First part.
How Jacob's sons travel to Egypt.
When Jacob saw that grain was on sale in Egypt, he said to his sons: Why do you look around so long? Behold, I hear that there is corn in Egypt: go down, and buy us corn, that we may live, and not die.
(1) Everything that happens here is intended to be an occasion to honor Joseph and to show the miraculous works of God. And the history is easy enough in itself, except that one has to act and explain several pieces that belong to the grammar and also to the doctrine of the holy scriptures. Moses said at the end of the previous chapter how the famine had been great in all the lands, and that therefore nations had come from all the lands to buy food in Egypt. In the meantime, however, Jacob and his family also suffered from hunger. Therefore he addresses his sons, as the text says, and exhorts them to go down to buy grain.
2) But here again the Hebrew word scheber occurs, which we have just interpreted as "to break", and the words in this place according to the Hebrew text are thus: "He saw that in Egypt there was a
Breaking was. We, however, who are inexperienced in the Hebrew language, must get used to these peculiar ways of speaking, and to the new words, so that we learn to understand their meaning and peculiarity.
(3) The Jews make a jest of it, and say that it is therefore called breaking, that it may break or appease the hunger. But I am quite hostile to such loose talk and the frivolity of the Jewish rabbis, who forsooth try to force their antics upon us, that we should take them for the grammar and right doctrine of the holy Scriptures, regardless of what other peculiar ways the holy Scriptures have of speaking, from which the right interpretation of this word and others may be taken. For thus speak the prophets, as, Isaiah Cap. 58, v. 7: "Break thy bread to the hungry." And Jeremiah in his Lamentations Cap. 4, 4: "The young children ask for bread, and there is no one to break it for them," that is, to give it out. For the Jews had bread like cakes, and did not need knives to cut the same bread with. This can also be seen in the history of the Gospel Luc. 24, 30. 35. where the disciples recognize Christ by the breaking of bread, item, when it is said of Him Luc. 22, 19. that He took bread and broke it. After this it was also drawn to the soul, as in the 14th Psalm v. 3: It is in their ways.
1440 D. X. IIS. IIS. Interpretation of Genesis 42:1. 2. W. v, 2II2-2IIS. 1441
vain contrition and unhappiness. Item, a "broken spirit", that is, a sorrowful miserable spirit, which is divided to and fro into many thoughts and counsels, since one does not know where from.
4 For this reason, this way of speaking should be remembered and retained, namely, that among the Hebrews, "to break bread" is as much as to distribute it; or else that one now and then buys and sells bread or food, and has been taken from a parable. In the prophets, however, it occurs more often than in other passages of Scripture. Solomon in his Proverbs, 11 Cap. V. 26, also used this way of speaking when he said, "Blessing comes upon him who sells grain," that is, he who distributes it. For the Hebrews use not only actual words, but also such words as are spoken by special figures; as the same is common in other languages. Yes, it seems that they have more desire than others to use such figurative speech.
(5) Then it is also to be noted that the Hebrews do not have the auxiliary word "I am," and use the pronoun "I" instead. As: "I the Lord, your God." There the "I" is put instead of the tense word: "I am". Item, the word "Himself" is put about instead of the tense: "He is." So, the Lord your God, He is. Therefore, the Hebrew word, yesh, is not used as a case word in this place, but it means as much as: It is available, or, it is abundant, grain is left over enough. This is where the word tushiyah comes from, Prov. 8:14, where wisdom says, "Mine is both counsel and action," I give counsel and also tushiyah, that is, action, happiness and execution in every matter, that it may be well advised and carried out. Mine is the word and the deed, it is mine to speak and to do, that is, what I advise, all this I also direct and bring it to fruition. For this is what the word tushiyah means, namely, to put each thing in its place. Otherwise it is also a word that means together: cause, wisdom, honor; but actually it means, when the things, so one consults, are accomplished.
will be. So, God gives us counsel in verbal words and tells us how we should conduct ourselves: if we now keep the same word, the tushijah also follows that what He promises will certainly be given to us and that it will not be lacking. So also in this place it is not mere words or an uncertain cry of the breaking or dividing of the grain, but the truth and the deed are also there, and in Egypt grain and provisions are full.
Therefore Jacob says to his sons: Why do you continue to look at one another for a long time? Because the Hebrew word is a time word of the fourth conjugation in Hithpael and reads in Latin thus: Quare facitis vos videre? that is, why do you look at each other long? And Moses wants to indicate with it that Jacob's sons have argued with each other and have disputed, what is to be done, because the theurge took over. You Reuben, you Judah, they will have said, what advice do you give that we may find help in this trouble, and that we may save our own lives and all the lives of our household? And when they had thus contended, and looked one at another, the father said, How stand ye, and look one at another? Because ye thus counsel in vain, we must die of hunger. Behold, I have heard that in truth there is grain enough to distribute and to sell. Go down and buy us grain. See that you also enjoy the same distribution.
007 And Moses shewed that all these eleven patriarchs dwelt with Jacob their father in Hebron, being married and heads of households, having children and children's children, and menservants and maidservants. Therefore it is a miracle, how so many families, in it so many persons were, in a strange country all at the same time could have lived? I believe that Leah and the other old matrons of Jacob's family had died, and that other young women had taken their place, namely, the wives of his eleven sons, as well as other servants and maidservants. Benjamin, who was the youngest among them, had ten sons, and we will see how they died.
1442 L X. 1I3-1IS. Interpretation of Genesis 42, I. 2. W. n. SIIS-21I7. 1443
Afterward we hear that Jacob went down to Egypt with seventy souls, and the wives, menservants, maidservants and other people from the Gentiles who joined this family for the sake of the doctrine of godliness and the right worship of God were not counted. For only those souls are counted and reckoned who came from the loins of Jacob, as his sons and grandsons; but the granddaughters are not counted, and the other company of servants and maids will not have been small.
008 Therefore they dwelt all together in Hebron, as sojourners and strangers among the Canaanite nations. And the same is very strange and almost unbelievable to us today, that Jacob with so many sons and his sons' sons was able to dwell in a foreign land among the Gentiles, and there rent fields and meadows, have gardens and keep cattle. And I am not surprised enough how these eleven brothers and the large number of servants got along with the people of the same place. It is not told how the heathen dealt with them; but so much seems to be indicated that they suffered and bore patience. And perhaps the good matrons, as, Leah, Zilpah and Bilhah, will have died of heartache and melancholy. For they have suffered much injustice, not only from their neighbors, but also from their own households, by which, it seems, they have been cast down, bowed down, and consumed; for they are not remembered at all in the procession that Jacob went down to Egypt.
9 But why does Jacob say to his sons: Buy us grain, that we may live and not die? Why does he not trust God, and why is he afraid of death, since he has a divine promise that God will preserve and protect him? In addition, he has the experience that he has felt and experienced so far that God has helped him and ruled him in the foreign land of Canaan with so many sons and grandsons and with such a large household. Why then is he frightened here, and does not believe the
Promises of God, which he undoubtedly had in fresh memory, and which he also always diligently taught in the church, or congregation, which he had in his house? For he said to his people: Do not be fainthearted in temptation or affliction; the Lord our God has promised us the land and also food according to our need. Where then, dear Jacob, is your faith? Where is the promise? (10) Answer: We are commanded to believe, and to trust in the goodness of God: but neither shall we tempt God. For we cannot live by the rule that he hath, but by opportunity, and as the time gives; nevertheless, that faith and hope may remain unhurt. Therefore Jacob does not say, Stay and wait; the LORD is mighty enough to send down bread from heaven; perhaps he will rain grain in this land and so feed us. No, the opinion does not have it with the promise either. There is no doubt that God should not be able or willing to feed and protect you; but you should not flee or forsake the opportunity and means by which you can be protected and helped, which you can use without sin; otherwise you would tempt God.
(11) Therefore, one should not ask whether God will help and sustain us according to His unchanging counsel and will; but rather we should keep it and say: I believe that God will sustain me, but His counsel is unknown to me, as are the means by which He will fulfill His promise. Therefore, one should use the means that are available: each one should seek his food with work and diligence in his profession, and create need for himself to sustain life with, as, milk, cheese, wool 2c. You shall cultivate the field, gather the fruit or grain; you shall not be idle or lazy, as if you did not need the care of the house, or as if you should not make the servants work, because you have God's promise that He will feed you; for God does not want you to be lazy and indolent, but He said Gen. 3:19: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou keep thy bread.
Eat bread until you return to the earth from which you were taken." Item v. 18: "The field shall bear thee thorns and thistles" 2c. I grant thee, saith God, the nourishment and preservation of thy life; but I will that thou use such creatures and means as are present, and do as much as thou canst, that thou tempt me not. But if thou shalt be without all help and counsel, then first of all I will also provide and sustain thee by a special miracle. But if there is any good means, think that it is shown and given to you by me, so that you should use it, so that you may be preserved.
12 In this way Jacob also has a certain promise, which he cannot lack; yet he does as much as is in him. He hears that grain is being sold in Egypt; therefore he is careful not to tempt God by sitting at home and waiting for food elsewhere, but he sends his sons to Egypt to buy grain there. What will you be long about? he says to them. It will not rain grain down from the clouds. Go, believe in God, trust in Him, and in so doing do what is right for you: use the creatures created by God in this natural life and given to us, that we may use them in our need.
So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, would not let Jacob go with his brothers, for he said, "He may meet with an accident.
(13) Here Jacob is in trouble and danger with his sons and grandsons, and it seems as if he does not trust God. For he keeps Benjamin, the eleventh son, with him and will not give him away in danger with the other ten sons, which is contrary to the promise and faith. Nevertheless, Jacob believes the promise.
(14) How then shall we reconcile these things, that they may rhyme together? Faith does not doubt;
but the believing Jacob doubts something. We have just heard the same thing about the patriarch Abraham, when he was worried about Sarah in Gerar, that she might meet with an accident, and Isaac was challenged in the same way, although both had clear promises. But does it not now seem as if they had mocked our Lord God, because they did not keep the same promise without all fear and trembling? Jacob often doubted and was frightened when he saw Esau, his brother, and he did not do otherwise than if God had never promised him anything. And so the holy patriarchs became like us in every way. For Jacob was as afraid in that place as if he had no faith at all.
(15) I believe that the reason Jacob the patriarch was so afraid and anxious was because he knew that the promise would have to be understood and applied to the son born of his firstborn wife, Rachel. For since he had lost his firstborn son Joseph, it was not fitting that the other son should also be put in danger, lest he be deprived of his descendants and the promised seed.
(16) Why does he not rather consider this for himself, that God promised him to give him a seed forever, and that therefore he would preserve his son for him even in the midst of death and hell? It is truly a great weakness that he keeps Benjamin at home, regardless of the divine promise, and has given the ten sons born to him, Bilhah, Leah and Zilpah, in danger of death. For he could have no certain hope for himself that they would come back to him healthy and unharmed. Should we not punish such human and carnal advice, such doubt and weakness?
(17) Though I do not desire to excuse it, for it is held up to us, that we may see examples of both faith and weakness, even in the greatest of fathers, and in addition to this the
Strife of the flesh with the spirit. For this is truly an example of the greatest weakness in the father Jacob and his sons, who went to an unknown people, who, although they heard the word of promise, still tremble, hope and worry, still believe and doubt. For thus we all tend to be strong and manly at the time when the spirit triumphs over the flesh; but when unbelief attacks our hearts, we soon sink.
(18) It is a human and foolish counsel of Jacob to keep Benjamin with him, lest he perish: as if he might not die at home; or as if Benjamin's welfare and life were in the power of Jacob his father. Why should the great patriarch, who had such a great promise, be so weak? What do you think you or I will be like when the danger and challenge come?
(19) Therefore, all this is written for our instruction and comfort, so that we may learn to trust in God continually, and that we may nevertheless also take care of our descendants and of the ministry that God has commanded us. For one must not think thus: I am a pastor or a church servant, and I know that God cares for the church; therefore, I do not want to do anything about it, nor do I want to take care of my office. Just as a householder must not be sluggish or lazy, but everyone should be brave and work diligently in his profession. For God does not forbid work, and does not want us to be idle, even though He governs everything with His presence and according to His will. But the flesh should and must be exercised and tempted with danger, challenge and terror, and with the uncertain outcome of our work. However, the promise and faith, which must go first, must remain unharmed, and the prayer and work, which every man's profession requires, must always be practiced and done with it. And even though such work does not matter, God wants us to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow, Genesis 3:19.
20. ason, the Hebrew word, means death or other harm, as in Ex 21:22: "When men quarrel, and hurt a woman with child, that her fruit be cut off, and yet no harm befall her" 2c. There is also in Hebrew the word ason, which is a deadly calamity or heartache. Otherwise, it is not used much in the Scriptures.
21 Jacob feared that Benjamin might perish, that he might be torn by a wild beast or captured by enemies; just as he thought that Joseph must also have perished. He considered this danger for himself, and the fact that he was afraid did not happen in vain. For he was surrounded by unknown neighbors and enemies in a foreign land. And it seems that he was also afraid that he would lose the promise together with the son of whom he thought he would become the firstborn. For he did not know at that time that Joseph was still alive and that the same glory of the firstborn would be his; which he will learn and experience later in Egypt.
(22) Thus the dear holy fathers had rich promises in this way, and even though they had already believed, they still felt weakness of spirit and flesh, so that they still had to do, but so that the elect and faithful had everything to gain, and that their faith would be exercised and tried, grow and increase. Jacob was afraid of the wild beasts or that his son would be captured and perish; for he held the promise in great honor, namely, in the son of the most noble wife, even so that he preferred the health of this son to the welfare and life of all the other ten sons.
V. 5 So the children of Israel came to buy grain, along with others who went with them, because it was also expensive in the land of Canaan.
(23) They did not go to Egypt without companions, but joined other righteous and honest neighbors, whom they found faithful. Let it now be
They did this either at the admonition of their father or out of their own concern that they might have faithful companions to make the same journey, since the way through the Cananite and Midianite lands was dangerous.
(24) Now this counsel and help is also human, but it is written by the Holy Spirit so that we may learn to believe God's promises and not to doubt. Even though we are weak in faith, we should always repeat the same thing daily, and diligently inculcate in ourselves that God is true in His promises. Afterwards, however, when some opportunities and external means present themselves, we are to know that one should also use them and that human counsel is not to be despised. For this reason the children of Israel did not go this way alone, but united with the Hebronites and Cananites, so that they might be half sure of such companions. And it is probable that many were related to them because of the marriage they had entered into with the daughters of the Cananites. For such help was necessary for them, and that they united and befriended honest people against violence and injustice, which they had to expect as guests and strangers in the country from bad guys. Therefore, in times of need and danger, they also needed human advice and help.
V.6 But Joseph was the ruler of the land, and sold grain to all the people of the land.
25 The Hebrew word, shalith, is also a new word, which we have not had before. It comes from the tense word shalath, which means to rule, and will often be used in the same sense in the Scriptures; as, in Ecclesiastes Solomon, 8 Cap. V. 9: "One man ruleth over another at times, to his misfortune." Hence comes the word shalith, lord; and the Saracens call their emperor Sultan; and Gen. 49, 10. says, "The scepter shall not be taken from Judah until the hero (sultan) come." From this comes the word shield, in Latin scutum or clypeus, which the Germans use to refer to the scepter.
have to keep. Therefore Joseph is the shahth, that is, the sultan over all Egypt, and is the mashbir, as it is in Hebrew, who sells grain. The manner of speaking and the pronoun used instead of the tense "I am" have been spoken of above.
26 This is a great praise of wisdom and special diligence to Joseph, who rules everything alone in such a large kingdom. Pharaoh is also a sultan, but he is not a mashbir and does not care how the grain or food is distributed and sold; the care and burden is borne by Joseph alone. It is a wonder, however, how he was able to look at and get to know everyone in such a large crowd of buyers. For he himself recognized his brothers among the other crowds that arrived there. From this it can be assumed that he must have paid close attention to the strangers and to everyone in particular; for this he needed great diligence and had to be brave.
27 But I think he would have kept this way and order in it, that he opened one granary after the other, so that he could so much more easily take care of everyone, when the buyers had to come to a certain place. And although he had many officials and servants who sold the grain on his order and always had to wait for it, the buyers all had to come before him himself, so that he allowed them to buy grain there. It was a very nice order and a necessary diligence, so that those who were enemies of the kingdom would not sneak in with the other strangers and neighbors and cause any noise or trouble in the country.
The same example should be diligently observed by the authorities in every place, and they should follow it so that they think it is their duty to keep watch, and that they take good care not only of their citizens and subjects, but also of foreigners and aliens, so that the latter do not go astray so carelessly and without danger now and then, to the detriment of the common people. '
29. for so is the kingdom of egypt
1450 L- x, 121-123. interpretation of Genesis 42:6, 7. w. n, siss-siso. 1451
The Holy Spirit was appointed and ordered, whether such an order was established before Joseph or was only begun by him. And where Joseph first established and made them, we obviously see that the Holy Spirit was also involved in the physical government. In the beginning of his reign he ordered the churches in the seven rich years, then also the secular police and house regiment. Now that the grain is to be sold, he sees that it will be necessary to take care of the strangers who have come and gone. And it may well have been a wicked, untamed people who needed such attention; that is why he took care of it.
Second part.
Of the behavior of Jacob's sons against their brother Joseph, and of Joseph's behavior against his brother.
V. 6, 7 When his brothers came to him, they fell to the ground on their faces before him. And he looked upon them, and knew them, and stood strange against them, and spake hard unto them, and said unto them: Whence come ye? They said: From the land of Canaan, to buy food.
(30) Now follows at last the right outcome and fulfillment of the dream which Joseph had before of his brothers. And Moses hastens that he may describe this fulfillment of the prophecy and dreams of Joseph. But Joseph's brothers do not yet know him, nor do they know before whom they fall to the ground on their faces. Therefore, this is only the beginning and an imperfect fulfillment, as they fall to the earth before their brother, whom they do not yet know. But afterwards they will also fall down before him, since they have recognized him, after the death of their father, so that this outcome will perfectly coincide with the dreams of Joseph.
