it has happened daily that they have quarreled and quarrelled with each other about the water, which he has not been able to get rid of. But who could enumerate all the mischief that arose anew every day? For envy and dislike give birth to much inequity and injustice. Therefore he now departs from Gerar and escapes from envy. Therefore, such a life, where one does good to everyone, and yet must suffer envy, hatred, injustice and violence, both from the devil and evil men, is very pleasing to God.
270. As far as history is concerned, it does not seem to me that the king addressed Abraham by himself or on his own initiative: But the great henchmen of the court have lain in the ears of the pious king day and night and urged him that in such danger, if it existed, he would not snore nor be lazy, and allow the stranger to snatch his kingdom from him; for that was before his eyes, that he would improve himself, become rich and strong, and also seek a kingdom,' I do not know from what promise. Therefore let king Abimelech be careful how he secures the kingdom for himself and his descendants'. But this could not be done in a better way than by taking an oath from the stranger.
Such advice was given by Phichol, the king's captain, and with great grandiose words, as courtiers are wont to do, he persuaded the king not to let himself be seen for it, as if he did not respect himself and his family. For this is the use of the courtiers, when one thinks that they seek and promote the benefit and piety of their masters most of all, so they mean what is useful and serves them, so that they may make a great reputation for themselves.
272 Therefore, because the king does not believe that there is any deceit hidden among them, or that this advice comes from hatred and envy, he speaks to Abraham out of a simple heart. I see," he says, "that you are increasing, and that the promise made to you is being fulfilled: therefore I beg you not to be harsh or unkind to me and mine. You came to us as a stranger, we have dealt with you as kindly as we have always been able: this I also desire of you, if now God will raise you up, that you will not abort me, my son, my nephew, and you will confirm this with an oath.
273 The good, pious king understands that he cannot resist the promise, but because Isaac was already born, he is concerned that the promise will soon be fulfilled, and he has such fears for him.
He has made it his duty to take care of his descendants so that they will turn out badly, and for this reason he has caused God to curse the ungrateful despisers of the word and to give the royal honor to others. He is therefore satisfied that Abraham spares only his son and nephew.
274 But this history also belongs to us for consolation and teaching; for we also have our Phicholite courtiers at the present time, who burn with hatred and envy against the poor church servants, and they also multiply wherever they can and may, so that they may cut off the ways and means by which they think that we might increase something. For so they are wont to say: We have enough, if we have only skirt and head; therefore one must prevent many causes, so that the church servants do not become rich. But it will come to pass that what they fear will happen to them against their will. They now want to spare the poor Lazarus the crumbs, when before they had turned and heaped all their money and goods superfluously on the rich man; for they have given castles and cities to the bishops, and have kept them all too well and splendidly: but now, when those who teach the people rightly and faithfully are to be nourished and maintained, they hardly grant them the crumbs, who would otherwise have to perish.
This is the perverse wisdom of the world, so that it not only brings the curse upon itself, but also gives cause that, just as before this time the papal estates increased, so it must also happen today. For the papacy has grown and become large, since these two causes have come together, namely, first, that those who were to administer the church offices were ambitious by nature and got involved in worldly matters; and secondly, the nobility and other authorities were lazy and negligent, fled work, waited for their pleasure, and left the care of the regiment to the church servants. And this will increase the courage and power of the priests today. For while lords and princes hunt and devour and
If they are not able to drink, gamble, dance, and be short-tempered, and if they are not able to cope with these things, then the pastors must finally keep them under control. But if they are thus burdened with various worldly matters, they must, for necessity's sake, lay down the Bible and abandon the study of the Holy Scriptures; for they cannot wait on the worldly regiment and the church at the same time.
276 We teach diligently that these offices should be distinguished, namely, the secular government and the church office, but it is in vain. Therefore, it is not only the fault of the ambitious bishops that the clergy are raised so high and increase, but also of the lazy and negligent authorities, who want to float in honor, as it is fair, but do not want to work. Because of this, those who are called to administer the office do not want to do so diligently, and in the regiments there are nevertheless always deficiencies and infirmities that want help and advice, but the parish priests and church servants must also take such care and burdens upon themselves: so such a regiment will finally result from it, as was the case under the papacy.
