V. 3. 4. After this he arose from his dead body, and spake unto the children of Heth, saying: I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me an inheritance burying with you, that I may bury my dead which is before me.
41. the dead shall be mourned and lamented, but in such a way that one also
Keep moderation. "Over a dead person one is wont to mourn, but one should not mourn too much," says Sirach in 22 Cap. V. 10, 11. That is, you should moderate your mourning; for "he is at rest." If thou lose thy brother, father, wife, or kinsman, thou hast good cause to mourn, and shalt not be a rod or block to laugh at the dead body and burial of thy dear friends; for there is no time to laugh, and such a stony and iron heart displeases God. But still the mourning should be measured, so that you are not consumed by excessive mourning. It is indeed painful to be torn away from one's dear parents, spouse or children; for "the dead," says Sirach Cap. 22, 10, "have no more light," that is, they no longer enjoy this light and our company; but the mourning should be contrasted with that which follows in Sirach v. 11: "For he is at rest." The cause of mourning is that the light of man is gone out; but the cause of comfort shall be that he is at rest. Therefore shalt thou remember, Let him rest in peace: for I know that he is well. He is in no sorrow or calamity, but in rest he lieth and sleepeth, waiting for a better life. Therefore this is our comfort, that our wives, our children, our parents sleep, are not in such a place where they suffer pain and torture, but lie and rest gently and quietly in peace.
(42) When such horrible and terrible cases occur, as when David loses his son Absalom, 2 Sam. 18:33, who dies in mortal sin and is condemned, there is the most intense and severe mourning and heartache that one can have. And what else can you do in such a case, but to entrust the matter to God? But where there is a peaceful and quiet parting, there those who die and sleep lie in peace. And this is what Moses wants when he says: "Abraham arose" etc. He has felt sorrow and sadness over the death of his dear wife, but has overcome such natural inclination and now thinks further about the burial.
43. but it is also strange that he should have
He has never thought about Sarah, his own life and his son's life, nor has he taken care of how he would get something of his own and inheritance, except now that Sarah has died. And though it seems to be a vain thing to make provision for a place to sleep in, if it cannot be possessed, yet Moses tells this with special diligence, and makes more words of it than he usually does, namely, how Abraham bought a place for Sarah, not while she was still alive, but while she was dead.
44 Until now he has been a stranger and has not been able to change his difficult situation. But now that his wife has died, he is thinking of a place of his own to bury her. Before, when he was in the land of Canaan for seventy years, no doubt more of his household died, servants or maidservants, but he did not care for any of them as he did for Sarah. He buried some of his other dead in Gerar and some in Egypt, but here he is looking for a special, hereditary burial place.
45. the word ger means a stranger with the Hebrews; as in the 39th Psalm v. 13. it says: "I am both your pilgrim and your citizen, like all my fathers." And St. Paul also speaks thus, Eph. 2, l9. "Ye are now no more sojourners or strangers" etc. It means one who is a stranger and has come from another place. So Abraham was also a stranger, because he was not born in the land of Canaan, but came from Chaldea. The Hebrew word toshav means a stranger who is not a master but a guest and has nothing of his own in the country where he lives. Just as Christians are strangers and sojourners in this world, whose fatherland and inheritance is in another place. For according to the fleshly birth they come into the world from nothing; therefore they are strangers, and do not remain in the Wett, but leave the Wett. So we also are strangers, having been born again of the Holy Spirit through baptism and the Word, and walk here on earth as sojourners.
(46) Therefore Abraham says, I come from a foreign land, and have nothing of my own here with you; I am a stranger to you in two ways; therefore I have no place where I may bury my dead. David diligently considered these words in the 39th Psalm, and it is also such a thing that is well worthy of being diligently considered. For such a great man with such a large household, almost four hundred men, excluding wives and children, had to wander so long in the wilderness. And if you count it right, he had about a thousand people. For where there are four hundred men, there are also so many wives and children.
Thus, this holy patriarch was led in a very strange way, which would be impossible in our time. For it is a miracle above all miracles that God fed and sustained him in foreign lands with such a large household, and that Sarah was able to manage and order it all. Therefore, Abraham's house government was no less miraculous than his church. He is a stranger and a sojourner with all his household, but he will undoubtedly have been uplifted and comforted by the promise.
(48) Furthermore, this text about the inheritance grave that Abraham bought raises a whole house of questions and strange thoughts among the teachers and in Peter Lombardus. For from this, in scholastic theology, cause is taken to dispute simony, of which they dispute in such a confused manner and disorderly, that such a trade is not worthy to be brought to light or to be thought of. And simony was an atrocious vice two hundred years ago, but the popes have barely kept the shadow of the same word, as Julius boasts of it in a dialogue of Erasmus.