(31) This is not to be looked at or read above, but this pleasant example and spectacle, or rather this beautiful mirror of this divine government, is to be diligently noted. And is there in this a clear allegory or secret interpretation and
figure of Christ, which the reader should also imagine at the same time. But the most important reason why the Holy Spirit wanted to write this history was that he wanted to show a wonderful spectacle, and a certainly credible example of the government, how God used to lead his saints. Which actually agrees with the saying of the 4th Psalm v. 4, where it says: "Know ye that the LORD leadeth his saints in a wonderful manner.
(32) For here we see Joseph dealing strangely with his brothers, and playing a strange game with them; but such a game as greatly humbles and exercises them, and involves great serious things. For in this way they are brought to the knowledge of their sins and cast into danger of death and hell.
(33) And in the same way God behaves toward His saints and believers in temptations, as Joseph behaved toward his brothers, who did not play with them in such a way as to desire revenge against them or to be an enemy to them: therefore, I say, He did not show Himself so hard toward them. For he weeps at last, and his heart in his body is moved against them. But outwardly he presents himself as a tyrant who wants to destroy and kill them for the most shameful sin of treason, so that they would deserve the highest disgrace, even the gallows and all kinds of punishment. This he does, I say, not out of alienation or hostility, but out of a brotherly and kindly heart, and for no other cause than that he may thereby investigate and test their repentance, and thus drive them to the knowledge of their sin, and to the grace and mercy of God.
34. just such a game does God in the world also according to his divine goodness, as wisdom says in the Proverbs of Solomon in the 8th Cap. V. 31: "I played on the face of the earth, and my delight is with the children of men." Thus speaks the wisdom of the Father, the Son of God, since he became man, and thus indicates that he plays with men and has his pleasure, and only deals kindly and sweetly with them, and that he has the greatest pleasure in such play.
(35) But to us it is a very sorrowful and miserable death. For is gambling to bring man to naught, to cast him into death, to afflict him with many countless miseries and troubles? It is a cat's game with the mouse, which is the death of the mouse. Therefore this is written, that we may learn to understand the counsel of divine wisdom and how wonderfully God guides His saints: which seems so grievous and bitter that the angels who see it, and the devils and the world, think that we are all devoured and corrupted; yea, we ourselves also make ourselves think that we are all forsaken, despised, and rejected of God.
36. that is where these words of lamentation actually came from, as, in the 31st Psalm v. 23: "I am cast out from your eyes"; and in the 44th Psalm v. 24: "Awaken, O Lord, why are you asleep? Awake, and do not cast us off so utterly" 2c. Such cries to God will no doubt have been repeated by Jacob many times throughout his life in so much sorrow and distress. And this has been the constant sighing and lamenting of all the patriarchs from the beginning. For what could be said or thought more miserable and pitiful than the first fathers were, than Adam, Noah and Abraham?
37. and yet at the end of the same game it is seen that God played with them quite kindly, and did not deal with them differently than with His most beloved children. For thus teaches the epistle to the Hebrews in 12 Cap. V. 5, 6, 7: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, and do not despair when you are punished by Him. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth: but he chasteneth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God will reward you as children" 2c.
(38) But as it is in the household, where the children are chastened, it is not at all pleasant to them; so it is thought that the chastening of the Lord is very hard, bitter and severe. But "blessed is the man," says St. James, Cap. 1, v. 12, "who endures the chastisement; for after he is proved, he will receive the crown of life, which God promised to those who
love him." Therefore, we should certainly believe that our misfortune or affliction, sighing and lamenting, and even death itself is nothing but a very merry and beautiful play of divine goodness with us.
(39) How many are there who understand or believe this? If we could bring this into our hearts, we would be truly blessed; then we would also be ready to suffer all misfortune with a cheerful heart. But when I think that I am a poor sinner and am punished because of sin, I judge much differently. For then I do not feel that God is my Father, that he is kind and merciful, but that he is the devil himself.
40 Therefore you should know that God is almighty, and therefore such a serious game is fitting for Him, and the same rhymes well with such great majesty. And one must truly learn and get used to such his pleasure and play, as the 4th Psalm v. 4. says: You must learn. Nature or reason does not teach it; otherwise it would not be necessary for you to learn it from me. The Psalm says: "Listen, let it be said to you, when you are challenged with all kinds of troubles, with all kinds of sorrow and hardship, remember that God is playing with you; which game is strange to you, but God is happy. For if he did not have a fatherly heart toward you, he would not play with you in this way.
41 Therefore, it is a sign of God's great and unspeakable mercy toward you that you are numbered among those with whom God delights, with whom His delight is. Therefore he gives you his promise, his word and sacraments as the most certain signs and testimonies of his grace, namely that he has adopted you as his child: and demands nothing more of you than that you endure and tolerate his play, which is pleasing to him, but beneficial to you.
42 Yes, you say, but I do not understand this? Answer: That is right. For the Holy Spirit does not call this Lord a miracle worker in vain. Therefore, in this history, the godly are given great consolation and excellent teaching when they see that Joseph, with his brothers
not that he desired to take revenge on them, or reproached them for hurting or destroying them, but rather that he wanted to help them in body and soul and preserve them. For they were fat, thick and strong, hated chastisement or punishment, and had despised their father's speech, did no repentance, but thought that their sin, which had been dormant for so long, was now entirely forgotten. But it is said: Old guilt does not rust. Sin cannot be covered or eradicated, but even if you deny or hide it, it sleeps or rests at the door, so that it will be revealed soon after, as Genesis 4:7 says: If thou art not pious, sin is not sure nor hid.
For this reason, he first tries to bring them to the knowledge of their sins. Therefore he tries and searches their hearts wonderfully, so that he may learn what their minds are. And because he sees that they do not yet repent of the sin they have committed, he tries them until he teaches them and reminds them of their sins, and thus drives them to repentance.
(44) But one should not argue here, as the papists are wont to do, about atonement, as if God demanded atonement from us for sin, which we cannot make at all. For Joseph did not demand the same from his brothers, since, if he had wanted to deal with them severely, he could have killed them with the greatest justification, because they had done him such great violence and injustice. But he does not do this. For he knows that in the human race there is no other atonement for sin than that which is worldly or civil, which the authorities demand of those who have transgressed and acted wickedly. But this atonement has nothing at all to do with the theology and teaching of the holy scriptures. For in it is only the one sacrifice, namely, our Lord Christ, with whom the wrath of God has been satisfied. For our sins are much greater than that they could be paid for or blotted out by some atonement.
(45) Therefore, the word "atonement" should be removed from the church, or else used with greater caution than Cyprian and others have done, to the great detriment of the church. The forgiveness of sins is a much higher thing than our atonement can be. For where this has already been done and kept, sin still remains.
46. For this reason, Joseph tries his brothers so much harder that he may drive them to repentance and knowledge of their sins and kill their security and drive them to despair, since he threatens them with death and all kinds of punishments: Not that in this way they will do enough for sin, as the papists do their useless washing; but that he may awaken in them pain and remorse because of their committed sin, so that they may seek help themselves, how they may be cleansed of sins.
(47) So God also afflicts us with various misfortunes, not that he wants to punish us seriously with them, although in truth it is a punishment, but he has no pleasure in it. But what does he mean by so many miseries, plagues and diseases? 2c. Answer: He only means that you may be brought to the knowledge of your sins. He knows well that you cannot do enough for this, nor does he punish us according to our merit. For we deserve nothing but death and hell. But the sin that is in our nature and clings to us is hidden from our eyes; he brings it to light, as it says in the prayer of Moses, in the 90th Psalm v. 8: "You set our iniquity before you, our unconcealed sin in the light before your face," as if to say: You see our misery and misfortune, which we ourselves do not see. We are unclean in thy sight and most shamefully defiled; but such deformity and shame of our depraved nature is unknown to ourselves. Therefore, in order that it may be revealed and cleansed, God needs such a powerful and bitter remedy. And if he is to sweep out the evil, he must take a straw mop and sharp sand and scour it so that the blood comes.
48 Now here belong the punishments and
the misfortunes that lie upon the human race, such as pestilence, war, and the time of trouble, so that the sin in us may be punished and revealed, so that it may be grasped until we learn to understand what we are in God's eyes. Yes, we must also do a very shameful gross fall, so that we learn to recognize our misery and weakness. So David fell terribly because of his security and hope, so that he would also be taught what sin was, and could say this from his heart Ps. 51, v. 6: "In you alone have I sinned"; as if he wanted to say: "I now see that we are all accused and condemned in your law; but there is no man who understands this. But now I confess that I am nothing more than a poor sinner, deserving nothing but vain wrath, and worthy of eternal death; in short, that I am nothing else but vain sin: "that thou mayest be right in thy words, and pure when thou art judged" by those who want to be pious and righteous.
(49) Let us therefore learn to hold fast to this comfort, though guilt bites our conscience, though the sting of law and death drives us; that we may know that this is not for our destruction, but rather for our teaching and instruction, and that we may at last be cleansed from sins, that we may come to the knowledge of ourselves and of our corrupt nature. Therefore we are to tolerate the hand of God, who thus sweeps us, that is, who laughs and plays with us. For those who refuse to tolerate the hand of God dispute about satisfaction, and if it is not sufficient, then they must necessarily despair. God does indeed sweep the hypocrites and the wicked, but before the cleansing is complete, they break as a glass breaks.
(50) Thus, in ancient times, the sophists taught that one should strive and suffer until the repentance of sin would be sufficient. But what is the use of repenting and suffering over sin and not understanding the smallest bit of God's grace and mercy? For thus
Saul and Judas were also tempted, afflicted and swept away, but they only repented of the sins they had committed; therefore they soon became fainthearted and despondent, because only the law ruled with its authority. The devil also has his repentance and trembles, as Jacobus Cap. 2, v. 19; but this is not repentance unto salvation. Therefore it must be added that the Lord says Ezk. 18, 23: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he turn from his way of being and live. In all distress and terror, the little spark of divine mercy must remain in our hearts, so that the heart that repents of sins may be stirred up and comforted; as Manasseh also does, when he says in his prayer v. 8: "You have not set atonement for the righteous, for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," but for the poor sinners 2c.
(51) Let this be diligently and carefully considered in this present example, that we may understand the causes of our affliction. For though we do not sin in deeds and outward works, and have some outward discipline, yet the flesh with which we drag ourselves is unclean, and we do not understand how great our sin and sorrow is, which must be put away. All sins have been forgiven and covered, but they have not yet been completely swept away; and we still have not only the gross leaven of fornication, pride, hatred, anger and other evil desires clinging to us, but also the inward evil parts and secret defilements, such as doubting God, unbelief, impatience, grumbling against God. Which unhappiness then manifests itself and comes to the fore only when the conscience is attacked and plagued by the law and the terror of sin. We do not pay attention to it, nor do we sigh because of the shameful defilement: But God sees it. Therefore He also tries to sweep our unclean nature, thinking: "You are now enlightened and baptized, but you still stink, and your flesh is full of great infirmities, defects and faults; therefore I must cleanse and sweep it. For that which is unclean and defiled,
will not enter the kingdom of heaven, Revelation 21:27. Then our Lord God's game begins, not that we should perish or be lost, but that he should try us, test us and bring us to the knowledge of our disgrace; but so that we do not despair, but rather cry out to him and call upon him for grace and mercy; so that we also learn that he is such a God who wants to prove his wonderful goodness, as the 17th Psalm v. 7 says. Psalm v. 7. says; for he meant the same thing by his play.
(52) The sophists, as stated above, did not understand this. For they have taught that if you have perfect repentance, God will pour out His grace to you de congruo, that is, if not as a deserved reward, yet according to equity; and thus they want to have it that man can earn God's grace only by punishment. But this is wrong; rather, faith and right invocation must be added, and God's goodness and promise must be felt; from this comes the crying and groaning when the conscience is troubled and challenged, so that at the same time the taste of eternal life begins.
But what should I shout or scream, one would say. I feel well that I will be killed. God answers and says Ezk 18, 23: I will not have the death of the sinner 2c. Yes, what then, dear God? I will have thee cry unto me, that I may lead thee wondrously, and that thou mayest understand thine uncleanness, which I will take away in this way. The same way is a game to me, but to you it is death, and yet it is useful for you to know and recognize that such cleansing is necessary for you. The "recognize" in Psalm 4, v. 4, must therefore be learned. But it is much different with those with whom I do not play in this way. For they are also driven to and fro, are tempted and afflicted; but they do not cry out to me, nor do they think that I am playing with them.
54 Therefore, we will see this spectacle in Joseph's example. For as God is minded toward his saints or believers, so is Joseph toward his brothers.
He is also compassionate, full of love and kindness. He seeks nothing else with the purest heart, but her welfare and bliss in body and soul. That is why he first frightens them, so that he may remind them of the horrible sin, so that they had recently grieved their old father heartily, but had put their brother in danger of life and limb. And perhaps he was worried that Benjamin, his brother, had also perished through their wickedness, or that their father had recently died of great heartache.
Therefore, he plays such a divine and sharp game with them, which is very beneficial and to God's glory. For they are thereby led to the recognition of their sin, but still without despair, and thus come to true godliness and holiness. For after such cleansing they have become better and softer, since before they hid their sin and even wanted to conceal and forget it, and thus remain in eternal sorrow and condemnation. Therefore such a remedy was needed, which had to be strong, as it is described in the prophets, as, Hosea Cap. 6, V. 5.: "Therefore I will punish them by the prophets", says the Lord, "and kill them by my mouth" 2c.; and Ezk. 24, 12. God calls the city Jerusalem such a pot, in which the unburned sticks and does not want to come off, if it is not first melted again 2c. There this play of our Lord God is described, by which we are afflicted and killed, until we again become the earth, from which we were taken, and are buried.
56. But why does God act so ungraciously with us? He answers this question himself in the prophet Ezekiel, saying that the rust or unbaked material will not come off the pot otherwise; it is too hard unbaked. Therefore he says that he will melt it in the fire, so that it may be boiled and purified.
57. so he also says about the future of Christ, Mal. 3:3: "He shall sit and melt, and purify the silver; he shall purify and cleanse the children of Levi, as silver and gold." Therefore the prophet adds the still
added v. 2: "Who may suffer the day of his future?" 2c. So God plays a fatherly game with us, when he lets pestilence, hard times, sickness, sadness of life, and perhaps a serious case with children or all kinds of misfortune come upon us in this life, so that he may melt and purify us. But who can bear the same? The Jews did not hope for such a Messiah, but they wanted one who would make them kings and lords of the whole world. No, says Malachi, with this they will fail; for he will sweep sharply, and as it will seem, abominably. And however horrible this purification may be, our Savior plays with us, not that we should be corrupted by it, but that we should be improved.
(58) Now Joseph is very kind and gentle toward his brothers. For he turns from time to time and weeps bitterly; and by such weeping he shows that he is quite inclined to forgive them. And yet he deals with them outwardly so ungraciously, rages and is angry with them as if they were spies, throws Simeon into prison, and frightens them as much as he can and might. Therefore this is a wonderful example, for he cannot refrain from weeping because of his great love and mercy. But if you look at the words and outward gestures, he shows himself much stronger and harder against them than a pebble or a diamond can be.
(59) God also guides His saints wonderfully in this way. Yes, the schoolmasters and parents also chastise the children with rods and blows, so that something good may come out of them. As the German saying goes: The better the child, the sharper the rod. And yet this is a game of divine majesty, even of pious parents and teachers, who no doubt do not want to kill their children with it. For the heartfelt affection they bear toward them, as it is implanted in parents by God, does not permit them to do so; rather, fatherly love and mercy demand that they stop at the children with blows and sticks, so that they may become pious through them; although such a thing is not permitted.
This cannot be done without pain and anger. Joseph acts as if he were a stranger and enemy to his brothers and punishes them severely, threatening them with death and all kinds of punishments, yet his heart is completely kind and loving and thinks nothing less than that he would punish them or take revenge on them. Yes, he deals with it, that he may exalt them and put them in honor, and adorn them in all ways.
Therefore, we should consider that this is a sign, figure or example from the holy Scriptures, namely, how God uses to lead and govern the godly, so that we do not soon become fainthearted and despair when we feel that we are also chastised by God, or even rejected, and neglected and despised, as David laments in Psalm 31, v. 23: "I said in my anguish, 'I am cast out of your sight'" 2c. For in truth God does not play thus with the wicked; but the same "grow old in good days," as Job says Cap. 21, v. 13, "and scarcely for a moment are afraid of hell." He did not play with Sodom and Gomorrah in this way, because there was peace, hope, and everything was full; but Lot and Abraham were severely afflicted, and they must suffer.
Thus, we will finally come to know God and understand His good and merciful will. For it is not at all the opinion of the punishment that God inflicts on His own, as the papists pretend with their foolish and foolish repentance, as if God wanted to be reconciled with our sufficiency. They do not know what sin is; they do not know that God plays with the saints and believers in such a way, not that they should perish or be lost, but that it should be recognized in Him what He boasts about Himself and says Jer. 3:12: "I am merciful and will not be angry forever"; and after that also the other thing, which He adds and says in v. 13: "Only know your iniquity, that you have sinned against the Lord" 2c. Likewise, in the clasps of Jeremiah Cap. 3, vv. 31-33: "The Lord does not cast off forever, but grieves and has mercy again according to his great kindness, because he does not afflict and afflict men from the heart.
clouds." And Job on the 10th Cap. V. 8, 9: "Thine hands have wrought me, and made all that I am round about, and have sunk me. Remember that thou hast made me of glue, and wilt make me again of the earth." 2c.; vv. 12, 13: "Thou hast done life and good to me, and thine eye hath preserved my breath. And though thou hidest these things in thine heart, yet know I that thou rememberest them" 2c. As if he wanted to say: You know that; how do you then stand on it? You will take me for your creature, you will not reject me, as if I were not your creature and you the creator; even though you stand like this, as if you knew nothing about it, and show yourself differently as a creator.