For this reason, the authorities should be asked to undergo the work and effort involved in the regiment, which is to be diligently maintained. For the world must always have a regiment. One is wronged, another is afflicted, a third is unjustly reviled: therefore it, being sick, needs medicine. Where those who are in the secular government are negligent and do not help, the matter comes to those who are in the ecclesiastical office; and so the world's handiwork and labor have brought the clergy to such majesty and honor in the church, and in this way the churches have not only been weakened, but have even fallen into decay. It is said in the proverb: Only after the damage one becomes wise. It is the same with our people. Before, they spent too much on the building of the churches and the bishops, but now they begrudge poor Lazarus even the crumbs.
Such sin will not go away without great punishment. The good pious Abraham
He does not desire to have the cities of Palestine, but lets them remain with their king, that he may be lord over them; but he is gladly content to have grass and water for himself and his cattle: yea, that is more, he gives way to your envy, and dwells at Bersaba, which place was hard by. But the envious courtiers do not want to suffer the same, but want to have him even down, so that the blessing is hindered, and do not see that the more willingly and abundantly Abraham helps everyone and does good, the more he is blessed, but again, the more unwillingly and meagerly the courtiers give, the more they are cursed.
But so it goes and so it shall go: those who give nothing to the Lord Christ, who must be a poor beggar in the world, give superfluously to the rich belly, and those who do not feed the hungry will die of hunger themselves. I would not like to bring the secular government down on our necks again; but because the authorities are sleeping securely and commanding their office to others, the stones must finally cry out where they are silent, Luc. 19:40. They make the world full of unrighteous violence and injustice; therefore it is necessary that a diligent physician come, who can advise and heal such afflictions.
280 Therefore I praise King Abimelech and excuse him that he did not speak and act with Abraham of his own accord, but that he was driven to do so by the captain of his court. For it is a sign of piety that he so humbly asks the stranger to be kind to his own; he does not command him to go out of the country, but honors him as a priest of God.
V. 24. Then Abraham said, "I will swear.
The fact that Moses clearly says that Abraham swore can be seen as contrary to the teaching of the gospel and the commandment of Christ. But this is a necessary example, that Abraham did not refuse to swear; and it teaches us by such his deed that the saints and the faithful
under the appearance of religion, we should not despise such external and worldly things; and we should thank the Holy Spirit for describing the histories of the holy fathers in such a way that they are examples and models not only of faith and high virtues, but also of obedience in this temporal life, against the senseless louts in the monasteries, who express all friendliness and cheerfulness and in this way want to be dead to the world, but still live in all kinds of sins and disgraces. Therefore, Abraham here gives a living testimony against such idiots and shows that this outward life and worldly order, customs and works do not displease God.
282 As for the commandment of Christ, when he says Matth. 5, 34: "But I say to you that you shall not swear about anything," this can easily be answered, if one considers the causes, which Moses finely shows in this history. For one can answer rightly and simply that a righteous man or a believer does not sin, even if he swears, but that he thereby does God and man a pleasant service. But this becomes clearer from the causes. For the fact that Abraham swears is the most important reason that the king told him to do so. For here one does not have to disobey the commandments of the authorities, as the mad, nonsensical Anabaptists rave. And so the oath imposed on us by the authorities rhymes with the commandment of God, who commanded that one should be obedient to the authorities.
The other reason why he does it is also shown here, namely, that peace may be established between the king and Abraham's household. For thus says the Scripture Heb. 6:16: "The oath puts an end to all strife," that is, it puts an end to all strife and contention. Who would say that this should not be a holy and good work?