But this is actually simony, when one buys and sells a spiritual office, good, gift or authority for money, as Simon Magus did. When he saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, Acts 8:19 ff.
Power, that if I lay hands on someone, he may receive the Holy Spirit," thus desiring that if he had bought the Holy Spirit for money, he would have it in his power, and the Holy Spirit would do as he pleased. Therefore St. Peter punishes him severely and says to him: "That you should be condemned with your money, because you think that God's gift is obtained by money.
(50) From the same Simon this is called simony, which, as I said, is nothing else than when someone thinks, according to this Simon's example, that the gifts of God can be bought and sold for money. For Christ does not sell his gifts and grace, but has redeemed us for nothing and by pure grace.
(51) And this is the true and proper concept of simony, which the Cenonists have subsequently tortured in a strange way. For these words, "to buy God's gift for money," etc., they apply to all that which men give to God. Thus they now call the income or interest of the church spiritual goods, because they are God's gifts, not given by Him, but that men have sacrificed and given them to Him: but is this not great blindness and foolishness? They drag by the hair the text from 3 Mos. 27, 9: "Everything that is given to the Lord is holy" etc. Such, they pretend, are the gifts given to the church, as fiefs, gold or silver jewels and other goods, which were initially given to the churches to maintain the servants; but if one asks them whether such goods may also be bought or sold, they answer that one may not do so, because they are spiritual goods.
Now Peter understands such goods or gifts given by God to be active, not passive, that is, that one takes them from him and does not give them to him. The canonists mix and match these things, even though they do not belong together. And how could they teach these things correctly, since they do not respect the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in the simony and gifts given by God,
that is, drowned in spiritual goods, as they call them.
(53) And I have often complained of the abuse of these words, "spiritual goods," "spiritual persons," as the papists call their clergymen: and I would gladly have the same words kept in their right and proper use; but we have lost them through such abuse, and are now called by the papists "spiritual goods," annual incomes, interests, houses, cities, and lands, which are most of all worldly. But this is a true spiritual man who believes and is baptized, whether he is a common layman or a person in church office. It does not mean a priest who has been anointed, anointed and consecrated to say sacrificial masses for the dead.
I teach you this so that you may know that in spiritual law there is a wicked abuse and an abominable blindness in the dispensation of simony. Among the canonists this is called simony, not where one buys the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but where one buys or sells the gifts and goods that men have given to God or to the church, as there are prebendaries, fiefdoms or benefices, cities and such other goods. As if someone wanted to sell a spiritual fief, as they call it, a parish or any other fief of an altar or mass: item, if a bishop takes money and ordains one to the priesthood for it. After this they also dispute whether one who has practiced simony and is ordained and consecrated by another who has also practiced simony is ordained and consecrated rightly. There are whole cargos, yes, whole seas full of books about such questions.
55 If this description of their simony remains true, then all papist bishops and buffoons are vain Simonists, and are all damned to hell and the devil. And do they condemn themselves, not according to evangelical law, but according to their spiritual law. The bishop of Mainz has given the pope twenty thousand guilders for the pallium; the bishop of Wuerzburg ten thousand; one of the bishops has given him a hundred guilders: now are they not
all Simonists? Therefore, the whole papacy is sunk and condemned to hell, because they all practice simony, not according to our law, but according to their own. But the canonists remain silent about this and do not want to suffer that we should punish them. But when our ministers and priests take wives, they condemn them and kill them. But what is this but sin above all sin?
(56) Four hundred years ago, if a bishop had punished anyone for these sins, no one would have had fellowship with him; indeed, he would immediately have been considered evil for such a deed: but now everything is for money. Furthermore, they command us to keep their canons and decrees, of which they themselves are quite free. They cry out against us that now the decrees and statutes of the popes are despised, yes, that even the church order is despised and destroyed: why do they themselves not keep such things? No one sins with them except the Son of God, and no one is righteous with them except the devil.
If only the pope were wise, and would recognize this benefit, that our teaching makes him free from his books and decrees, and absolves him from the vice of simony, because he only steals temporal goods, such as gold and silver, which are not spiritual goods, such as baptism, the gospel and the preaching ministry, none of which he seeks or steals, and which are nevertheless the right gifts of the Holy Spirit! They are also gifts of God, but only worldly, outward and bodily gifts.
58 Therefore we absolve the pope according to the right concept of this sin, in which he has put himself with his spiritual right. For he does not sell spiritual goods, which are rightly so called, for he does not have them, but sells offices, fiefs, and prelatures, and thus snatches to himself the goods of this world; but he does not sell the ministry of preaching, nor does he ask for it. Therefore he should not be accused of simony, but of theft and robbery, as Verres and Dionysius did, calling him a robber above all robbers, a thief above all thieves, a murderer above all murderers.