(62) This wisdom and play of God is for those who cry out, who have a broken and bruised heart, and who are a smoldering wick. These are the ones who feel it, to whom this consolation must be held out, so that they may not despair, but be strong and manly, as the 27th Psalm v. 14 exhorts: "Be of good cheer and undaunted, and wait for the Lord." For this is a sure sign of life, where one feels God's wrath.' The pope, bishops and cardinals do not feel it, neither do the Turks and all the ungodly, adulterers, fornicators, covetous 2c.; therefore they do not live. But to those who feel that God is angry, one should say: Dear children, recognize and learn that God does not humiliate and reject the children of men from the heart. Here you have a very nice example of this. Joseph deals very harshly with his brothers, throws them into prison, and after that, when they bring Benjamin to him, he shows himself even more cruel. But you should know that he is not serious in the way he presents himself outwardly: it is not his opinion at all; so that one might well say: he does not speak or do this from the heart. Yes, who could believe it!
63. Therefore, learn and get used to the fact that you can persevere in temptation, and then you will learn that God is in truth quite kind and loves you very much. Yes, you say, why does he play so unkindly? Is he lying when he pretends to be so? Not at all, as Joseph
cannot accuse anyone of lying. Augustin and others disputes about it. But ask a father who chastises his child whether he is lying? He beats his son, but not in order to destroy and kill him, but in order to make him pious, and yet he does not lie. He loves him dearly, even though he punishes him severely. For foolishness is in the heart of the child, but the rod of discipline shall drive it far from him," Prov. 22:15. Thus original sin, which we received in paradise, is attached to us, the leaven of the devil, so that our nature is poisoned: this is the foolishness of the heart and of our own will, namely, the drowsiness, security and contempt of God, so that we let ourselves dream that we are pious and pure from all filth. Then the rod of discipline is necessary, as Solomon says, and that the boy be chastened, that he may know his sin and error, so that he may not fear his father, or love him again, who nevertheless loves the son dearly; not that thereby enough may be done for sin, as the papists can uselessly wash away, but that the boy may be pious and the foolishness removed.
For with us is born a terrible darkness and ignorance, and a complete turning away from God. Then the Lord says: "I will forgive you out of grace, without any merit on your part, not because of your repentance or satisfaction. For the sin was not done in such a way that it could be atoned for by ourselves, or paid for with our repentance and satisfaction; but the Son of God Himself had to atone for it and pay for it.
65 But this I will do, says God: if I forgive your sin, I will make you an heir and a child of God in my kingdom, and I will show my love for you, but first I will wash away your filth. I must first wipe and wash you; just as the mother does not put the baby in the cradle, because she has first wiped and washed it, and in the meantime asks nothing about it, that the child howls and cries miserably, that she should not wash and clean it because of that.
So we have been called to the kingdom of God, we have forgiveness of sins, we are children and heirs of God, but we are still sluggish, lazy and sleepy in body and soul. Our Lord God intends to take away this evil addiction and put it to rest in our whole life.
But this doctrine was unknown to the Sophists and their listeners or disciples in the Pabstics of old. And since I initially let some short sentences go out in print and taught how the whole life of the Christian believer would be pure repentance, the papists became sheer mad and foolish about it. For they taught that original sin was forgiven and even taken away in baptism, and that there was nothing left of it in us but a little tinder, that is, a natural weakness in man. Therefore they thought nothing and taught nothing at all about sin, how it must be purified and swept out of us; but the real sins, such as theft, fornication and the like, they said, should be atoned for with good works, with one's own atonement, with watchfulness, prayer, monastic vows 2c. This was their doctrine of repentance, that we should make atonement for sins with our own merits and virtues, when a much greater payment and atonement belongs to it, namely, the Son of God Himself. But because they did not know what sin was, they considered it small and insignificant, and let themselves believe that it was only a weakness or infirmity and sluggishness of our nature. But how sin must be swept out, they have cared little about that. Thus, through such wretched darkness and falsification of sound doctrine, people have been grievously deceived, with the exception of a few who have still been preserved, to whom this light has been sent by God, that man must become righteous by faith alone.
(68) Therefore we teach this diligently, namely, how the old leaven of sins must be swept out of us throughout our lives; but we teach nothing of the worthiness of our own powers and sufficiency, as if sin should be purged thereby.
and pay, as the papists falsely taught, if original sin had first been taken away through the blood of Christ and baptism. And they have taken Jerome's saying to mean that those who have fallen, as after shipwreck, must take hold of the other plank of repentance, that is, repentance and satisfaction, and adhere to it.
(69) This is the uncertainty of sin, and the impurity of the doctrine of the monks in the priesthood, so that they have persuaded men that there is no sin left in them, except a little tinder; which is truly a very wicked and abominable error, yea, a loud lie. For we are received into grace through baptism, not only for the remission of sins, but also that the same should still be purged out of us. The forgiveness comes from pure grace, and happens to us only for the sake of the Son of God, without all our worthiness, merit and repentance.
(70) After this forgiveness comes punishment, anguish, persecution, and death, all of which are intended to remove sin, so that it is not only forgiven and pardoned by God's grace and mercy, but that it is also still being swept away by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that you may understand how great is the wickedness of men and how human nature is so utterly corrupt. For the great darkness and blindness that is innate in us makes us realize neither our own sorrow nor the immeasurable grace and mercy of God, and has made body and soul completely rigid and numb.
In order for this dullness and insensitivity to be removed, severe and painful punishments are necessary, which can drive away the sleeping sickness and laziness. It takes a sharp yelp to awaken in us, through the action of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge and admiration of God's infinite goodness and great love, so that He may love us. For Judas and Saul could not bear this purification, but they despair and cry out everywhere that they are eternally rejected by God.
They are therefore tormented, martyred and killed.
Therefore, the afflicted who are afflicted in this way should be diligently reminded that God is not angry with them, and that they interpret the abandonment as nothing other than the most certain sign that God has accepted them in favor, since He chastises every son whom He receives, Heb. 12:6, lest he perish and be lost in the stupor and blindness of original sin, which original sin people can neither see nor understand by their own reason.
In this way Joseph does nothing else but reveal the sin of his brothers with this hard work and speech. For they go down to Egypt with other companions to buy grain, are safe, and pay no attention to the horrible sin of which they knew themselves guilty, as if they had never sinned against their old father or innocent brother. They think Joseph will have died long ago, but the father knows nothing about all these things. What is it to us? they will have said. The rough fellows do not repent. These hard pebbles and diamonds must be broken and contrite, and their eyes must be opened, that they may see the cruelty of their sin. And Joseph, having done the same, soon showed himself more kind in words and in deeds, and dealt honestly with them.
(74) This was also a cause that he searched and tried their hearts so that he was concerned that they might have sinned even more against their father and youngest brother. For since he was sold by them into Egypt, and saw that they were not yet sorry for it, he was concerned that they might have fallen into other greater sins because of such security and impenitence, and that they might also have harmed the other son born of Rachel, to whom the firstborn was due, and might have done violence to him because they wanted to be lords and have the rule alone. For other things he took little care. He only asks
after the father and brother. Because he knows that they were after the firstborn through his death and desired it, he was worried that they might have been moved by malice and ambition to kill both father and brother, and that the whole house of his father would be very confused and disrupted. For the sake of the cause, he seems to have said above, Gen. 41, 51, that he had forgotten his father's house and had not even thought of returning to his father's country.
Therefore, this concern and cruelty of sin caused Joseph to search and examine his brothers' hearts so much more closely that he not only wanted to bring to their minds the previous sins they had committed against him, but also their evil thoughts and remind them of them. And truly, this inquisition and investigation was very unwelcome and harsh enough, and yet came from the most serene heart. I would have dealt with them a bit more harshly.
76) But this bitterness or unkindness, which he showed them outwardly, is not as if he wanted to take revenge on them because of the violence they had done to him, but only so that they might come to salutary repentance and be humbled, so that they might also say, as it says in Psalm 32:5, "I said: I will repent to the: I will confess my transgression unto the Lord. Thou forgavest me the iniquity of my sin" 2c.
(77) Therefore we have said that this should be added to the doctrine of repentance, which is to have heartfelt remorse for sin and to acknowledge it sincerely, and also to grasp and accept the divine promises in Christ with faith. Judas had none of these things in his repentance. He was more hostile to punishment than to sin; he was sorry that he had to be cast out, and yet he did not take hold of the grace and mercy of God in Christ.
78. after that, all punishments, plagues, miseries, and calamities shall also be drawn there, and
interpret. For this is done so that people are led to their own knowledge and also to God's knowledge. The punishments and misfortunes that we suffer fight against the flesh and against sin, which is not to be paid for by such atonement, but swept away, and remind us that we recognize God's goodness and grace, who does not reject or destroy us when he chastises us, but wants to make us righteous through it. For it is not wrath, but only chastening; not disinheritance, but purification. If you will therefore diligently remember and impress this upon yourself, then you will easily tolerate and endure any chastening of the Lord; indeed, you will also desire and long for God to strike, burn, and purge out the remaining leaven of original sin. Then the right children will come out of it, who do not fall away, but persevere and remain steadfast in temptation and tribulation.
This should be done diligently and always reproached to the people for the sake of the gross asses, the papists, who use to boast about the great worthiness of their repentance and confession, as if they could thereby do enough for sin de congruo et condigno, that is, in such a way that God would have to be gracious and kind to them according to justice and equity. But this is the real wisdom of Christians, namely, that they know they were born in sins, and that sin is still in the flesh and clings to it until death, and that we cannot be fully saved and cleansed from it, but only through death, worms, and the last fire. In the meantime, however, God still has patience with us according to His immeasurable grace and mercy, and does not reject or destroy us, but purifies and washes us daily with His hand.
(80) And this is the right doctrine in all this history, which is truly higher than I can understand or comprehend, much less act and interpret according to its dignity. Joseph shows himself whimsically hard and unkind to his brothers; and yet with such kindness that he is softer than wax can be, even though he shows himself as if he were harder than wax.
He does this only so that he can help them in body and soul.
(81) For this deed is not to be taken as an example to follow, as if to punish and avenge ourselves on those who have offended and wronged us. For there is no evil desire on Joseph's part to avenge himself, but it is the kindest play with his brothers, as he was afterwards called to put the silver cup into Benjamin's sack, the youngest. But is not this the kindest and sweetest game? But the hour in which it is played does not seem so, but there it is death itself. But when the temptation is over, they see nothing but the greatest favor and love. Well, they say, how Joseph, our brother, has been so kind to us! We also feel the same way, that after the redemption of God we also have to judge and keep, who therefore lets us be challenged and afflicted, so that we may examine which is the good and pleasing will of God.
(82) The discussion of lying is unnecessary in this place, for some ask whether Joseph is lying, since he presents himself as if he did not know his brothers, or as if he were a stranger to them. But he is not lying, just as a father does not lie when he chastises his son, as I said above. For one might ask in the same way whether God is lying when he punishes us with all kinds of misfortune, misery and hardship, as Job says in Cap. 10, vv. 12, 13. V. 12, 13: "You have done life and good to me, though you have hidden these things in your heart"; which truly also means to punish God with lies. The same might be said of a father who is angry and chastises his son.
83 So I answer: We are liars. But to punish and chastise is not to lie, but to show and reveal who and what kind of people we are. For we hide our sin, not wanting to be guilty of the sins we have committed; indeed, we make believe that we have never angered God or our parents. But if we confess our sin and say:
Oh, dear Father, I have sinned; forgive me, and we shall not be judged or punished by the Lord, 1 Cor. 11:31. But because I conceal these things, and lie, as though I had never sinned; yea, I am yet well pleased to sin, and that the Father knoweth not of my sins; as Joseph's brethren therefore rejoiced with one another: therefore God put us to shame, and bring such hypocrisy to light, that it may be made manifest.
(84) Therefore Joseph does not lie, but only deals with it, that he may cleanse his brothers from their sin. God does not lie either, but I myself lie, because I am safe and snore, not otherwise than as if there were nothing evil in me at all. But he plays with us and says: "Because you yourself are so pleased with your hypocrisy, caress yourself, and let yourself dream that you are completely pure from all sins, I will reveal to you and show you what and who you are in my sight, and I will take off from you the mask of security and hypocrisy.
So it is a lie if one does not want to recognize the guilt or sin, and with the lie there is also this folly that one does not want to understand the punishment, chastisement and medicine. However, the physician continues with cleansing, burning and cutting, even though this is not done without pain. But because you do not understand the counsel of God, and lie about it, in that you do not recognize your sin, it is necessary for such a remedy to reveal and expose your foolishness.
Third part.
How Jacob's sons do not know Joseph, how Joseph speaks very sharply to them and how they behave in this.
V. 8. But though he (Joseph) knew them (his brothers), they did not know him.
(86) This Moses showed to be an extraordinary miracle. For two and twenty years had passed since Joseph's brothers had seen him, and yet he knew every one of them.
nyone among them knew him. But it was not only the age and shape of the body, which had been changed in such a long time, but also the royal majesty and glory of Joseph that hindered them from seeing him adorned.
(87) Then the evil of blindness was also added, so that, as we have just heard, the Sodomites were also defeated. Therefore they think nothing less than that this prince should be their brother Joseph, whom they had sold ages ago. Yes, they have persuaded themselves in their hearts that Joseph must have died long ago.
Thirdly, he speaks to them through an interpreter, so that they may not know the voice. Therefore, it is no wonder that they did not know him. For melancholics are so often in the habit of walking with their thoughts, or having other serious thoughts, that they neither see nor hear what they have seen and heard before. Therefore, it was not necessary that he presented himself so strangely, since he was still hidden under the great splendor and power.
89 But the fact that he has put himself in this position is because he wanted to show them how he would be minded. For he did not want to reveal his friendly and brotherly heart to them at that time; therefore he showed himself harsher with words and gestures against his brothers than otherwise against other foreigners. For he was set over the grain to sell it, and instead of the king he asked each buyer in particular who he was, what his business was, and from where he came, from the land of Canaan or from Idumea. And this was indeed a very beautiful order, which would have been necessary in our countries and cities for the sake of the common good, namely, that one would not so easily take anyone into the cities if one had not first inquired about him. For that such things are despised and not kept is a cause of much misfortune. In Egypt, everyone had to come before Joseph and give an account of his dealings. And in this way he also asked his brethren, "Whence come ye?"
V.9-11. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them, and said unto them: Ye are spies, and are come to see where the land is open. And they said unto him, Nay, my lord; thy servants are come to buy food. We are all sons of one man, we are honest; and your servants have never been spies.
90 The Hebrew word meraglim comes from the word regel, which means footman. Therefore, the Hebrew word that we have translated as scout is actually a footman, or one who walks on foot. But the Hebrew language uses this word for scouts and traitors, which we could not have taken from the derivation or grammar if circumstances and examples did not teach us this. Therefore, we cannot know the emphasis and meaning of many words in the same language. For the Hebrews have largely lost their understanding of words. I wanted to have it interpreted, runners: but they call the scouts so, who run around to see the fortresses and where the land is open.
91 For this is the correct meaning of the word ervath, which Moses often used, as, 3 Mos. 18, 6. 7. and in other places more, and actually means, naked or bare. But because a man is not said to be naked or bare unless his shame is uncovered, and the fig leaves or the apron are taken off, Moses uses it for shame. So we do not cover our eyes, for they are not naked, just as we do not cover the other honest parts of our bodies. Original sin, however, makes us naked when the limbs, so ordained for birth, are uncovered. Therefore he calls it here by a similitude the nakedness of the land, where the land is open, that is, such places as are not specially fortified and cultivated. Thus God threatens in the prophets that he will uncover the shame of the Gentiles, that is to say, he will desolate and ruin their land so that it will be ugly, unbuilt, disgraceful and even desolate.
92) Accordingly, it can also be seen from this what diligence was applied at that time to the announcement of the
The people of the land were the ones who were turned over to the rulers and how well they took care of them. Therefore, it seems that Joseph was not only a regent in the time of peace, but also a ruler in war, who had the power and command to protect and nourish the subjects, and had a very heavy burden on him. Therefore, he also needed great wisdom, skill and God's grace to govern the great wide kingdom that was in such great prosperity.
(93) This is also part of the hardness and unkindness with which Joseph tries his brothers, accusing them of being spies or traitors, as if they had not come to Egypt to buy grain but to explore the land. And he might have asked and tried other unknown people in this way, but here he had no reason to do so. For he knew well who they were and from whom they had come. He knew well that they had been forced to seek food for the sake of their time, and that they were not holding out any evil. How, then, did he sin or lie in this, since he accused his brothers of such a sin of which they were not guilty, and thus reviled the innocent?
(94) We also answered above that one might ask in the same way, whether God also sins when He says to us, "You are guilty of eternal death and are condemned. In this he truly does not lie, but is the most evident truth: but my heart is lying and hypocritical, which conceals and covers my vanity and foolishness.
95 For this reason, Joseph cannot or should not be punished for his rough and unkind attitude toward his brothers. For it is a very kind and sweet place, and he sought nothing else with it, but the welfare and happiness of his brothers in body and soul: it is not a harmful, but a wholesome and helpful lie to them.
96Then the other cause that he spoke so harshly and sharply to them is that which Moses himself added, namely, because he was thinking of
remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them. For he wanted them to be fulfilled rightly and completely: he wanted to be honored by them from the heart, and that they should bow down before him not only as before a prince in Egypt, but also as before their brother Joseph; as they will also show him this honor afterwards, after the death of their father. For he knew that the dreams were given to him by God and that they were prophetic dreams, therefore he desired that they be fulfilled truly and not hypocritically.
