First part.
How Jacob goes back to his land, and sends messengers to his brother Esau, greeting him.
V. 1. 2. But Jacob went his way, and the angels of God met him. And when he saw them, he said, They are the armies of God: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
After Laban has gone, and the holy patriarch Jacob has been delivered from the heavy and tedious toil and service of his father-in-law, he becomes glad that he has finally, since the tribulation has come to an end, again received peace and comfort, and now always goes his way, so that he may again come to his most beloved father Isaac, who had long since become feeble through old age.
2. Moses says that when he went there, the angels of God met him, and when he saw them, he knew with great joy that they were the armies and hosts of God, and he called the same place machanaim, for he said, "This host is God's host," although in German we cannot render the Hebrew word with the singular, for it is a word that is used only in the plural, or rather in the dual, which also occurs frequently in Greek. Machanaim means two armies, and are such words to make the patriarch understand that he is joyful and triumphant, yes, that he is now comforted and without worry, because God has given him peace. As if he wanted to say: Now the angels appear to me, the sky smiles at me, the storm and the winter are over, now a very beautiful bright light shines.
(3) In addition to this quiet joy, because he is free of all toil and trouble, the angels and hosts of God meet him. Moses also indicated earlier that the angels often appeared to the patriarchs; as he said above about Abraham Gen. 18, 1, about Hagar Cap. 16, 7, about the leader of Jacob Cap. 28, 12. ff., when the angels ascended and descended; item, Cap. 31, 3, when Jacob was admonished by the angel that he should return to his homeland. Therefore they often saw angels, and the pious and holy fathers especially needed to see them. But Jacob does not see one angel here, but whole hosts of angels; as the evangelist Lucas says in 2 Cap. v. 13, when he describes the birth of Christ: "And immediately there was with the angel the multitude of the heavenly host."
4 So the angels are called hosts, item, warriors, guards, leaders and rulers among the creatures of God. For this is their office on earth. Above, their office is to sing Gloria in excelsis: "Glory to God in the highest" 2c.; on earth, their office towards us and the creatures is to watch, rule and fight not only for the godly, but also for the ungodly. As can be seen in the prophet Daniel, where the angel says that he came to fight against the prince in Persia, Dan. 10, 13. Now a good angel does not fight against another good angel; therefore the prince in Persia was an evil angel, and belonged to the number of angels, of which Christ Joh. 12, 31. says: "The prince of this world will be cast out." Satan, who is a god of this world, has great hosts of devils, and also among the evil angels is a kind of monarchy.
(5) For this is evident from itself, and the Scriptures also clearly show it, since we see that everything in the world is horribly mixed together, confused and disorderly mixed; moreover, it is everywhere running against each other with many terrible sins and disgraces. This is because evil angels rule everywhere, in the courts of the Pope, the Emperor, the
Kings and princes, yes, even in the houses of the common subjects. These are and are also called the works of the devil, which we see and experience; but the world does not see that death and other innumerable sins and disgraces occur through the devil's power and incitement. They all see the work, but they do not see the cause from which it comes.
(6) Therefore it is certain that the princes of the good angels fight against the princes of the evil angels. For this is brought about by experience, just as the pagans have to some extent retained a shadow of this knowledge, since they have claimed that lares are household gods or good and evil spirits. God is a creator and governor of all things, who also administers the dominions of the godless, as the Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians, through the angels; as Daniel thus testifies, and one sees just such a thing in our "courts and regiments". This is why even the best things in the courts of princes are often hindered, confused and distorted in various ways, and yet finally gain a happy outcome through the guidance and counsel of the good angels. And this is the wonderful counsel of our Lord God, of which one should not dispute why he governs the world in this or that way.
(7) Now this is great and marvelous wisdom, that Jacob can know and call the angels that met him God's armies, or our Lord's people of war. Does God have armies and warriors here on earth? Jacob truly calls all angels so. And this understanding he did not have from Laban, his father-in-law, who was a godless idolater and had not taught such high and heavenly things; but such knowledge has always come from the fathers from one to another. For Abraham saw Noah more than fifty years, and Shem lived after Abraham; and Isaac and Jacob saw and heard him, who was a very great teacher, a prophet and priest of the Most High, who took this teaching from Enos, who was Adam's grandson.
8. these are the teachers and listeners ge-
The people who sneeze are those who have preserved this teaching and spread it to their descendants, and at the same time experience and tribulation have come along with it. But he who has such guides and teachers will easily learn much. And Jacob not only learned it from his fathers, but experience also taught him: he saw the angels ascending and descending; item, in Mesopotamia with his father-in-law he saw and heard an angel in a dream, and in this place he now sees the armies and hosts of the angels. Therefore, both the deed or the work in itself and the words, or the knowledge and the work and the experience come together.
(9) Otherwise, this doctrine and wisdom is somewhat higher than can be grasped or understood by human reason. For reason knows nothing of the fact that the angels take care of the rulers and regiments, of the household, of men and cattle, and finally also of all creatures. For this is how the epistle to the Hebrews describes them in 1 Cap. V. 14: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of those who are to inherit blessedness?" They are not gods or goddesses, but are servants who rule the whole world, and the same for the sake of those who shall inherit eternal blessedness. For all that happens in this life happens for the sake of godly men and those who shall be saved. For their sake the sun shines, the sovereignties and regimes are preserved and maintained, the land becomes fertile, and for their sake marriages and weddings are arranged. In short, all that is in heaven and on earth has been decreed and directed to the end that the righteous may be gathered together and the number of those who are to be saved may be fulfilled. Now this is a true heavenly doctrine, and human reason and wisdom teach nothing of it, namely, that in this life, through the ministry of the holy angels, the sovereignties, in addition to the world and household government, and finally all that this world has, will be governed.
(10) Now a question arises: If this is true and certain, how can it be true and certain?
it is actually true, then it follows that the opinion of Erasmus and all Epicureans must be most wrong. For they are moved by the fact that all things are so very unequal and confused in this life, and that they see that evil men have more luck than the pious and godly, that they fall away and deny this protection and service of the angels, yes, the providence of God Himself. And the common experience and also the lamentation of the saints also testify to this: The more mischievous one is, the better luck he has. Thus also Cicero says: Optime cogitata pessime cadunt: What one has thought about and deliberated the best, turns out the worst. Thus one finds that Julius Caesar, Demosthenes and others, who were very wise, learned, virtuous and understanding men, have complained that their counsels had no happy progress and end. Yes, even their end was very sad in relation to their high merits for the state. So the godly are also oppressed, the church is persecuted and severely plagued, the godless excel, prosper, are rich and powerful. What kind of a regiment is this that the holy angels administer? Who should not see that all things are done without God's counsel and government, and are thrown about one another? indeed, that this is rather the devil's rule? As Christ calls him John 16:11, a prince of this world, and St. Paul 2 Corinthians 4:4, a god of this world. But how can the regiment of the angels exist?
(11) Answer: This is, as I said before, a wonderful and incomprehensible wisdom of God, which human reason cannot understand. However, if we open our eyes, we can see and judge that the devil is bound and imprisoned, as if he were bound in iron and chains, so that he cannot touch a hair on our head, unless God wants it and charges it to him. But if any misfortune befalls us, we should by no means interpret it as if it should come from the fact that the angels should not be diligent enough in their office.
728 ΓΌ. vm, 118-iM. Interpretation of Genesis 32, 1. 2. w. n, loes-iose. 729
but we should rather put it to the test, so that in this life every godly person and the whole church may be afflicted. For the devil does not have such great power as outwardly appears. For if he had perfect power to rage and to rage as he pleased, you would not live one hour, you would not keep one piece of cattle, not the fruit of the field, not the grain in the barn, and finally none of the things that serve this life unharmed and undecayed.
(12) Now consider in your heart the whole order of nature and of all this life, and consider all kinds of men, cattle, birds, and fish; and you will find that there is more good than evil; you will also see that the least part is subject to the power of the devil. For he must leave the fish in the water, the birds in the air, the men and the cattle in villages and cities, which he would not do if they were without the protection of the holy angels. Yes," you say, "he sometimes makes a great noise: he sets one kingdom against another, one prince against another; he confounds the countries, the cities, and the whole families. Answer: It is true that he makes such a noise and likes to confuse wherever he can, but he still cannot accomplish what he most desires, namely, to turn everything upside down and to throw everything into a heap. So strong are the ramparts, fortresses and fences that the holy angels have made around us and around all things.
(13) Now if one should hold the evil against the good that is done in this life, there will be much more of the good than of the evil, except what belongs to the contestation, or to the punishment and chastisement of sinners, where sins get the upper hand, and the kingdoms, countries, cities, and princes are given to be punished and laid waste; as God destroyed Sodom and the surrounding cities: then the ramparts and camps of the angels cease. For the rest he judges in the
He drives people to adultery, to theft, to death, and that they swear falsely; however, he does not seduce or corrupt them all. For he is compelled that he cannot kill even among the wicked men whom he would gladly kill. For if he had everything in his hand and power, he would also kill the wicked, even though he first holds them captive in his ropes. Therefore, God also tolerates wicked people and sinners to prove His immeasurable goodness and patience with them; but until the time appointed for punishment. Now, when their sins are fulfilled, He withdraws His hand.
(14) In this way, one may answer the question: If the angels are God's hosts and ministering spirits, why is there still so much evil that displeases God? The wicked are well off, they are given life, honor and glory, they have great money and goods; all this is truly given to the most wicked people by the good angels. But I answer thus: That one should not dispute about the divine counsel, namely, why he also gives something good to the wicked, and scatters his gifts among the good as well as among the wicked, among the grateful and the ungrateful; as Christ speaks Matth. 5:45. For this happens because he thereby shows that he not only has human goodness in himself, which has its goal and measure, but rather that his goodness is immeasurable, infinite and incomprehensible.
(15) Therefore, we should leave him his rule and praise his very great grace and mercy, since it is obvious that more good than evil is done even to evil people, and those who blaspheme God also have their physical goods. For if God did not rule the world through the angels even on one day, the whole human race would soon perish in one fell swoop, the devil would carry away and drive away everything, he would destroy everything with plague, pestilence, war and fire. And not only the wicked but also the pious would have to bear such damage.
But that we can be free and safe from such great danger, we should certainly take it for granted that this will happen through the protection of the heavenly hosts.
(16) The angels sometimes allow evil to happen, but this is so that we may be tried and our faith may be tested and exercised, so that we may learn to recognize God in His marvelous counsel and works, and so that we may thank Him for His marvelous government. As this example of the patriarch Jacob teaches us; for he always goes away, is joyful and confident, because the sun has risen for him and the heavenly hosts have met him. But soon after that the sun will set again. Now he reigns and triumphs, is full of faith and spiritual joy; but soon he will be thrown into the greatest sorrow, misery and consternation.
God guides and governs both the godly and the godless in the same way. If it now appears that everything is about to fall in a heap, you should not abandon all hope and trust; but you should always wait, endure and await the matter. God is still alive, the angels still rule and protect. And even though it may be seen that they have forgotten their office and the guard they were commanded to keep over us, in truth they do not cease to do so, but it is a temptation and a test, so that God may exercise not only the godly but also the godless, even though the godless do not understand it. How it happens when suddenly great thunderstorms of winds and torrential rains come, and the violent thunderclaps threaten the heavens and the earth that everything will be burned up, or that the whole earth will fall and perish: but when the thunderstorm is quieted, the land turns green, indicating that the storm, however terrible it may have been, was very useful for fertility.
18 This is the doctrine which is held out to us in this place, namely, that the angels are ministering spirits and servants of creatures, who fight for the welfare and salvation of the world and of the godly.
human beings. And the same is their office on earth. But up in heaven their office is to sing: Gloria in excelsis Deo: "Glory to God in the highest", and: Te Deum laudamus etc.: "Lord God, we praise you"; item, as Christ says Matth. 18, 10: "The angels in heaven always see the face of my Father" 2c. And they do the same for the glory of God, for their own joy and that of all believers.
19. but the wonderful government of this life they understand very well, namely, how the happiness of the ungodly rhymes with the unhappiness of the godly; which we cannot see or understand in this life, while we still have the flesh on our necks; but at the end of the world and after this life we shall see the most beautiful unanimity and how this government harmonizes so finely.
(20) As a coarse rustic man does not understand the wonderful harmony of so many voices on the organ or harp, because he does not know anything about the whole harmony, so we also think that everything happens by chance. We let ourselves think that God is asleep and the devil is awake and reigning. And at the same time there is the judgment of reason, which concludes that neither God nor men rule the world, but that everything that happens to us men here on earth happens by chance. This is the wisdom of the flesh; not the heavenly and incomparable knowledge of the government of God, which indicates that there are many more things in the world that are preserved than are corrupted; likewise, that the goodness of God is greater than the wickedness of the devil can be. But reason and the flesh doubt and waver, even in the saints, when it sees such great disorder and inequality of fortune. This is because we are not yet in the same light that the angels rejoice in and see how sin and righteousness, death and life, darkness and light agree with each other.
21 Let us therefore learn that the government of angels is certain, and that the immeasurable goodness and mercy of God far surpasses the wickedness of the devil; and
that God will miraculously preserve all these things on earth against all fierce anger, rage and attacks of the devil. For thus we see that it happens with all things in this life. Sometimes a householder loses a sheep, a chicken, or money, but he still keeps the house and his fields, and the largest and best part of his possessions.
22. So it is a great ornament and honor to this city that the high school is here, and so many fine learned people who deal with heavenly doctrine and good arts; but among them are some boys who do not realize that in this assembly, as where the muses have their dwelling, indeed, as where the right temple of God and the holy angels is, they should live soberly and demurely; but always make noise and tumult, as if they dwelt among the rude and tyrannical people who have been called Cyclopes or Centaurs, and defile this glorious assembly with evil manners and much vexation. But how this inequality rhymes, God and the holy angels see well. Perhaps, since the time of punishment has not yet arrived and the school is to be destroyed, it is a temptation that will soon cease, and God will then give other fruits and blessings to those who live godly and chaste lives and are obedient to their teachers.
So far we have said about the holy angels, how they protect and guard us. Such knowledge, and that one may rely on it, is especially useful and necessary for the godly. As Jacob looked upon these heavenly hosts with great joy, and is now joyful and triumphant, because he has now overcome all toil and all devils under his unjust father-in-law Laban. He is, I say, joyful and without sorrow in the Lord, and has the holy angels who are his fellow companions and witnesses of this joy.
(24) But it must be diligently observed that in the life of the saints it is usual that it always changes with them. For sometimes they are so that they are cheerful and confident, but sometimes it is with
They have sorrow and trouble. As such change is also found in the whole of nature in all things, as the change of day and night; item, of light and darkness, of mountains and valleys, as it is written in the 104th Psalm v. 8: "The mountains go up, and the broad places come down to the place which thou hast founded for them. At times we hear something that rejoices us, if not in the world, it is in heaven through God's word: at times also the temptation and sadness of spirit comes again. To such change the godly must become accustomed; for a wonderful change will soon follow.
(25) I understand the word machanaim to mean, not a common word, but the proper name of a place or place in the Scriptures. And this name is to be remembered, because David in the 34th Psalm, v. 8, took the saying from it, where he says, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and helps them out," which is one of the noblest and most notable consolations in the Psalms, which we are to draw upon ourselves, that we may use it.
026 Yea, saith thou, I see not that I have the ministry of angels about me; and that is more, I perceive the contrary, and am made to think that I am given into the devil's power, and am led, as it were, into hell. Answer: You should certainly not think that. For if thou wert delivered into the hands of the devil, he would not let thee live an hour, but would plunge thee into all shame and vice; yea, he would not leave thee so much time and space as to lead thee into vice and sin, but would soon kill thee. But that thou art still alive, thou shalt ascribe to the protection and shield of the holy angels. Or, if you have to depart from this life and succumb to the fierce wrath of Satan, if God so decrees, it is a great grace and blessing that you have such a God who comforts and strengthens you through his word.
27That thou therefore art delivered into the hands and power of Satan, as thou hast imagined before thine eyes and in thine heart.
This is a temptation that lasts only for an hour and a moment, not to destruction or perdition, but to testing, to blessedness, to immeasurable blessing. As Christ says John 12:24: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." For so Christ also was given into the hands of the murderers; but only for one hour, and for salvation. Therefore, if you feel that you are plagued and challenged by the devil, pray diligently and thank God that you are not ruined, but only tempted and tried; as it says in the 3rd chapter of Jeremiah's Lamentations, v. 22: "The goodness of the Lord is that we are not finished; his mercy has no end" 2c. Item St. Paul says 2 Cor. 4, 9: "We suffer persecution, but we are not forsaken. We are oppressed, but we do not perish" 2c.