For his throat is filled with insatiable desire, so that he snatches after temporal goods for and for.
59 Simony is a spiritual vice and sin, as described by St. Peter, where money is taken for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and not for bodily gifts or goods. These two things are mixed together by the canonists, who are nothing but rough asses. For simony does not belong among domestic and worldly goods, but among the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
(60) But if they would reproach us that these bodily goods are attached to the spiritual, we answer that this is rightly said. For the rule of the house and of the world is bound up with the church, and this life cannot be maintained without food and drink; but are these all spiritual goods which Christians use?
61 Simony is when I sell a spiritual thing for money, which should be given for free. But a church, a tomb, and all other gifts given to the saints are not spiritual, but simply corporeal goods, and can be stolen, bought, and sold: but spiritual gifts we cannot steal, sell, or buy; for they are not ours, but of the Holy Spirit. Simony, however, would be if a church servant or priest did not want to teach or tell you about the forgiveness of sins and other benefits of God, which are presented and offered to us in the gospel, and wanted to deny you absolution, if you did not want to redeem or buy them from him for a hundred guilders.
In this way, the pope is also a true Simonist, because he offers God's grace and forgiveness of sins to anyone who wants to give him a certain amount of money. This is called selling a spiritual thing and the grace of the Holy Spirit, although it cannot be sold even if you want to give a thousand guilders or more for an absolution. For first of all the pope does not have it; then it is impossible that spiritual things can be sold; only that one can make a pretense to inexperienced people and pretend that such things are sold to them.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Christ are not for sale, nor can they be sold, except in appearance, according to the choice and will of men. When the pope says that he who brings five pennies can redeem a soul from purgatory, this is really simony, but it is not true. For the redemption of souls from purgatory does not follow, although the money, buying and selling is there.
(64) So he made up that he had the power to forgive sins. He snatched the keys, sold forgiveness of sins, promised people that he would deliver them from hell and purgatory, but only took away the money and left the poor souls under the power of sins, hell and the devil.
This is actually simony, namely, selling the gift of the Holy Spirit, which no one can receive other than for free. One may well offer it for sale, but one cannot sell God. For that which has the name and appearance of being sold does not follow such a simonean purchase or exchange. Thus simony is an impossible thing in respect of the things, but in appearance and color it is very mean. For the name of the Lord is profaned and sold by it; but it is nothing else but a vain pretense and pretended pretense.
(66) Therefore, in spiritual things, the pope is a true Simonist, selling forgiveness of sins and righteousness. In temporal goods he is a church robber and thief, who would sell the Lord Christ Himself if he had Him in his hands and power, as the Jews had Him; for he does not lack good will at all. Simony of this kind also occurred in the monasteries, both on the part of the buyer and the seller. For whoever gave a hundred guilders, four beggings were held for him in the year. Thus the whole papacy is the devil's church, full of theft, theft from the church, and unspeakable abominations and blasphemies.
But here a question arises: Whether a preacher or church servant may also take emergency maintenance for his office? There-
I answer that it is quite proper for him to do this, as otherwise a poor man might take a gift. If I had the power or authority that no one could be absolved of sins, for he had previously listed several florins for me, I would bring all the goods of the world to myself in one day. But this is not proper and the pope has done such a feat out of devilish audacity and sacrilege. We are commanded to teach, comfort and absolve all who accept and believe, and they all receive such goods from us for free, according to the saying of Matth. 10:8: "For free you have received, for free you give.
68) As Christians enjoy the ministry of preaching for free, so they should also feed, maintain and protect the servants for free, give them food and clothing; as St. Paul says Gal. 6:6: "He who is taught by the word gives all good things to him who teaches him"; item 1 Tim. 5:17: "The elders, who are well instructed, are counted worthy of double honor; especially those who labor in the word and in doctrine. And Christ himself says Matth. 10, 10: "A laborer is worthy of his food." Item, the Lord says in the prophet Isaiah Cap. 49, v. 22, 23, that the princes and kings of the church will give gifts. But these gifts are not payment, buying or selling. For we need daily sustenance, food and drink, but this does not pay for absolution, for who could pay for it? What are a hundred or a thousand florins against this immeasurable great gift of the forgiveness of sins?
(69) If we therefore take our food from the community, this is not a payment that should be considered equal to this gift, which is so great and expensive that it could not be paid for even with the whole world's goods. But since such a great and abundant gift cannot be distributed in any other way than through people, who must have food and sustenance, it must be nourished and maintained. But this is not payment for the gift, but for their toil and labor.