In the end, Joseph had a legitimate reason for his suspicion, as is evident from history. For he had left eleven brothers at home, and now only ten come to him. He sees that the youngest brother Benjamin, whom he most desired to see, is not there. This was a natural suspicion, without any sin. Therefore he wanted to know the truth, namely, whether Benjamin and Jacob were still alive, or whether they had both perished through the wickedness of his brothers. He was in earnest to go about it, and it would have occurred to anyone to fear that these wicked men had done even greater harm. For it is no sin to have the worst suspicion of wicked mischievous people. As above, Gen. 20:2, 11, Abraham told Sarah to say she was not his wife; which was a very shameful lie: but he himself answers and excuses this lie, saying, "Perhaps there is no fear of God in these places." For he had well learned in Babylon and Haran that original sin reigned in all men everywhere: why then should Joseph have a good opinion of death-slayers?
98 Not that one should easily and quickly judge others and speak evil, but to have suspicion of those who are obviously evil is not a sin, but is most just and right. And the evangelist John says of Christ himself, John 2:23 ff: "Many believed in his name, when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus
He did not trust himself to them, for he knew them all, and knew well what was in man. Yes, even pious, holy, understanding men are not always without suspicion: much less can I think anything good of the pope, cardinals or bishops of Mainz. Although it sometimes seems as if they pretend delicious and useful things, there is no doubt that deceit and trickery are hidden among them; for I know that they are traitors, murderers and the most wicked of boys. And with complete confidence I hold that they are damned and possessed by the devil to boot.
99. For this reason I say that it is good and right not to think good of impenitent, hardened people and those who are obviously evil, and not to think good of them. But if I believe them and am harmed by them, it is my own fault that I am in danger, because I know that one should not believe godless, evil people any more than the devil himself, even if they promise and pretend things that seem true and good. For in the Gospel, Marc. 1, 24. 25, Christ punishes the devils who confess that he is the Son of God, and commands them to be silent. In the same way we should deal with those who are obviously evil, if they do not repent, and we should rather give them evil than good, so that they cannot deceive us with any pretense, under the pretext of godliness and respectability.
(100) Therefore Joseph acts very wisely with his brothers, since he suspects them of their wickedness, and investigates how they have behaved in the meantime against the old father and Benjamin, his brother. And in this investigation, which is the most important thing in this history, he considers how they may be helped to their recovery and happiness. For this reason he was the slower to make himself known to them, so that he might have cause and space to show them their sins and sweep them out, so that they would not be so sure, and consider it such a small thing, to kill their brother and put him to death.
that they themselves would also like to recognize how great it would be.
For this reason it was not in vain that Joseph behaved so harshly and abominably against the sojourners and strangers, even against his brothers. For he had to deal with the most wicked people, who were murderers of fathers, brothers and mothers. And it is unnecessary for Augustin and Lyra to make so much of a lie here. For it was right and just that Joseph should have thus presented himself, that he might remind them of their sin, and so save them from eternal death and damnation.
102 And they answered him humbly and modestly, saying, We are no spies, but thy servants are come to buy meat. Again Moses used the Hebrew word, scheber, which means breaking. But there must have been more words exchanged between them, which are not described here. For it seems that they did not steel in vain that they were all sons of one man. Perhaps Joseph also took from this the cause of his suspicion that so many of them came at the same time? What is this, he will have said, that you rush upon me in such numbers? It seems as if you have joined together and sworn to do me or the whole kingdom a misfortune. It would have been enough that one or two in particular had come in. I do not know what this lot may mean or what they intend to do. You come, therefore, among other buyers, of many thieves and the worst of knaves gathered together in one heap: you will have something in mind 2c. This he thus devised to frighten them with it, and yet plays with them out of a kind and brotherly heart. They said again, "We are not a bunch of murderers or bad guys who have come along with sacrilege to do harm to other people. "We are all sons of one man, we are honest." The Hebrew word means that is, perfect, pious and upright.
103 This word is very common throughout Scripture, and we have remembered it in our German preface to the Psalter, as we have given the reason for our
The interpretation of the words. It is written in the 5th Psalm v. 10: "In their mouth is nothing certain"; and in the 51st Psalm v. 12: "Give pur a new certain spirit"; item 1 Kings 2, 46: "And the kingdom was confirmed by Solomon's hand", that is, constant, certain and righteous, which is not vainly empty or hollow like a reed. We have Germanized it in this place: pious, upright. We are, they say, kenim, that is, righteous, pious, sincere and honest, we do not speak otherwise than we have it in our hearts, are not driven to and fro like a fickle and loose reed, but are in truth so minded as we let ourselves be heard with words and outward gestures. There is no false pretense or hypocrisy hidden underneath, but there is a righteous, certain and constant spirit in us, since one can certainly rely on it. There is no hollow thing in us; you must not fear, but may rely on us. This is a very fine answer and apology.
V. 12. 13. He said to them: Nay, but ye are come to see where the land is open. And they answered him, We thy servants are twelve brethren, sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and the youngest is yet with our father; but the one is no more.
104 Joseph continues to press on them, making the sin of accusing them harder and harder, because they do not yet confess their sin. You have not come, he says, to buy food, but rather "to see where the land is open"; for this purpose you have attached to yourselves this bunch of thieves and bad boys. But these are but half words, and are here somewhat omitted. For he will no doubt have asked them something more. Dear, he will have said, how is it that you come to me in such numbers? Why don't you bring more or less people with you? Then they give this answer: There are ten of us, but in truth we are twelve brothers, sons of one man, and are not vagrants, but our father certainly dwells in the land of Canaan. So this he brought out by several questions, and he had cause to inquire after this number; for Benjamin
was then three and twenty years old, and the father of ten children, so that age was no hindrance to his going to Egypt with the other brothers. Therefore Joseph says: "You are loose, deceitful people, who speak differently and yet think differently. I hear that you have twelve brothers, but why are there so many of them not present?
(105) To which they answer, Behold, the youngest is yet with our Father. So they declare themselves to be righteous, honest and sincere in this matter, and not loose or hypocrites. But not everything is out yet, he still has to thresh out a lot. That is why they now add, "The one is no longer there." There we see that they have even failed in Joseph's life and that he should still be healthy. For they do not think that he should still be alive; therefore it cannot occur to them that this prince should be their brother Joseph, since so many circumstances lay in their way, first of all, as the great glorious appearance of his majesty, and that their hearts were so much troubled with the thought that Joseph must certainly be dead; which alone could have been a cause that they were so careless.
V. 14-17 Joseph said to them: This is what I have told you; you are spies. By this I will test you; by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not come from thence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you to fetch your brother, but you shall be captives. So I will test your speech, whether you deal in truth or not. For if not, then ye are spies by the life of Pharaoh. He kept them together for three days.
Joseph still maintains his harshness. "That's it," he says, "that I told you; scouts you are." I stand by that, traitors ye are. Now you have said that you are pious and honest, and are twelve brothers, sons of one man, and yet only ten have come here: you truly deal in lies. He will not stop playing with them until he brings out the confession of sins.
(107) But what shall they do here, because they are not heard and he does not believe their words? They tell the truth, but Joseph does not believe them, because they had previously told lies to their father and deceived him by telling him that a wild animal had torn their brother Joseph apart, Gen 37:32, 33.
(108) Yes, so the gross ignorance of our nature and original sin, which does not understand that it is impure and condemned, but rather thinks that it is righteous and pure in its works everywhere, must be threshed out. Therefore, it must be brought to light, so that this may be revealed and known. For this reason Joseph always stops, saying, "By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not come hence, except your youngest brother come hither." I do not ask about the one who is to be dead, but because the youngest is still at home and you have not brought him with you, you betray yourselves like a shrew with your voice. For why have you left him alone at home? That does not have to be true.
But here Joseph contradicts the truth, for he knows that they speak the truth, only that he is suspicious and is still worried that they might have killed the youngest brother as well. Since you now boast that you are sincere, pious and honest, well then, so that I may do my duty enough, I will try whether you are scouts or not. If I see your brother coming, then I will believe you; but if he does not appear, then it will certainly be known that you must be loose men and liars. So he has caught and ensnared them in their own words and counsel.
(110) And from this may be taken a likeness and an example of divine works and government. For this was done with good, well-considered counsel and will of the father, that Benjamin had to stay at home, so that no accident might befall him. And Jacob himself will repeat this afterwards, when he says to them in v. 38: "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left; if he be not brought down with you, he shall not go down with you.
If an accident should occur on the road on which you are traveling, you would bring my gray hairs into the pit with heartache. But by this advice, which seemed to be so wise and fine, these brothers come into the greatest danger and trouble, who now only wish and desire that their brother would also be there, and if he were present, then all things would be easy and without any danger with them. But through the caution of the father they have been led into danger of life and limb.
So it should happen that we start when we are at our cleverest. And in such a way often the things, so we advised best of all, turn out worst of all. As Jacob, out of great wisdom and most rightful cause, kept the youngest son at home, thinking that he would thus certainly remain safe, fresh and healthy. But God, out of his own counsel, has caused his son's ruin and serious accident.
Therefore, no counsel is valid against the Lord when he wants to punish us; no counsel, no reason, no wisdom helps against God when he wants to afflict us. This counsel of Jacob was indeed very good and wise, but there is no happiness in it: it does not help. For the Lord is wont to break even the most wise counsels, and to set up and build against them such as are very weak and contemptible, and on which everyone must despair, and which are most contemptible; and he would have us do as he commanded in Psalm 50, v. 15, and elsewhere. 15 and other places, saying, "Call upon me in trouble, and I will deliver thee"; item in the 37th Psalm, v. 5: "Commit thy ways unto the Lord, and hope in him; he will do it well"; likewise in the 55th Psalm, v. 23: "Cast thine affliction upon the Lord. He will provide for you." For when all is lost and corrupt, and, as the 107th Psalm v. 27. says, when men know no counsel at all, when all is ruined, one cries out: We must perish and perish: then God is there and says: I will not have your seemingly wonderful counsels to help you, or that you should perish. For I am able to give even the most beautiful advice.
The people of the world will be helped by the fact that they can break and destroy those who strike them, and by the fact that they can awaken others who are very contemptible.
So also in this present example, everything was so bad that they knew neither counsel nor help, thought they were completely damned, and would now soon die and perish: but soon in the 45th chapter, v. 3. V. 3. will follow: "I am Joseph." And when they hear this word, they will come to life again, and the most miserable and lost will be set up, so that the things will be advised. Before, however, they were safe and feared no danger. But God finds fault with them and a cause against them, even though they had advised their thing in the best way and had ordered it well.
For this reason we should trust in God, even if we are already equipped with the very best and wisest counsel, and not despair when we lack wisdom and human help; but conclude and say: I believe in God the Father, the Almighty, who can destroy the most beautiful counsel and change it into hell, and again make heaven out of such counsel, which is the most contemptible. For he is an almighty creator. I cannot fall too low for him, he can lift me up; I cannot sit too high for him, he can topple me.
(115) Therefore let us not be presumptuous or proud because of our wisdom, nor despair because of our sin. For he is above, and beside, and under all things. Before him all things are nothing, and nothing is everything. For "he maketh alive them that are dead, and calleth that which is not, that it may be," Rom. 4:17.
(116) Indeed, Jacob and his sons experienced the same thing. For they did not think that they could run away and be in danger, but now that they think they have answered Joseph's questions well, so that he will be satisfied, he turns their answer around and concludes that they must be loose men and liars. Ye confess, saith he, that your brethren are twelve and one man's sons: where then is he, of whom ye say he is yet alive? From your
I judge you by your mouths that you must be careless people and liars. They could not have foreseen or prevented this; indeed, it never occurred to them that the prince who was set over the grain would ask about their brother Benjamin, whom they had left at home.
In this way God also plays with us, so that we may recognize and believe that he is an almighty Creator and also merciful, who is able to lift up those who are oppressed or weighed down, and to overthrow the hopeful, however good and just the matter may be. Therefore we should humble ourselves before the Lord and say: You alone are the Most High; therefore you are also higher than my righteousness, wisdom and counsel are, indeed, than the whole world can be.
In my life I have also suffered not a little danger in the teaching I profess and in lectures to others; but I have experienced several times that such danger has had a very fortunate outcome, and that it has turned out well, since things, as it seemed to me, stood as if it were quite lost. Again, however, it has often happened that the things that had previously been best considered and discussed have subsequently turned out worst.
(119) Therefore we should submit ourselves to God, even though we may think that we are well equipped and preserved in righteousness and wisdom, for He is over all. And we must be diligent to take the right middle road, lest we sin, either with presumption or with despair.
120 So the sons of Jacob were very pleased with themselves that they had remembered their father and brother, and hoped not otherwise, for Joseph would be well pleased that they had told him these things: but he hath turned it back, and hath been so hard to turn back unto death. For he abandoned the words and resorted to blows, and went with them straight to the prison, telling them how they had joined themselves together and had invented and lied about all this, only that they might give the matter a pretense, and so cover up the deceit with which they had gone about. They think they
They are well prepared, and they are taken into a bath in which they sweat. By the life of Pharaoh, he says, either bring your brother, who is still present, here to me, or you shall all die. So their sin will be brought to light, and they will come to their own knowledge.
Augustine asks in this place: Whether it was proper for Joseph to swear by the life of Pharaoh, especially because he lied and did not keep this oath. For he let the nine brothers go and kept only one. But there is no need for this question. For first of all one may swear, not only by God, but also by heaven, by the soul, by the head; as these formulas are told of Christ, Matth. 5, 34-36. And because he forbids such oaths, he shows that they are right, we swear equally by our head or by our soul's blessedness. Thus the Hebrews say: Vivit Dominus. As God lives; as your soul lives; by the life of the King. Such oaths, I say, are not in themselves false or unjust; but Christ punishes the levity in swearing, and the vanity of them that swear. So Paul says 1 Cor. 15, 31: "By our glory which I have in Christ JEsu our Lord, I die daily" 2c. There St. Paul swears by the church or congregation; as it was a custom to swear by Jerusalem, the city of a great king; and in the 63rd Psalm v. 12. it says: "He who swears by him will be praised."
For this reason, one may swear, especially before the authorities and in court cases, to bear witness to the truth. For swearing is nothing else than calling upon God; as Paul says, 2 Cor. 1, 23: "I call upon God as a witness to my soul" 2c.
But Joseph did not sin by swearing by the life of Pharaoh, who was greater than he; as it is said in the epistle to the Hebrews 6:16: "Men swear by a greater than they are; and the oath put an end to all strife, that it might stand fast among them."
124. however, why does he not keep what he ge-
has sworn? Answer: It is enough that he keeps one of his brothers with him. For since he keeps the same one, it is just as much as if they had all stayed there. Let the others go, he said, and bring their brother here; but let this one remain here as a token of the oath I have taken, until I know whether Benjamin is still alive. But if he has perished, it is certain that you are spies; then I will punish you also for the same sin.
No doubt they will have begged him with weeping and wailing for mercy, that he may show them mercy. Alas! they will have said, most gracious prince, you do not want to bind them all! Let it happen that at least some of our people may bring this matter to our father! But he will not relent so soon; first he keeps them together for three days, which is hard enough. But he does not do it because he wants to take revenge on them for the violence they did to him, but because he wants to diligently inquire how his father and brother in the flesh is doing, and he does this with great sincerity and faithfulness; then he wants to remind them of the sin they have committed, and bring them to their own knowledge and sweep out their sin.
(126) How do we suppose that they have been grieved for the three days? For this is a great lamentation and heavy affliction, that they see themselves torn from their father, wife and child, and all the household. And now the same punishment is upon them, that they before had afflicted their brother; yea, they are yet a little worse for it, because they were husband and wife, and were grieved for their father's sake. For they know that this message will bring him the greatest pain when he learns that his sons are being held in prison by the Egyptians. This is what the Scripture 1 Sam. 2:6 says: "The Lord killeth, and quickeneth; he leadeth into hell, and bringeth forth again." And yet all this is done out of kind and supreme love. But this game has been death and hell for them, and they have undoubtedly been grieved and distressed to the highest degree for the whole three days, taking care of their
wife and child, and for the old father. That was the right week of torture and Good Friday in the greatest sadness and anguish.
127 There is still a small breeze of good hope, namely, that he will bring the eleventh brother. If they bring him, they have good hope that they will get away unharmed; and yet they know that the father will not easily let him go, unless one of them is sent to Hebron. Then they will continue to discuss with each other which of them would be best able to carry out this mission, and who would have so much favor with the father that he could demand this of him. And so there will have been many things that Moses did not mention, namely, how they wept, sighed and pleaded, first with the jailer and then with others, that they would plead for them with the prince, soften his heart and tell him how their father would never let his dearest son go from him because of the danger in which, as he would hear, the other nine had fallen: Yes, he would probably suspect that they had all already perished and that the youngest was now also being secretly pursued.
(128) So the flesh is put to death and cleansed from sin. For they were then rightly in hell and in purgatory. Furthermore, their complaint was reported to Joseph, who soon somewhat eased the sentence he had pronounced against them, for he considered that it was fitting that he should also consider the health and welfare of his father and the rest of the household, and therefore commanded that only one be imprisoned until he knew for certain how the youngest brother was doing and whether they were honest and upright people.
Fourth Part.
Joseph's request to his brothers; what such worked; and how Joseph was finally moved to compassion.
V. 18-20. But on the third day he said to them: If you want to live, do so; for I
fear God. If you are honest, let your brothers lie bound in your prison; but you go and bring home what you have bought for the hunger. And bring your youngest brother unto me, and I will believe your words, that ye die not. And they did so.
In the Hebrew text here again the usual way of speaking occurs, namely, of the breaking of the hunger. And the Jews say that this way of speaking is derived from the fact that it breaks the hunger, the precious time; thus they show their ignorance, and are people who are not only ignorant of the teaching of the holy Scriptures, but also of the understanding that grammar gives. Therefore "to break bread" means nothing else than food, and is not to be understood actively but passively, that is, not that which breaks, but that which is broken. As it is said of the disciples of Christ, Luc. 24, 35, that they knew the Lord by the breaking of the bread, that is, when the bread was broken. Likewise 1 John 6:12 says that Christ took up the remaining pieces of bread. So in this place the breaking of bread is put and understood for the precious time, as he has passively called the rich years fractio saturitatis et fertilitatis, that is, a breaking of satiety and fruitfulness.