28 The same is taught by the example of Job, whom the devil first takes away all his possessions with his children, and leaves him with a troublesome, vexatious, abusive wife; moreover, the devil also plagues him in his body with very evil sores. And yet the devil says to God: "Have you kept him and his house and all that he has all around?" 2c., Job 1:10. Then the devil complains that the godly and the godless are kept all around, and threatens him harshly with secret anger that he wants to destroy his body and his goods. As if to say, "If Job were in my power, I would prove my authority over him, and how he should praise you, I would soon bring it about that he should curse you openly under his eyes. But the LORD decrees that he may afflict him in the flesh and take his goods, but he may not take his life.
(29) Such examples teach that all the wickedness and plague that the devil inflicts on us is only a chastisement and punishment, by which we are awakened and made lively, so that we do not snore and become lazy, and thus, among others who are safe and lazy, are also oppressed and corrupted. But at the same time it is also confirmed and
This teaching that the angels are God's hosts remains firm and certain, regardless of the fact that much evil still happens in this life because of the evil angels.
V.3-5. And Jacob sent messengers before him unto Esau his brother, unto the land of Seir, in the region of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus say ye unto my lord Esau, Thy servant Jacob saith unto thee, I have been with Laban a long time without, and have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and maidservants: and I have sent to declare unto thee, my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.
(30) Malach is the same word that he called the angels above. For it is a name of office, and not of nature. For according to the office they are messengers, they are warrior servants, who stand at post and shield guard for the whole world; but according to their nature they are spirits.
(31) But Jacob is still joyful, and always goes forth with gladness, not fearing, nor being afraid; for he goes forth from Mesopotamia by the command of God, who strengthened him in a dream by the angel, and who punished Laban and stopped him. Moreover, he has seen the hosts of God. Therefore, he wanted to deal with his brother Esau amicably and in a friendly manner, and it is well believed that he had an earnest and heartfelt desire to see his brother; for he thinks that he will now have become his friend again in these twenty years. Therefore he sends messengers before him and sends him greetings, so that he may hear from them that he wants to love him as his brother and hold him in honor. Then he will send him gifts when he hears that Esau is coming to meet him with four hundred men. This will be somewhat heavy, and Jacob would not have been able to provide for it.
(32) The loose talk of the Jews, which Lyra seems to follow in this place, is a useless thing; for they say that Jacob was afraid because he had dwelt too long with Laban the idolater, and had been somewhat defiled by him; item, that Jacob should have thought that the promises of the Lord had been made to him.
The fathers were not to have such a condition that they demanded a guilty obedience to God. But one should not think of the fathers in this way. Although the difference is right, that there are two kinds of promises, namely, some that are called conditional, that have a special condition, and some that are simply without condition, as, the promise of the law has a condition, but the promise of grace is simply without condition. When a wage is promised to a worker, there is such a condition that requires work and duty, as the contract entails; where the work and duty owed do not follow, the wage is not spent and paid.
(33) But such promises we ought to forsake, if we are to deal with God in conscience; for we shall soon be put to shame, since we shall not for a moment do our duty. Therefore the gloss of Lyra is false and very wrong, which he took from the Jews, who lie that Jacob could not have believed that the promise of grace was simple and without condition, and that his conscience was terrified because he had defiled himself with the idolatry of his father-in-law. But this is not properly said of the holy patriarch Jacob; for he will undoubtedly have fled from idolatry, and will have abhorred it as much as was ever possible.
(34) And the saints, though they are not without the flesh, constrain the lusts of the flesh, that they should not go forth and do the work; as St. Paul saith, Gal 5:24, "They that are Christ's crucify their flesh with the lusts and desires;" for they are killed by the Spirit that ruleth over them. There is indeed lust and desire of the flesh, which does not cease to murmur; but it does not go out into the work. The saints do not strive according to the flesh.
35 This is a promise of grace, when God says: "You have done nothing, you deserve nothing; but I will do this to you and give it to you only out of grace and mercy. Such promises are without
all merit. And the promises of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were like them, as they were told above, Cap. 27. v. 28. ff. were told: Your mother's children will bow down to you; item: I have strengthened you with wine and oil. There is no condition to this: If thou shalt do this, thou shalt be blessed; but: Thou hast this promise and blessing freely. Moses is full of such promises, as in the law there are promises that have a special condition; but the patriarchs have simple promises that are without merit. Therefore Jacob is confident and joyful because of this promise; he rejoices because of the very great rich comfort and because he has the strongest protection from the holy angels. Just as David was of the same mind when he says in Psalm 30, v. 7: "But I said when I was well: I will never again lie down." God laughs, the angels leap, rejoice and are glad, the spirit rejoices in the Lord. Therefore Jacob is not afraid, but believes that in so long a time his brother's anger has been somewhat quenched, especially since in the meantime nothing of his power and wealth had been lost to him and he had remained at home in his fatherland, but Jacob had a miserable ministry outside the country in misery and was waiting out the same, and in addition was still wandering astray and had no certain dwelling place. For Esau had all his father's goods and all his father's land. Therefore Jacob is not troubled, and is sure that his brother will be reconciled to him. Therefore he sends him a kind and friendly greeting by messengers; he is not afraid and has no evil suspicion of him.
The form and manner of the greeting is according to the manner and custom of the Hebrew language, since one calls himself another's servant, who is higher or greater than he, thereby indicating his reverence; just as the Italians greet very politely. In Jacob's greeting, however, these are not words of one who is afraid, but words of reverence and friendliness.
37And though Esau remembered that the blessing was taken away from him, yet at the same time it must have occurred to him that he had
thought: What is it then that he hath taken? I use all the goods and all that is in my father's house; but he is a stranger and in misery; he has had to serve a godless and idolatrous man for two wives; I am a gentleman in this land, I have neighbors, relatives and other friends who are very powerful. Jacob is a poor and miserable man; he may have the blessing, but it does not give him anything else, nor does it benefit him, except that he must suffer poverty in misery and administer a heavy and despised service; I am rich and powerful, I lack nothing.
(38) So the flesh rejoices when its neighbor suffers harm and misery. Well then, what has my brother taken from me? God has indeed gloriously repaid me when he has taken something from me. Yes, it seems as if the order has been reversed, so that my brother is not respected and divine grace has been withdrawn from him; but God asks much of me, makes me greater and more glorious, and increases my goods for me. And the same thing may have occurred to Jacob, that he also thought of it, when he knew very well how proud, ambitious and sure his brother was; and therefore he also sends him his greetings with such reverence and quite humbly.
Second part.
What message the messengers brought to Jacob, and how Jacob behaved.
V. 6, 7, 8: The messengers came again to Jacob, saying: We came to thy brother Esau; and he also cometh to meet thee with four hundred men. And Jacob was sore afraid, and was troubled: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two armies, and said, If Esau come upon the one army, and smite it, the remnant shall escape.
39. so far Moses has told how the patriarch Jacob, when he came out of Mesopotamia again, was very happy and joyful, and
that he had been delivered from the severe affliction he had had with Laban, since at the same time the armies of God had met him to increase his happiness, and that he might be without worry and have a certain confidence that God would protect him. But now, before the beautiful clear sun, a dark cloud and thunderstorm comes, and Jacob falls, as it were, from heaven back into hell.
40 But Moses makes it almost long, and needs many words, because he describes this temptation. For it is a strange example, of which many are held up to us in the Holy Scriptures, namely, how God used to tempt His saints and test their faith with various trials and consolations. As it is written in the 94th Psalm v. 19: "I had many sorrows in my heart" 2c. So this life on earth is full of sorrow and affliction, and therefore the life to come is promised, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope, Rom. 15:4. Underneath these two things are mixed together, namely, patience or comfort and affliction. For when there is comfort, there is happiness and joy everywhere. But again, when darkness and tribulation fall in, the devil reigns and Christ is crucified.
(41) Therefore we are instructed by such examples that we should not fail, but provide ourselves with the very best, and wait for certain and abundant salvation, hoping that the calamity will surely come to an end, although in the calamity and tribulation itself one sees no end, nor that God should be present there; but the presence of God is hidden from the flesh, so that it cannot understand it.
Therefore, one must learn the word and practice it, and we should know that this change in the life of the saints and all believers who want to please God always lasts forever. As St. Paul 2 Tim. 3, 12. says: "All who want to live godly in Christ JEsu must suffer persecution." And in the Acts of the Apostles on 14 Cap. V. 22. "We must go through much tribulation into the kingdom of GOD." "But GOD is faithful, who will not let us perish.
We seek beyond our ability," 1 Cor. 10:13, even though reason shows the opposite, and we think that all trials are too much, great and unpleasant. As St. Paul says of himself in 2 Cor. 1:8, 9: "We were weighed down with greatness and with power, so that we also departed from life, having decided that we must die. But you must not fear that God should weigh you down beyond measure; for the saying stands firm, "God is faithful," 2c., 1 Cor. 10, 13.
This is often repeated in these histories, therefore it must be repeated often, and it is a true seriousness and a high thing: they are not vain words, but they deal here with death or eternal life. And there is no one who has so completely exhausted this wisdom that he needs no more exercises or teaching. For one must always learn, and grow and increase in doctrine; and this wisdom must actually be learned from God's Word, it cannot be comprehended with the eyes or carnal mind.
(44) Now that we have seen the great triumph and glory of Jacob, together with the host of God and the heavenly hosts, let us also go with him to hell and see his sorrow and terror. The messengers come again and tell Jacob what they have seen. We bring, they say, sad news: "Your brother is coming to meet you with four hundred men."
(45) Jacob was greatly frightened, even though there was no danger, as we will hear later how he escaped from this fear and distress. It is true that the danger would have been great if God had decreed that the four hundred men would have attacked Jacob by force with his host and companions who were around him; and this alone was before Jacob's eyes at that moment, and was in his heart, that the armed men might harm him, and that they might come along to slay him with his wife and children. But God thinks of many other things, and will bring Jacob to a different end, which he did not see before.
The flesh cannot help but tremble and be terrified. For Jacob was well aware that there was ill will between him and his brother; therefore he did not doubt that his doom would surely come. For he will have thought: What does it mean that my brother goes with so many armed men? Why does he not greet me with a word or welcome me with the messengers? So he interprets it in the worst way, as the flesh is always wont to do, which soon abandons all hope, and is frightened and cannot be otherwise minded. For St. Paul says of himself Rom. 7, 23: "I see another law in my members, which contradicts the law in my mind. The law in the mind says: Hope and trust, do not doubt, do not fear, God lives and rules, the angels watch over you. But I hear another law in my members, which says: "All is lost, the matter is spoiled, it is over with you. This is the law in the members; the flesh is faithless and always despairs, and cannot promise itself or believe that it will be saved. The same thing happened to the patriarch Jacob: he trembled and was terrified when he heard that his brother was coming with such a great multitude of people and would fight against him and against his poor, miserable, defenseless little band of wives, shepherds and little children, and that he should not only fight but also kill and strangle them; as he then said, "Lest he come and strike me, the mothers and the children.
47. But how does it rhyme that such a holy patriarch should thus tremble, that he should fall from such great triumph and gladness, after which he had so highly rejoiced, into such deep despair? Is this right, that one should thus waver and doubt? Yes, had we been there, we might have done worse. These are examples that teach us and instruct us; like Peter, when the Lord called him to come to him on the water, Matth. 14, 28. ff, he soon hurries to Christ, triumphs and is very bold as a lord of the sea and the waves, yes, the Lord.
and the whole world; but soon, having seen a strong wind, he begins to doubt. Therefore Christ also rebuked him, saying, "O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?" I have called thee to come unto me, and thou comest; but because thou perceivest that the wind is contrary to the word and to experience, thy faith wavereth and sinketh.
(48) In the same way, when a man is without temptation, he makes himself believe that he is fine, healthy and strong enough; he may despise the devil and trample him underfoot, and may also strengthen other men; as it is written in Psalm 30:7, "But I said, when I was well: I will never again lie down," I will not give a single stone for all devils and for death. But when a storm and a strong wind come along, or when some unusual ghost appears, we cry out: Alas, it is all over, death wants to devour me! and, as follows in Psalm 30, v. 8: "When thou didst disguise thy face, I was afraid."
(49) It was the same with Moses at the Red Sea. The children of Israel had gone out with great joy. Egypt was humiliated and punished; they had taken the plunder and carried it away; they all cried out, "The LORD our God is with us," 2c. It is a delightful thing. But when they see Pharaoh pursuing them with army force, and that they were surrounded on both sides by mountains, they say, "Were there not tombs in Egypt?" Ex. 14, 11. After such great triumph and rejoicing comes the terror of death and hell. Yes, look at Moses himself, to whom the Lord says in Ex 14:15, "Why are you crying out to me?" His heart also wanted to fall and burst into a thousand pieces, because he had led the people of Israel out of Egypt, and since they have hardly come out, he sees that they must be sacrificed horribly on the flesh bench. Then he thought: Now I am a cause that so many people must be slain. What have I done now? I have angered the Egyptian king and set him on the people. That is why he cries out so violently and his heart is terrified. But God answers his cry,
and says, "Why are you crying out to me?" I want to restrain the tyrant and force him. Yes, but we see the sea before us, on both sides we are surrounded by mountains, how can we escape? Lift up thy rod," says the Lord, Exodus 14:16, "and stretch forth thine hand over the sea, and divide it from one another, that the children of Israel may go in through the midst of it upon dry land." Yes, our Lord God can do that.
50 And this is to teach and strengthen the church and congregation of God in all distress and adversity. For this is why it is held up to us that we should believe and trust God when it appears that everything is impossible and lost, and that neither counsel nor help is available. As it is written in the 107th Psalm, v. 27: "They knew no more counsel. Then you should learn to conclude: Although everything happens with great weakness, and it now seems as if everything is lost, yet nothing is impossible to God. For thus the angel says to the Virgin Mary Luc. 1, 37: "With God no thing is impossible." For He once created all things from nothing: He still has power and authority, and in the same way He still sustains and governs all things. For what is nothing with us is everything with God; what is impossible for us is very easy for Him. He will also raise the dead on the last day with just such power, who have lain in the dust of the earth from the beginning of the world.
51 Let this be said of the terror of Jacob in the very great distress and danger; which terror is a sign that even in the saints the flesh is still strong and alive. Because of this cause, this very holy man almost fell into despair after such great promises and strong consolation.
52 Now behold also the condition of all the servants, and of the church, or congregation, which Jacob had in his house. For when they see that the head and the father of the house himself is wavering and trembling, what should they not do? The bishop, the teacher and comforter of the church and congregation, staggers and fears: what hope then shall they have who believe in such their teacher and comforter?
How can they hang on the head of the man? Because of this, there will have been miserable mourning among Jacob's wives and his shepherds or relatives. For he had a great multitude of people with him on this journey: for the sake of the great herd to drive them, he had to have a hundred or two hundred shepherds; they also became frightened and impatient, and will perhaps have said: What is it that He has brought us out of Mesopotamia? If God wanted us to be with Laban, we would live safely and securely, we would not have to be afraid of these armed men. Such lamentations tend to afflict and torment a frightened and sorrowful heart more than hardship and danger per se. Although Jacob was not afraid on account of himself, his heart was softened and made despondent by the crying, weeping and wailing of the women, and the terror of the flesh was always increased, as will be seen hereafter.
53 And this is what Moses says, that Jacob was not only very afraid, but that he was also frightened, because he describes a very weak faith. The Hebrew word zar in Latin is angustia, fear, and Moses wants to say: He was afraid, his heart knew no counsel, and no way or way could be seen how he might have escaped, or how he might have been helped; which the Scriptures elsewhere in Latin use to call latitudo, as, in the 4th Psalm v. 2: In tribulatione dilatasti mihi: "Thou comfortest me in fear." For the Scripture sets the two words against each other, latitudo and angustia, that is, the terror of the heart and the consolation. Just as Jacob, when he was in the greatest fear, was terrified, so that he knew no more counsel, as the 107th Psalm v. 27. says. Therefore this is a very pitiful story, because this victor and conqueror is portrayed as having fallen into hell, as it were, and as forgetting so many glorious promises and consolations that had gone before.
54 But this is held against us because we do not put our trust in ourselves.
For Paul had also experienced many dangers and hardships and had been saved from them in many ways; but sometimes he shows that he has such a strong courage and is not afraid of anything that it can be seen with him that he can also despise all danger and fear without all fear; as he says 2 Cor. 6, 11. 12: "O Corinthians, our mouth has opened to you; our heart is confident. For our sake you must not be afraid. But that ye fear, ye do so out of a hearty mind." 2c. His heart is full of joy, and he wants them all to rejoice and be glad with him. Everything that is in heaven and on earth laughs at him. Again he says in 2 Cor. 1:8, 9: "We were weighed down above measure, and above might, so that we also departed from life;" item: "We had resolved among ourselves that we should die. But this happened," he says, "because we put our trust not in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead." What is this, dear Paul? Why are you not joyful and confident? Why don't you make the others cheerful too? Should Paul, such a great apostle, be so humiliated that he would rather die than live? He who was full of the Holy Spirit is now considered to be without the Spirit.