70. there is another question with the canonists, namely: if a church servant of
If he had saved two hundred guilders from his work, would he not buy a field or an inheritance for such money? And they say that he may not do so because it is a spiritual good. But I say freely that he may well do so, for it is not spiritual goods, although the person administers and distributes the spiritual gifts.
Therefore the canonists err very shamefully, and do not know what simony is, but mix spiritual and corporal goods among themselves: and they themselves, according to their right and their own conscience, are great and excellent simonists, stealing, robbing and devouring the goods of the parish priests and the churches, and are worse than Verres and Dionysius, and divide the right spiritual goods for money like a robbery or booty. And yet just such people may arrogate to themselves the rule over the whole world, as well as the judgment over our doctrine and God's word: command us to be obedient to the pope, when they themselves neither understand their own statutes and bylaws nor ask anything about them.
Lyra recently remembers this disputation and simply wants to escape by saying that Abraham did not buy a grave, but only a place for burial. But such a thing is sophistical and fraudulently spoken, as they themselves confess. He did not buy a grave, because there was none there yet, but he could have made it where he wanted.
This example also teaches that the dead should be buried with special honor and discipline for the sake of faith and the hope of the future resurrection. Before the time of the martyrs, the Christians had burials in all fields, gardens and houses: but afterwards there was greater respect and discipline, since special places and churchyards were decreed for burials; just as among the pagans, too, fine ceremonies were held at the burials. Therefore this should be much more so among Christians for the sake of the article of our faith in the resurrection of the flesh, so that it should not have the appearance and appearance that we die and are buried like horses and donkeys.
74 What now follows, goes almost everything on external discipline and customs, except this only, that Abraham says: "Pray me a hereditary burial with you" etc. For that which the text in Latin has, jus sepulturae, a right to burial, is not in the Hebrew, and wants to say to Abraham only this much: I did not want to desire a foot wide in this land and during my life, but only desire a place where I may make a pit and prepare a grave for my deceased Sarah. The whole land was promised to Abraham and belonged to him by all rights as his own; yet he did not have a foot wide in it, but is a stranger and dies with his Sarah in his own land like a stranger.
The prophets and apostles looked at this with spiritual eyes and a little more diligently than others have done. For the fact that Abraham, who is the Lord of this land by God, is a stranger in it with Sarah and his son Isaac, is indicated in the spirit and means that we are all guests here on earth and live here as in misery. For this is what St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:6: "While we dwell in the body, we are pleasing to the Lord." But if we dwell in the body, which is really ours, and are strangers, and our life in this body is nothing else than a pilgrimage, how much more are the goods which we have for the sake of the body, as fields, houses, money, etc., nothing else but strange things and pilgrimage! The body is like a dark dungeon, in which the soul lies locked up, as in a dungeon and in a pit; therefore our one half is like nothing and a carrion, lying in the grave and stinking.
Therefore, it is clear enough from this that the patriarchs drew out and looked at the right core of the promises, and did not just touch the bark externally. Thus Abraham understood that the promise given to him included the right fatherland and the right true life, namely, the life to come, which is better than this, which is not a servitude and prison of souls. So, since David says in the 39th Psalm, v. 13, that he is a stranger, one might wonder why he is a stranger.
when he was a great and mighty king in Israel and had the promised land in his possession? But he esteems it very little, and has in his heart and before his eyes another dwelling place much better, which those do not esteem, who in this life, as if the eternal one would not come after, practice robbery and shameful usury.
Oh, what a fleeting and futile honor and hope it is to have the goods and riches of this world, when no man can be sure of his life for a moment! How we all, and each one in particular, feel, see and understand this, namely, that we drag ourselves along with such a body, which is half a carrion and already a dead thing: and yet there are many of them who think that this life is the best and will last forever. This can be seen from the fact that people are so very eager and cannot get enough of gathering together as much money and property as they can and may, whether rightly or wrongly. But why do they do this? Because they are in the devil's exile, and go astray, caring and worrying only about temporal life.
(78) The faith and patience of Abraham, who waited for another and eternal dwelling place over the promised land, are praised here. He wants Sarah to be buried in the land, so that she may be raised from death with Christ when he rises. However, he wanders in his own land as in a foreign land: God does not give him a foot wide in it, nor a burial place, but he buys a place from those who live in the land for his money. Therefore he did not strive with shameful lust and addiction, as if he wanted to collect a lot of money and goods, as if he would remain eternally in this life; but his whole heart was set on the promised Christ, on whom he primarily looked in the promise, and he waited with joy for him to come to this earth. Now follow other pieces of outward conduct and good manners, but they are very glorious and useful.
Third part.
Of the benevolence of Abraham and the Hebronites, and of Ephesus' bounty.
V. 5, 6: And the children of Heth answered Abraham, and said unto him, Hear us, O Lord. Thou art a prince of God among us, bury thy dead in our most honest graves; let no man among us forbid thee that thou bury not thy dead in his grave.