But this belongs to the other commandment. For those who swear an oath to the authorities honor the name of God and adorn the truth, but they cancel out suspicion with it. Therefore, pious people do well when they bear witness to the truth by taking an oath; but the wicked do nothing at all.
right. For this title always clings to them, that they are people whose hearts always want the wrong way, as the 95th Psalm v. 10 says. Therefore we answer the question thus: Those who swear easily and in vain and do not defend the truth, whose oath is made out of abundance and misery, is also evil and unjust; but where one serves the truth with the oath. But where the oath serves the truth, so that friendship and unity may be preserved among the people, it is useful and good that one swears right there; and thereby the name of God is not reviled, but honored, namely, so that God may be feared and peace and unity may remain among the people.
For this reason, the Lord also guides and governs the holy patriarch externally, and protects and preserves him against envy, allowing him to also use common laws and worldly order and custom, and to keep and give himself according to other people's ways, in order to maintain common peace with them. For the holy scripture is not against philosophy and worldly rights or laws in this case, but confirms them and makes the oath, as it were, a special sacrament; for it is connected with the name of God, and belongs to it, that by it the hearts of the people may be reconciled, and quarrels and suspicion may be abolished.
V. 25, 26: And Abraham chastised Abimelech for the well of water, which Abimelech's servants had taken by force. And Abimelech said, I knew not who had done this thing, neither didst thou tell me, neither didst I hear it, but to day.
Here we have another example from the external and worldly life. Of the authorities and their office, honor and obedience, we have written enough; for it is certain that the gospel does not abrogate or forbid the worldly rights and obedience owed to the authorities. Therefore it is not only an impertinent thing of our adversaries, but it is also a great wickedness that they accuse us as if we should be rebels, when our books and writings teach and testify to the contrary.
287: So how do we want to get rid of the abra-
ham, who is regarded in this place as one who does not deal with the king as his royal majesty should? because he punishes him as if he had not kept the covenant; yet the pious God-fearing king persists in his piety, and truly testifies that he knows nothing of all that had happened against Abraham. One could say that he had appealed to the king for help and had done so without any evil desire, but such an excuse is somewhat weak. Therefore, they are rather examples of this common life. For though we may all fail and fall short in some ways, yet such faults are forgiven the pious.
Abraham allowed himself to be deceived into thinking that it had happened with the king's knowledge and by his command that the well of water had been taken from him against the covenant they had made with each other. So he also ran up there when he said that Sarah was not his wife but his sister, Gen 20:2. But he did not intend to sin with his will, but did it out of fear and terror. It would have been better if he had not punished the king in this way, but since he is troubled by suspicion, he cannot think otherwise, because the king must know about it. And truly the authorities should not be so negligent in their office that they should not know where their subjects do wrong. For although a pious and God-fearing authority cannot know everything its subjects do, but must not know many things, it is still not free from sin.
Yes, you say, I can hear that they are both guilty of this: Abraham because of the suspicion he had, and that he punished the king a little more severely than was due; and the king because he did not wait for his office as diligently as he should have done? Yes, this is true; for God wants us to be sinners, so that we do not become hopeful and proud, but should sing with David from Ps. 19:13: "Lord, forgive me my hidden faults;
item: "Who can tell how often he is absent?" And it is good and useful for you to know that you have such a ministry, since it is impossible for you to do it enough at all times. Those who think otherwise and are of a different mind become hopeful and proud, and by their hopefulness they run hard and hardly sin. But this is what those are wont to do who are newcomers and are just coming into the reign. For they, like the inexperienced marksmen, often miss the mark by a long way.
For this reason, it is not the will of a pious authority that it would like to harm anyone; it directs all its advice so that it may be useful and serve its subjects. But her servants and advisors, who must help her in the regiment, because they, the rulers themselves, are not able to carry out so much business alone, do much in the name of their masters, who, if they knew it, would not suffer such things. Thus the servants also sin in many ways, of which the lord often knows nothing.