(55) Yes, we have presented the first and foremost image of the same struggle in Christ, who sweated blood in the garden. And the life of all saints is such that the examples are held up to us, so that we may be taught and learn from them that we should not place our trust in ourselves, but in God. For this is the art of the godly, that they distrust themselves and trust in God, and in such a one. GOD who raises the dead, and "calls to that which is not, that it may be," Rom. 4:17. For these are GOD's works. Now if you want to be godly and recognize and honor God as your Father, remember that you will have to contend with the devils, with the world, with the flesh, with sin and the law. And among all these, the world is the least of enemies; even so
The persecution of the world is always accompanied by the fierce anger and rage of the devil, who helps the world and terrifies the godly. For we do not suffer the slightest persecution, unless the devil is also with us.
(56) Therefore we must remember that this is our main concern and that we must learn to trust in God in all distress and temptation, whose own work it is to raise the dead, to comfort and satisfy those who are greatly distressed, to turn the most miserable people into the most blessed, and to turn those who are in despair into joyful people. Therefore Moses does not use so many words in vain and does not describe this challenge so precisely for nothing. For he wants us to engrave this example diligently in our hearts.
(57) But what does Jacob do when his faith is thus challenged and weak, when the flesh rules in his law, doubting, desponding, and blaspheming? Answer: First, he does what is in him, as the papists commonly speak, but in a different sense. For they do not understand this way of speaking properly, nor do they know how to use it properly. For we have said above that although we have the promise and commandments of God, nevertheless one should not tempt God, that is, one should not neglect or despise the means, but one should use those that one can use; since God has not given reason, nor the counsel and help of reason, for the reason that you should despise them. This is what those do who are presumptuous, or who despair, when they say: I will do whatever I want, but I cannot prevent what must and must happen by necessity and by fate. These are the words of those who despair. But those who are presumptuous use such words: If I do not eat, I will live, if I am to live; God has promised me life, therefore nothing is in it, I eat or do not eat. But we should be careful, if we have a divine promise, not to tempt God by presumption, and not to
Do not sin even with despair. If you have a ladder, there is no need to throw yourself out of the window; you must not go through the middle of the Elbe because you have a bridge; but each one should do what reason teaches or instructs him, and should command the other to God, who will see to it that it comes to a good end.
(58) This is a very good example of it. For Jacob does not omit any of the things he can do. He divided the people who were with him and sent gifts to his brother; he went ahead himself and did everything he could. Another, despondent, would have said: You do not want to do anything; if it is therefore foreseen that you will be slain, then you will not be able to avoid it. Just as others draw such a conclusion from the mistake, that they say, "If I am in danger, I will not be lost; I will do whatever I want. These are devilish words, and one should beware of them. This is true: what is done before will be done; but it must be added that this is unknown to you. As thou canst not know whether thou shalt die or live tomorrow; and God hath not willed that thou shouldest know.
(59) Therefore it is a foolish thing that you should seek that which God has hidden from you by special counsel. But since you do not know how long you will live, you should use the means necessary for life. If it is decreed that you will die after the end of a month, you must not tempt God, since you are not yet sure, but you must use the means necessary to preserve this life.
(60) Therefore, the foolishness, or rather the impiety, of those who want to draw all things to the providence that contains the secret counsel and government of God, which is unknown to us, should be punished. If you were God, then you would have to suffer to be guided by it. But since God does not want you to know about it, make sure that you do not
Remain in your profession, and go no further than the word instructs you, and use the means and counsel that God has ordained. I cannot see beforehand what fruit will result from my teaching, which people will be converted and which will not. Now if I were to say: Those who are to be converted will be converted without me; but if some are not to be converted, what need is there for me to labor in vain? If I were to say this, it would be an unrighteous and ungodly thing. For who are you to inquire into such a thing? Do what it behooves thee to do in thy office: but how it shall go forth and be done, that thou shalt command God. It does not behoove thee to say, If this be done, it shall be done. God has commanded in His Word through St. Paul: Go and execute your ministry to which you have been called: "Preach the word, stop, whether in season or out of season; chastise, rebuke, exhort with all patience and doctrine," 2 Tim. 4:2. This command is to be obeyed on account of necessity and useless presumption is to be abandoned.
61 This is to be taught diligently, to refute the godless and Turkish wisdom, which many today want to refute with it. For the Turks are so minded when they go to war. Where I am to die, they say, I shall die; but where I am not to die, no bullet can harm me. Therefore they attack the enemy as if they were senseless, with great danger, even if they could well beware of such danger. But God wants us to use the opportunity and means given to us to avoid danger.
(62) As Jacob does everything he can find for advice with the greatest diligence, even though he is not helped by what he thinks and does, he is not saved by it. For if God had not changed Esau's heart, Jacob's diligence would have accomplished nothing. But in such great fear and distress he tries everything he can and may. He does not stop diligently caring for his family, as he would like to protect them; he is not able, tooth and nail, to save them.
But what is at hand he does, lest he tempt God. He divides the people into two armies, likewise also the herd, as, sheep, cattle and camels. The Hebrew word machanoth means here in the feminine "heap, crowd".
(63) What kind of counsel is this that he says, "If Esau comes upon one army and smites it, the rest will escape"? This is only human advice, invented by reason and not by the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit had something else to do at that time, namely, that Esau's heart might be soothed and softened. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit also governed this, so that Jacob did not tempt God. For he thought, When my brother shall come upon the armies, he shall slay them all with the shepherds and with the whole family in the first tempest and fierce anger: therefore will I divide them into two armies, that, when he shall smite the one army, he may be satisfied with such vengeance, and spare the other army, and cease to rage and to rage.
For it may well happen that a human heart is satiated when so many of one part are slain. How often even the cruelest victors have commanded the warriors after the victory not to practice cruelty with strangling and murder. When the battle of Cannae was fought and Hannibal saw that the Romans were defeated, he commanded the warriors to stop strangling. Now this is a human thing, that Jacob concludes in his heart that the enemy, however cruel he may be, can nevertheless be satisfied when he sees that half the people have been put down and defeated. So he is careful not to tempt God, and yet he exposes half the people to defeat and robbery; but the other half he hopes to preserve.
But that he imagines such an abominable thing from the fierce anger of his brother comes from the flesh and from the devil. God lets Jacob get such a suspicion from Esau, but he himself thinks of something else. This, then, is the first and most beautiful counsel, for as much human wisdom as the devil knows.
The first part of the book is about the relationship between Jacob and his brother and how reason judges it, so that Jacob tries to soothe his brother's anger and wrath.
The other thing is that he turns to prayer, and with it he is also careful not to tempt God. For even though his faith is weak, it shines forth there, since it is almost oppressed by fear and terror, since Jacob is afraid that he will be slain with all the people who were with him and also with the host. And this is the right work, which is especially necessary in distress and persecution. He does not presume to do anything miraculous with his sword, nor does he tempt God to make him despondent and reject all the counsel of reason; but he begins to rise up with faith and to hold himself to prayer, and yet he is still in the battle.
We have often said that faith is strongest when it is weakest. The works of God are so strange. Isaiah Cap. 60, 22. says: "From the smallest shall be a thousand, and from the least a mighty nation." Item, Paul speaks 2 Cor. 12, 9. 10.: "I will most gladly boast of my weakness; for when I am weak, then am I strong." So Jacob here is also very weak in his terror and fear, is exceedingly dismayed and fainthearted, and yet his faith has never been stronger. For the faith that contends against unbelief groans most deeply.
But this same groaning no one understands, neither Jacob nor anyone else. And this is the inexpressible groaning, of which St. Paul says Rom. 8:26: "The Spirit Himself represents us best with inexpressible groaning. It is not the voice of one who is joyful and triumphant, but is in truth such a sighing as makes a sorrowful heart think that it is only very faint and can hardly catch its breath. The prophet Isaiah calls it Cap. 42, 3. a smoldering wick and a crushed reed. But since nothing is weaker than such groaning (for it is, as it were, the last breath), it is nevertheless an inexpressible groaning.
69. this is straight against each other, or, opposita in adjecto, and yet it is nevertheless true, and there is no man who could reach or express in words how powerful this groaning is. "For my power," says God's word 2 Cor. 12, 9, "is mighty in the weak." The flesh contradicts this and says that it does not understand it, and even feels and experiences the opposite. But it is nevertheless certain that when power is weak, it is perfect, and again, perfect power is all weakness. Who has ever spoken in this way? Yes, beware of that: I cannot. If the devil brings you to the point that you cannot, you have already lost. But see to it that you do not let despair come to such weakness, for it is an inexpressible groaning. This is what the Scripture says. When despair does not come, but is a groaning, it is the most perfect power in the very weakest weakness.
70 Thus says the Lord to Moses in the other book, chapter 14, v. 15. V. 15: "Why are you crying out to me? Now Moses did not cry out at all, but was dumb with fear; no sound of any voice was heard there; he was as if he were dead. But the Holy Spirit, who understands the same groaning, says that it is a great cry. How then does he cry out? Answer: Abba Father: Oh, dear God! There the despair is not yet complete, but there is still a little trust there, even a little breath, a little sighing, which is indeed very small in your eyes, but in the ears of God it is very great, and is a cry above all the crying which fills heaven and earth, that God cannot refrain from it, He must hear such crying, and answer it, "What cryest thou?" So now Jacob also prays with inexpressible groaning, as follows in the text.
(vv. 9-12) And Jacob said, O God of Abraham my father, and O God of Isaac my father, O Lord, who hast said unto me: Return to thy land, and to thy friendship, and I will do thee good: for I am too lowly of all the mercies and of all the faithfulness which thou hast done to thy servant: for I had no more, neither this staff, when I passed over this Jordan, nor any more.
and now I have become two armies. Deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I am afraid of him, lest he come and smite me, the mothers with the children. Thou hast said, I will do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
The weak and almost despairing faith of Jacob does not yet despair: the wick glows, but does not yet go out; the reed is broken, but not rejected; as St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:8, 9: "We have tribulation in all places, but we are not afraid. We are afraid, but we do not despair. We suffer persecution; but we are not forsaken. We are oppressed, but we do not perish" 2c. Because of this, Jacob recovers a little, but still with great terror.
This is a good example of a glorious prayer, which has all the qualities of a good prayer. Oh who could do it! In the New Testament, the teachings and promises of prayer are presented to us in great abundance, but who can keep them? Jacob himself could not do it. But he is so frightened that he first orders and decrees everything before he comes to prayer, even though prayer should precede it: Have mercy on me, O Lord God 2c. But the flesh, which takes us captive in the law of sin, makes us turn back the order. Therefore it is an infirmity in him that he waited longer in prayer than he ought to have done. But it is a weakness of the flesh that first brought him to the counsel of reason.
But he has put the prayer in such a way that he says: "God of my father Abraham" 2c. In Hebrew it means "gods". It is a fervent prayer for the little spark of faith that has fought so fiercely. It is just the cry of Moses at the Red Sea. First of all, Jacob takes hold of the God of Abraham and Isaac by faith, and then calls Him his Lord. Thus he reminds God of the promises made to Abraham and Isaac, and especially of those made to him by God Himself, which is the
Prayer makes very strong and fervent. Moreover, it also awakens and sustains the faith that contends, and the smoldering wick. Thou hast said it unto Abraham, saith he, and unto Isaac, and unto me also, thou wilt not lie unto us; yet struggling after. And indeed it is a strange thing to have such great and strong consolation, and such rich promise, that thou mayest trust, and yet tremble.
In the prayer he continues: "You said to me, 'Go back to your country,' and so on. As if he wanted to say: "You have brought me into this trouble, into this challenge and danger of my life. But that is a great comfort, when one can say thus: Lord God, I did not get into this trouble out of my own sin or foolishness, nor by the counsel of any wise man or fool, but you said it, you told me to do it; therefore I have done right in leaving Laban. And now this is your affair; your promise and faithfulness are now challenged; you will have to save your faithfulness and faith, and not my faith.
This is the weak faith and groaning that has been spoken of. The groaning moves heaven and earth and is a very pleasant prayer. Thou hast said it; I go in thy obedience; I shall go to my fatherland at thy command, and as thou hast said unto me, dear Lord. But behold, how so many great hindrances come before. I have come into such fear and trouble that I cannot save myself with my strength and counsel; therefore I need your help. The others may not have prayed, but reproached him: If we had stayed with Laban, we might have been safe. But Jacob asks nothing of this, and this is a very strong prayer.
But what more did he say? "I will do thee good." As if to say, "This is your word, that you will not destroy me or harm me, but will do me good in my homeland, to which you have sent me. And from this it can be seen that he was not only challenged and afflicted by the devil because of the
For the news that his brother was going to meet him, but that his wives and children and all the servants were also afflicting him. They will have cried out: Oh, dear father, where now? dear father, dear husband, dear lord, what have you done? why have you brought us into such great danger? The lamentations forced the powerful words out of him, so that he said: "Dear Lord God, listen to how these people tremble and torture my heart, even though I know that you have promised me help and comfort.
(77) So faith shines forth and is heard, though it is weak. For he will undoubtedly have addressed them thus: How are you so terrified? will you despair? we truly must not give up hope that we shall not be saved. I will not despair, if ye despair. In this way he has lifted himself up, and has given satisfaction to the weeping and impatience of his own. God has not called me to return to my land, so that he would harm me with it. It must yet turn out well: God will help us, let us only use the help that is available and cry out to God.
78. But such a prayer is very pleasing to God, which is done in extreme distress and when the danger is greatest, when almost everything is lost. This is the inexpressible and very powerful groaning, so that the godly awaken themselves against despair, so that they take courage and say: Now it does not have to be like this, we will not perish: "I will not die, but live" 2c., as it says in the 118th Psalm v. 17. I have the promise, the Lord has said that he will do me good; weep and howl, and do not tremble; God has sent us out of Mesopotamia and back to my homeland.
This is the Godly struggle, in which they awaken their faith powerfully with the remembrance and trust in the promise, and that they have a command from God. I must and shall preach, but the devil refuses; so preach, and the world shall be torn asunder. These are the ones who do violence and snatch the kingdom of heaven,
Matth. 11, 12. Carnal people read such things drowsily and do not understand anything about them, because they are coarse people and have not experienced such trials. They do not know how he who is in extreme distress is to be afflicted. Then the devil blows, and says to him who is afflicted and distressed, "It is lost, why do you cry out so much? But the spirit says again: "It is not lost, but hard; I know that God has other things in mind for me and has promised me many other things.
This is a great power and strength of the spirit in weakness, and is a very pleasing sacrifice to God, as it says in Psalm 51, v. 19, for it is a sacrifice of death: "The sacrifices that please God are a troubled spirit, a troubled and broken heart you, God, will not despise. Yes, indeed, you will not despise it; for it is a very pleasant sacrifice, which smells well, which smell fills heaven and earth; as it is written in the Song of Solomon, chapter 3, v. 6: "Who is she that comes up out of the wilderness like a straight smoke?" It is indeed a small smoke, but it smells up to heaven, and makes our Lord God so full of nostrils that he says: "Stop it, I can hear no more. It is, I say, a little sighing; but it both smells with odor and cries up to heaven before God, so that God is awakened by it to help.
Let us therefore learn to be strong and have undaunted courage, however much and great adversity and danger we may encounter and however often despair may stir in our hearts. And let us keep what the pagan poet says: Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito, that is: Do not retreat from misfortune, but on the contrary go forward all the more boldly. For he who does not flinch and does not let go of his hands is blessed, and is an excellent priest who has offered the most delicious and best sacrifice. Jacob was never a holier priest than here in this place, even though he was killed by much temptation before. That is why Moses uses so many words in describing this story, and will then recount the battle he had with the angel, and
greater things will happen than Jacob was allowed to ask or hope for. In this way, God wants our faith to be exercised and awakened, so that we will grow stronger and stronger from day to day.
So far we have had the promise, which belongs to prayer, as taught in the New Testament, and also the commandment. For it is not necessary to pray in this way, as the monks made a useless murmur and many words in their prayer, not thinking at all of the promise, or the commandment, or even of the need that should drive us to prayer. That is not praying; as I myself prayed before that time. Since I was a monk, I did call upon God in times of need, but I knew nothing of the promise and the commandment: we simply murmured the words. But a right prayer should come from a believing heart, and that both the need and the commandment of God are held before it, so that the heart is awakened to pray in faith, since all the words are considered in particular; not as the monks or nuns use to murmur their prayer, so that the heart is distant from it, knows nothing about it, or understands it.
(83) And a right prayer does not ask for many words, but only makes many sighs, which are not followed by words, because they are very small; as can be seen in this prayer. For Jacob did not pray with these words alone, which Moses tells, but he sighed all night and all day. It was a long prayer, as far as sighing is concerned, although the words are very few. After that, gratitude also belongs to prayer and that one should remember the previous benefits in it. When the examples are read together, they awaken faith wonderfully; and this is also very pleasing to God.