79. Moses makes a lot of words in the description of this condition and trade; but the Holy Spirit does this first of all in honor of the famous matron Sarah, who is a mother of all patriarchs, prophets, as well as of the most distinguished princes and kings, the like of which is not found in any histories. Therefore, no funeral is described in the holy scriptures as glorious as Sarah's; indeed, this is how Christ wanted his old mother to be buried honestly, as she was also worthy of it because of her virtues. For she governed her household in discipline and godliness, was an abbess far more glorious and excellent than ours are now, in external and domestic matters, with which the abbesses of the nuns in convents are not only not to be compared, but are even contemptible and unrecognizable. For what are they, if one wants to compare them with Sarah, who is the mother of the most excellent and famous princes and kings, and who ruled her house and all that belonged to it so praiseworthily during her life? But what are the works of the abbesses, which they do in the monasteries, but an abominable idolatry?
80 Because, as I said, this text here belongs entirely to the outward life and good manners, one should first notice the example of courtesy and respect in this people. For there shines out of their words, customs and gestures a wonderful kindness, which would be hard to find in our time among the old or the young. For thus they address Abraham: "Dear Lord, you are a prince of God among us" etc. This is a great, excellent honor, which the same people show to Abraham.
are lords in the land and hold the same by divine right.
81 After this, consider the special composure and humility of Abraham's request. For I consider that Ephron, of whom it will be said hereafter, was a prince of Hebron: to him he does not go immediately, but first addresses those who were under him, and humbly seeks their favor. And the Holy Spirit did not want to pass by such behavior, so that he would show that he wants to have such virtues and that he respects them greatly. For this reason he holds such examples of great people before us, so that we should learn that reverence, discipline and comportment of one toward the other is necessary, and that God is pleased that one should be at the will of the other, and as St. Paul teaches Rom. 12, 10, one should precede the other with reverence, and Phil. 2, 3: "Through humility, one should esteem the other higher than himself.
So this description, for which Moses uses so many words, is not in vain. For we are not born swine, asses, logs, or sticks, but were created to lift up our faces and raise them to heaven; and God has given man a rational soul that can understand the difference between honor and dishonor, that he may know what is good and praiseworthy in other men and show them due honor for it. Therefore, a rough, rustic and animalistic life is not befitting for a Christian, as is seen in the rough and wild customs of our people nowadays.
83. and especially our country here has such people, who are quite ill-mannered, without all discipline and politeness, that one would like to say that peasants, burghers and the nobility in these countries are more like sows than people: there is no kindness or gentleness about them at all. Therefore, I often wonder why God first revealed the light of the Gospel to such naughty, coarse and wild people.
The poets fable that Ulysses once lost his companions, and that they all
have been transformed into sows. It seems that such a transformation has also happened to our people. Although there is less danger in the case of coarse, rustic people, if such vice spreads and gets among the teachers of the churches, who ascribe everything to themselves for the sake of special gifts, and through clumsy and rustic hopefulness despise all others with whom they should deal kindly and love them, then it is a great pity and ruin of the church.
Therefore learn from this example how you should govern your life, so that you may become accustomed to be kind, humble and respectful toward everyone. For this reason Moses so diligently and in so many words sets before us Abraham's example, who with the utmost humility and modesty asks that a place in the land be sold to him, and does not press for it unreasonably and impetuously. Although he seems to do this because of necessity, since he is a stranger there, he has also had cause, after he has been adorned with such great virtues and gifts, that he might well have exalted himself somewhat because of this. But he forgets all these gifts and addresses the people of Hebron respectfully and kindly; and they greet him again, even though he is a stranger, as a gentleman, and reveal in their words and gestures a special kindness and benevolence toward him, forgetting even their right and dominion in the land, which they might well have used against a stranger and a newcomer.
These are true good works, and even though they are worldly, they should be held up against all the dreadful self-chosen works of the monks, who only make a point of captivating young people into their order and accustoming them to unskillful and abominable humility, which is not at all like the conduct and life of honest and holy people: on the other hand, young people should learn humility, courtesy and reverence from this text and example of Abraham and the people of Hebron.
(87) Notwithstanding that the hypocrites despise these works as evil and wicked, as Witzel the apostate also did, saying that we teach such works,
which would be too mean and worldly. But if you ask them what else one should do, they say that one should go to the churches, roar like an ox in the choir, and pray the Torahs or rather murmur them. But this and other such examples clearly punish their hypocrisy, because the Holy Spirit is not shy about telling and praising such external and worldly works so precisely.