The same thing happens to the saints. They are not only challenged and plagued with punishments and much persecution, but also often fall into great misfortunes, so that they fall and err. But one must learn that they will not be lost because of this, if only their will is pure and good, and that they are not lazy and negligent in their office. For if the common subjects cannot live without sin, much less will those who are in authority be able to do so. But let every man take heed that there be no evil in him, and that he be not ignorant of the things which he ought in his office to know. So Abraham appeals to the authorities for help, but with a penalty. For he thinks: This king should rule in such a way that he would have obedient servants, who would faithfully and firmly keep the blind and contract that he has established with others. etc. There was truly no ill will.
We learn, however, that this is still the case today at the courts of the princes. It has often happened to me, because I have obtained something from the prince with good graces, that the court servants, the phicholites, have come to this.
and prevented what the prince himself had commanded from being done. For this reason, we common subjects cannot avoid and prevent all sins, so much the more diligently must we pray for the authorities, for they have a large body, whose members are unruly and full of all kinds of errors.
293 But about this little sin, which Abraham did by casting suspicion on the king, this text is also to be remembered against the Anabaptists, namely, that Christians may well call upon their authorities for help where injustice or violence is done to them by others. It would be good for the authorities to do for themselves what is their duty, and not to wait until they are called upon for help. But there are few of them who do this, and it takes a lot of effort and work to get them to protect those who are offended and to abolish injustice with many complaints, petitions and pleas.
294 Such rulers are among those of whom I have said that though they desire honor and obedience, they rejoice and are pleased to be called gods; but when you look at and consider their manners and lives, they are devils and tyrants, who not only have such sin upon them that they are not diligent in their office, but are also laden with many sins because of their persons.
Abimelech was not such a ruler, who sins out of ignorance. Such a sin should be excused, and it should be made low with prayer before God and not so highly exalted, much less should it cause a riot. Abimelech sins not only as a man, but also as a ruler; for he cannot know what his servants or subjects are doing in all places, and yet this is a sin before God, namely, that no one should be hopeful and proud. For this reason, I compare this sin with the sins that were committed against the Law of Moses, or rather against the outward ceremonies of the Law. But this is our consolation, that we do not think that the holy men are such lumps as in the
The first is that they had been in monasteries, dumb and without all sense and understanding, and had not felt any infirmities in themselves at all. For these afflictions, as we see in them, indicate that they were men, and that they had affections and aberrations like ourselves. They may have been spiritual, but they still lived in the flesh.
The fact that Abraham appeals to the king for help because of the water well that was taken from him is a clear example that we may also seek help from the authorities and make use of their protection, which the laws and court regulations in every place frequently and customarily allow us. But where the authorities do not help us, we shall suffer injustice. But we should know that even pious rulers often sin. For though they may not lack good will, they often lack understanding; though in many the will is also somewhat weak, yet they are to be held in honor and their infirmities tolerated. But in those who are found to have a perverse evil will, wickedness should be condemned and they should be punished for it.
297 Abimelech excuses himself very finely and says: "I did not know it, I did not hear it, also you did not announce it to me. For a pious, godly authority is not angry when it is admonished, but desires to be informed by its subjects when something has been sinned against or done wrong, for how can it know what is happening everywhere? But that there are proud rulers who are angry when their subjects report something or admonish them, as if it were a disgrace not to know something, they little realize how it is with them, they never humble themselves before God, nor do they call upon him and ask that he forgive them such sin.
But, as I have said, ignorance of authority is such a sin that it can neither avoid nor prevent, and the same sin is inherent in authority, just as evil desire is inherent in all men, without which certainly no one can live. Therefore, let every man have his own
For it will follow that they will also humble themselves and not only call upon God for help, but also ask Him for forgiveness of their hidden sins.
That is why Bernard writes very finely to Pope Eugenius. You must, he says, not know many things, and with many things that you know well, act as if you did not know them. Ignorance is an error of the will, through which we tolerate and suffer what we do not like. Abimelech is indeed a king, but he does not know everything that his subjects do. For this is not the praise of man, but of God alone, who knows everything and cannot be deceived. Such praise is attributed to the hopeful tyrants, who do not want to be tempted.