(84) So Jacob says, "I am too lowly for all the mercy and faithfulness you have shown your servant," that is, "You have shown me the greatest mercy and faithfulness. This is the gratitude or thank-offering; as the first was a sacrifice of death, with which groaning he is killed and forfeits his strength and that of all creatures. Among other benefits, however, he counts these
and says, "For I had no more, neither this staff, when I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two armies." This is how great and rich I became with Laban, since I had nothing more than a staff at first, when I left my father's house, that is, I was all alone. I had food and a little money (for he was not so poor that his parents should not have given him food), but I was alone and had no companion. It is a way of speaking in the Hebrew language, which Moses also uses 2 Mos. 21, 3.: "If the servant has come without a wife, he shall also go out without a wife." It means only loneliness and not poverty of money.
(85) Therefore I know, saith he, that this is not my work, because I have gone over this Jordan with my staff alone, that I have obtained such great goods; but that it is of thy mercy and faithfulness. I served Laban fourteen years in vain, being poor and needy, and having scarcely the bread to eat; and thou, my dear God, hast made me so rich in six years, that in that short time I have become two armies. This is a manifest and tangible blessing, O God! For it is a great thing that a shepherd of milk, wool, cheese and butter should grow and increase without avarice. And Jacob had four wives, eleven children, and a great multitude of servants.
This thank offering he has now emphasized and magnified with beautiful words, which is otherwise described here recently, as he has also briefly described it above. For the prayer lasted day and night and is told only once in this place. But Jacob did not pray once or speak these words, but he prayed without ceasing.
87 But it is well known what manner of speaking it is, where these two words are written, "mercy and faithfulness." For they are always put together in the Scriptures, as in the prophet Micah in 7 Cap. V. 18. and elsewhere in the Psalms. "Mercy" means benevolence itself or benevolence, as Matth.
9, 13. Christ speaks from the prophet Hosea 6, 6.: "I am well pleased with mercy, and not with sacrifice." The Hebrew word chasid means both, namely, he who loves his neighbor and does good to him, and to whom good is done, to whom God shows great mercy and kindness. Therefore Jacob says: "Dear Lord God, your mercy and good deeds, which you have shown me, are not in number, and now this is added to it, that you have made me, a poor man, so rich within six years that I have now become two armies.
88 "Faithfulness" is the promise; as St. Paul speaks Rom. 15, 8. 9.: "But I say that Jesus Christ was a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promise made to the fathers, that the Gentiles should praise God for mercy. Christ was promised to the Jews, therefore such promise has been faithfully kept to them. He was not promised to the Gentiles, but was given to them by grace. None of our fathers had the promise. God promised to be the God of all people, which knowledge is planted in the hearts of men, as St. Paul indicates in Romans 1:19 ff. And the works and services of all nations also testify to the fact that "God" is nothing other than to do good to men. For that is why one invokes Jupiter, another Mars, 2c., for no other reason than that they want help. Thus all men by nature understand and believe that God is such a divine power that is benevolent, from whom one should ask and expect all good. God is the one who promises and is true, that is, he promises all people in the law of nature, which says: You shall call upon God and serve him, Deut. 6, 13.
89. Even though they err in the person of God because of idolatry, there is still the service that is due to the right God, that is, the invocation, and that they expect all good and help from Him. To this people, however, the promises of God have been given, so that the truth of the promises is not only true.
The first thing that is expressed is salvation and the right knowledge of who is the right God, without idolatry and error. This is a great and immeasurable blessing of God. Therefore Jacob praises the mercy and faithfulness of God and wants to say: "You promised me and kept this faithfulness, especially during these six years; likewise you also promised me that you would be kind to me when I returned to my homeland. For the sake of such mercy and faithfulness, which you have shown me and will continue to show me, I pray that you will save me.
90 This gratitude also comprehends the third virtue of prayer, which also belongs to death, namely, that he may be heard without his merit. For one does not have to pray thus: Dear Lord God, look at me; for I am a holy monk, I am a chaste virgin, I am an excellent bishop. As the Pharisee Luc. 18, 12. says: "I fast twice a week, and tithe" 2c., or give so much alms. Such abominations should be kept far away from prayer and swept out, otherwise the prayer will be spoiled, and both sacrifices, namely, of death and gratitude, will be disgraced with such stink and filth.
91) Therefore we should not say this, but we should follow the example of Jacob, who says: "I am too little of all your mercy," as if he wanted to say: "I am also not worthy of any good deed or faithfulness that you have ever shown me, or are still showing me and will show me hereafter without my merit; for it is impossible that I should be able to earn anything: therefore I do not rely on my worthiness, but on your promise and mercy.
This is a righteous heart and true prayer, for this is truly our Lord God's judgment of us, which St. Paul expressed in 1 Cor. 4:7: "What do you have that you have not received? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast?" Therefore one should pray thus: Dear Lord God, what you have given me so far is your promise and mercy, in me there is no worthiness at all.
Therefore, as you have done until now and have given me everything, even though I am not worthy of it, so will you hear me, the unworthy, and help me graciously. Otherwise, if you pray otherwise, God will punish you and say: "What are you proud of, you who are ashes and dust? you are earth and you will become earth again, Gen. 3, 19. Who has preserved your life for you? All that you have is simply mine.
(93) Now these are three qualities of a good prayer, which make it very pleasing to God and the sweetest savor before Him, and such a prayer must be heard. The first quality is that you take hold of the promise. Next, that you be killed in your fear. Third, that you give thanks to God and realize that you are not worthy of any benefit, but that you ask and hope that you may be helped by grace and mercy alone. These virtues are indeed to be praised and also commanded by God, namely, chastity, sobriety, and that one be generous in helping the poor. But we should not rely on them. Our trust should not be in the law and its works, although the works should be there; but the trust should be in God's mercy and faithfulness. Then prayer and groaning is a golden sacrifice.
94. Now comes the request. What then do you ask, Jacob? You acknowledge yourself unworthy of my mercy; you acknowledge that I am the one who made the promise to you; you acknowledge that you received everything from me out of pure grace: what then do you ask? what do you lack? The child must have a name if it is to be baptized. As if God does not know what we need. He truly knows it well. For thus says Christ Matt. 6:8: "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Why then does he want me to groan, cry out and knock, and in addition recognize myself unworthy of his help?
95 Answer: He wants you to consider what you lack and what you are lacking, otherwise we will be safe and snoring,
and let ourselves dream that we are the most blessed people, when we are the most miserable. But we do not know this, nor do we learn it, except in the time of temptation. Jacob had life by the grace of God, he had two armies, but at that moment he loses both and is destroyed. He did not know this before, when he was boasting and triumphing; but now he is being led to school, and is being taught what and how much he is able, so that we may learn not to put our trust in ourselves, but in God, so that we may rejoice in the gifts, but not boast about them. For this is very difficult to do because of the depraved nature, which is so corrupted by original sin that we can easily fall into despair when we are challenged and afflicted. When things are blissful and prosperous everywhere, we are secure and proud. Therefore the saints are sometimes cast down and humbled, and sometimes they are raised up again, so that they may learn to keep the saying: Medio tutissimus ibis: If one remains fine in the middle, that is the very best thing; this does not happen, but only through challenge. Therefore, we should not be presumptuous, but place our trust solely in God's mercy and faithfulness. For these things are steadfast and everlasting, they do not fade away, and our hope and trust in them cannot fail.
But what does Jacob lack? Answer: He lacks everything. My brother, he wants to say, will strangle me, my wives and my armies; he is afraid of that. But where is the promise of God that he has taken by faith? Do you not know that GOD can change your brother's heart? GOD has promised and ei^ealed mercy and faithfulness to Jacob, yet the flesh trembles and seu^es and flees from being killed: this is because of original sin. He only looks at the danger. I have two armies, he wants to say, but I also see that it can soon happen that I lose everything and that I myself can hardly escape the danger of death. For he thus says: "I am afraid that he will
Come and beat me, the mothers with the children. Faith is again challenged and becomes weak, but does not despair.
For this is the way it is when temptations are present: faith fights with the flesh, and thoughts buy together, some of which despair and some of which have good hope: they are disgusting winds of faith and unbelief, of hope and fear. He wants to beat me, the mothers together with the children, he says. From this you can see what his fear and anxiety were. He soon lost everything in one fell swoop: when the news came that his brother was coming to meet him, all his possessions and hopes fell away; but he still clung to the promise: "Lord, you have said, 'I will do you good,' and 'I will make your seed'" 2c. This he holds against doubt, and since he lets himself think that he must even sink, because he says: "That he will not come" 2c. For these have been words of the flesh that contends, and of a very weak faith. But he takes the floor: "Your faithfulness," he says, "will keep me, raise me up and comfort me, because you promised that you would do me good, bless me and my seed. But this shall not come to pass; thou shalt not bless me and my seed, when Esau shall wear me out and destroy me.
Now God could have raised the seed and spread the blessing even if Jacob had already been destroyed; just as the promise of the seed and the heirs also hung on Isaac, and yet it is commanded by God that he should be sacrificed, and Abraham should nevertheless keep the faith that God could also bring forth seed from the ashes of Isaac, as is said above. This was truly a very heavy challenge. But Jacob would have forgotten in this fear that God had said: He wanted to be his God, and how he started the prayer above, v. 9: "Lord, you have said to me" 2c.
He not only prayed in this way, but also preached and exhorted his family in the same way. He will often have
Rachel said: My dear Rachel, be of good cheer, hope in God and His word. Yes, she will have said again, but he will strangle us? Jacob answered: He will not do it. I have asked the Lord to protect and save us. Remember that God has spoken to me and that He has promised me help. With such exhortation, sermons and prayer, he raised himself and his family up and comforted them.
And these are very good passages and also very strange examples in the history of the fathers, which teach us that we should take hold of God's word above all things and hold fast to it, so that we do not lose it or throw it away, even if we have already lost everything else, even if Esau kills the sheep. No matter how cruelly the enemies threaten us, we should not let them take away our faith in the promise, but should cling to the word and live in it, just as the holy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, lived in it. For even though you are weak, you should not throw away the word because of this; the matter will be well taken care of; but if you throw away the word, or if you let it be taken away from your eyes and from your heart, the devil will triumph and drive you to despair.
101 With this challenge and prayer Jacob stayed the night in Mahanaim, which is a city above the brook Jabbok, where David fled when Absalom drove him out of the land. It is a famous city in the Scriptures, situated not far from the Jordan, for the Jabbok flows into the Jordan. Gilead, Mizpah, Mahanaim are cities that are very close to it.
Third part.
How Jacob is intent on various counsels to reconcile Esau, and at last sends gifts to him; and how he sets his family over the water.
V.13-15. And he stayed there that night, and took of that which he had present, gift to his brother Esau: two hundred he goats,
twenty rams, two hundred sheep, twenty rams, and thirty captive camels with their fillings, forty cows, and ten bullocks, twenty female donkeys with ten fillings.
I have said above, and it must be said often, that one should not tempt God, but that one should use the counsel, means and help that are available, so that we do not become like the Turks. For it is a very wicked temptation for one to keep his hands and feet still and go into danger, not to beware of danger or to avoid it if he could, and then to blame God as if it were His will. Therefore, the godly should be reminded that we humans cannot know what the outcome of the events that occur may be and what the future may be. God alone knows what is future and what is to happen. But since we do not know this, we should nevertheless do what we can. And hence the sayings that a man should do what is in him, not in matters concerning God's grace, but in outward things, and where there is need and danger, let reason be followed, lest we tempt God, 1 Cor. 10, 9. 10, 9. And Augustine says of this text: "We are to be admonished by these examples that although we believe in God, we should nevertheless do what is to be done; so that if we fail to do so, it will not appear as if we were tempting God.
(103) For Jacob made use of several ways out. First, when he came to the border of the land where Esau lived, he sent messengers ahead of him to inquire about his brother's attitude and to seek friendship and reconciliation with him. But the way out is unsuccessful. For his brother comes to meet him with four hundred men, is much more powerful and Jacob much more hostile, as it seems, than before. But he was right to send the messengers. And if he had not used this means, he would have sinned.
The other way out is that he divides the people and likewise the army into two armies (because he now despairs of the peace and friendship of his brother), so that he would save only the one part. And that did not help him either; for God calmed his brother's heart. He could not have found a better way to save some of his people from the tyranny of his brother. For Esau was all-powerful, and will no doubt have been a confederate of the princes of Seir and the other surrounding nations. He had children, children's children and sons-in-law; for they were both a hundred years old at the time they came together, or at least eight and ninety years each. Esau had a wife sixty years; in such a long time his family grew very large, and he increased in goodness and power because of his fathers-in-law and good friends who were related to him. Jacob took two wives in the eighty-fourth year of his age, so he has children of twelve or fourteen with him; Joseph was six years old. What is this poor, miserable little group compared to such a large army, or to the children and grandchildren of Esau, who hated Jacob in the same way and were enemies to him? Therefore Jacob did wisely by dividing his people and his army, though it would have been in vain if Esau had been able to follow his fierce anger.
(105) In this way we should remember that even when there is need and danger, we should try and do what reason and human skill tell us or show us, although sometimes even the best counsel we might have devised comes to nothing. And we should do this also for the sake of the cause, so that we may not afterwards punish our negligence and foolishness on ourselves too late, as such complaints are often heard that some say: If I had first tried this or that, this misfortune would never have come. Such people are all too slow to counsel when a thing has already happened, and thereby also weigh down their consciences, that in times of
have needed no help or advice. Therefore, you should take advice and do everything you can think of with all diligence, so that you may be satisfied in your heart and say that you have looked around beforehand, considered, and done everything that was possible to do.
The third way out is that he sends him gifts. Even though this was not well done, it was nevertheless very well thought out. And Moses describes it all quite diligently, as he uses a little more words in this whole story than he usually does; for it is a fierce and strong challenge and a very heavy killing. After the two ways out had failed and Esau's anger could not be reconciled by the words that Jacob had sent to his brother, he now intends to send him a gift and to decorate it with words and outward splendor, so that Esau, who was angry, might be softened a little, so that he would be soothed. And Moses tells these things with special diligence. For he does not send him one kind of cattle, as is the custom today when a hundred oxen or two hundred sheep are given to a prince, 2c., which is a very precious gift, but he takes a certain number of each kind and sends him a gift of various herds of cattle.
But the gifts themselves are of such a kind and nature that others can be reconciled with them; just as the pagan poet says: Munera, crede mihi, placant hominesque deosque, that is: With gifts one can reconcile both gods and men. Therefore, no better way or way could be invented than offering gifts. For these two things, namely, that one humbles oneself personally, or that one apologizes to an adder where he is angry, and at the same time also gives gifts, are very powerful, and may well serve to reconcile hearts that are bitter. So he first sends him several goats and he goats, and then successively a certain number of all kinds of herds in particular, as is told in the text.
But Moses says: "He took from that which he had"; this is what Jerome has given: He separated. And this is the understanding, that he did not select the very best of the herd, but went through the whole herd, in which all cattle were well kept and fattened, and from it he read it, as each one appeared to him.
The Hebrew word minchah means gift. Above, Cap. 4, v. 3, 4, it is used of the two brothers, Abel and Cain. But it means a sacrifice and a gift that is offered. It means not only a sacrifice offered to God, but also a gift given to men. The two Hebrew words izim and parim rhyme with the German names, Geis and Farren. We took it from the Jews. Therefore it is now a glorious gift, and is neatly distinguished according to each kind of livestock that belongs to the household.
V.16. And he put them under the hand of his servants, one herd at a time, and said unto them: Go before me, leaving space between one herd and another.
(110) Behold, how diligently he ordains all things, that he may the more easily soften his brother's heart, which was very wroth, when he shall see such a goodly sight before him. He separates the herds and gives each herd a special shepherd, and arranges it so that there is space between one herd after the other, so that Esau, when he goes to meet them, does not see the herds mixed together, but that first the goats, then the rams, then the sheep, and so on, so that there is space between each herd, the herds may meet him. The Hebrew word revah does not actually mean a space, as they interpret it, but rest. As 2 Mos. 8, 15. says about the other plague, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians were plagued with the frogs: "When Pharaoh saw that he had caught his breath." But I think that Moses wanted to use this word because these animals like to gather in a heap, so that they turn their heads toward each other, so that they can hardly breathe. How
In the 49th Psalm v. 15. it says: "They lie in hell like sheep" 2c. For this reason he wants his gift to be adorned not only with fine distinctions, but also to spare the flocks, so that they will not be injured or perish when they are crowded together in a heap. But now he also adds fine decorated words to it.
V.17-20. And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, To whom belongest thou? and whither goest thou? and what is it that thou drivest before thee? then shalt thou say, It belongeth unto Jacob thy servant, which sendeth a present unto Esau his master, and goeth after us. So he commanded the second, and the third, and all that went after the hosts, saying, As I have said unto you, so say unto Esau, when ye meet him; and say ye also, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he thought, I will make an atonement for him with the present that goeth before me: after that I will see him, peradventure he will accept me.
These are short words, but they are very artificial. He commands them to adorn the gift with words and also to address him honestly. You shall not say," he says, "this herd, divided into five heaps, belongs to your brother Jacob. So you shall not say, lest it occur to him to remember how he was deprived of the blessing; but you shall say, The field belongs to your servant, whose master you are. This is great humility, that Jacob thus throws himself down: thereby indeed the angry heart should be moved and softened.