It seems that God graced and adorned Abraham and his church with special prestige and glory in the eyes of the Gentiles at that time: as with King Abimelech above, who allowed Abraham to use the land and thought much of him, even though he had nothing of his own and had to give way again after the death of the king. So the people of Hebron, who were pagans, honored him and called him a prince of God. This shows that they have heard the sermons of Abraham and have believed in the God of Abraham. For in the place where the holy patriarch was, he produced much fruit by word and spirit, by teaching, admonishing and punishing, and through his preaching the Gentiles heard and saw the great deeds of God, wherefore they also believed and were saved. Therefore they honored him as a lord, as Sarah calls him her lord, and called him a prince of God.
It is a great blessing and a gift from God when princes have such guests with them, recognize God and Christ in them and hold them in honor, and the guest and priest also does in his office what is due him, namely, that he teaches Christianly and faithfully. This grace and benefit is very rare, that pious God-fearing priests or teachers have a safe and quiet place where they can teach and preach quietly, and is a special grace of God, which the devil, as a great enemy of the word and the blessedness of men, always hinders and destroys.
Where there is such unity that the princes of the land honor the ministers of the church for preaching God's word and spreading the holy treasures,
protect and nourish them, there one may truly say that there is the real paradise.
91. But where the ministers of the church are despised, mocked and trampled underfoot, as happened to Isaiah and other prophets, as Isa. 57:4 says: "Over whom will you open your mouths and stick out your tongues," since they taught in the best and most faithful way, then there is certainly a sign of God's wrath and that there is great misery and misfortune. For this has never gone without punishment, where such great grace, shown to men by pious, godly servants, is despised.
(92) On the other hand, the wicked and the perverse priests are generally more fortunate, for the princes are obedient to them, willing and ready to do them all good: as your pope has subjected all kings and princes to him, showering him with all kinds of benefits, serving him not only with their possessions and goods, but also with their bodies. But for such benefits he has shamefully seduced them, won them over to the devil and brought them to him.
Today, praise God, the ministry of preaching has been cleansed and swept clean of all kinds of error and idolatry, but how is it received in the world and how is it dealt with? It is blasphemed, rejected and, as it were, trampled underfoot, and the church servants are strangled for this purpose.
94. By great grace, God has granted us an inn under the Most Serene Prince of Saxony, as under Duke Hans Friedrich, Elector, and his brother Duke Ernst: but as gracious, favorable and benevolent as the princes show themselves to be toward us, there is so much horrid hatred, disfavor and contempt on the part of those of the nobility, the officials, burghers and peasants; who, if it were in their power to do what they would have liked, would have driven us out of this dwelling and inn long ago.
95 Therefore I say that there was a wonderful fear of God, reverence and kindness among those in Hebron toward Abraham, whom they recognized as such a guest that could make all the inhabitants and citizens of the place rich, not with money.
They do not expect him to be full of good things or goods, gold or silver, but with heavenly and spiritual gifts, namely, that he could show them the way to salvation and redeem souls from sin and hell through the word, and in sum, that he would be full of all kinds of goods and blessings. For this reason, they gladly receive him, love him and obey him, just as he found such favor with King Abimelech (Cap. 20, v. 15).
96 Now it is an honorable and very glorious title, "a prince of God," which the people of Hebron give to Abraham: not that he was their sovereign, or that he ever had authority over them, but that he had at home in his house a large household, that is, over a thousand men. Therefore they call him a prince of God, as one who rules over very pious and holy men in his house. As if they wanted to say: We do not have such a faithful people, such holy, obedient and humble servants as you. Your principality is a divine principality, which makes the people holy and pious.
It is truly a special gift of God when princes govern their subjects wisely and well, and the subjects are obedient in turn. For God provides both, namely, a seeing eye, that is, a righteous teacher, bishop or authority, and a hearing ear, Proverbs 20:12, that is, obedient subjects and listeners. Where there is a lack of these, there is an evil regime and things go badly. For it is not enough that you are a hearing ear, but have not a seeing eye; and again, that you are a seeing eye, and have not a hearing ear. With the people of Hebron Abraham was the seeing eye, that he taught them and governed his household, and they were the hearing ear; therefore the word there brought forth abundant fruit.
But if the eye does not see, as the pope is a blinded and cursed eye, and the ear nevertheless hears, as we have hitherto listened to and accepted his human statutes "with great eagerness", there is the most certain way to perdition and eternal death.
99. we have today the seeing
Eye, that is, the pure doctrine of the Word, but we find, alas! no listening ear; for our doctrine is despised, yes, it is horribly blasphemed. Wherever these two things are together, God Himself has done it, and it is a divine miracle of which God and the angels in heaven rejoice.