130 It is very necessary in the Holy Scriptures to note and pay attention to this, namely, when words are to be understood actively and when they are to be understood passively, as it is called in grammar. For the whole speech is changed according to the active or passive meaning. As, Rom. 3:23: "They are sinners all at once, and lack the glory which they ought to have in GOD." When this is put activically, the word has a different meaning, and also has a different meaning when it is to be understood passively. Therefore, both meanings are important, so that the right understanding can be taken from them. Thus, when one says: "the righteousness of God", item, "the work of God", "the power of God", these words may be interpreted in both ways. According to the Latin and Greek grammar, by
the righteousness of GOD understood the righteousness so that he is righteous. But this interpretation is somewhat dark and also makes the whole text in Scripture dark and incomprehensible. But if it is understood passively, then we have salvation and comfort in it. For it is called the righteousness of GOD, through it I am justified by GOD's grace and mercy. So, if you want to interpret the speech where it is said "the faith of God" according to the Latin language, that it should mean as much as faith, so that God Himself believes or keeps His promise, such an interpretation obscures Paul's understanding. But if I understand it for the gift of God in me, through which I believe in God, then it reads much differently and better. So this is God's work, not that He suffers from others, but that He works in me.
In times past, when one should read and pray the 31st Psalm v. 2: "Save me through your righteousness," I was completely frightened by it, and was wholeheartedly hostile to the same word, thinking: "Do not save me through your righteousness, that you may be justified (active). Therefore let it be understood for righteousness, that I may be made righteous (passive).
In this way, in the Hebrew language, the active and passive meanings tend to obscure the text very much. But he who knows the right difference between both kinds of speech should know that he has not gained a little in the understanding of the Scriptures. Therefore, the saying of Paul in Romans 3:23, where he says, "All lack the glory of God," should also be understood passively, that it means as much as if I say, "I have nothing to boast of before God. We cannot boast of our Lord God. This brings great light to the Scriptures. On the other hand, the rabbis of the Jews obscure everything with their glosses, when they interpret the words actively, which are to be understood passively.
Laurentius Valla rightly says that the Greek language does not have this subtle difference in the use of the pronouns: mei and meus, tui and tuus. For it is another to say: amor mei, that I am loved, and another: amor meus, love,
that I may love others; item, odium tui et odium tuum, etc., that is, hatred against you and your hatred. Now the Hebrews lack these words much more. But the Latin language says neatly: Hoc facio amore tui, hoc est, quo tu a me diligeris, this I do out of love which I bear to thee, not out of thy love, that thou also mayest love. It is the same when I say in Latin: Gratia tui ignosco tibi: I will forgive you because I am favorable to you, not because you are favorable to me. From this it is easy to see what a great difference there is between the active and passive meaning. And great diligence is needed to notice this in the Hebrew language and to take good care of it. For this language does not have these pronouns. And Paul is therefore somewhat obscure in his epistles and not easy to understand. For he has many speeches after the manner of the Hebrew and Greek languages. The German language can also express itself more skillfully, because it has the little word "will"; as if one says: for your sake.
(134) I say this not only for the sake of this present passage, but also so that this disparity in the way of speaking may be diligently observed in many other places. For it has troubled me much in the past when I have come upon these phrases: the righteousness of God, the works of God; item: your work, your righteousness. For where these phrases are understood actively, they are death; but passively, they are life and blessedness.
When I used to pray: Save me, Lord, through your justice; oh no, I thought then, dear Lord God, not through your justice, if one wants to speak in a Latin way or philosophically; but through your grace and mercy. And did all the Fathers, Augustine, Ambrose, and others, fail in this and take offense at it, as in the 25th Psalm, v. 10: "The ways of the Lord are goodness and truth." There they interpreted the words: "the ways of the Lord" activically and said that God by His truth judges the devil and all ungodly and damned men; but the saints
through mercy. But with this the right understanding of the Psalm has been completely obscured, and they have understood nothing of it, because they have not rightly understood the word "of the Lord" as it is put here. For the Psalm actually speaks of the ways and works of the Lord, which he works in us; of the faith of the Lord, by which he makes us blessed. So that this is the meaning of the same words: All the ways of the Lord, that is, what our Lord God does with us, is all grace and mercy.
(136) Therefore we must remember that in this place the words, "break bread," are not understood to mean break the bread or break the theurung; but to mean the giving of the bread for or against the theurung. Take, says Joseph, and bring home what you have bought for the theuration of this present time. For now he shows himself more friendly, so that he may give advice and help to the old father and his household, so that they do not die of hunger in the meantime. Therefore, he now lets the others go with grace, keeping only the one bound in custody.
He has not yet completely dropped the suspicion of sin, which he reproached them with and of which he accused them, but pretends that he fears and shuns God, by which he has also been moved to moderate his anger against them. And now, as is often said, he plays quite friendly with his brothers; which is a wonderful game, and according to the outward appearance is quite bitter and unkind. His heart is full of love and brotherly inclination, so that one would not find anything friendlier or more loving than he has just been, because soon after he turned away from his brothers, he wept bitterly: and yet he was able to conceal the natural inclination that he threatens to kill them.
Therefore, such examples of God's mercy toward us should be diligently noted and remembered. Joseph loves his brothers dearly, does not want to harm them, and yet outwardly treats them so horribly and leaves them to their own devices.
almost come into the danger of death. They had previously behaved much more abominably toward Joseph, for they intended to kill him, as was said above in 37 Cap. V. 18. But Joseph's only concern here is that he might bring them to life and salvation, even though his outward attitude is different.
(139) So it is with the kingdom of Christ, and he is such a king; for he always intends something good with us, who could only understand it. And one should not believe him when he is angry, as if he meant evil with us; for in truth Christ, that is, God who became man, is not angry: but outside of Christ there is no dispute or any hope from God; as the Jews', Turks' and Papists' religion or faith certainly is.
But the kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of grace and mercy. Although it seems as if he is hostile to us, despises us and wants to reject us, when he lets the devastation, pestilence and death and all kinds of plagues come upon us, at the same time he allows this and tells us that we should trust in him. And we are also to know and believe the same, confessing his goodness and mercy even unto death. In this way he allows John the Baptist to be beheaded for the sake of the worst whore; item, that his dear mother was also greatly afflicted, and the dear martyrs were tormented with miserable and, in addition, especially selected horrible torment and torture. But does it not seem that he is angry? No, he is not angry, and you should not let yourself be persuaded of this, for it is not real anger, but a disguised anger.
So Augustine says of himself and of his mother: "When I was beaten at school and came home and told my mother, she laughed at me and mocked me for being beaten, but she did not mean me any harm. But how can father and mother laugh when their son is beaten? It really does happen that way. The parents chastise their children, the schoolmasters their pupils, the authorities punish those who are to blame, and are a servant of wrath and sword, that they should hang thieves and murderers.
and yet has no desire for such punishments. For she would rather that everyone did what was due him in his profession, and deserved no punishment at all.
This is the case in the realm of wrath and death; therefore the home and school regiments have a different opinion. For the parents or schoolmasters do not want or think that he who is chastised with rods and suffers pranks will think and believe that they do not seek his destruction, or that he should thereby do enough for sin; with which most insipid error the papists have defiled and falsified this doctrine: but they do just as Joseph did here also, who deals harshly with his brothers and tries them well, so that they may be instructed and reminded of their committed sin. For without knowledge of sin there is no salvation, and without it no one can be saved.
So God gave the law to reveal sin and to cause wrath. Therefore it is a chastening and a rod, or, as Paul says in Gal. 3:24, "our disciplinarian," without which our flesh cannot understand sin. Just as a disciple, on whom the teacher spares the rod, can never increase in doctrine, but will remain a clod and a coarse fool; for he does not know or understand his own folly and misfortune, if he is without the chastening and punishment of the teacher. Therefore, the knowledge of sins is necessary in all things, although this alone is not enough. But God does not give His grace, nor does He want to help us, unless the foolishness that is in the boy's heart and the wickedness that is also in the man's heart are revealed, so that they may become capable of grace and share it.
This is the measure and goal of all punishments and plagues; just as parents chastise their children so that they may become pious and improve themselves, but not so that they want to corrupt or disinherit them. For such would be contrary to the love and natural inclination implanted in their minds by God. And St. Paul diligently admonishes Eph. 6, 4. and Col. 3, 21. that the
Parents are not to provoke their children to anger, not to provoke them, so that they do not become shy. And such chastisement should be so that love and childlike confidence in parents and schoolmasters may remain, and so that the children may understand that they do not suffer the punishment for their own destruction, but rather so that they do in their office what is due to them, and that they do not give the father cause to disinherit them by their malice; This is what happens to those who will not let themselves be forced by words or tricks to become pious, and then, because of thievery, murder, or other such evil deeds, they come into the hands of the judge and executioner, and they must be punished by them, because they did not want to obey their father before.
145 In this way, the example of Joseph should be applied to the kingdom of Christ, who also punishes, not to reject or disinherit people, but to preserve the inheritance he acquired with his blood. For foolishness is in our hearts; we are conceived and born in sins, and remain stuck in them all our lives, and cannot even get rid of the horrible damage. There is a devilish indolence or carelessness in us, we are cold to prayer, and in other exercises or works of godliness and right worship we are quite lukewarm, are not so fervent to the love of Christ: we are not so serious about this as about temporal goods and what more belongs to this present life. Such laziness and that we are so sleepy comes from our cursed flesh and from the devil. Therefore St. Paul cries out Rom. 7, 24. 19.: "I wretched man, who will deliver me from the body of this death! For the good that I want I do not do, but the evil that I do not want I do.
This foolishness and folly of original sin is not only to be punished in children, but also in adults. That is why God sends plagues through the authorities, the plague, pestilence, war, the Turks, the Pope and the devil 2c. But why does he do that? He does it so that we may cry out to him when we are struck. Yes, you say, listen
He does not laugh at us, or at our cries and weeping, just as Augustine's parents laughed when he complained that he had been chastised.
Thus, when the devil rages against the Christians through Diocletian or through the Turk, and is hard on them, they groan and cry out: Oh dear Lord God, hear our cry, behold our misery and wretchedness! Why do you laugh at our affliction and misery? Then God answers: Dear child, I do it so that you may be purified. But I purify you so that you may be blessed and come to the promised inheritance, otherwise I cannot make you blessed. I must therefore kill thee and bury thee, that thou mayest rot and decay. For the poison has been poured out on your body, which I cannot take away, except through Diocletian, through the heretics, the Arians, whom I use as my rods.
Therefore we should consider that this example should be applied to our whole life, for it teaches us many things in a lovely way and for our great benefit. Christ is our very kind Joseph, who died for us and shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins; therefore he cannot be averse to us. Nor is the Father hostile to us, for he sends us his Son. But much less is the Holy Spirit hostile to us, for he teaches us all these things and comforts us with them, and yet conceals and often hides this love with terrible signs of his wrath.
So God chastises these fathers very severely not only for the original sin but also for the real sin. For they were murderers of father, mother and brother. And if God had not miraculously preserved Jacob, he would undoubtedly have died of great heartache and sadness, namely, that he always had one misfortune after another. In one year he saw that Bilhah was weakened, Rachel and Deborah, the wet nurse, died, and finally that Joseph also perished, which Simeon and Levi had caused. To such coarse knots belongs a strong medicine, that they may be weakened below and above.
spit out. Therefore, in order that Joseph may counsel and help this great calamity, which is not temporal but infernal, namely, the poison of original sin, so that it may be abolished, he has used a violent and strong cleansing agent for it through danger and fear of death and hell: otherwise nothing will come of it. For they do not yet think of repentance, because their hearts have become fat and strong. They have become fat and lazy, so that they do not worry about the sin they have committed. Now sin, where it is despised, does not make people good or pious; grace has no place there, unless we confess our sin and humble ourselves, indeed, unless we become nothing at all, so that we feel that we are lost and condemned. Otherwise it is not considered a sin.
(150) It is indeed a true and very good saying, that sin without law is no sin; as St. Paul says, Sin was in the world, but it was not known. For where there is no law, there is no sin, but righteousness. But when the law or commandment comes, sin, which has been asleep for a long time, is awakened again, so that man cries out and says: "Oh, if only I had never thought that I was so wicked and condemned; I have always pretended to myself and considered myself righteous and pious.
Thus Joseph practiced the right, true, and perfect use of the law upon his brethren. For this is to bring to hell, to kill, and to put to shame, not to their destruction, but rather to their life and salvation. For the law is not given to kill, though in truth it kills when it works wrath and reveals sin to us. But it does not kill so that one should remain in death and be lost, as Judas and Saul were lost; but only so that it may carry out its ministry to us. For this also the promise is to come, so that despair may not follow. How these brethren at last become fainthearted and almost despondent. And if they had not heard this voice, that he says to them, "I am Joseph," it would have been a temptation to them.
death. But Christ does not seek this, but wants us to humble ourselves, to repent and be condemned to life.
Therefore, repentance of sin alone is not true repentance, but must be accompanied by faith, which takes hold of the promise of forgiveness of sins through Christ and keeps it, so that repentant sinners will not be lost. These brothers, however, have not yet come to a perfect righteous knowledge of their sins; that is why Joseph tried them a little longer: they still have to get better through the role.
V.21. And they said one to another, "This is the fault of our brother, that we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear him; therefore this tribulation comes upon us.
Now it will begin. Here they reveal themselves and begin to confess their sin. Joseph might well have been satisfied with their confession, knowing that they speak the truth, but he continues to dissemble as if he knew nothing. For they would not have spoken such things if they had known that the prince of Egypt was Joseph. But because he does not need the Hebrew language, but speaks to them through an interpreter, they think that it is not necessary for them to reveal their own sin to him, but seek a cover over it, as it were, and still want to be pious, just and honest people, not before God, before whom they confess the sin, but before the prince of the land, whom they do not know.
After this, Joseph does not yet know for sure whether Benjamin and his father Jacob are still alive or not, for we will see clearly later that he still doubted both of their lives throughout this entire history. Therefore he cannot yet be satisfied, because he hears that only he is thought of and not the others. It must come out still better, and he wants them to do another report, which is somewhat clearer and more certain, from each of them.
in particular, because of which he is concerned that disaster will befall them in his absence. He also saw in them that they had not yet sufficiently repented of their sin, even though they said, "We are to blame for this" 2c.
Trespass offering; as, Isa. 53:10: "If he hath given his life for a trespass offering, he shall have seed, and live unto the length of the days. "2c. In which place this word, as in Genesis, means as much as, a sacrifice for iniquity or sin.' In Latin it means reatus, guilt.
For this reason, Joseph's brothers say here: "We are guilty and wicked, we are guilty of death and damnation. For we have such sin against us, which may actually be called a misdeed, or rather a guilt. They say, "We are still in debt and have not yet paid, the matter has not yet been settled and reconciled, our Lord God still has a promise to us, we are in debt.
157. so we are still daily debtors; and though we are righteous or godly, yet debts still remain with us; as Christ teaches Matt. 18:35, saying, "So shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not your brother his trespasses from your hearts. We are indeed righteous, and declared to be children of the kingdom; but original sin still remains in us and contends against the Spirit. Our Lord God still has a score to settle, a record against us, we are not yet entirely clean from all error and filth. This is the guilt, namely, that we are still indebted to our Lord God. If you now add to this the pride, ingratitude, and unkindness that is poured out on us against our brothers, the sin will be completely revived and the debt will not yet be forgiven. But then it shall be forgiven thee, if thou forgive thy fellow servant also; and the iniquity shall not hurt thee.
The servant owes ten thousand pounds, but the Lord forgives him the debt so that it does not harm him. He is not
owed to pay them or to do enough for them; and debt is now no longer debt. But from where? From the fact that it has been forgiven. But if the servant does not also want to forgive his fellow servant the hundred pennies, then the householder again demands the whole debt from him, Matth. 18, 23. ff. So we are not without guilt if God wants to deal with us according to the law and not according to grace and mercy. But if we ask Him to forgive our sins, and believe that He will gladly do so, and then forgive our brother, all our sins will be forgiven, even though they are debts. But if I am proud and insist, the debt is there again.
This is the correct understanding of the Hebrew word asham, which Christ, the wisdom of the Father, who is the very best grammarian and Hebrew, has interpreted in the Lord's Prayer, guilt. So these brothers also say: "We are guilty of this"; we are guilty of a great shameful sin, which we committed against our brother Joseph; this is now uncovered and comes to light, and we must now suffer punishment for it, as we have deserved: there our sin is found and serves us justly. This is truly a humble confession: they confess that they are guilty, and also recognize the cruelty by which they previously scorned the pitiful pleading and entreaty of their brother.
160 But Moses above, Cap. 37, 23. ff., that he tells zero in this place, namely, that Joseph fell at the feet of his brothers and pleaded. But Simeon and Levi were so stiff-necked that they dealt with their brother in the most abominable way, regardless of his fall and pleading, and for no other reason than that his father loved him above all others and that he had such dreams that signified his future glory, to which he was to be raised. They were so harsh and unforgiving toward him that they would not hear him when he fell at their feet, pleaded, wept bitterly, and was in the greatest fear and distress.
161. Now this great sin, namely, that they have rejected and killed their brother, because he begged them in the extreme need and danger of life and limb, they must now recognize. And truly, if you compare these things more closely, the punishment that Joseph inflicts on them is much more lenient than their sin was in selling their brother. For is this not contrary to all kindness and godliness, that one cannot be softened or moved at all to have some pity on an innocent man who looks at you with folded hands, and does not ask strangers for mercy, but his own bodily brothers? Truly, it has been a terrible deed, so that they have sinned against their old father and Joseph, their brother, exceedingly grievously, whose cruelty they do not yet fully understand and recognize.
Reuben answered them and said, "Did I not tell you when I said, 'Do not sin against the boy,' and you would not listen? Now his blood is required. But they knew not that Joseph understood; for he spake unto them through an interpreter. And he turned away from them, and wept. And when he turned again to them, he spake unto them.