300 Therefore it should be known that God Himself, and then also the law, has commanded that we should report to the authorities when something has been publicly sinned against. For as the authorities sin through ignorance, so do the subjects sin when they do not report the wrong they know about. Therefore Abimelech again puts the blame on Abraham for not telling him sooner what his court servants had done wrong to him. And in truth Abraham is also to some extent to blame. However, his anger and movement, which he had, was not entirely unjust. He has seen that the minds of kings are strange and unstable and can easily be changed, for they are in a wondrous office and the things they govern are changeable. Since the court servants had done him wrong and violence, he could not avoid the suspicion that the king should also know about the matter. So they are both humiliated: Abraham because of his suspicion and that he did not report to the king that he had been offended; Abimelech because he did not know this. For in order that Abraham might not have let the king err and do wrong, he ought to have admonished him fairly; such is a work of love. Therefore Abimelech complained that Abraham had not told him, and that he had not heard from anyone else.
301. help god! how is it but today's
It is a perverse thing that almost all subjects deny the authorities this necessary service. For if someone reports a sin to the authorities, he is immediately scolded by all for being a traitor, and this sin of not reporting anything to the authorities is praised and considered a great virtue. For what is an authority or ruler to do here if you refuse to report to him what has happened? he need not know. Is it not true that he is presumed innocent and well excused?
However, God wants him to be afflicted with the sin of ignorance, so that he may know that he does not rule alone, which is impossible for a man because of the sin of ignorance; but that he may have only a part of it, and know God as the one who rules over all in general. For it is he who has the common and whole eye, and sees all things, and is nothing that he should not know. But however good and pious the authorities are, they have only half an eye. Therefore one should help it, and where someone sins publicly, everyone should run to it, as one runs when a fire has gone out, so that one may help to extinguish it; for everyone is obliged to help the common good in his measure.
Thus the Holy Spirit describes the saints according to what they do and suffer, namely, that they have followed the outward and common usage of other men, have sworn to the authorities and called upon them for help; have also not only suffered injustice and violence from other people, but, that I may speak thus, have also borne their own guilt and ignorance, namely, that they had cause to pray: O dear Lord God, hallowed be thy name! for why dost thou make me a ruler, a preacher, when thou knowest well that I cannot do thy will enough? but be thou my helper, and let thy holy angels also be with me: but wilt thou humble my proud mind in this way, that I should not be like unto thee, who art righteous, and knowest all things etc.
This is a noteworthy text, how one should call upon the authorities for help, and report to them where robbery and other misdeeds occur: although few keep this last piece. For no one wants to incur the envy of neighbors, nobles and powerful people. But it must certainly be considered that the authorities are in great need of this service of ours, for otherwise they cannot carry out their office. But if you have reported to the authorities the injustice or violence that has happened to you, and you are still not helped by them, you must bear the damage and know that you are not to blame, but have done what you were obliged to do. But the authorities who are negligent in their office will not escape punishment.
(v.27-32) And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech, and they made a covenant together. And Abraham set apart seven lambs. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What are these seven lambs which thou hast set apart? And he said, Seven lambs shalt thou take from mine hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Therefore the name of the place is called Bersaba, because they swore with each other there. So they made the covenant at Bersaba. Then Abimelech and Phichol, the captain of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.
The Holy Spirit continues to describe the course and life of the holy patriarch. Covenants and agreements made with others are not works done to God, for which he has need, but are works of temporal things, which concern only men, though the saints also deal with them. Now if anyone desires to know how Abraham conducted himself in worldly matters, let him study this history diligently. He does not flee from worldly works, does not refuse the oath, he holds the king in honor, calls him for help etc. And the king, as a God-fearing man who loved the prophet of God, also swears to him willingly. Finally, they both confirmed the oath, as if with a seal.
Abraham gives the king sheep and cattle; the king does not despise his gift, and the covenant is confirmed by this as by a seal, not as it is now used, that one makes long letters, for which one uses many words. These two are satisfied on both sides that they swear as they have spoken the words to each other; then a sign is added, namely, the gift.