The other proof of the favor and kindness these people show Abraham is that they show him the place for burial. Go, they say, where it pleases thee, into the garden of the prince, or of any princely council. For it was customary among them that each one should bury his dead in whatever place he pleased. For this reason, we have allowed you not only the common burial, but one of the most special and most honorable.
This is truly excellent reverence, which they undoubtedly learned in Abraham's church, who instructed and taught them in the spirit, and also made them outwardly fit and chaste according to the flesh. They also add to this, saying, "No man shall forbid thee among us to bury thy dead in his grave"; thou shalt be at liberty to choose which place thou wilt.
B. 7-10 Then Abraham stood up and bowed down before the people of the land, that is, the children of Heth. And he spake unto them, saying, If it please you that I should bury him that is dead before me, hear me, and pray for me against Ephron the son of Zoar, that he give me his twofold cave, which he hath at the end of his field; and he shall give it me for money, as much as it is worth, among you for an inheritance. For Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth.
First of all, Abraham stands up before the Hebronites as the elders and noblest, for he believes that they should be honored as lords of the land, and he does so justly and rightly. For our Lord God did not create us to be proud and hopeful, hard, unreasonable, unreasonable and coarse, rude people, but that one should show honor to another. So, when I tell the world
If I show honor to the authorities or to a priest and church servant, I do not honor him as a brother among the other brothers, but as a person ordained by God. In the same way, one should honor honest matrons, virgins, and especially parents and disciplinarians, not for their sake, but because they are God's creatures and God Himself is honored in them; as Augustine says: You should honor God one by one.
After that Abraham bows down before the people of the land. Here a distinction must be made between bowing down and worshiping. For, first of all, it happens when one falls down with the face or with the body on the earth, and attacks its feet, before which one thus bows down. This is the highest bending down or worshipping that is due to kings and princes. And so the Sunamite holds Elisha by the feet, 2 Kings 4:27, and Peter also fell at Jesus' feet, Luke 5:8. Secondly, it happens when one bends the knees or falls down on the knees. Thirdly, when one bows his head and holds one by both hands.
(104) Therefore bowing down or worshipping in this place actually means the offering of the body, which is done either by bowing the head or falling on the knees, or by falling on the face, according to the custom in every country and among men in every place, or according to the dignity and status of the one before whom one bows down or whom one worships; for it is not worshipping in the spirit, of which Christ says John 4:24.
Abraham stood up, not lying on the ground or bending his knees, but he bowed his head and perhaps took their hands, holding them and kissing them at the same time, which was customary among the same people. And these are fine, honest customs of humility, reverence and courtesy, which should be held up and praised especially to the young, so that they may also learn to get used to them, and discard the coarse, wild customs and gestures, which are very common.
(106) Abraham will no doubt have had other reasons for showing such honor to the same people, namely.
Not only because they were the people of the land, that is, the lords and inhabitants of it, but also because of the fear of God and all kinds of virtue that he inspired in them. How long they remained so pious cannot be known, but it is known that almost all peoples in all countries did not remain in their discipline and good manners, virtue and respectability for more than twenty years; and all histories, both of the Gentiles and of the Holy Scriptures, testify to this.
For when men are once brought to the knowledge of God and to good honorable manners, they remain in such piety and good manners for the longest twenty years; for they are gradually corrupted again, so that they fall into contempt and overindulgence of present things, until afterward they fall into abominable sin and disgrace. Read the histories of David, Solomon and all the kings, and also of St. Augustine. Yes, look at our time too: does not experience teach us now that the beginning of the heavenly teaching was sweet and very pleasant to everyone? Now, however, people are getting more and more tired of it and disgusted with this loose food, as it is written about the Jews 4 Mos. 21, 5.
(108) Thus the Hebronites were good, pious and godly people in Abraham's time, but afterwards they were destroyed in Moses' and Joshua's time, after they had lost the right divine teaching and had also abandoned discipline and respectability. Moses also told the same story about the Sodomites (Cap. 14, 21), who were also pious for a while after Abraham saved them from the great danger and drove away their enemies; but after seven years, such great shameful deeds took over among them that they were burned with fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed.
109 And our Germany, according to the great light of the gospel, is almost possessed by the devil. The youth is impudent and wild and will not let itself be drawn; the old are afflicted with avarice, usury, and many other sins that cannot be told. So
we thank God for the word of grace and for His only begotten Son; as Moses also complains about the Jews, Deut. 32, 6: "Do you then thank the Lord your God, you foolish and foolish people? Therefore it is no wonder that great punishments and all kinds of misfortune follow; but it is the way of the world that it must be so. While we have time, let us do good, Gal. 6:10, each in his profession, that we may study the Scriptures and practice good morals, while the doctrine of the gospel still goes forth and shines before us, as Christ exhorts Jn. 12:36, "Believe in the light while you have it. For the devil does the opposite, and at all times brings his cunning and darkness upon the necks of the unwary by force.