It seems that Reuben was a little more pious than the others, and that he had hardly sinned as much as Simeon and Levi. For we have heard above, Cap. 37, v. 29, 30, that he was very frightened and saddened to kill, and tore his clothes when he returned to the pit and did not find Joseph, even though he had lost both his father's favor and the firstborn because of the incest he had committed. Therefore he says: What will it become now? "Now his blood is required." But the word went to Joseph's heart and made him weep, and that he now had compassion on them; then he softened and his heart overflowed. Simeon and Levi do not yet confess the sin, for they think that Joseph died long ago: therefore they are not challenged much,
That he may be remembered. Reuben and the others recognize the vengeance and punishment of God. He sees that the punishment is upon him and is terribly frightened by it. Because of this, Joseph can no longer hold on, lest he be moved by brotherly affection, since he has heard the confession and trembling, and lest he turn away from them and weep: he cannot bring himself to do so. Just as ours would not be able to refrain from weeping in such a case.
Do you see how Christ, our Lord, is moved when he punishes his own, what a fiery furnace of great love there is, not only spiritual but also physical love? How Joseph is so moved by the words of Reuben that he cannot overcome such a movement of his heart. He can no longer hold his heart. He thinks: They consider me dead, and I live in great honor and glory.
164 "But they did not know," as the text says, "that Joseph heard these things," that is, that he understood them, "for he spoke to them through an interpreter," which in Hebrew is meliz. Lez means, mocker, as it is written in Psalm 1, v. 1. But when the letter m is put in front of it, the Hebrews interpret it to mean interpreter, but they do not know the real cause, which is where this interpretation comes from. In the 1st Psalm the word cannot be understood for interpreter. For in other places it is also called mocker or hypocrite, one who speaks and thinks differently, or who interprets a thing differently from the words of Scripture. But whether the same of this word is meaning or origin, therefore that an interpreter uses foreign languages, I cannot conclude with certainty. In this place it is correctly given that it means interpreter. For Joseph pretended that he did not know the Hebrew language, so he used an interpreter; which was indeed necessary for him, since so many foreigners arrived there to buy grain.
(165) But the rabbis of the Jews here make a useless saying, as they are wont to do, namely, that Manasseh the son of Joseph this
He was an interpreter when he was only eight years old at the time. How could such a young boy be needed in such important matters? He must have been a serious, respectable man, who had a wide knowledge of things and languages, and who held this office with the prince in Egypt.
(166) It is important to note that Joseph is described here as being full of heartfelt love, natural affection and brotherly friendship. For although he spoke somewhat harshly to his brothers and dealt harshly with them, his heart was inflamed with natural affection and spiritual love. For faith and the Holy Spirit do not corrupt or break nature, but when it is corrupt and broken, he heals it and restores it. Therefore, the most natural affections and inclinations remain in parents, brothers and wives, which are not abolished but awakened by grace.
The monks of old wanted to make of men blocks and stones that could neither feel nor understand anything, and the devil wanted that this should be praised as a special praise of his saints, namely, that they were not moved by any affects at all, the right mad fantasists and seven-fold stoics. But grace and the Holy Spirit do not take away the movements of human nature in such a way that Jacob, the father, should not mourn the death of his son. For that would be contrary to nature, which was created by God to have such tendencies.
We saw some years ago, however, that the spirits of the mob also took upon themselves to introduce such apathy into the church that the Christians had to abstain from all natural affections and inclinations, such as sadness over the death of their dear friends: as Muenzer took upon himself to show the same in all his life and customs as a special holiness. For when it was once announced to him that a son was born to him, he stood before the altar as if he were mute and deaf, did not rejoice at all, did not thank God for it.
and answered nothing at all, that he thereby indicated that he was a stick and a block, and thereafter boasted how his nature had been changed and killed. In truth, this was a good gushing, and much worse than the Stoic philosopher's imagination could have been. For God wants nature to be preserved and not extinguished, and means that it should be improved, so that it may always become purer, and that the natural inclinations in the godly may be more moderate than in the pagans, who do not govern them with the fear of God and trust, but let such affections lead them recklessly and without certain rule of the divine word, wherever they want.
Therefore, you see that in this example of Joseph, the holiness of the most holy fathers is described and depicted, who had the same natural inclinations as other men, although less and more moderate; likewise, they also had their passions and weaknesses like other men.
The evangelist Marcus writes in chapter 3, v. 5. V. 5, Christ looked at the Pharisees around with anger and was saddened by the blindness of their hearts, so they disputed whether one could heal a sick person even on the Sabbath. 2c. But how can Christ be angry or grieved, who is without sin? And why does the evangelist attribute this to him, that he was grieved, saddened, and angry? Answer: Anger, if it is rightly measured and kept in its proper use, is a natural emotion and movement, implanted in the nature of man by God; just as conjugal love and lust, which man and woman have for one another, is also created from the beginning with other natural emotions and inclinations. However, since these affects are corrupted by original sin, one must make every effort to improve them.
This is the obvious nonsense of the devil, that one wants to boast of such holiness, when men even become blocks and stones and cease to be men. They say that those who are moved to anger are not holy; but those who are moved to anger are not holy.
The Stoics themselves have not been able to free man from anger and other affects and take them away from him. For they pretend not to be angry, or else they flee the cause that would move them to anger and the company of other people who would enrage them. In this way I would also abstain from anger, if no one provoked me to it. This is the reason why so many foolish saints have run away into the wilderness and fled from the assembly and fellowship of the people, so that they would be considered as free from all human emotions and feelings, as their works and lives are described in the "Lives of the Fathers".
In one place, however, the example of a monk is told, which is particularly pleasing to me. For since he let himself overcome his stubbornness and impatience. For when he had overcome his obstinacy and impatience, and had even left the monastery for the deserts, hoping to live quietly and peacefully, without all anger and sin, it is said that he went out of the desert to a well to fetch water in a jar, and, having poured too much water into it, knocked the jar over unawares: then he is said to have become angry, taken the jar, thrown it to the ground, and broken it. But when he came to himself again, he realized that it was not the fault of the people he had been with that he had often been moved to anger, but of his corrupt nature and sinful flesh, which was always inclined to anger of its own accord. Therefore, he returned to the monastery and learned to moderate his affections and desires and to be patient with others.
173) So it is also fitting for us to stay with the people and have fellowship and company with them, that we learn to force, break, and resist the sin of fornication, anger, and the like of other affections and evil desires; and thus learn to rightly use the anger and lust that man and woman have for one another, namely, that the pride, ambition, hatred, and fornication 2c. be swept out; which is done without great difficulty.
effort, work and pain can not happen.
Therefore, in the saints one sees not only that human nature, with its affections and inclinations, is created in this way, which the Holy Spirit does not extinguish; but one also sees weakness and corruption in them, against which they are always struggling, as they are always on standby, striving how they may kill the infirm inclinations in themselves.
So Jacob and Moses also suffered much, not without great pain, since at times anger, raging, grumbling and impatience, even blasphemy, were also involved: but they kept themselves in check and overcame such sinful movements.
There is no doubt that Joseph also felt natural impurity, but he did not refrain from it, but broke his anger and impatience, and other evil desires, and obeyed the Holy Spirit, who gave him the commandment that he should not grumble or repay evil with evil. Although he had the most just cause to be angry and to avenge on his brothers the injustice they had done to him, he did not carry out his right so strictly, but changed it and made the most friendly game out of it; and seeing that they were afraid and that they were grieving over their sins, he wept with them.
They still do not recognize their sin, even though they secretly confess it to one another. For they would undoubtedly have concealed it if they had known that there was one who would listen to their words and understand them. For sin has this way and nature that it makes people deaf and dumb, and there is no one who would like to have his sin revealed and to be scolded by others because of it.
(178) So these brothers of Joseph also hide their sin and adorn themselves before the prince of the land. Sin is still dumb and deaf, and they hope that sin will remain hidden forever. But because they have not yet come to terms with the Father
The fact that they were reconciled and had not yet revealed their evil deeds to him made it necessary for this to come to light and for them to be driven to recognize and confess such great sin.
But Joseph weeps, since he had the most just cause to avenge himself, and at the same time also cares for Benjamin, his brother, since he was moved by brotherly affection. For he worries about him, how he may fare, that he may not have perished; and therefore does not yet want to believe their words, nor is he obliged to believe them until he learns the opposite, namely, that his brother is still alive. As above, Cap. 20, 2, Abraham also said of Sarah for the same reason that she was not his wife, because he was concerned that there would be no fear of God among the people in the same place.
So Joseph also knew that his brothers were murderers of their fathers and brothers; therefore he did not immediately believe them until he saw his brother Benjamin. In the meantime he tries them wonderfully, so that he may find out the truth from them, and that he may remind them of the old sin, which had been hidden for almost two and twenty years, and bring it to their attention. For the long time they had seen that the most miserable father was almost consumed with great heavy heartache and lamentation, because they had told him and lied to him that his dearest son Joseph had perished.
181 Because of this, there were enough causes and opportunities for Joseph to have punished his brothers according to their merits. However, he treats them much less harshly than they treated him. For he thinks only of how he may help them and heal their harm.
182) In the conversation that Moses described above, I have no doubt that Joseph would have asked about all things in particular, such as the father, brother, both their names and what kind of life and being they led: all this is not told here, but from the circumstances and from the history itself it is well understood.
can be stood. It is also probable that he will have asked about the age, mind, manners and life of each one in particular, who had been there before him, so that he might the more easily find out what he wanted to know, namely, about their committed sin, about his brother and old father.
Fifth part.
How Joseph binds Simeon; how he sends the other brothers away again with their money and food; how one of them opens his sack in the inn and finds his money again; and how they are all cheered.
V. 24. He took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
183 This text shows that Simeon was the most distinguished fratricide and the most wicked of the brothers. For after Reuben lost the firstborn because of the incest he committed with his stepmother, or rather with his mother, because she was one flesh with his father, he had to give up all honor and glory at the same time and divest himself of it: and after that not only he, but all his descendants and the whole family were very bad and despised and did nothing remarkable, as can be seen in the books of the kings and elsewhere in the holy scriptures.
184 But Simeon will have thought to himself thus: Behold, Reuben now lies down and is considered nothing because of the sin which he committed with his stepmother; so now the firstborn will come upon me. Then the donkey becomes proud, goes onto the ice and breaks a leg. He has come forward, has become proud and arrogant, and has instigated and caused this horrible game in the first place, and has set the fire alight altogether. For the words that are told above, Cap. 37, 19. are told: "Behold, the dreamer comes," 2c., scream-
The Hebrews accuse Simeon of having spoken these words, for they could not all have spoken them at the same time. Therefore it rhymes well that Simeon, when he saw Joseph coming, not only broke out into such words, but also incited the others to commit the great evil against their brother. So he was much more cruel and unkind to Joseph than all the others; and where it would have been without him, the others might have spared their brother, since he pleaded with them to spare him. But this Simeon was so much harder on Joseph for the sake of the firstborn, and because his father loved him very much; then also because he was in the way of that which Simeon desired to obtain. Therefore, he thought it would be the best advice to kill only Joseph.
This is very probable and can easily be understood from history. For as from the beginning of the world the firstborn was a cause of great bitter strife and contention, so Simeon also lusted after the same. And at the present time we are fighting against the pope for no other reason than for the firstborn, that is, for the sake of the church. For the papists ascribe this glory to themselves, they want to be the church and God's neighbor. But we, on the other hand, consider them to be those who have been rejected and condemned by God, and we arrogate to ourselves the honor and name of being called God's people and His chosen children. For the same is the firstborn, that is, to be the church, and to govern and teach the people unto salvation: to be reckoned among God's people, and to be numbered with Abel's and other godly servants of God. Then, for instance, a heretic or a reprobate sets himself against us and boasts that he is a doctor and teacher of the church, condemns and despises all the others, and, as it were, tramples them underfoot. This is the origin of the quarrel and struggle that the true church has always had with its enemies and adversaries.
186 So Simeon, who was the chief and ringleader of this calamity, is bound, but he lets the others go; not that Joseph had any desire to go.
He has no desire to avenge him or to cool his temper with him, but only to bring him to the knowledge of his sins. Reuben and Judah with the others were sad because of the sin they had committed; but Simeon is stiff-necked and proud, and still does not intend to give up the hope of the firstborn, for he is sure that Reuben is rejected and Joseph is dead. When Joseph realized this, he had Simeon bound, so that his pride and presumption might be broken by imprisonment, and so that he would not think that he was the firstborn, but that he would be bound and imprisoned forever.
187 Afterward Levi might have comforted himself with this glory, and promised himself the same; but they shall both lack it, as shall be seen hereafter by the curse of the father. Judah, the fourth son, received the reign; but the glory of the firstborn, which Reuben had lost, was given to Joseph, and two parts fell to him, as to the king and priest, by his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, from whom two tribes came.
V. 25 And Joseph commanded that their sacks should be filled with corn, and that their money should be restored every man into his sack, and that they should give them victuals out of the way: and they did so.
The word "sack" is a common word in four languages, as we indicated above. Here Moses used the Hebrew word kele, that it also means sack: and this is a common word for all kinds of instruments or tools, as, vasa belli, armor of war. And afterwards in 49. chap. V. 5, it is said of Simeon and Levi, "Their swords are murderous weapons. After this another word will follow, amtachath, which also means sack, and comes from mathach, which means to spread out. When the Elbe makes a bend here, we call it a sack in our language, item, a watery cloud; or the sails on ships, when the wind swells them, also have the shape of a sack. Thus, a sack, when it is filled, spreads out, and also has the name that it thus spreads out and inflates.
But why does Joseph command that the money be given back to them? Answer: Not only was he moved to do this by the reverence he owed to his father, whom he wanted to present with it, but the natural inclination he bore in his heart toward his father and brothers, whom he loved dearly, also caused him to do this. This kind love, so just and right, is the cause of this gift; for it is in truth a right natural inclination, so he had to them. Nevertheless, he continues to be hard and cruel toward them. For he wants them to remain in fear and terror, so that they will not think that such money was given to them out of some friendship and grace; but that they will be afraid of suspicion and that he will bring an action against them, as if they had stolen and taken the money from him. Not that Joseph is in earnest, but only that they may be humbled, and that the original sin may be put to death, which was strengthened and increased by the real sin, namely, that they strangled their brother, which was now hidden and obsolete at two and twenty years. Therefore he now poses as if he wanted to make them with this false accusation and trickery that they would have to be subjected and servile to him forever, as they had sold him for servitude. This is the reason why he has made such a stand, which has made them very fearful indeed, so that they were afraid they would not get out of there without great harm and danger.
190 And he gave them, besides the corn and the money, victuals and food for their journey, that they might come to Jacob their father, and keep the sacks. The Hebrew word, zedah, means here, addition, and comes from the word zud, to say; as Gen. 10, 8. 9. is said of Nimrod: "Nimrod began to be a mighty lord on earth, and was a mighty hunter" 2c. Moses used the word in this place for food or fodder, as in the 132nd Psalm v. 15. it says: "I will feed their
Bless food, and give bread enough to their poor." Jerome has given it in the same place with "hunt". In the common Latin interpretation it is "widow"; but I think that this must be the fault of the scribes, who have substituted for the Greek word
191 There is a strange origin and meaning of this word, because it comes from the word zud and yet means food; as we have said several times about the word scheber, which means to break. And I say it often, that the Hebrews themselves do not rightly understand all the words in their language. For this is contrary to the way of grammar, if you would interpret "to break" for food, nourishment or grain.
192 We have indicated this cause, that the Jews were in the habit of breaking bread and not cutting it with knives. And this derivation of the same word is better than that of the Hebrews, who say that it has the name of breaking hunger. For the Jews had bread like cakes and pancakes, which we also use to break. So the Schaubrode were six cakes, put on each other. The Jews do not consider this, and yet the same interpretation is very appropriate.
193 So they also do not know why the word zeda, hunting, is called food. The hunt does not only concern pious men, but also murderers, yes, unreasonable animals, as, wolves, lions, foxes. And although I cannot say for certain, I believe that this is the origin of the word, so that hunting is done for no other purpose than that one may have food from the animals. For this is why one hunts the wild animals, so that the food and nourishment may be sufficient. The vultures and harriers and other such animals that live on predation seek the same thing.
194 And from this it is again to be seen that the Hebrew language is not yet so exactly investigated, but that the Hebrew grammarians themselves do not know many ways to speak, figures and derivations of the words. Now this is the first part of this history, where the sons of Jacob come to Egypt,
and have not yet known their brother Joseph. Now follows the other part.
V. 26-28 And they loaded their goods upon their asses, and departed. And when one of them had taken up his sack to feed his ass in the inn, he perceived the money that was in the top of his sack. And he said to his brothers: My money has been returned to me; stand, it is in my sack.
The word malon means among the Hebrews such a place or place, where one stays for a while or stays for the night, that is, an inn or innkeeper's house. But they dispute in this place about who was the one who opened the sack. Now there is nothing to it, one says that Levi or Juda, or else one of the others did it. And it is clear from this that the burden of all things and the trouble must have been great, because the donkeys and men had the same fodder with each other; which undoubtedly would not have been hay or chaff, but grain, with which they filled the sacks in Egypt, and in which they also put the money.
The Hebrew word, mispo, is quite contrary in meaning to the word bar, which we had above. They say it means fodder, not of grass or actual grain, but which is grained, as, oats, vetches, or the like.