This simplicity, which the ancients kept in their dealings and contracts, is very sweet, and reminds us that we see how much customs have declined in this evil age of ours, in which there is no more faithfulness or belief: no contracts are kept, and neither manuscripts, letters, nor seals help for this, but all contracts are broken with cunning, and by force are broken up and disbanded.
307 Abraham does two things: first, he gives the king sheep and cattle; then he gives him seven lambs in particular: not that the king needed such a gift, but Abraham wants to testify publicly before all the king's subjects that this well was made with his work.
In the law the gifts are forbidden, because therefore the text says in the 2nd book of Moses at the 23rd Cap. V. 8: "You shall not take gifts"; item Deut. 16, 19: "Gifts blind and corrupt the judges. In the writings of the pagans, gifts are also punished and condemned, as they cause great harm to the regiments. How then shall we excuse Abraham, who gave gifts, and the king, who took them? To this I answer, as above: Everything that a godly man does, he does right, even if he errs or lacks; for he has a simple good heart, which is what God looks to above all. On the other hand, if an ungodly man does such a work, which is good in itself, it is not pleasing to God, because he errs in his heart, that is, he does not recognize, believe and fear God.
But here one must also consider the final cause, why the gifts are given and what one seeks primarily with it.
When gifts are given in order to remove suspicion, envy and dissension, and to establish and maintain friendship and peace, they are rightly counted among good works. For what evil could the king think of Abraham, since he is so generously given by him? He has no harm in mind who shows himself generous to another. Therefore it is honest that you take gifts from a pious man. For he gives out of a simple, pure heart, not that he may make you his subject, nor that he may preserve and gain his unjust, evil cause through you, but that he may thereby preserve friendship between you and himself. Thus a bridegroom gives gifts to his bride to testify his love and to win the more her affection. Therefore these are the highest works, and are also very necessary for this life, that one gives and receives gifts of this kind. But those who cause dissension with gifts, or bribe the judge with them and pervert the court, abuse the gifts. And one should follow the rule that is given to us in the common proverb: One should not accept all gifts, not from everyone, and not all the time. For just as it is impolite to refuse to accept gifts from a good friend, so it is honest to refrain from accepting gifts in evil matters.
(310) That the text speaks of the seven lambs and describes the ceremonies or pageantry so extensively is for a special reason. The king is a pious and holy man, but Phichol, his captain, and the rest of his courtiers are wicked and envious people, miserly, thieving and rapacious. For the courts of all princes are always tainted with this unfortunate appendage, that they have Doeg's servants, who prevent what the king has decided and ordered from being done, or who even do the opposite without the king's knowledge. Therefore, Abraham, as a wise man, wants the reconciliation and treaty established by the king with the king's servants to be respected.
The king has given his consent to the oath, so that the common servants of the court may be deterred from doing such things without the king's prior knowledge.
311 It is nice to see how Abraham was so polite here. He was not allowed to explicitly ask or demand that the king swear, for he is a stranger there, but Abimelech is a king. Because it was therefore impolite that he should demand an oath from one who was not his equal, he used a special prudence and courtesy to do so. He puts seven lambs in particular. Then the king asked him why he was doing this, since the covenant had already been established between them. Abraham answered and asked him to take the lambs from his hand: "Not," he said, "for your sake, but for the sake of your court servants, namely, Phichol and the others, who might try to rob you again and thus cause a new quarrel. So that you may prevent this from happening again, I request that you swear to me publicly. Although I am not allowed to demand the same from you, I still ask and request it with these seven lambs as with a rough writing.
312 But one should also notice in this text the Hebrew word sheba, that it has more than one meaning. For it means both, namely, seven, and also oath, as in the German language the word hat means both, both head covering and slit; the word wheel *) means a rath and also a wheel on the chariot. So now in this place the word sheba means both: they have both sworn and, that I speak thus, besiebent. Item, he puts the seven lambs in particular, thus publicly indicating that although Abraham does not demand the oath, he nevertheless desires that the king should swear to him.