(112) And these words he commanded not one shepherd only, but all of them, that they should speak modestly and humbly, and call Jacob a servant, and Esau a lord. And so was the armor of them both. For Esau went forth with a great multitude like a lord, with horse and chariot; but Jacob cometh on foot like a shepherd, and sendeth not a royal gift unto his brother, but a shepherd's gift. With this he hoped to soften his brother so that he would
should think: What do you want to do with him who is defenseless, miserable and poor, who leads such a small group that is not at all useful for warfare, as children, wives, maids and servants? This is truly a great humility, that such a great patriarch throws himself down like this, who has had such great promises and also visions of the angels. But the killing humiliates him, and at the same time reminds him that in the distress and danger that is present, he should provide counsel as he can and may.
He has diligently prevented Esau from being angered by a single word: therefore he tells them to refrain from calling Esau Jacob's brother or friend, and not to give him a name from which any hope can be taken. Now Jacob was by no means inferior to his brother Esau; for he had been blessed by his father, and in the blessing it is expressly said: "Your mother's children must fall under your feet", Gen. 27, 29. Here one truly sees the opposite of what was promised to him. Yes, he will be humbled even more. But I have said before that this is the time of death, and that Jacob therefore throws himself down so that he may give counsel to his things in the distress and danger that now exists, so that it should not seem as if he had carelessly brought himself into harm and ruin.
He adds still more and says: "He himself is coming after us": he does not flee, but follows us and intends to do good to you, and hopes to find grace and peace with you. These are also very kind and sweet words, which could satisfy and soften a heart, however hard it may be wounded. And he diligently admonishes them that they will speak to his brother as he had said to them. Beware that you do not say that his brother succeeds you, or that I have become rich with Laban and that I have a large household. Do not be proud and hopeful, and do not make me hateful, but humble.
thighs and says, "Your servant is behind us."
For "I will reconcile him," he says, "with the gift, and after that I will see him, and perhaps he will accept me. This is Jacob's plan: "I will reconcile him with the gift," from which I can easily see whether he is somewhat appeased. If he will not answer the first shepherd, he will answer the second, the third, or those who follow; and when the gift is presented, I myself will also come and humble myself before him: "Perhaps he will accept me," that is, he will accept me graciously, he will reconcile himself to me. For this is a peculiar way of speaking in Scripture: suscipere faciem, that is. To accept one in mercy. Facies peccatorum sumere, means to praise the sin of sinners and not to punish them.
Now we see how a man should do what is in him. For Jacob sends gifts to his brother and arranges such a gift in the most artificial way, and finally he also decorates it with words as much as he can. That is to do what is in him and not to tempt God. If he had not done that and a death stroke had happened, these thoughts would have always tormented him in his conscience: Why did you not humble yourself before your brother and address him with due reverence? If he had seen that you had fallen at his feet, he would undoubtedly have spared you: but because you have been negligent in finding counsel and help, it now serves you right that you must suffer this.
V.21-24 So the gift went before him, but he stayed the same night with the army, and arose in the night, and took his two wives, and his two maids, and his eleven children, and went to the ford of Jabbok, and took them, and led them over the water, that what he had might pass over; and he abode alone.
(117) Jacob, having sent the messengers ahead with the gift, did not follow immediately, but stayed the same night in the camp,
that there was a day's journey between Jacob and the gift that preceded him, and that he might learn of his brother's mind from such a space as was between them. He is not yet satisfied, however, but is killed even more. Dean got up in the night and crossed the ford Jabbok with his wife and children. And let it be seen, as if the text wanted to indicate that Jacob secretly, because other people were asleep, wanted to cross the brook at midnight, and it seems as if he was afraid that if his brother would come in the morning, he would prevent him from crossing. Therefore, he tried to transfer his wives and children and everything he had, and he was barely able to do so within two hours.
But with emphasis Moses says: "He led them across the water"; and this reads as if he had first led his family to the brook and had crossed over alone, and had tried in which place one could cross over most easily, and had only then led over the wives and children. But when he had brought them over, he went from the whole family to a special place and prayed there with great distress, for he was still full of fear and weakness. Therefore he chooses such a place, which is lonely, because such a lonely place is very convenient for those who pray there, even during the day. For when prayer is earnest and fervent, we do not like that the words which we pour out before God in a clumsy manner should be heard.
Therefore he arose in the night, and had an hour or two to do, that he might bring over his wives, and whatsoever else he had: and the battle which he waged lasted so many hours. But the time of night is especially suitable for temptations; as was said in chapter 15, v. 12, where Moses says: "When the sun had set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness overtook him" 2c. Darkness in itself grieves the hearts of men and also of unreasonable animals.
and despairs; but again, when the day and the light dawn, all animals rejoice. That is why the German proverb says: The night is nobody's friend. It is a time that is well suited for temptation and prayer, for which temptation and affliction drive man. Therefore Jacob became more fervent in prayer, but still in great weakness.
We see how Moses, indeed, the Holy Spirit himself, describes with such great diligence even the smallest works and sufferings of the patriarchs, in whom no miraculous works are seen, and who have a great appearance; how the monks and saints of works know how to boast of such glittering works. But therefore this suffering of the saints is very excellent and golden, because it has the promise that in the sight of the Lord not only their death or blood is worthy, but also the hairs on their head are worthy and counted. Therefore, the Holy Spirit does not consider it indecent that he dwells so long on these domestic and pastoral works and sufferings, for in them faith is properly tested and becomes a sacrifice that is very pleasing to God.
(121) Therefore, let these examples of the patriarchs always be before our eyes, so that we may learn that even our works done in faith, and our afflictions suffered in faith, are all pleasing and acceptable to God as a continual sacrifice. This is a great comfort to believers. The life of the godly seems to be a useless life and to have no fruits or glory at all. But this is a great honor and glory, that we know that God also counts our tears, and every drop that falls from our eyes, and that it is all written before God's eyes and gathered, as it were, into a little golden vessel.
But there is no monastic fasting of seven days or more, there is no vigilance or celibate life, none of which comes from faith. And therefore the devil does not persecute such monastic works, but cherishes them so that they may be without danger: But they are very displeasing to God, for they are all performed and happen.
all against the word. But such saints of works are certainly poor and miserable people, for while they are caught in the devil's snares, they are much more severely afflicted than all the godly, for what is more miserable and wretched than to be obedient and subject to the devil?
It is also to be marveled that the patriarch had such an obedient family and servants, who endured so much hardship and danger with so much patience, and especially these messengers, who let themselves be used with patience to be thrown against the angry brother. They could have gone back to Mesopotamia and there be safe and without danger, but they bear the common danger with their master, who was most anxious to keep them in the faith and knowledge of God, who himself had given the promise for which they waited with their master. Therefore Jacob is an excellent and very useful high priest, who saves so many people from Mesopotamia and makes them blessed through pure teaching and right worship. And his household members were true martyrs who fought with such great hardships for the sake of their Lord.
You will find few in this almost corrupt class of people who follow such patience and constancy. But where the word is taught, there is faith, and where faith is, there are also such neighbors, servants, wives and children. That is why there must be some of them in our time. For just as the rain does not fall for the sake of one stalk, but for the sake of many fields, that they may be fruitful and bear much abundant fruit: so also the word is not given for the sake that only one or two may be converted by it, but for the sake of many people in all classes. And you should not think, if I and D. Pommer will not be there, that all godly and pious men will have died: our Lord God has more pious people. But the godly in the world are all miraculous works and gifts of God; for the greatest part is godless.
Fourth Part.
From the Battle of Jacob.
V. 24, Then a man wrestled with him until the dawn broke.
It is considered by everyone that this text is one of the darkest in the Old Testament. And that is no wonder, because it deals with the great and severe challenge, when the patriarch Jacob has to fight not with flesh and blood, nor with the devil, but against God Himself. But this is a terrible battle, when God Himself fights and fights against man in a hostile way, as if He wanted to take his life. Whoever wants to survive and win in such a battle must truly be a holy man and a true Christian. For this reason, this history is dark, because the matter it deals with is so great. And because the text is so obscure, all interpreters have passed by. For this reason we would like to skip it, but we want to say as much as we can about it.
Lyra depicted this battle as well as he could, but he could not explain everything properly. Augustine wrote an allegory or secret interpretation; but one should not look for mere allegories in the holy scriptures. For if they are not based on history and a certain thing, they are other things, nothing but Aesopian fables. After all, if we have history, it is not given to everyone to make allegories out of it. Origen has no good luck with it, Jerome even less; for they do not have a perfect understanding of the histories, without which understanding no one will deal with the allegories properly. Therefore, first of all, one must extract the historical sense, which teaches, comforts, and strengthens; then comes the allegory, which adorns and explains such understanding like a witness; but the history is like the master, or main piece and foundation of the whole thing.
127 Let us now try to find out if we have the right understanding of this text and the
We will be able to find out the teaching of the same. And although we will not reach the same understanding completely, we do not want to miss far. First, however, we must remove the obstacles of so many different opinions.
The prophet Hosea Cap. 12. v. 4. 5. cites this text when he says: "He fought with God with all his strength. He fought with the angel and won, for he wept and besought him; for there he found him at Bethel" 2c. From this all interpreters conclude that this man wrestling with Jacob was an angel.
But we hold this rule for and for, namely, as often as the holy scripture remembers the visions or appearances (like above Cap. 18. V. 1. ff. of this book, where three men stood before Abraham) and the name "angel" is not explicitly put, then we do not interpret it as angel. For it is clearly stated in the text: "And the Lord appeared to him" 2c., and not an angel. But afterwards Cap. 19, v. 1, when two angels came to Sodom, we admit that they were angels.
130. as cap. 28. V. 12. 13.When Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending, and the Lord standing on the top of the ladder, we do not understand the Lord as an angel, as those who ascend and descend are expressly called angels; but we understand it of the Son of God, who was to become man, namely, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly God and truly man, and we say per communicationem idiomatum (by virtue of the communication of attributes): Man is above and beyond all creatures, and God is the lowest. Which is the mystery "which the angels also desire to behold", 1 Pet. 1, 12. For it is because of the unity of the person in Christ that they see God here and man above. And therefore we also say of Christ: Man sits at the right hand of God the Father; item, God has descended to hell and ascended to heaven. This is called communicationem idiomatum (the communication of attributes), of which we have said above.
131: Where now the name "angel" is not
is used emphatically, we do not understand it from the angels either. And in this place it is clearly said: "You have fought with God and are secluded. Item, afterwards v. 30. will follow that Jacob says: "I have seen God face to face."
We interpret the text of the prophet Hosea in this way, that the words the prophet tells are such words as he repeats to others: not that he wants to indicate his teaching and opinion of this example, but that he wants to warn and punish the false prophets who spoke such words and defended their idolatry against the temple at Jerusalem and the divine order of worship with the example of the patriarch Jacob. For they will have said: It is not necessary for us to sacrifice at Jerusalem, as the priests demand and want for the sake of their avarice, and condemn our sacrifices as unjust and ungodly, because we lead the people away from their worship and thus deprive them of much of their income. Thus they have slandered the true teachers and godly priests, who kept the true worship, and have taken the testimony of this history on their side and interpreted it to mean that God spoke to Jacob in the same place at Bethel or Pniel, and showed him the ladder and the angels, and that he fought with God, and that the angel wept and begged him; for this last they themselves have added.
The false prophets preached such sermons, and the prophets took great pains to refute them, especially Hosea; for all his sermons were to the effect that he was punishing the idolatry that was in the kingdom of Israel, so that they had chosen for themselves their own worship and special place, where God had spoken to the fathers before, where the angels had appeared, or where the places were famous for other reasons. Now God had strictly forbidden through Moses that no one should presume to invent new services. When he said Deut. 12, 4, 5, 6: "You shall not do so to the LORD your God, but in the place,
Whom the LORD your GOD shall choose out of all your tribes, to cause his name to dwell there, ye shall search, and come thither; and your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices" 2c. "bring thither." And at that time the temple at Jerusalem was appointed for the service of God; there was the ark of the covenant, and God had promised that he would speak from the mercy seat, that he might lead the people away from the various idols and bring them to the one right service of God, for which he would gather them all together, if not bodily and with outward works, yet with the heart and with right invocation, where some would have their dwelling from that same place.
(134) But against this understanding the false prophets argued, saying, "God is everywhere, therefore He can be served and worshipped in every place, both at Bethel and on every other mountain. Therefore they did not pay attention to God's commandment. For if God ordains a certain way and a certain place for His worship, it is not necessary to say, "In the place where I serve God alone, it will be pleasing to Him if I do this alone in devotion;" or, "In the place where I desire, I will sacrifice. As the prophet Isaiah says in 57 Cap. V. 5. severely punishes such nonsense: "You run in heat to the idols under all green trees" 2c.
And this is the way Turks and Jews talk today, namely, that they can serve God well outside the unity of faith and the Christian church. Mahomet says that anyone can be saved in his religion if he only prays, gives alms and does other good works, so that it is not necessary for him to be a Christian or to be found in the unity of Christ and his church. The same thing happened in the papacy, where all corners were full of chapels, monasteries and all kinds of idolatry.
136 Therefore Hosea cries out against it, saying, "This example of Jacob does not confirm your idolatry: he fought with the angel, but you should not fight with him.
778 D- vm, 168-170. interpretation of Genesis 32:24. w. ii, uss-im. 779
remember that the Lord, the God of hosts, had led the people of Israel out of Egypt through a prophet. But where is the Lord to be found? Answer: Since he had established the memory of his name. Where is this memory? Answer: It is there, where the ark of the covenant is.
(137) It is true that God is not bound to Jerusalem or to any other place, and that He can help in other places, no one will deny: but try, and see what you get. But where you will devise services according to your own will and discretion, you will not do so without danger and God's wrath. God, through His omnipotence, could have saved the human race without Christ, without baptism, without the word of the Gospel; He could have enlightened the He^en inwardly through the Holy Spirit and forgiven sin without the preaching ministry and without church ministers: but He did not want to do it. And God, with great seriousness, forbade all self-conceived worship services.
If the hypocrites say that everything that is done out of good opinion is pleasing to God, then such self-chosen devotions should be condemned, and people should be admonished to look where God has revealed Himself. One should not say: Paul preached in Rome, therefore Christ is there; St. James is buried in Compostel in Spain, therefore one should serve God in the same place by invoking St. James. So one should say by no means. But do they say that many miracles happened there? Answer: God has an abomination and condemns all such wild dissolute thoughts of men outside of the one revelation that took place in the Word and Sacraments, into which He wanted to gather and include us. For this reason Christ sent out his disciples with this command Matth. 28, 19. 20.: "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be saved.
He wants us to adhere to the word and to baptism as a certain and infallible sign that he wants to help us and make us blessed. As he had promised the people of Israel that he would hear them at the mercy seat.
139 Therefore, if you want to be absolved from your sins, go to the priest, or to your brother and neighbor, if you cannot have or hear the priest: he has orders to absolve and comfort you. You shall not make up a special absolution for yourself. If you want to use the Lord's Supper, go to the common assembly of the church and use it there, and do not invent a special administration of the sacraments. For God does not want us to go astray with our own and self-chosen works or thoughts. And for this reason he has determined and gathered us into the boundaries of his word, so that we will not be swayed and swayed by all kinds of wind of doctrine, Eph. 4, 14.
For this is what happened to us in the papacy, when we despised baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the forgiveness of sins, and meanwhile went on pilgrimages to St. James, Rome, and Jerusalem, as if God were not in all the churches and common assemblies that have His Word and Sacrament. Finally, there have been many sects and orders, since each order has had its own special way, different from the common way and order of God. And such innumerable forms and ways of fornication, as the Scriptures speak of them, cannot be prevented unless we drop and reject our works. Therefore God wills that they should all be done away with, and holds up His word to us, saying, In this place thou shalt worship, and serve Me, and sacrifice. Behold, thou hast remission of sins in the word, in the Lord's Supper, and in baptism: thou shalt keep the same, and be satisfied, if thou wilt be saved.
In this way the prophets have impressed upon the Jews with the utmost diligence and held before them the place which God Himself has chosen for them.
They had chosen them against the self-invented pilgrimages to the various idols and sacrifices. But their listeners treated them badly, drove them out and strangled them. Just as today the pope also condemns, banishes and strangles those who punish the shameful lusts and whoredoms of the great idolatry. But nevertheless, those who are truly godly accept the light of the Word with a grateful heart, and like little chicks they go under the wings of our hen, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and there they find rest and protection under the same wings, against all the attacks and cunning plots of Satan, Eph. 6, 11. 6, 11. Let this be said of the text of the prophet Hosea, which is not to be understood as if the prophet spoke this way out of his own opinion, but that he repeated it to others.