V.10-18. Then Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, that the children of Heth should hear him before all that came in and out of the gates of his city, and said, Nay, my lord, but hear me. I give thee the field, and the cave that is therein; and I give it thee in the sight of the children of my people, to bury thy dead. Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land, and spake unto Ephron, that the people of the land might hear, saying, If thou wilt let me have it, I pray thee, take of me the money for the field, which I give thee, and I will bury my dead man there. Ephron answered Abraham, and said unto him, My lord, hear me. The field is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Just bury your dead. Abraham obeyed Ephron, and weighed to him the money which he had said that the children of Heth heard, four hundred shekels of silver, which was common in the purchase. So Ephron's field, wherein is the twofold cave, over against Mamre, was confirmed unto Abraham for his own possession, with the cave therein, and with all the trees of the field round about, that the children of Heth looked on, and all that went in and out of the gate of his city.
110 Ephron tries to persuade Abraham to take the field without money, as a gift. What is, he says, between me and you
You are a prince of God, so I am rich; what good can it do me if I sell the field for four hundred shekels of silver? This is a fine and praiseworthy tribute to the prophet and teacher; but Abraham has refused to do so, and wants to buy the field for his own money.
(111) For he thought or said: I know that you are good, pious and upright people, but I have experienced other people's inconstancy in other places and have learned to be a little more careful. In Egypt and in Gerar, I felt the favor and honor of many people, but I was finally cast out: I did great good to the Sodomites, but they thought little of it and finally thanked me badly for it. So if I took this field as a free gift, perhaps your descendants after your death would forget about your kindness and gifts, and take it from me again by force, and dig up my Sarah and throw her away. For because we are strangers and in a strange land, they would say, as the Sodomites said to Lot in 19 Cap. V. 9: "Thou art the only stranger here, and wilt thou reign?" Therefore I will buy him, so that your descendants will have no right to demand him from me again.
Behold, how wisely spiritual men deal with one another even in outward worldly things; not as the monks, who compose spiritual works alone, that they may go about, when all their works are altogether carnal. But the righteous saints live in the world and deal with worldly affairs with great, whimsical prudence; they are reverent, kind, prudent, careful, and prudent in all civic duties.
He bought the field before and in the presence of all the citizens, so that, as Moses says, all who went out and came in at the gates of his city were watching; they were all there as witnesses that this field was Abraham's and all his descendants' for and for. For at that time it was not yet customary to give handwriting or letter and seal to each other.
(114) Now this is another virtue of Abraham, namely, prudence, that he may deal with men, whose descendants are apt to be inconstant and fickle; as is commonly seen in all generations, as in David's, Solomon's, and other excellent men, that the children seldom imitate their parents' manner and virtue.
115 Abraham's request was also quite modest. For he wanted to be satisfied with a part of the field, for example at the back in a corner, which would not have been in a convenient place, but which could not have been used in any other way; Ephron, however, grants him the whole field and not only a corner, then also the cave, which is in the same field, and he himself moves to another plot or field, of which he undoubtedly had several.
But Abraham paid the four hundred shekels of silver, as it is customary to buy and to sell in the marketplace etc. And these words are repeated again in the text, "that the people of the land listened," that is, that the people heard, witnessed and confirmed the contract or purchase. From which example we are to learn that one should deal wisely and cautiously with people for the sake of their descendants, who are fickle and can easily change their minds; but with those who are present one should deal kindly, honorably and humbly.
How the twofold cave was formed, one cannot know. I think that two caves were wide enough, so that Isaac and Jacob and their wives were buried in the same place.
V. 19, 20 After this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field, which is twofold, over against Mamre, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave therein were confirmed unto Abraham for an inheritance burial of the children of Heth.
So far Moses has described the death and burial of Sarah in many words, so that they are a beautiful, glorious teaching and excellent examples of good manners;
For the Holy Spirit, in addition to the great, high, and glorious virtues of faith, hope, and love, praised in Abraham also the outward virtues, namely, his reverence, humility, discipline, temperance, and equity; so that in the one Abraham there is found a great number and multitude of all virtues, whether they be spiritual or worldly and domestic virtues, which one would seek in him. About his faith nothing can be found that is more excellent: but how great is also the love that he had for the sodomites? Item,
How great was his patience as he wandered in misery? How great reverence, fairness and weariness can be seen in him toward those who were masters in this land? For he does not want to take the field for free or as a gift and be burdensome to the inhabitants of the land. Therefore, the whole doctrine of good morals and honorable conduct could be better learned from this than Aristotle, the jurists and the canonists have taught it; so that it is not in vain or useless words that Moses has described all this so extensively.