197 It is also asked why afterwards, Cap. 43, v. 21, the sons of Jacob say before Joseph, "When we came to the inn, and opened our sacks," when here it is said of only one who opened his sack. But in both places it is said that they were all frightened. Lyra answers that in the Scriptures some things are told by the figure called anticipatio or recapitulatio, when something that is said before is repeated. This rule is necessary and should be diligently observed in theology or sacred Scripture, and even in all histories. But it is taken from Augustine's other book, De doctrina Christiana, where he says that he has learned it with some
other rules received more from a heretic and Donatist, called Ticonius. For so he says there: In the Scriptures some things are reported in such a way, as if the narration observed the exact time sequence, while nevertheless the narration returns to earlier events, which were first omitted, unnoticed. As, Gen. 11, 32. it is written, "And Tharah was two hundred and five years old, and died in Haran." And in the following 12th Cap. V. 4. it is said, "Abraham was five and seventy years old when he departed from Haran." The given number of years of Tharah creates great confusion and confusion, if one does not pay attention to the order of the story. Therefore, this rule is of great importance in this place. For if one wanted to understand the exit of Abraham according to the order of the narrative in the text, as it can be seen that the words of Stephen, Acts 7, 4, almost read like this: it would follow that Abraham would have left Haran in the fifth and seventieth year after the death of Tharah, which is impossible.
198 Therefore this is the right order: Since Moses wanted to bring the story of Tarah to an end, he says: Tarah was two hundred and five years old and died. But he tells none of the things that happened before his death. Therefore he comes afterwards again on it, and tells also that, what happened in the two hundred and five years, before Tharah died, namely, that Abraham, his son, when he was five and seventy years old, went from Haran, since his father Tharah still lived. Otherwise, he would have to have gone out sixty years later than he really went out.
Therefore the words after this figure, called recapitulatio (resumption), read as if he had gone out after his father's death, when he had gone out almost sixty years before. Stephen, however, as it seems, has followed the common narrative of those who do not know this figure, has not wanted to dispute too precisely about the order in which things would have happened one after the other, but has been satisfied that he only put the words in their order, and has remained with the common opinion.
200 We have had another example above, chap. 38, v. 1, where it is described how Judah departed from his brothers after Moses told how Joseph had been sold; yet Judah had departed from them nine years before they sold Joseph. Therefore Moses tells by this figure, recapitulatio, that Judah had gone down from his brothers, so that he might come again to what had happened before, before Joseph was sold. For Moses intended to continue the history of Joseph without interruption to the end, and meanwhile to omit or postpone what would have happened before or after.
In the same way, it is also written about Isaac in chapter 35, vv. 28, 29. V. 28. 29. Isaac is written that he died when Jacob arrived in Hebron from Mesopotamia; yet he is still alive, and sees that Reuben committed the incest and Joseph was sold, and has lived until the year that first passed before Joseph's exaltation.
For this reason, this rule is to be well remembered in all histories and good attention is to be paid to it. For it is another order of words or speeches and another of time or history. And the historians, when they have undertaken to describe a deed, always continue the narrative in order and in context. As here Moses also tells that the brothers of Joseph found the money in their sacks, since they came again from Egypt; and says nevertheless after the figure anticipatio (anticipation) first only of one that he found the money, until he reports it later then also of the others. And it is quite probable that, since the money was found in one sack, the others were also frightened by it, and that everyone would have opened his sack and also looked for money in it.
It is not bad that they had more donkeys than ten. For one ass could not carry more than two sacks; which weight or burden would not have been enough for even one month for such a large household, in which so many sons, daughters, wives, servants, maids, and cattle lived.
beings. Therefore I believe that each of them would have loaded three or four donkeys with grain, so that they would not have to return so soon. For the way has been long from Canaan out to Heliopolis or Memphis. And I reckon it was about fifty German miles from each other; which way they could not have gone so soon, because the asses go slowly. That is why they bought so much that they had enough to feed their servants and cattle for several months. Assuming this to be the case, it would not be at all unreasonable to think that, by God's command, each of them had opened his sack, and yet one of them had found only the money, while the others had all searched through one or more sacks by chance, and had found nothing in them but grain. For they could not have spent so much time on the way that they would have inspected all the sacks so carefully.
(204) And I am especially moved by this argument, that though they are terrified here, yet afterward, v. 35, Moses will say again that they were terrified together with their father. For they would not have been frightened the second time if they had all seen beforehand in the inn that the money had been returned to them.
V. 28 Then their hearts fell from them, and they were afraid one of another, and said: Why has God done this to us?
This is a new way of speaking: Their heart went out, which can be rendered in German: The heart is gone out of them. But by this he indicates that all their comfort, wisdom and strength have gone out of them. For they are not only terrified that they have seen the money in the sack, but that their sin, which they have committed, has come before their eyes. For they have tried until now to cover and conceal it, and have taken a foolish comfort in their own hearts, namely, that the sin would remain forever concealed and forgotten, unless Joseph had already made this hope doubtful by the game he had played with them.
But they are not yet truly sorry and do not yet recognize their wrongdoing. For this reason, their heart or the comfort they had in themselves, as if the sin should be forgotten, is now taken away from them. Although they do not yet confess the sin, but in their secret murmuring and silence they still think that they will get away, but not without fear and sorrow. That is why Moses says they were frightened and misled among themselves; one looked at the other and thought, "This is not right. But they lay the blame on our Lord God, who is the judge. How, they say, has God done this? And this came from the terror and anguish of conscience, which follows sin with great pain and heartfelt anguish.
The conscience is such an evil beast and evil devil. For all writers, both those who described the holy scriptures and pagan histories, have depicted this monster, this horrible beast, in a frightening way, as can be seen in Orestes and other evildoers. And the poets have therefore invented the horrible characters in the tragedies, the Erinyes and Furies, that is, infernal devils who avenge all misdeeds. They all speak of the same misfortune and heartache, which is called: Mens sibi male conscia, that is, a heart that knows itself guilty of sins. The holy scripture recently says: "The wicked have no peace", Is. 48, 22. and 57, 20. 21. There is nothing more unhappy and that brings more trouble than a frightened heart, which, if it only sees a flash of lightning, or even hears a rustling leaf, turns pale.
The sons of Jacob also have an evil conscience; therefore they tremble so terribly and are afraid of divine vengeance. They fear that he will strike with thunder and lightning, and yet they do not confess the sin. But this is a strange thing: the conscience feels God's judgment and his severe wrath; and yet it is ashamed to repent and confess the sin, even if it should remain stuck in eternal damnation and torment. And this happens because of the original sin, as can be seen in Adam. For since he had already overcome and fled from God, he was not able to
He knew that he was guilty of the fall, but that first sin in him was still mute and could not bear to have his ears opened, even though the voice of God had sounded in his ears: "Adam, where are you? Gen. 3, 9.
In one place, Erasmus writes of a Lacedemonian virgin who, when she became pregnant through fornication, would rather have killed the child when it was born than confess her sin; which action he interprets to have been great strength and manliness in her, when it is rather weakness, because she would rather have put herself in danger of eternal death and damnation than confess her sin and repent. Such is the madness, fury and folly of original sin that it will not allow itself to be disgraced or allow its shame to be seen. And it is quite against the nature of sin to confess that one has sinned.
So they say that St. Martin answered the devil when he mocked him and punished him for so easily forgiving the sins of the most wicked and mischievous people: If you could say from your heart, "I am sorry that I have sinned," I would also absolve you and absolve you of sins. For the devil would also be blessed, as we all are, if he could say from a pure heart: Oh God, have mercy on me and be merciful to me!
211. Absolution and forgiveness of sin are certain; only that you recognize and confess with all your heart that you have sinned. But the devil cannot get there. Adam and Eve could not do this. For so Adam said Gen. 3:10, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid, because I was naked." He does not say, "Because I have transgressed your commandment," until God Himself forces him to do so and asks him further in v. 11: "Who told you that you are naked? did you not eat from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" He does not yet want to stink, and does not yet recognize or confess the sin, so he is accused of, but blames it on the
Woman, v. 12: "The woman," he says, "whom you brought to me, gave me of the tree and I ate. Behold, since he was already frightened and timid, and trembled, feeling that he had sinned, yet he does not yet confess the sin.
212 We also have an example of this in Saul, who says 1 Sam. 15:30: "I have sinned, but now honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel," as if he wanted to say, "Cover the sin. But the same is no good before men. For to commit sin and to deny it makes the sin even greater, seven times greater, than it otherwise is in itself. If people who are not evil are angered, they can easily forgive those who ask and confess the sin, and the sin is soon dead; but if one still wants to cover and adorn the sin, the hearts are thereby provoked more and more to anger. This is the nature of the conscience; although it feels the sin, and the heart is frightened and shaken to the point of condemnation, it does not yet confess the sin.
Therefore let every man learn in the name of the Lord, when he hath sinned, to confess it: and the sin shall not only be forgiven, but all men shall have compassion on him, and mourn his fall. But there is no one who will do this, except in general. But to confess guilt in particular is not the nature or characteristic of this depraved nature, even though it confesses to be guilty before God. For the example of these brothers finely shows this: Joseph plays with them and turns their hearts to and fro in various ways: but they do not think that this should be Joseph, for they think that he died long ago. They feel that God remembers their sin, but the confession is not yet pure. Therefore Joseph presses upon them, always urging them that he may bring them out by force, as it were, and force confession of their sins from them, so that they may come to the forgiveness of their sins.
214. but how is this such a great pity and foolishness in us, that we thus flee from the door, by which we enter into salvation?
should go. But if we were wise and without this damage and corruption of original sin, and the conscience in us were not so stubborn and disobedient, then the sins of the godly would truly be nothing else, but the corrections, instructions and effects of the Holy Spirit for the good, as Paul says Rom. 8, 28: "To those who love God, all things are for the best," also the sins. But why is that? Because where we have fallen into sins, we are humbled and instructed by them, we are warned to learn better to beware of sins, and we are also caused to thank God when we confess our sin and repent. There is so much fruit in sin, if one could use it spiritually. There is death and condemnation in the right use of the law, but one must also take the spiritual use or benefit to it. This is said so much: one must recognize sin, open the heart, confess, seek help; then sin will be useful to us. And the more you are humbled, the sooner you will receive grace and forgiveness.
David also kept silent for a while; as he says of himself Ps. 32:3: "I wanted to keep it quiet. I had slain the pious Uriah, I had defiled his wife; I smeared and would not come forward; I covered and concealed the sin, I could adorn it finely. For original sin does not like to have its deformity and shame seen, nor can the devil suffer his shame and stench to come to light and be revealed; but wants both to be taken for innocence and righteousness. Our Lord God cannot suffer this. That is why David adds in the 32nd Psalm v. 3: "For when I would have concealed it, my bones fainted," 2c. I would have almost perished. For the torment and erosion of an evil conscience is not overcome by silence, concealment or covering. Therefore, when Nathan comes to David and says 2 Sam. 12, 7: "You are the man" who has done this, he is frightened and killed; and yet he says through the spiritual use of sin: "I have
sinned." When the prophet hears the word that David is not afraid to disgrace, disgrace and condemn himself, he soon says to him, v. 13: "The Lord has taken away your sin" and forgiven you of it. But if he had wanted to excuse himself and adorn himself as Saul did, and cover his sin, and not be considered a sinner, but be righteous and innocent, he would have been eternally lost and condemned. This is why he is a pious God, if we could use original sin properly; and if one had fallen, so that he soon turned to the spiritual use of sin, he is therefore a rich God with his grace and forgiveness.
216. Therefore let us learn that we may use our misfortunes and sins for good; and so we shall know how gracious and kind the Lord is. If thou hast fallen, and canst say from thine heart, I have sinned; seek to say, I have forgiven thee. But if you deny and conceal your sin, he will say that he cannot forgive you either.
Therefore it is better to follow the words of David and say with him Ps. 51:6: "I have sinned against you alone, that you may be justified in your words" 2c. For this is also praiseworthy in the eyes of the world, and one can easily obtain grace with it. For this is also what God demands of us. Let me, he says, be right in my words, and remain pure when I am judged; then I will forgive you: if not, yet I will be right, and you shall be lost. We deserve God's wrath, death and eternal damnation; but God is merciful, long-suffering and gladly forgives iniquity, if only we could recognize and confess our impurity and unworthiness, if only we could open our mouths.
218. And it is truly a great pity that our heart is so completely poured out through original sin, and all confidence in our worthiness and merit is taken away. For the heart becomes pale and trembles when it only sees a flash of lightning; and yet it is still so proud and does not want to show itself before God.
humble yourself. Therefore, if you have this light, thank God that He will forgive the sin of those who recognize it. For He does not demand vengeance or satisfaction for it, if you have confessed it sincerely and from the heart, for only as much as is necessary to others as an example and correction; as the 32nd Psalm v. 5 says: "I said: I will confess my transgression unto the Lord. Thou wilt forgive me the iniquity of my sin.
219. But the sons of Jacob still flee from this confession. The death of Joseph is in their hearts and deprives them of all comfort. And they feel that whatever misfortune befalls them comes from the wrathful God, who is an avenger of all misdeeds. For the law is within the heart, which terrifies people and is God's law. Therefore, it is certain that all the terror and trembling of the conscience is due to God's cooperation.
For this reason you cannot shake off the law, but it shakes your heart. For it is God's eternal and unchanging judgment, and you will not be able to easily endure its accusations and storms, as Judas and others, who were terrified by it, were lost, since they could not overcome the terrible torment in the heart and the infernal fury of the evil conscience, which always drives and chases the heart through God's law, which is almighty, as is he himself, who gave it and imprinted it on the hearts of men. And you will never be delivered from these terrors, except by the help that God Himself has shown in the 32nd Psalm, v. 5, where He says: "Confess your transgression against yourself, and I will forgive you. First say, Psalm 51:6, "I have sinned against you alone, that you may be justified in your words," and I will blot out all your iniquity.
This is the salvation and peace of all the saints from the beginning of the world, Adam, Abraham, David, in all of whom was original sin, which terrified and condemned them. But by this salvation, which consists in the knowledge of sins, they have been saved and redeemed from the terrors of the law.
In this way, these brothers also begin to feel the sting of God's conscience and wrath, which punishes them. Therefore, they say, "Why has God done this to us?" What does God have in mind? These are the words of a shaken heart, which has lost all its comfort and confidence and has lost its security; as the words of those who are frightened and grieved because of the sin they have committed tend to be: O God, what have I done? So these brothers also see that this thing that happened to them must not have come from Joseph, for they knew that all the money had been paid to him and that they had not stolen or taken anything from him. Therefore they think that someone must have been secretly appointed by God, a man or a spirit, to accuse them of theft before the prince in Egypt. Therefore they will have thought: What shall we do? Now some will come, sent by the prince, to attack us and drag us into prison. So they see that they will not be safe enough either in Egypt or in the land of Canaan where they lived. And this terror is increased not only by the danger of suspicion, but by the memory of their former sins and other misdeeds, which they had invented or really committed out of fear and which they remembered at that time.
223 For it should be diligently noted that an evil conscience, which is guilty when it is judged and punished, not only feels torment or torture and the devil's bite because of the right sins, which it knows it has truly committed, but it also imagines many other innumerable sins from one sin. Similarly, it tends to take countless suspicions with it, so that the terror is always increased, and yet all this is just a fictitious thing.
This is because the Scripture says Deut. 26:36: "A rustling leaf shall chase them. Yes, a dry leaf shall frighten the evil conscience so that it thinks it is thunder and lightning. It is truly a great pity that a leaf, when it is only slightly rough
The one who hears it should not tremble and be frightened in any other way than by thunder and lightning. I have indeed often fought with this dreadful beast, not without a great struggle, and Deut. 28, 65-67. is added to this, namely: "The Lord will give you a trembling heart, and faint eyes, and a withered soul, so that your life will float before you. Night and day thou shalt fear, and shalt not be sure of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Alas, that I might live to see the evening! In the evening thou shalt say, Alas, that I might see the morning! for the fear of thine heart shall terrify thee."
In this way, the Holy Spirit describes the terrifying torment and erinyes of an evil conscience. That is why our whole life is always hanging by a thread, is in doubt and uncertain, is full of fear and terror every moment, is afraid of the evening and the morning, and even of all the hours.
226 So these brothers of Joseph are in great fear, not only because of the sin of which they knew themselves guilty, although they have covered it up and concealed it with diligence; but they are also afraid of all their own words and works, and in all their works and thoughts they concoct a new guilt. And in such great terror and trembling they are still dumb and do not confess their sin.
227 Adam also did the same in paradise: since he had almost died out of fear of the voice and wrath of God, he still would not open his mouth and could not say, "I have sinned. And just such foolishness and a wrong heart follows in all Adam's children after the original sin, just as such foolishness and stubbornness was felt in our first father in the beginning, until the spiritual fruit of the sins is added by the word of Christ Marc. 7, 34: "Hephatha, open thyself!" In the meantime, the bond of the tongue remains, so that the devil blocks the mouth, so that even though the person is very frightened in conscience, he nevertheless does not seek help. For the devil does not let the sinner say from the heart: Lord God, I have sinned against you, forgive it.
I am very sorry for what I have done!
Therefore, this description of sins should be diligently remembered, which so frightens these brothers that they begin to cry out, "Why did God do this to us?" as if they do not know why God did it. Dear sirs, your heart knows well that you have killed your father, brother and mother. For if Rachel had still been alive, she would undoubtedly have died of great heartache. But God miraculously preserved the father, so that he himself did not die from pain and suffering. You should not know about this? Yes, we are ashamed that we should confess it, and reveal the sin we have committed to the Father; for this perverse shamefulness has been in their way. Therefore, bear this cross, sighing and crying out, "Why has God done this to us?" For do you think that this will happen to you, that you will go unpunished because of it, or that God will excuse or praise your sin? He will never do that. Do you ask why God is doing this to you? How is it that you do not rather say, "Why did we do this to God? Or, why do you not confess your sin? But since you do not yet desire to make this confession, be afraid a little longer, tremble and be terrified every moment you hear a dry leaf rustling, and say in the morning, Oh that I might live to see the evening, and in the evening, Oh that I might live to see the morning. 2c., 5 Mos. 28, 67.
229 In this way, the example of the holy fathers teaches us what a terrible thing it is to have an evil conscience. And it is a very good text, which is worthy of being clearly acted upon and interpreted, although I do not consider myself capable of doing so. But because they do not yet confess that they have sinned, nor do they ask God for mercy, nor do they ask the father or Joseph for forgiveness, the torment and temptation do not end until the confession and recognition of the sins is forced from them by force. Joseph has to beat the sack even better.