313 So he wants to bring about the oath from the king with special wisdom, by giving a subtle hint, because it was impolite to demand such from him outright. He
*) Wheel. This is how Luther spelled the word "Rath". Editor's note.
He presented him with seven lambs, and since the word sheba means both seven and oath, Abimelech understood what Abraham's will and opinion was. As if some dumb man came to me and showed me a wheel on a chariot, I could easily guess that he wanted good advice from me. For the German word Rad (wheel) means both a wheel on a chariot and also advice, which one gives to another. In this way Abraham reminds the king of the oath by the word that means seven. For it would have been an impertinent thing for him to demand an oath from such a person, who was of higher rank than he.
314 Hence, I think, this usage has also come among the Germans, that they are accustomed to have seven witnesses where testaments are made, and the word "seven" is used for a certain testimony. For this is how we use to say, "It must be proved to him," that is, "He is so unbelieving that he will not believe unless he hears seven witnesses beforehand. Therefore it is a special example of reverence to the authorities that Abraham deals with the king in such a fine and wise way, and it is also a special grace to the king that he yields to the prophet and does not refuse to take the oath, since he was reminded of it by such a sign and instruction.
It was common among the Egyptians before other peoples that they indicated and spoke many things through pictures and paintings, as hieroglyphics are found in Philostrotus. As when they wanted to speak of the god Jupiter, they painted a scepter, which had an eye on top; as still now the mathematicians write the name of Jupiter; because the scepter, because it is straight, meant justice with them, but the eye meant wisdom and understanding. For where justice does not have the same eye, injustice is made of it, as the proverb testifies: All-stringent justice is injustice. Such signs or images were used in the ancient world.
The fact that these things are described so diligently is part of the reason that we are learning.
The saints should remember how the holy patriarchs behaved in worldly and temporal matters, how they showed such reverence to the authorities, and again how the authorities loved their subjects and behaved so graciously toward them. And what can be more noble and glorious in this life than that one has pious authorities, and that the subjects also hold their princes and rulers dear and valuable. Where this happens, there is truly paradise, and God has promised to bestow His blessings there. But if the authorities are blind and evil, and the people are also evil and unruly, and do not want to be forced and governed, then everything must be unfortunate.
317 Moses further says that of this covenant the place was called ber sheba, that is, the seven bruun or well of the oath, which was brought about and accomplished by the seven lambs. For the word sheba means both seven and oath.
318 But if these things are thought to be common and worldly or external things, or however else one wishes, they are nevertheless to be diligently remembered and are also full of comfort, so that we do not think, like the Anabaptists, that Christians must renounce and disown such common works of this life. For God did not create the Church in such a way that He would have abolished or rejected the domestic or worldly rule by it, but rather confirms it through it. Therefore Abraham, the father of the promise and the king of kings on this earth, did not refuse to take an oath and make a covenant with the king and his court.
319 Therefore, under the appearance and name that one is a Christian, one should not refuse to engage in worldly affairs or offices, or avoid and flee them, as the monks do, who hide themselves in the monasteries because they do not want to serve anyone. Such are blind people, who are given to a wrong mind. Therefore they pay no attention to either the first or the second table. They also receive their just reward for their wickedness. For because they have taken the trouble and displeasure of governing the house
If they flee from the worldly and secular offices, they fall into the most horrible and atrocious sins and disgrace more than other, worldly people, as they call them.
For this reason, we are to consider the divine ordinances and examples of the holy patriarch Abraham with a good mind and wisdom, who gives us an abundant account of all things in the church and presents a true picture of his piety, not only in the church office as a prophet of God, but also in the world and household government. For there must be rulers in this life, and the church was not set up for this purpose, that the house and world rulers should be destroyed by this, but that such rulers should be established and confirmed by this. Kings and rulers should not forget their office, but should be pious, gracious and kind to their subjects, and their subjects should also be obedient to them. At this time, one can only wish and desire such things; one cannot have them. But I am surprised that in this place of Bersaba the Jews have not made a special idolatry, as it happened in other places where the holy patriarchs lived. But we should have enough of this teaching for this time, that we know that the pious serve God, even if they do outward and vile works.