(142) Reject also the glosses of the Jews, which say that the man that fought with Jacob was a good angel, which waited for Esau, and preserved him; and that he lay himself against Jacob, and fought with him, as he was bound by his office to fight for Esau. But when the angel was overcome, he is said to have wept and begged that he would leave him. But this loose poem has many unrhymed things in it. They let themselves dream that the angel did not know that the blessing belonged to Jacob. Item, that God had strengthened Jacob to such an extent that he would have overcome the angel, and on the other hand that the angel had been weakened and therefore wept. This is a foolish and frivolous conceit, namely, that one writes as if the angel should not have known about the promised blessing, or that he should have been so evil that he would have wanted to resist the divine order. Lyra has hit it a little better: he makes of this angel a man, but in the person of God, and that he had wanted to flee, but he had been stopped by Jacob until he had blessed him.
This is our opinion that this fighter is the Lord of glory, namely our Lord God Himself or the Son of God, who was to become man, who appeared to the fathers and spoke to them.
For God deals with his chosen patriarch Jacob according to his great kindness and tries him as if he plays with him in the most friendly way. But this game is an immense pain for him and a very great fear in his heart, and is nevertheless in truth a game, as the end of such finely shows, when he will come to Pniel. For there it will be revealed that they were only signs of a very intimate love. And he plays with him so that he wants to test and strengthen his faith with it. Just as a pious father takes an apple from his child, the child has had air to it, not that he should flee from his father and become an enemy to him, but that he should be more tempted by it to love his father, to beg and plead: Oh my father, give me back what you have taken from me. Then the father takes pleasure in such temptation, and the little child, when it receives the apple again, always wins over the father all the more gladly when it sees that the father takes pleasure in such love and child's play.
This game is very mean in housekeeping, but in matters and in the battle of the saints it is very difficult and annoying. For Jacob does not know who he is that fights with him; he does not know that it is God. For he asks him afterwards what his name is. But when he receives the blessing, he says, "I have seen GOD face to face." There is a new joy and life from death itself.
It seems to me that this is the lesson of this story, if only I could explain it properly according to its dignity, that God sometimes plays with His saints, according to the example of Jacob, as much as concerns Him, even with a child's game; but to us, who are tempted in such a way, it seems much different. But it is a very good and wholesome exercise, and in addition the most perfect instruction, which gains the most blessed end, namely, that one may recognize which is the good, the pleasing and the perfect will of God. For flesh cannot think otherwise than that it is an evil, fretful and sorrowful will: but then God laughs kindly when we weep, and He "hath
Pleasure to those who fear him and hope in his goodness," Ps. 147:11.
But the temptation of despair, which tends to come along with it, makes the pain and terror of the flesh greater and greater, namely, when such a sorrowful heart laments that it has been abandoned and rejected by God. This is the last and also the most severe temptation of unbelief and despair, with which the greatest saints tend to be tempted. And whoever is able to stand and persevere, comes to a perfect knowledge of God's will, so that he can say with Jacob: "I have seen God face to face" 2c. I did not believe that our Lord God meant it so well with me; but before we get there, it becomes sour. Therefore, the teaching in this history is evident and clear, namely, of the temptations of the greatest saints, who taste with great sweetness how kind the Lord is, Ps. 34:9. Although everyone cannot grasp or understand this difficult struggle, such people are not to be rejected because of it.
But it has been said of the apparitions in general. And we are to know that one should not believe all appearances, unless they are similar to faith. I will keep the word of God and be satisfied with it, with it I will die, with it I will live. There is help and comfort enough in the promise of God not only against the devil, the flesh and the world, but also against this great temptation. For if God were to send an angel who said, "You shall not believe this promise," I would push him away from me and say, "Get thee away from me, Satan," Matt. 4:10. Or if God Himself appeared to me in His majesty and said, "Thou art not worthy of My grace, I will change my counsel and will not keep the promise to thee," I should not turn away, but should fight against God Himself to the utmost. As Job Cap. 13, 15. says, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." Even if he were to cast me into the depths of hell and place me in the midst of the devils, I still believe that I will be saved. For I
I have been baptized, I have been absolved; I have received the pledge of my salvation, namely, the true body and blood of the Lord Christ, the Lord's Supper. For this reason I do not want to see or hear anything else, but I want to live and die in faith, no matter whether God or an angel or the devil tells me that it is contrary to this.
This, I think, is the right explanation of this text. For so Jacob will interpret it himself at the end, since he will say v. 3V.: "And my soul is recovered." So now this picture of strife and battle in the saints is very full of comfort. As in another place an example is told of a nun called Mechtilde. She was plagued by the devil, so that she did not know or feel anything about the faith. This was a challenge to unbelief, which is a very hard pain and torment of the conscience. For hearts are consumed by terror and doubt. And only experience shows what kind of pain it is, words cannot explain it. However, this same trial was not yet equal to the battle that Jacob fought, for God did not yet fight against it, as has happened here, but the devil, who can drive people to disbelief, despair and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. As I myself have seen some, especially women, who complained that they were condemned and rejected. For they were tormented by Satan with the spirit of blasphemy.
So the nun did not defend herself against this challenge with anything else, but with these words, that she said: Christiana sum: I am a Christian, that is, I am baptized with the blood of the Son of God, I am fed with the body and blood of Christ, I hold on to that, I am satisfied with the comfort, if God Himself would say otherwise. As Abraham was commanded to kill the son in whom the promise was made to him, and yet he believed most firmly that God would keep His promise.
This must be done diligently for the sake of those who are to become pastors. For there will always be quite a few,
who will have this challenge, that they may be raised up and strengthened by the priest's word. For in this way they say to them: "Be of good cheer, my son, believe that you have been baptized, that you have been fed and nourished with the Lord's Supper, and that you have also been absolved, with the imposition not of my hands but of God's, who said to you: I forgive your sin and promise you eternal life. If they grasp and accept this with firm faith, the temptations and blasphemies of the spirit will disappear.
151 For Abraham no doubt also felt great terror and anguish with all his heart when he was commanded to kill his son. Nevertheless, he kept this faith, by which he surely concluded that even if his son were to become ashes, he would nevertheless become a father of many heirs and descendants according to the divine promise. How, then, has God become a liar, will he not keep his promise? Such thoughts have occurred to him. And yet he obeys the command and thinks thus: As the Lord has caused this son of mine to come from the womb of an obsolete and barren mother and from my loins, so he will be able to raise him up again, when he has already been burned and turned into ashes. In this way, I say, Abraham also fought with God, which is one of the greatest and most difficult battles. But God shows in it His most perfect and best will.
Although this battle cannot be understood or endured by the saints alone, we must have this teaching and comfort to strengthen us so that we will not be devoured by the devil; although God is faithful, who will not let us be tempted beyond our ability, 1 Cor. 10:13. For this is what this example of Jacob teaches us, who was very weak in this battle, and yet is not overcome. But God is against him in such a way that he cannot recognize that God is the fighter; he thinks that it is an angel. But it is God who lets Himself be heard that He is his
He said that he was the adversary, as if he wanted to kill him, deprive him of the promise and the blessing and give it to his brother Esau. And nobody can reach with words, what kind of thoughts he would have had. But such thoughts will no doubt have occurred to him: What kind of poor wretched man am I? Am I only made to be always unhappy? Must I always have one misfortune over the other, and be so plagued with it that I can never come to rest? There is no more wretched man on earth than I am. I see that my brother Esau reigns, triumphs, increases and becomes great with great glory, with great goods, with children, children's children and with great income. How if our Lord God had changed his mind and rejected me, but had accepted my brother?
These were Jacob's thoughts, but they remained only thoughts. For nature and weak faith cannot refrain from them, just as they cannot easily refrain from other emotions and movements of impatience, anger and evil desire. But let it remain only a thought, so that it does not become certain sayings that are finally confirmed by our judgment and conscience. I cannot help thinking that my heart should not be troubled and plagued with strange thoughts and temptations.
Therefore, one must follow the advice of that hermit or hermit to whom a young man complained that evil thoughts of fornication and other sins often occurred to him. Then the old man answered him: You cannot forbid the birds to fly over your head, but let them fly and do not let them nest in the hair of your head. Let them be thoughts and remain thoughts, but do not let them become firm convictions. For this is the way of those who despair, as Saul, Judas and others, who draw conclusions from thoughts: they say, "My sin is greater than to be forgiven," Gen. 4:13; "I have betrayed innocent blood," Matt. 27:4. These reject the word, the faith, and the truth.
and prayer. That means to make such judgments out of the challenge as are spoken in the court. Jacob, however, does not abandon faith, even though he has had very severe trials and many innumerable thoughts, which those who have not experienced such things for themselves cannot understand.
So the most noble mind and opinion of this history is the example of the perfect saints, and the high temptations, not against flesh and blood, against the devil, or even against any good angel, but against God Himself, who appears in hostile form. For even though Jacob does not know who this man is, he feels that he has been abandoned by God, or that God is displeased with him and is angry with him.
So we keep the understanding, as the grammar or history gives, and where one has the same, the allegories are found fine by themselves. We remain simply with the words in the text, namely, that it was a figure of a man and no angel. For as Jacob told it, so Moses also described the history, namely that Jacob says: There suddenly a man attacked me and attacked me. That was therefore a figure or appearance. But he does not dispute who the man was, because he knows nothing about it. But later, when he looks behind him, he understands and says: "I have seen God face to face. Therefore this was no other attack, as if some great strong man had attacked him, but he did not know who this man might be.
157 And Jacob was also of proper strength and perfect powers, such as tend to be in a healthy strong body. Because he was fighting without a sword or other bodily weapons, he withstood him hard, and he still had some faith in the promise. Although he was frightened and trembled, his thoughts had not yet become firm and certain conviction. His faith has been severely challenged and tempted, but he has held fast to this conclusion: I have the promise. Therefore, he consoled himself and refused to fight against our Lord God.
he offers him, but dares not, thinking: If he strangles me, he strangles me.
What the anguish of his heart was in the midst of the battle is not described, but we can assume that the challenge was a battle of faith against unbelief. For the man wanted to storm and overcome his heart under the name of God, so that he should abandon all hope of God's mercy and grace. As Satan also attacks Christ Matt. 4:9, saying to him, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." There the devil disguises himself in the form and majesty of God. And is the highest challenge that one can only feel, but with words one cannot talk it out. And it is no wonder that in such a difficult battle man cannot conclude or advise anything with his reason. For the spirit itself fights, and the Holy Spirit is there to help our weakness; and if he were not there, the challenge would go out in a different way than man has decided for himself.
159. but it is well to be believed that the man may have said to Jacob thus: Jacob, you will have to die; for you are not the one to whom God made the promise, or to whom He also wanted to keep it 2c. These were fiery arrows. And this holy patriarch was actually the one to whom the promise and the blessing belonged. But here he is challenged to the smallest spark, to the smoldering wick, Isa. 42, 3. but it still smolders and is not yet extinguished, and there is not yet a broken reed.
(160) Now these are higher things in the saints than we can understand, though they should be read and heard. Moses did not actually express the words they exchanged while the battle was going on, but it does not seem to follow that they were silent, but no doubt the man made himself heard with a frightened voice: Jacob, you have to hold out. Thereupon Jacob will have said: No, God does not want that; I will not perish like that. Yes and no have met each other in the sharpest and most violent way. That can
788 vm, 17S-I80. Interpretation of Genesis 32:24, 25, W. II:1IS2-IISS. 789
One cannot express this sufficiently with the mouth and with words, especially when God Himself says: You will have to die; and the spirit cries out against it: "I will not die, but live" 2c., Ps. 118. v. 17, and v. 13: "I am pushed to fall, but the Lord helps me" 2c. I may be driven, thrust, and assaulted to fall, yet I shall not die. So they fought with each other with arms and at the same time with words, as it happens when two fight with each other. In the meantime, faith also fought with prayers and cries, as Moses cried out at the Red Sea.
This was the climax of the battle, in which faith tried harder than the arms, that it always stopped and repeated this and said: No, no, I will not have to die like this, God has told me, called me and sent me to go back to my homeland; I will not believe you and I will not join you. And even if God will kill me, He may kill me, but I will still live. In this way they will have used other and other words for the two hours; and these will undoubtedly have been sharp and vehement speeches. Jacob did not know who the man was, and reason could not conclude or advise. For in such a battle all the senses are lost, and reason is not with itself either. As it says in the 107th Psalm v. 27, "They knew no more counsel." Jacob did not know what had happened to him, only that faith could hear him say, "The blessing is not yours, but Esau's; you are nothing.
Therefore he lives by the word alone, and his faith is both very weak and very strong. For when the wick smolders, it is near to being lit. And he has been in very great anguish; for he will say afterwards, v. 30, "My soul is recovered," as if to say, "My soul has been in the greatest anguish, but now I have caught my breath a little. For God is not trying to kill the man with this, but rather
that he wants to refresh, confirm and strengthen him. This can be taken from the text itself. And this is now the fight of Jacob recently described. We will command those who are experienced in it to explain it further and in more words.
The Hebrew word given by the seventy interpreters, fight or struggle, comes from abak, which means dust that is agitated so that it divides from one another in the air. It does not mean the dust that lies still, but the dust that is stirred up by those who work or fight. As the prophet Isaiah says in 5 Cap. V. 24: "Their shoots rise up like dust." So this word means as much as to stir up the dust with struggles, so that it rises. Although I consider it to be one of those words that are not too well understood. For the Hebrew language is not yet perfectly restored, and the Jews falsify many things with their "aequivocationes", that is, with the words that are supposed to mean more than one thing, and otherwise with their interpretation, especially in the obscure texts of the Messiah.
V. 25 And when he saw that he would not overpower him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of his thigh was dislocated above the struggling with him.
Jacob is stronger than the man who wrestled with him; not that he is stronger in truth than the Lord, but that the comparison is made with the man. For the Lord did not exercise greater strength than a man can exercise or is wont to exercise: he only wants to try a man's strength and ability, because he, as the Lord, is actually stronger. And I would certainly not like to wrestle with a believing man who has divine promise, even if I were a strong giant, because nature works beyond its capacity.
For this reason God does not show His power, but only such art and understanding as befits a strong man, and at the same time brings with it a terrible challenge of the spirit; this strengthens Jacob all the more, so that he struggles beyond his ability.
For no man, when he is healthy and in his right mind, can do what nature does when it suffers hardship and is weighed down. When nature is weakened and works until death, it can overcome all the troubles that it would otherwise not be able to bear. That is why they tend to say, when the struggle is over and the hard knocks are over, when they come back to themselves: Oh, how weak and feeble I am! For it follows that man becomes weak and feeble in all his powers, because nature has worked beyond her capacity.
166. A story or a fable is told that five fingers were imprinted on a stone altar so that the sign of it could be seen; the same is said to have been done by one who desired to be given such a large host in the Lord's Supper as the priest received; and when this was denied him, he is said to have been either frightened or enraged and struck the altar with his right hand, and from this the sign of his hand is said to have remained imprinted in the stone for and for on the altar. For a man who is disturbed by heavy temptations, or by great terror, does well that which is otherwise impossible for him to do outside the temptation.
So this man, who was Christ our Lord, wrestled with Jacob in the same way that one man wrestles with another. But since the Lord saw that Jacob was stronger, especially in faith, which God does not like to resist, he used a special art, as fighters do, and touched the joint of Jacob's hip.
The Hebrew word kaph in Latin is vola, that is, a hand bent like a spoon. Hence Moses calls it kapoth, in Latin coclearia, in German Koten (joint knuckle); and for the sake of comparison it is called the joint or leg that is hollowed out, which the Greeks call ischion, in which the upper leg is inserted and in which it moves. But there are some muscles for this reason, so that the two kinds of
Bones are held together and do not jump from each other. And through the same joint the foot moves. So he wants to say that the man has dislocated his hip, that his leg has come out of its joint. But where the joint is thus dislocated, the muscles are also dislocated and pulled together, and because so many nerves come together, very severe pain arises, and it follows that the same limb becomes lame.
The man could not overcome Jacob, so he struck his hand on his hip, and the hip was dislocated with its muscles. He gave him a hard pressure and wanted to make the leg lame. These are the fighter's tricks. And a credible man in Eisenach told me a similar example when I was in Patmos, namely that he had known a strong giant with a rough chest and a long braided beard, who always had long pins hanging from his hair and always walked with his head bare, who also used iron to bend and break. And he said that at that time many such were found in Turkey. At the same time there was at the court of Emperor Frederick an excellent Jew and famous fighter, who had overcome and slain all the young noblemen at the court in battle with just such an art as is described in this history. And perhaps he may have learned the same art from this, that he touched the joint of the hip, so that he might weaken and overcome his adversary with the pain, which tends to be very violent in that place. When the same giant or fighter came to the emperor's court, the court servants encouraged him to wrestle with the Jew; although he let himself be heard that he did not want to deal with such people, he finally let himself be persuaded by their pleas and dared to do it with the Jew. The Jew asked that he be kept out of harm's way, since he might have attacked the foreign fighter, who was a guest there, somewhat harshly. The giant, however, also encouraged him to use all his skill and strength.