V. 33, 34: And Abraham planted trees in Babylon, and preached there the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. He was a stranger in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
321 Whenever this is written in Moses, that the patriarchs called upon the name of the Lord, preached it, or built and erected altars, it indicates that they had appointed a certain place where God's word was taught and heard. For where the church is to be preserved, one must have pious princes who accommodate it, and give so much space and peace that the teaching and the service of God may be spread and propagated. Such a king was Abimelech at that time, under
in which the house of Abraham, in which the true church and congregation of God was, had peace and rest, and the word was thus spread among the Gentiles through Abraham, the true pope or bishop. For wherever he went, he took the Word, the worship, religion and everything with him.
322 And Moses remembers here again an outward or domestic work, namely, that Abraham planted trees. For the Hebrew word eschel is a common word, like the German word "Baum" ("tree"), so that you do not understand that he only planted and occupied a garden with fruitful trees, but also forest trees for the benefit of the cattle.
But why, says a monk here, does Moses describe such mean things? why does he not rather write of fasting and praying and of hard clothing? But, as I have often said, Moses does this against the clods in the monasteries, who despise and abandon the commandments of God, and go about according to their own chosen religion and worship. Such clods do not see the commandment of God, since he says Gen. 1, 28: "Subdue the earth and build it". For this is God's will, that the earth be planted and built, not only for the sake of mankind, but also that the cattle and wild animals may have their food and sustenance thereon.
324. Therefore this is also an external and worldly work, but it is also a good and holy work, which not only befits a Christian, but is also commanded by God that we should build the earth, and with it provide for ourselves and our descendants according to need, yes, also provide the cattle and wild animals with their food: that we are not like the monks, who, like the loose and lazy wasps and caterpillars, work nothing, but live only from other people's work and consume it, and also shamefully revile those who work by calling this work, which is commanded by God Himself, a bad layman's and farmer's work.
325. it is more holy to Abraham than all the saints are in the New Testament, and yet it deals with this lay work as well
not only for the sake of the strangers who came so that they might have shade to sit under, as Lyra puts it, but also for the sake of the need of his house, and especially for the sake of the commandment which says, "Subdue the earth and build it. And the third reason is also added, namely, that when the income is somewhat richer and greater, he could then also give alms from it and serve the poor with it.
326 Nevertheless, he also does his most noble work, building a temple, not of stones as we do, but appointing and designating a special place where he preaches the name of the Lord. This expression means to teach and preach when the letter d is added to the word schem, name. But if the letter b is not added to the word schem, but is simply put: to call on the name of the Lord, then it means to pray.
327) But also in this place the new name of God is to be noted: "He preached", says Moses, "of the name of the Lord, el olam", as it is written in Hebrew, that is, of the God of eternity or of the world. For the Hebrew word olam also has more than one meaning and means eternity or world. The word el, however, is also applied to the creatures, and in Moses it is often said of the very best and most delicious fruits,
and commonly interpreted to mean strength.
Therefore it fills me that in this place God is called el olam, as if one wanted to say, the power and strength of the world, which fills everything in the world; as the poet says: In Jupiter the muses have their origin; from Jupiter everything is full. Which saying he will no doubt have taken from the old tradition of the fathers. For everything that the world has, exists and is maintained by the divine word; for God created the world and maintains the world. Therefore, this el olam is the true God, the power of the world, through whom the world was created, and everything that it can do, it can do through him.
This name Abraham gives to God, as he has learned from his own experience; for he has seen that God is with his own with his help, so that he also directs and judges the heart of the king and his mighty ones wherever he wills: yes, he who turns the heart of all of them wherever he wills, as the 33rd Psalm v. 15 says, that is, he gives counsel to all men and inspires them to do what is right and good. However, sin is excluded here, which is not conventional in God's sight. We say that all works that are right and good come from him; but sin is not a work, but a deprivation.