He wanted to prove what he could do and how strong and skillful he was. Immediately, however, when they met, the giant seized the Jew and broke the joint in his neck, thus killing him. I say this as an example to explain this story, because we know that fighters have many such tricks, namely, when they touch the hip, the joint and other limbs of the body, so that often those who are not particularly strong. Others, who are much stronger than them, can overcome.
In other respects, Jacob, in such great terror, did not feel that his joint had been touched. For the senses and reason of a person who is afflicted are confused and disturbed, so that he cannot pay attention to anything, nor can he hear or see anything. And this tends to happen especially when spiritual temptations arise, as Jacob felt such temptations at that time. That is why he does not stop wrestling, since the joint of his hip is already dislocated.
Fifth part.
What followed Jacob's struggle.
V. 26. And he said, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.
If this man who wrestles with Jacob is Christ, what does it matter to him that the dawn is breaking? Answer: He has taken on the person of a man, which he will retain until he reveals himself. Therefore, in such a person, the dawn has also dawned on him and he must take up his usual work in the manner of all nations.
But he answered: I will not leave you, for you bless me.
If the joint of your hip is dislocated, why won't you let him? You have become lame, what will you do now? I feel no weakness, says Jacob. Dear, who then strengthens you
so? Answer: Faith, the promise; yes, the very weakness of faith:
And in this way God is overcome, namely, when faith does not cease, does not grow weary, but always perseveres and presses God. As can be seen in the Canaanite woman, with whom Christ fought a battle, when he said to her: "You are a dog, the children's bread is not yours to eat; nevertheless, she did not retreat, but opposed him and said: "Dogs eat the little bread that falls from their masters' tables", Matth. 15, 27. Therefore she also wins and hears a beautiful, glorious praise, which the Lord tells her in v. 28: "O woman, your faith is great. Such examples teach us that faith does not waver, and that it should not cease to persevere even when it feels the wrath of God, and not only death and sin. And this is the power and strength of the spirit.
Because Christ is still struggling with Jacob, hiding his omnipotence, and wants him to leave him, Jacob answers, "I will not leave you, because you bless me. Why is that, dear Jacob? Answer: Because thou hast said that I am cursed and accursed; because my soul hath been grieved: therefore revoke the same sentence, and bless me. You must contradict me, or I will not let you. I have overcome thee in the strength of the body; I will also overcome the words of thy mouth. For my soul hath labored somewhat more fiercely (of which thou saidst it was lost and damned) than my body or my arms. Therefore I will not leave thee, except thou revoke me, and give me a testimony that I am blessed in the sight of God.
V. 27. 28. He said, "What is your name? He answered, Jacob. And he said, Thou shalt no more be called Jacob, but Israel. For thou hast fought with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
175 What is your name? Are you not Jacob? Where did you get such great power and strength? For the temptation is now somewhat lessened, and Christ lifts up
to take off the robe and speak comforting and life-giving words. He now explains himself as he does in the Gospel against the Canaanite woman, when he says Matth. 15, 28: "O woman, your faith is great. Her faith was very severely challenged because he called her a bitch. But she says, "Because you call me a dog, give me also the crumbs from the master's table that are due to dogs. This was truly a very beautiful and glorious faith, and also an excellent example of the way and art of fighting with God. For we should not immediately drop our courage and all hope at the first blow, but we must stop, pray, search and knock; and if he wants to go away, you do not stop, but always follow him diligently; as the Canaanite woman did, from whom Christ could not hide, but she came into the house where he was, says Marcus Cap. 7, v. 25, and fell down at his feet.
Even if he hides himself in the chamber of the house and does not want anyone to come to him, do not retreat, but always follow him; if he does not hear you, knock on the chamber door and make a noise. For this is the supreme sacrifice, that we do not cease praying, and that we always persevere and seek until we overcome and surrender to him. And he has already surrendered to us, so that we can be sure of victory. For he has bound himself to the promise and has confirmed his faithfulness and belief with an oath, as he says John 16:23: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father in my name, it shall be given you." Item, Marc. 16, 16.: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." These promises will never fail you, unless you do not want to follow and seek. Then you lose the most certain promises and Christ the Lord Himself through your own fault with your snoring and laziness, because you refuse to step into the square and take up a fight with God,
as the benefits of this promise are seen and practiced.
177 How this man practices and tries Jacob until the right strength and power of faith emerges. Therefore he changes his name and says, "You shall no longer be called Jacob. You were called a trespasser before because of your brother, but they have not yet given you the right name: "You shall be called Israel"; for you have earned this with your strength and unconquerable strong courage, so that you have overcome God and man.
This is how this fighter explains himself, because he says that Jacob fought with God and men, and gives him a new name from the fight. For the Hebrew word el means God. And with all the fathers it has been asked: What should this word "Israel" mean? Jerome modestly complains how he is intimidated by the great prestige and learning of some very eloquent men who interpret this word, that in Latin it means: Vir videns Deum: A man who sees God. He adds, however, that he would rather accept the interpretation of the angel or God than of the others, even if they may be the most eloquent men.
The Hebrew word sarah means to rule, to be subject to, to be a ruler or prince; as Isa. 9:6 says: sar shalom, prince of peace. But if the letter is put in front of it, that one says jescharael, then the first a passes, and then becomes a proper name, Israel; as also happens in other words, where the letter j is put in front of it, as, Josaphat, Jesus, Isaiah, Jisrael means fighter, prince, lord or mistress of God. They have also all made it sour to interpret this word, for it has seemed to them to be an inconsistent thing that we should be called lords and conquerors of God. And it is indeed true, if we want to judge it according to philosophy or reason; but in spirit and according to theology it is rightly said of God that he is overcome by us.
180. yet he is not overcome so that he must be subject to us, but his judgment or wrath and anger, and all,
What hinders us and lies in our way is overcome by us with pleading, seeking and knocking, so that he becomes a very kind and friendly father from an angry judge, as he was regarded and held before, and says: "O woman, your faith is great"; item: "Your faith has helped you"; "As you believe, so be it done to you. Oh, how you hurt me with your cries! Now this is full of comfort, that God thus exercises and admonishes us to fight, and lets it be heard that it is a very pleasant sacrifice to Him that He may be overcome by us.
181 But this must not be judged by reason, which is also subject to overcoming God with its own powers and works; but He is overcome when He has first surrendered and revealed Himself to us in word, in promise, in baptism. Then it is left for you to overcome that which wants to take this God from you, namely, through the truth of the promises and of faith. Or if he acts as if he is displeased with you and is angry with you, and that he does not want to hear you or help you, then you should say: Dear Lord God, you have promised this in your words; therefore you will not change your promise, I have been baptized, I am absolved. If you persevere in this way, and if you are always thus persevering with him, he will be overcome and say, "Be it done to you as you will"; for you have the promise and the blessing, I must surrender to you. For where one remains steadfast, and always seeks and diligently asks, that is a sweet pleasant sacrifice unto him.
This is very fine and lovely in theology, that the Christians are called overcomers of God, in Hebrew sar or sarah of God. For sarah is otherwise also called a matron, or such a mistress who rules in the house. Thus, believers are princes and lords of GOD, for they contend with GOD and are victorious. But we do not ask about the other interpretation. For there is no sense in your interpreting this word thus: the LORD with GOD; but it is here expressly said thus: "Thou hast fought with GOD and with men." The
Fighter calls himself not only God, but also a man, as if to say: because you have overcome me, you have overcome God and man. He puts it both together: Before you overcame a man, namely, your brother, by undercutting him, hence you got the name Jacob; but now you have succumbed to God and man at the same time.
(v.29-31) And Jacob asked him, saying, Tell me, what is thy name? And he said, Why askest thou what is my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Pmel: for I have seen God face to face, and my soul is recovered. And when he overcame before Pniel, the sun rose for him.
The Latin interpreter adds the phrase quod est mirabile to the text. But it is not in the Hebrew, therefore we have also omitted it. Because Jacob was so frightened and dismayed, he does not yet understand the words. For he has not yet completely overcome the temptation of the man, which he has suffered so far, and which was so heavy that he felt no other way than that he would have to be lost and die. For such phenomena happen in exactly the same way as the one who is challenged feels courage, or as the poor weak flesh thinks and feels. For both must happen and be felt, namely, the killing of the flesh and the quickening of the spirit. As is often said in the Scriptures, Ps. 118:21: "I thank thee that thou hast humbled me, and helped me"; item 1 Sam. 2:6: "The Lord killeth, and quickeneth; he leadeth into hell, and out again." These are the works of our Lord God.
When Jacob feels the weakness of his faith and does not cling firmly enough to the promise, but still wavers after the flesh and doubts God's will, as the flesh is wont to do, then the face of God appears to him very unkind and sour, and he fights and stands as if it wants to kill him. The same thing happens to all who are challenged, when they do not rejoice in the goodness of God that they see before their eyes, but are terrified.
and are afraid of the wrathful God; they think that everything threatens them with certain death; everything is black, dark, sad, miserable and pitiful to them in heaven and on earth, neither the sun nor the moon shines; for the heart that is oppressed in the flesh dies, and when it is dead, everything falls. So Jacob, still having a little spirit living in him, fights and contends in great weakness; which weakness is yet very strong, as is said above.
These are secret and marvelous things, known only to those who have the promises, in which they are thus tried and humbled; and yet in such humiliation they become conquerors, even over God Himself. For I, says this man, am God and man, to whom you have succumbed. But while the battle lasts, Jacob does not understand it, nor does he see his strength because of his weakness; but he begins to ask: Who are you? Tell me your name, because you say that I have succumbed to God and man. For then the fighter declared that he was God and man. But Jacob does not yet understand, and is still in darkness, because the sun has not yet risen. He still has the thought that the adversary intends to kill him; and yet, because he hears that he has succumbed, he says: I would nevertheless like to know who you are, since you wrestled with me to such an extent that you wanted to take my life, and yet now you confess that you have been overcome.
The warrior still hides from him who he is and leaves him uncertain and in doubt; and the image of this man is shown to him in Jacob's mind. Jacob does not understand it, so the man does not answer his question about the name. As if he wanted to say: I have already told you before that you have fought with God and men and have been defeated; from this you should be able to conclude and assume who I am. He does not want to tell him the name, but still continues to try him, to practice and to chastise him. But if Jacob were with himself, and the clouds did not obscure the sun's rays
he would have understood all the more easily that he had been called a conqueror of God and man. He understands the words, but he does not understand the thing itself, because he does not know that this is the Lord. He thinks: Who are you then, that I have overcome God and men? But finally the appearance of the Lord follows, when he blesses him. For there he takes off the outward larva, and reveals himself that this man, who has wrestled with him, is God and man, who would manifest himself in our flesh in the future time, and whom the Jews would crucify.
But what kind of blessing it was Moses did not describe. But it was without doubt the blessing, so that the fathers were blessed, namely: "Through your seed all nations will be blessed" 2c. As if he wanted to say: Dear Jacob, I am the one who has blessed you and wants to bless you. Now that Jacob before, when he was still a man, could not see, but was disputing and asking out of doubt and because he was not yet sure, he now understands the same from the word and blessing and sees it with great joy. Are you him? he thinks, O heavenly Father and Lord! I thought it was some ghost or other man. So you are the same Blesser who blessed me and my father Isaac, and also my grandfather Abraham?
This is a very happy end and conclusion of this battle. For now Jacob comes out of hell into heaven, out of death into life. And it has truly been a very hard and difficult battle that he has fought so far. Therefore he gives thanks to God and confesses his anguish and distress, and does not want this place to keep its old name any longer, but calls it Pniel. As if he wanted to say: This place shall not be called a battle or the face of hell, but the face of God. And therefore he says: "I have seen God face to face": now I see clearly that the fighter who tempted me was God Himself. Why, then, am I dismayed? Why, then, did I tremble? I did not know that this was the Lord, my God.
And now let us say without any contradiction that this man was not an angel, but our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the eternal God and should have become a man whom the Jews would crucify. He was very familiar with the holy fathers, often appeared to them, often talked to them. That is why he showed himself to the fathers in such a form, so that he would indicate that he would one day dwell with us on earth in the flesh and in human form.
This is the correct interpretation, which we have not invented or taken from others, but this man has revealed himself in this way, when he gives Jacob the name, that he should be called Israel. And Jacob himself says in this place, "I have seen God face to face." The same our Lord Jesus Christ thus tempted Jacob, not to destroy him, but to strengthen him and give him power, and that he might learn the power of the promise a little better in this battle; yes, he gave Jacob this power and strength, so that he might be victorious and boast of these visions of the Lord with joy.
In distress and in battle he did not speak in this way; just as others never use to speak such joyful words even under the cross. But the godly and the spiritual must finally overcome in the struggle and come to see God face to face. As was said before about the Canaanite woman who had seen and heard Christ the Lord; and when he went into a house where he wanted to be hidden, she followed him and stopped until she took Christ's heart from him, which she seemed to reject too stubbornly.
192 And when such a battle is overcome, we can also rejoice with the patriarch Jacob, and boast that we have seen Pniel, that is, the face of the Lord. For so also Jacob testifies to the very hard struggle he had experienced, and also to his joy. And I want to say this much: Dear Lord God, how I have been in such great fear and distress, and also in great consternation! But praise and thanks be to God, I have now come out and recovered, my soul is redeemed and saved.
out of all this fear, now I give thanks to the Lord my God.
V. 31, 32: And he limped on his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel do not eat a vein on the joint of the hip until this day, because the vein was touched on the joint of Jacob's hip.
Since the struggle has come to an end, the patriarch feels that his hip hurts. But he also gets comfort, the heavenly sun or the face of God, and the light of the sun, which is daily and natural: heaven and earth is vain light to him. By the way, in this place he speaks of the ligament, of which he said nothing above, v. 25, because he only thought of the joint. Now here he adds the vein of tension; for the joints have very strong veins around them. We have given it in German, the Spannader. The Jews do not eat it, but the Germans do not shy away from it at all, yes, there are many who make a delicacy out of it.
I do not know exactly what the Hebrew word nascheh actually means. The name Manasseh came from it, which means in Latin, obliviscens, forgetting. The Jews themselves do not really know what this word means. Some interpret it that it should be called in Latin, nervus oblivionis; as if one wanted to say: that has forgotten its place for the sake of dislocation. But it is Jewish, that is, clumsy and lazy thing. For the Jews have hard and sharp interpretations. The others have interpreted it in Latin, nervus contractionis, which we call a tension vein, and the same interpretation is better. For one is accustomed to pull the foot together and then apart again, and thus to agitate it. I think it comes from the word nasah, which means to raise, that it means the vein that is raised above the hip; but I do not say it as certain. Jerome did not give it correctly in Latin: Nervus emarcuit in femore: The vein is withered in his hip. For Moses wants to say that it is dislocated; and after such dislocation a very great pain tends to follow. This is what Moses says, that the tendon in Jacob's hip has been touched.
195. this is history and the simple-minded
I hope that it will be clear enough for others, too. Now one should also say something about the allegory or secret interpretation. But I have often said that allegories are dangerous where the Scriptures are interpreted. For one follows this, the other follows another: One lays this foundation, the other another; and sometimes they build gold, sometimes stubble upon it. And St. Augustine says finely: Figura nihil probat, that is: With figures or parables one can prove nothing.
Therefore, if one is to prove and confirm the doctrine of our faith, allegories or other parables do not apply; rather, one must have such proof and testimony as one has taken from the sources of sacred Scripture. For everyone can either interpret figures and allegories to his liking, or write his own. Therefore there is nothing certain about it, so that one could stand.
197 However, they must be presented and used like beautiful lights and ornaments, so that the doctrine or the right understanding is decorated and explained according to the letter. As St. Paul cites Gal. 4, 22. ff. the example of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah, so that he may decorate and explain the doctrine of the righteousness of faith and of the two testaments. And if the allegory rhymes with the doctrine, it is a very beautiful decoration, so that the doctrine is spiced up, as it were.
But before we deal with allegory, we want to stay a little longer with the example that is held up to us in this history, to explain it further. For the literal sense must always precede as the basis of allegories. And this is an excellent and very salutary example, which should be held up to the church and congregation of God with special diligence. For in it we are admonished that we should also be so in our lives and learn to recognize the church of God by the image of Jacob's struggle. For God hides the church or congregation, and also our blessedness, under a dark and darkened
We must become accustomed to this, so that we do not despair or mistrust even in the greatest hardship and adversity, which the devil, the world, or even God Himself may inflict upon us. For so says St. Paul Col. 3, 3: "Your life is hidden with Christ in God."
This is the sum of this example. We do not live in the flesh, or if we do live in it, we do not live according to the flesh, and we do not serve the wisdom and righteousness of the flesh, much less avarice, anger or usury; these are not our weapons: but we live in the flesh and live by the faith of the Son of God. For I know of no other life, but that I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord, who suffered for me 2c.
Yes, someone would like to say, but this cannot be seen. Answer: It is indeed hidden in God, but it is such that the devil cannot take away or snatch away this life from us, however much it is darkened. For we are not glorified, not honored in the flesh, neither do we rejoice in the flesh; but we are killed, die, suffer; we are profaned and blasphemed; we are mocked, scoffed at, and thought to be the very worst of men, whom they persecute with sword and fire as heretics and evildoers, and slay if they can. Is not this a very heavy blanket of this life? But hidden under it lies a very beautiful and delicious gem, which is thus called: I believe in the Son of God.
For as Christ, our head, is hidden in God, so the church and congregation of God is covered and lies hidden under such a covering, and it must suffer in the world to be called rebellious, erroneous, heretical, and a multitude of the most wicked men that ever lived on earth. This disgrace, I say, she must bear. These are her beautiful gems that she wears on earth, her jewels and golden chains, so that God may adorn her in this life. For so it is pictured in this example, how God tries us in particular and also in general the whole church after the example of Jacob, namely,
that he fights with her and shows himself as an adversary and enemy who wanted to leave her, to reject her, even to destroy her.
For when you look at the state of our church, we seem to have nothing but the Word and the sacraments; and we have many countless adversaries, such as princes, nobles, citizens, householders, disciples, and finally our own flesh to drag us along. For this is our glory, that we are afflicted and mocked even by our own household. This is our cover, so that we let ourselves think that God will by no means recognize and consider us as His own. For nothing rhymes less with the church than such a figure.
I myself have often thought, when I have seen such great contempt, disgust and hatred of the word among the people, after the light of the gospel has come forth again: Dear, why did I begin to teach and preach? or, why do I continue to do so? because people rage against us more and more, as if they were nonsensical, and become more and more angry every day.
But this one must suffer and thus conclude: This is the true God who is hidden, this is his nature and characteristic, he is in truth hidden and yet not hidden. For the flesh is in our way and hinders us from looking at Him; it grumbles, is grieved, is angry and impatient, and cries out: I am the most wretched of men, the most despised and the most depraved. And it is also true that the priests and church servants, together with other godly people, have no protection from princes or kings; indeed, they do not have the protection from the citizens and peasants that is due to them by right. And what is more, what they already have is often taken from them, and so they must be subjected to all kinds of robbery and violence. Therefore, it seems as if God has abandoned and rejected us, for he is hidden from us and we are hidden with him at the same time: but in faith, in words and in the sacraments, he reveals himself and lets himself be seen.
God considers reason, wisdom, righteousness of the flesh and the light of the sun to be a dark and gloomy place, but then the Word comes, shining like a flame in the midst of darkness and spreading its radiance through doctrine and sacraments, which God calls us to take hold of. If we accept them, then God is no longer hidden from us in spirit, but only in the flesh.
For this reason we should also learn, when we are overtaken with misfortune and sorrow and covered with darkness (which makes it unbelievable to us that we should be the church, or that we should please God), that we then take the word, and let fall and let fall what falls, and that we do not allow ourselves to be challenged when others already fall away and deny the doctrine; but think that we are in a dark place, 2 Petr. 1, 19. 1:19, where the light of the Word shines before us: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved," Marc. 16:16. This is the only light, which the sun does not see and human reason does not see, but it shines in the heart. Without the word we shall know nothing and see nothing; for where this only shines there is no danger, and an hour will come when we shall break forth and say with joy, "I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul is recovered."
Now Jacob has given the church and congregation of God a very useful and beautiful example, namely, of such a faith that fights in weakness, so that we do not think, as the monks thought, that the fathers and prophets were stones or blocks in which there should have been no weakness at all. Otherwise we would have to despair, because we still feel great weakness in our flesh; for the flesh grumbles and does not want to suffer or be trampled underfoot. Therefore we complain and cry out that we are being treated unjustly. Therefore let us look at the holy patriarchs and comfort ourselves with their example, even though they did not always stand firm and strong in faith.
208. Jacob was with very rich consolations
806 L. vm. I97-IN. Interpretation of I Genesis 32, 31. 32. W. n. I17S-II8S. 807
showered, not only with those which he himself received, but also with those which were given to his father and grandfather, Abraham and Isaac: and yet struggles with great weakness. Wherefore think thou thus: I am not alone, who am being contested with the wrath of God, with providence and misbelief; it is not I alone: all the saints, as many as there are of them, who have ever believed or now still believe in the Son of God, they also experience such a struggle of contestation, so that they or the whole church may be tempted. For what is this whole assembly called the church? It is a small group of very poor and miserable people, who are the most despised and despondent people in the eyes of the world. What is this little group to be counted against the whole world? What is it against the Turkish Empire and France? yes, even against our adversaries, the papists?
209 If you ask where the church is, it is nowhere to be seen. But one must not look at the outward appearance, but at the word, at baptism, and there one must look for the church, where the holy sacraments are rightly and perfectly administered, where there are hearers, teachers and confessors of the word. If you cannot see it yet, remember that our goods are hidden goods, and that in this life you cannot see how great they are. The man is still struggling, but it is without danger, indeed this struggle wins a very happy outcome.
For so shall we make a proverb out of this history: If one thinks that our Lord God has rejected one, then one should think that our Lord God has him in his arms and caresses him. So Jacob does not feel or think otherwise than that he will be lost; but when he looks around, he is in the arms of our Lord GOD. The example of Job, who was also humbled and greatly afflicted, teaches us the same. For this is how God leads His saints miraculously, Ps. 4:4. When we think that we are finished and that all is lost, God embraces and kisses us as His beloved children. This is what St. Paul says: "When I am weak, then I am strong"; when I die, then I live, 2 Cor. 12, 10. 2 Tim. 2, 11.
But we do not understand it, and this is the cause, because the flesh is in our way, which cannot suffer to be killed, and hinders the spirit from seeing the immeasurable love and good will of God toward us until it comes out of this struggle and the hindrance of the flesh is removed. But the same thing is abundantly taught from time to time in all the holy Scriptures. For thus it is written in the Revelation of John in the 3rd Cap. V. 19: "Whom I love, I punish and chasten." And in the Proverbs of Solomon, 3rd Cap. V. 11, 12: "My child, do not reject the chastening of the Lord, and do not be impatient with his punishment. For whom the Lord loveth he punisheth, and is well pleased with him, as a father with his son." These and similar sayings are very good and worthy of note.
212. But is it pleasing to the son to strike him with rods and to beat him? The Scriptures truly teach this, and experience also testifies to it. For what pious and faithful fathers are, they chasten their children with all earnestness; they will not suffer them to be disobedient, and to bring about their own evil 2c. And they do this out of no evil heart, but mean it so that the children may be instructed by it, and what is bad in their lives may be corrected, so that they may finally become pious men. But the boy or child who is punished and chastised does not understand the father's good will and heartfelt affection, but thinks that the father is a tyrant and has dropped all care and love for him. So does a pious, faithful schoolmaster. He hates in the pupil that he is lazy and sleepy; therefore he takes care that he chastises the boy in a childlike way, not that he is hostile to him or has a desire to beat or bludgeon the boys (as I, when I was a boy, saw many of them in the schools a long time ago), but he loves the boy very much, and such love moves him to chastise him.
This, then, is the truth in itself, and the experience which teaches that chastisement is necessary. And the heavenly Father
808 D vm, idg-A>i. Interpretation of Genesis 32, 31. 32. W. n. nss-iisi. 809
The same way also holds to chastise the godly. Whoever is able to endure and persevere in this chastening will finally experience what is written in the epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 12, v. 11. V. 11: "All chastening, however, when it comes, seems to us to be not joy but sorrow; but afterward it will give a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it."
214. we see the same thing happening in this story: when the curse is gone and the temptation is over, blessing and joy follow, that Jacob says: "I have seen God face to face, and my soul is healed. For thus a godly man thinks, when he has escaped the temptation: "How I have such a gracious God! I was already despondent and went down to hell, but now I see that this struggle has been useful to my life. I would never have thought that God would be so close to me. Therefore, it is very sweet that one may experience the fruit of chastisement in such a way. O heavenly Father, you are so close to me and I did not know it? how I feel so good now! Now let Esau come, and all the devils, and I will not fear; for I have the Lord my God. Before I looked upon his back in the likeness and person of a man, in which person I fancied that he threatened me with death, and my heart was in great fear lest he should cast me into hell: but now I see his face.
For the outward appearance is to be seen just as a godly man inwardly thinks or is minded in his heart. As it happened to the disciples, when Christ was walking on the sea, they were terrified and afraid, because they did not know the Lord, and therefore Christ seemed to them to be a ghost or the devil. But when they heard that he said, "I am he," their form was changed, and their eyes were opened, so that they recognized Christ and let go of all fear; that is, they saw the Lord face to face, that is, they were again led out of hell and set in heaven, so that the heart concluded, "Now I do not have such a God as this, who curses me, or who has put a curse on me.
I am not angry with him, but he blesses me and is gracious to me. But such knowledge of God requires practice and experience, which must always be diligently taught and practiced. Knowledge should always be diligently taught and pursued. But there must be experience and one must get used to it in this life, otherwise one cannot understand it; since the things that seem to us to be signs of divine wrath and that he should be hostile to us are the most certain signs of God's greatest love and inclined will toward us.
I have often seen that the best of men have been terribly afflicted with terror, affliction and very severe persecutions, and that they have become almost despondent in their hearts. But this must be learned, so that we can comfort such people, and interpret the temptations in such a way that it is, as it were, a special way, since God uses to fight with us in the form of a destroyer, and that we exhort them to hold firmly to the promise, or to the light and sparkle of the Word, with such hope that salvation will surely follow. For God "leads into hell and out again," 1 Sam. 2:6. Now you look at his back, and it appears as if God is hostile to you and has turned away from you; but soon after you will also see him under your eyes and his face. Yes, this means to love those whom he chastises, and this love must be learned by experience.
And one must not flee from chastisement, nor refuse to endure it. As it is said of a peasant who, when he heard this consolation from his pastor, that tribulations and miseries, so that God punishes us, are signs of love, replied: Oh, how I would like him to love others so much and not me!
That was a foolish and ungodly answer. For one should not think or speak in this way. One should not interpret and understand the works of God in us in this way, but one should know that it is a very salutary death, by which we are chastened to life and salvation and not to destruction. As St. Paul testifies in Rom. 12, 2, when he says: "That you may test", not only that you should
810 L. vm, 201.-203. interpretation of I Genesis 32, 31. 32. w. n, nst-ii87. 811
with words, but that you may also learn by experience, "which is the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God." For this is God's will, our mortification and sanctification. But we cannot be sanctified unless the flesh and the sinful body be put to death, which sinful body in this life gives itself up with all violence to all kinds of sin, such as adultery, fornication, theft, 2c.
Therefore God judges, chastises and punishes us until we learn which is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God, so that we may sing with David, as it says in Psalm 119, v. 71: "It is dear to me that you have humbled me, that I may learn your rights. I would gladly be exalted, my flesh shrinks from the challenge; but I know that this is the good, pleasing will of God. Item, as he says in the 118th Psalm, v. 18: "The Lord chasteneth me, but he giveth me not to die"; v. 13: "They push me to fall, but the Lord helpeth me," that my soul may see the face of God and recover; v. 21: "I thank thee that thou hast humbled me, and helpest me."
So far we have spoken of the example of the holy patriarch, which greatly comforts the saints who are weak in faith. But as they received comfort, and the temptation was for their salvation, so we also ought to make an effort to be like them in the battle and in salvation. For in this way we will learn what is said in the 34th Psalm, v. 9: "Taste and see how kind the Lord is. Blessed is he that trusteth in him." So we understand and feel how kind and lovely the Lord is when we come out of darkness and the shadow of death; for then the light is lovely and very pleasant. So then the little child kisses the rod. O dear rod, how do you make such pious little children! Let this be said of the example and of history.
I am not particularly interested in allegories, but I will say a little about them. Augustine sets this reason of his allegory, that Jacob is the body of his descendants; and so far he is right. For it
must be a person who is the figure of a whole assembly. But that he says about the fight that Jacob had with the man and about the victory after which Jacob is blessed, that is very harsh and too far-fetched. For he thinks that the crucifixion of Christ is to be understood in this way, that Jacob was subject to the angel or God; which crucifixion was to take place through the wicked descendants: they overthrew Christ, that is, they crucified him, and the crucified Christ nevertheless blessed Jacob, namely, the better part of the descendants.
But this is a too harsh and forced allegory. He makes two kinds of descendants, namely, good and evil: the evil have prevailed and conquered, the good have been blessed, since Christ had overcome death and the evil conquerors. We do not accept this part of the allegory, and it can be seen that the fathers who followed this allegory were deceived by the wrong translation with the Latin word latitudo (for thus they translated the Hebrew word kaph, which word, as said above, means the joint of the hip), and from the word latitudo they invented two different descendants. Jerome and Origen have invented such allegories a lot, but they did not succeed with it. Therefore, it requires a very good mind to distinguish the allegories that were found in the fathers or invented by others.
But methinks it is no evil to make Jacob a person or body of good seed, and not of evil seed, as the Scripture makes a distinction. "For they are not all Israelites who are of Israel. Not are they the children of God according to the flesh; but the children of promise," 2c., Rom. 9:6, 8. Otherwise the evil descendants also would have received the blessing of God; but Jacob is a figure and pattern of the right descendants of Israel, that is, of all the saints, and of us also who believe in Christ. Therefore Israel is in this challenge with Jacob, when either the members in particular are challenged, or the whole church in general.
In such a struggle we overcome God, as said before, because we have the promise. If we cling to it with faith, we also become stronger in weakness, so that we overcome our heavenly Father and the Son of God according to the example of the Cananaean woman, to whom Christ says Matth. 15, 28: "O woman, your faith is great"; item, as he says Marc. 9, 23: "All things are possible to him who believes.
This allegory is useful and good, which instructs and strengthens the conscience. It should be practiced and kept in mind at all times, so that we can be sure that a believer overcomes God with his faith and prayer. For God has promised to protect the faithful, to help them and to give them all good things. Therefore, He will not and cannot deny Himself. But if he appears in another form, or if you feel differently, and if it seems to you that he opposes you, you should not be afraid of him in your heart, and you should not retreat, but fight against him in faith, so that you may succumb and become Israel. But how? Not by the strength or weapons of your flesh and nature, but by trusting in the thing that you have with God, namely, that He has promised and sworn to you that He will be your God. With such confidence you will be able to obey, which does not come from nature, but from the promise. Now when he meets you like a fighter and wants to destroy you or hide his name and promise, be strong and hold fast to the word, even though you feel great weakness: then you will succumb.
After that, in this battle, you will also feel that the tension vein or the joint of the hip is dislocated and withered. This allegory is correct, and rhymes with the way of speaking that the Scriptures have, which often understands the offspring through the hip. Therefore Augustin did not draw the tension vein of the hip on the descendants badly. For thus Moses speaks in the other book in 1 Cap. V. 5: "And of all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob, there were seventy."
But the sinew, which has become corrupt and lame, teaches those who fight and believe that the fleshly birth is not at all suitable for this victory, because the hip, which is the fleshly birth, is dislocated and withered. Therefore, Christians know that they do not become God's people or children of God through the birth or righteousness of the flesh, nor that it is inherited from the flesh, as it is written in John 1:13: "Who are not born of the blood, nor of the will of man"; it is all dead. Therefore the hypocrites and the Jews boast of such things in vain, and yet even now the Jews are quite foolish because of the fleshly honor and righteousness of the law. For this man touched the thigh of Jacob with his hand, and thereby the sinew was killed. But the children of God are born of God. So the godly and the descendants of Jacob should learn that they should not boast of the flesh, nor seek life in the benefits and glory of the flesh, but in the blessing of God, who makes us children of God according to the promise in Genesis 22:18: "Through your seed shall all nations be blessed"; item, John 1:13: "Those who are born of God find" 2c. This is a fine example to look for allegories; for it teaches and comforts at the same time.
227 And this also rhymes with the fact that the children of Israel do not eat tense veins, that is, they do not believe. For "to eat" means to believe in other places than John 6:53: "If ye eat not the flesh of the Son of man," 2c., "ye have no life in you." We do not eat, nor do we believe that the tension vein is raised above the waist. We do not preach the wisdom, honor, righteousness, and violence of the flesh, but abstain from all confidence and boasting of carnal righteousness. Only the good descendants of Jacob understand and have this wisdom. For theirs alone is the hip dislocated; the rest all honor and eat the sinew of the hip, which is very tough and hard; for it is not yet dead to them. Only the Christians abstain from the dislocated hip and tendons. For so teaches this.
814 D vm, s"-L07. interpretation of I Moses 32, 31. 32. cap. 33, 1. W. n, nsi-uv4. 815
New Testament Joh. 1, 13.: "Which are born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of GOD." This allegory is better and closer, which also rhymes with the teaching of the Gospel. For the people of GOtteS fights with GOt, and conquers and
receives the blessing after the victory, and rejects the righteousness and wisdom of the flesh, yes, it crucifies the flesh with its lusts and desires, Gal. 5:24. Whoever is godly and has the gift of writing allegories will easily find others.