Sixth part.
How the sons of Jacob come to Hanse, and tell their father how they fared; how they pour out their grain and recover their money.
V.29-34. So when they came home to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything they had encountered and said: The man that is master in the land spake hard unto us, and took us for spies of the land. And when we answered him: We are honest, and have never been spies; but twelve brethren, our father's sons; one is no more, and the youngest is yet with our father in the land of Canaan; said the lord of the land unto us: By this I will know whether ye are honest: leave one of your brethren with me, and take the necessities of your house, and go; and bring your youngest brother unto me, and I will know that ye are not spies, but that ye are honest: and I will give you your brother also, and ye shall go forth into the land.
230 This also belongs to the previous description, in which we said that Moses delineated the nature of original sin so that it would not be sin. And the devil has brought it about with the papists, namely, that the damage of original sin has been completely eradicated and is no longer considered condemnable. Now the ignorance of sins certainly and necessarily brings with it the ignorance of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit and all things, that is, that one does not know God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, and does not know anything about anything where one does not know or want to know sin first. For no one may think that he will become a theologian, or that he will read or hear the Holy Scriptures rightly, who so minimizes and disregards the harm of original sin, or does not yet understand it rightly. Indeed, there is no man who can sufficiently consider or understand the power of original sin. For we are not to think that it is such a small or easy thing that God sent His Son to become a sacrifice to redeem us.
The papists teach that original sin is taken away in baptism, and that only a little tinder and weakness of the flesh, or a tendency to sin, remains. Therefore, they do not understand what grace or forgiveness of sin is, nor what the Holy Spirit and God are.
232 In this chapter there is a description of this terrible damage, or original sin, which should always be remembered, namely, that it is such a poison, so deep in our soul and body, that it also wants to be considered as righteousness; as David indicates, when he says in Psalm 51 v. 6: "That you may be right in your words. For why does he speak thus? Is not God pure and just? Answer: He is indeed just; but with us he is not considered to be so: we are rather just, but God is unjust. Sin can adorn itself so finely and cover its impurity. As can be seen in these brothers, who do not want to be scolded or condemned. Although they say: We suffer this justly, and: Why has God done this to us? yet they always cover their sin and conceal it; and here, even before their father, they do not want to be considered as having sinned.
Now God cannot be pure or righteous if we are not impure and unrighteous, that is, God is not recognized as righteous if we do not confess our impurity. Not that I must first become unrighteous now, for I am unclean before: but this is the question, Whether I will also become unclean in spirit, that is, recognize and confess my sin? For as original sin was at first intended to be covered and adorned, so also real sins follow afterward, as a child follows its father and mother, and keep strictly to the saying, Si fecisti, nega: If thou hast done it, deny it. For he who denies or conceals his sin before men is already justified. But it is in truth the devil himself who thus disguises himself into an angel of light. Everything wants to be pure, and what God does should be impure. Finally, however, this saying must still stand firm
remain and be affirmed, namely, that we say, O Lord God, thou art righteous, thou art pure; but I am unrighteous and impure; and must all say with David Psalm 51:6, "In thee only have I sinned, that thou mightest be just in thy words."
But St. Paul has gloriously spoken of this in Romans 3:8. And from this it is also clear how inconsistent and frightening this teaching is in the ears of carnal men. For some said: The apostles taught that one should only sin freely and do evil, so that good may come from it. If our unrighteousness praises God's righteousness, then I will confidently sin on it. This is not a philosophical doctrine, but a spiritual and divine one. For you will then become unrighteous, when you will feel, recognize and confess that you are truly a sinner, and will say: Lord, I have sinned, forgive me!
We want to have this supernatural art. For behold these brothers, how greatly they have grieved and offended their old father, and yet cannot be brought to confess their sin together. They do not admonish one another to go to the Father and confess that they are fratricides, by which confession both God and their father would have been reconciled.
Therefore it is necessary that you say with knowledge and will: I am a poor sinner and unjust. But why this? Ei, "that thou mayest be right in thy words," Psalm 51:6. Only cast thine eyes down to the earth, and say, God be merciful to me; for I am born in sins, and my whole nature is corrupt, is full of blindness, evil desire, ignorance of myself and also of sins.
237 And if ye will usefully study theology and the holy scriptures, that ye enter not into the scriptures, which are closed and sealed, learn first of all to understand sin aright. And let the epistle to the Romans be to you as a door and key to the holy Scriptures; otherwise you will never come to the right understanding and knowledge of the Scriptures. Then you will understand what an evil thing sin is.
sin for which God sent His Son, that we might be cleansed of it by the blood and unspeakable sacrifice of the Son of God. For this reason, the damage itself must also be unspeakably great.
But as these brothers are stiff-necked and still continue to cover their sin, so this terrible plague and lamentation goes through this whole world, that sin does not want to be uncovered, does not want to be what it really is, because it wants to be pure and beautiful, contrary to its nature. It wants to be beautiful. We see the same thing happening in the domestic regime and the secular police. For everything that is sinned there is laid only on the "no one": he must have done everything. For no one can easily bear to be punished and reproved for sins. Otherwise they are all pious, no one wants to have done wrong. So in the real sins the evil corrupt nature can also be seen. Who then has sinned? Who will have to pay? Only the Son of God is a sinner, no one else. He alone bears the sin and says: Have mercy on me, because I have sinned against you. Item in the 40th Psalm v. 13. he says: "My sins are more than hairs on my head." He recognizes and confesses sin freely, and is serious about it, not for his own person, which is holy and righteous, but as a patron and intercessor before the judge, and also pays for us.
239. Therefore learn diligently this matter of original sin, and do not dispute why God has allowed it, which is the question of the forward minds: but rather ask how we may be saved and redeemed from this harm, and that we may know that God speaks with us, that he may awaken us to recognize the same harm of original sin. For where he is recognized, he says: "Be of good cheer, my son, your sins are forgiven you", Matth. 9, 2.; for I have given my dear son for you, an innocent little lamb from the beginning. If you recognize and confess your sins and iniquities, then my Son will be the propitiation for your sin.
be. He will be your sanctification, redemption, righteousness and wisdom, 1 Cor. 1, 30.
Then the holy Scriptures are opened, and you will see that they teach nothing else than that God holds up to us His Son, who was crucified, resurrected, and given for our sins. But such things will not go to your heart, nor will you understand what Christ is, unless the Scriptures first remind you and teach you what you are in the sight of God. You will learn the same from Genesis 3:19, where it is taught that the punishment of death is imposed on the entire human race because of original sin.
But how great is the wickedness of this sin, and how utterly wicked it is, the fruits show. For how soon in youth there is such great reluctance and disobedience in children! What a raging and burning of lusts, hatred, avarice, envy in youth and in the whole of life. We are indeed born without real sins, but afterwards an infinite number of sins bursts forth with force. Dear, from where do such horrible monsters come?
The philosophers Socrates and Cicero know nothing of this; but the Scripture says: We are born children of wrath, and subject to the corruption of original sin; and the wiser, more learned, and more prudent we are, the more hopefulness and other sins are found in us. For nature is even corrupt. But the papists reproach us that it should be healed again in baptism and that sins are also forgiven in it. This is well said, but sin is not yet entirely taken away, as Augustine says. But because they do not know this, they can never come to the right light or understanding of the Scriptures, the kingdom of Christ and the whole theology.
The wounds of the man, Luc. 10:34, who was half dead, have been dressed, and oil and wine have been poured into them; the gift of the Holy Spirit has begun, but the wounds are still deadly. He is accepted to be healed by the physician, but he is not yet completely healed, and the wounds are still deadly.
has been restored. If you now want to say that there is no wound and also no danger, dear, then try whether he, who is half dead, can walk and stand, work, and otherwise do what a healthy person is used to doing. He is carried by the animal on which he is placed, does not work, and does not walk or stand. Thus, through baptism, we have also been taken up onto our Lord God's animal, that is, onto the most holy sacrifice that was made for us, or onto the humanity of Christ. By this we are carried. And although we have been accepted once, we are still being joined and healed from day to day.
244 But now we want to come to the example of these fathers again. They are truly desperate boys. They have killed their brother and their parents, as much as was in them; and yet they still remain in impenitence, even so grossly that, since they have already been overcome and put to shame, they still do not want to freely confess that they have sinned. If they had confessed that they sold Joseph, they would have been received much more graciously and kindly; but sin is still holy, righteous and proud with them, and there is no one among them who has sinned. That is why they can adorn themselves in such a whimsical way and weaken the story of how they were treated in Egypt, and no doubt they will have heard about it on the way, how they would like to tell the father about it in the most simple way and not remember the prison, so that he would not be caused to ask more precisely what the cause was that the foreign people were treated so horribly: And yet they cannot conceal the fact that Simeon stayed away, and was not there, when they desired him to send Benjamin down with them.
245. So now they tell what they had encountered, saying: "The man who is lord in the land spoke harshly to us" 2c. We have been harshly and severely challenged: we holy and innocent men have had to experience wonderful bitterness and unkindness. But why this? It is not that we are to blame for it, but that
You, Father, may have earned this cross by some sin. "And he took us," they continue, "for scouts of the land."
They were kept in prison for three days, and yet now they do not want to remember any prison. Otherwise the father would have asked: Why were they thrown into prison? Therefore, out of special concern, they told everything they encountered in the most simple way, so that the father would not be angered by such an unusual act and would not be moved to ask them about the cause of such an unusual act. Thus sin always does what it does: it wants to be pure, chaste, beautiful and holy, but it accuses and condemns God for being unjust and acting unjustly.
247 But we will interpret it a little less, namely, that they kept silent about the prison, so that they would not grieve or frighten the father. But then they wavered, uncertain how to get him to do what they wanted, namely, to take Benjamin with them. Therefore, in order to initiate this request, they try to persuade their father with great zeal that all this had happened to them as undeserving and innocent people, so that original sin would not start.
But why does Moses call Joseph adone, that is, a lord of the land, and speak in the plural as of many? 2c. Because with such sayings the Jews seek to ridicule the majority of persons in the Godhead, which we use to prove from the fact that God is often called elohim in the plural. Only the German princes and the pope follow this way of speaking of themselves in the plural. Therefore we should know that the Hebrew language often connects a noun in the plural with a tense word in the singular; as the Greeks often put the verb "is" (in the singular) to words of the neuter gender in the plural. So in this place: The lord or lords of the land has spoken. Droben, cap. 39, v. 16, we also had the same way of speaking when the adulteress, Potiphar's wife, took the garment.
put beside him until the time when "his lords" would come, although Moses speaks only of the one Potiphar, Joseph's lord. In the same place, a pronoun in the singular is placed with a noun in the plural. It is not a fine way and manner of speaking, but the Hebrew language has its own way and manner, of which one cannot give a cause so exactly; as in other languages also causes cannot be indicated of all kinds of ways of speaking. It is enough that we know that this is the manner of the same language. As the Germans put the neuter article without cause to a noun of the feminine gender when they say: This is the virgin; item: This is the city. For these are idiotisms and idiosyncrasies in this language.
But now they continue to tell their answer, how they apologized before the man, namely, that they were honest and sincere, that they meant no harm. And all this still belongs to the fact that they have adorned themselves with it, so that the father would not think or suspect that they themselves had caused or been responsible for such punishment of the prison or that they had been received so unkindly, and that he would therefore undertake to inquire further about it. Therefore they say that this happened to them through no fault of their own, and that they also publicly declared their innocence before the lord of the land. But they tell only those things which served them to diminish the sin; yea, that they might also obtain such a name, that they might be accounted holy and righteous.
(250) But because Simeon was not present, whom Joseph had kept in prison with him, they also lately say why they left him behind in Egypt. They say that because he took us for scouts and was not satisfied with our excuse, he ordered one of the brothers to stay with him until we brought our youngest brother to him. But they leave out the fact that they had been in prison for three days, as well as this, that the lord of the land had been in prison for three days.
ben Pharaoh swore he would not let them go. Nor do they add that Simeon was bound and detained in the land by the Lord's command, for all this would have been somewhat harsh and dangerous. Therefore they did not want to express the same thus, but cover and soften it as they only can and may.
Therefore you see how very cunning original sin is, how it can so artificially adorn its deformity. And all men are such fine talkers to diminish and excuse their sin. Hence the need for so many witnesses, judges, and whatever else is in the right in court and in the police, so that people are convinced and driven to confess their sin. And such things show nothing else than the great insurmountable stubbornness of sin. For if it were not thus covered and adorned, there would be no need of courts, laws, or rights, of cane-masters, or punishment: but because sin wants to be holy and righteous, such honor and innocence must be exposed and revealed by the sword, gallows, and fire. 2c.
In this way the sons of Jacob use such a word, which is very mild, as if the lord of the land had asked out of a kind and good heart that one of the brothers might remain with him, who would also be kept there in peace and safety without all fear and danger. For they are hypocrites and worksaints, who cannot well suffer the righteousness and holiness of sin to be put to shame. God's righteousness and truth have no place there; sin alone is righteous and holy. They do not say that Simeon has been captured and put in prison, but that the Lord of the land is very kind to him and will let him wait, who will keep him with him as a guarantor so that they will not do anything evil against the Egyptians; but he could easily be released if they would only bring Benjamin to him.
253. but in this place Moses again troubled the grammarians, that they were troubled with the Hebrew word
raabon, namely: Why he called the grain so, if it is called otherwise Theurung; and reads after the Hebrew thus: Take the Theurung, not: Food, your houses. What kind of grammar is this, that he calls grain "Theurung"? The Hebrews and especially the rabbis get very angry about it, and it can be seen from this that they do not have the knowledge of both things and grammar. And no one can establish the Hebrew grammar again, but only the Christians, who understand that about which the Scriptures primarily deal, that is, who recognize Christ, the Son of God; for where He is rightly recognized, everything else becomes finely clear and transparent. But this can easily be interpreted, if one pays attention to the way of speaking and also to the figures. For no language has more figures than the Hebrew.
Now it is a common and ordinary figure not only among the Hebrews, but also among the Latins and Germans, which is called antiphrasis, as when we call a wicked desperate boy a pious man. And especially in the household regiment this figure is much used against servants and children; as when we say: Dear Squire, dear pious 2c., when we ironically command or admit something and yet mean the opposite. And what is irony or sarcasm but antiphrasis, only that the latter lies in a single word, the latter in the whole speech.
(255) Now as Moses called bread "breaking," because they used no knives, but the bread which they were about to eat was broken; so in this place also he says, Bring raabon, that is, theurung, or really the antithesis, abundance or fullness against hunger. As the physicians speak of pestilence pills, not because they bring the pestilence, but because they drive it away.
256 Thus chesed is a very beautiful word; as, Matth. 9, 13. and Hos. 6, 6.: "I am pleased with mercy, and not with sacrifice"; item in the 4th Psalm v. 4: "The Lord leads His saints (chasid) whimsically";
Likewise also Isa. 40, 6: "All flesh is hay, and all its goodness is like a flower of the field. There it reads and means actually so much as, honor, goodness, wisdom and what can only be good in the flesh. But the same word is also used by Moses in the 3rd book at the 17th and also in the 20th chapter, where it is called a great vice or blood shame, and yet it actually means mercy, good deed or other good work; as, 1 Tim. 6, 2: "Because they are partakers of good deeds," that is, of divine grace and good deeds. Therefore, when Moses says that those who have committed chased are guilty of death, he means that they have not done a good work, but have committed a great vice, for which they must suffer death.
257 Thus Christ is called sin, when he is the sacrifice for sin, that sin may be paid for. For this is the use of this language, in which it is entirely up to him how he will speak, and what the force and manner of the words or speeches shall be: Quem penes arbitrium est et vis et norma loquendi, as the poet says. And one cannot indicate a cause for such figures, which the common usage has thus introduced and brought along; but the rules must give way to the same usage, and one must look for figures from grammar, so that one may explain or excuse such speeches, which the usage gives and brings along. And in all languages it must be allowed that they may have this freedom in such speeches as are somewhat contrary to common usage. Similarly, we must also help ourselves out of this torture.
258 But what follows in the text, where Joseph says: "And you may advertise in the country", these words also have a special power. For the word sachar actually means as much as to go about, to buy and to handle. And Moses above, Cap. 23, 16, also uses the same word when he says of Abraham that he bought the field for burial and spent four hundred shekels of silver for it, which was common in the purchase; according to the Hebrew, this is silver that is put into circulation by the merchants. For therefore the merchants
They are called by the Hebrews because they wander about in the country and run from one place to another like flies. Therefore Joseph said he would give them power to go about in the land, and to handle or advertise, if they would bring their youngest brother to him. For all things are come upon Benjamin, that he may be brought into Egypt.
V.35. And when they had poured out the sacks, they found every man his little bundle of money in his sack. And when they saw that they were bundles of their money, they were afraid together with their father.
The Hebrew word, rik, means to make single. From there comes Racha, Matth. 5, 22. which means a loose, vain and despised person. Now here they open all the sacks. For we said above that they had many of them, but they did not open them all in the inn. But now each one has emptied his sack, and the grain is kept in a common pantry, over which the father has had power, who is to take it out again for all their daily needs.
260 And when each of them found his money in his sack, they thought that it must have been specially ordered and arranged by Joseph, or that the money must have been returned to them by an angel or a devil through divine intervention. Because of this, they were greatly frightened and anxious that they should be punished for the theft; but they still conceal from their father that they had sold Joseph, and they do not think otherwise than that Joseph had died. And again, Joseph himself doubts whether his father and Benjamin are still alive and well. And this is the reason why he does not stop frightening and scaring them more and more, which he meant to bring them to repentance and confession.
But the old father was also afraid with them at the same time. He must also bear with them. For so it must be, when the wicked are punished, that the godly must also bear a part of the punishment. That is why they are all frightened,
both the brothers and the father. For Simeon was a prisoner, whom they had hoped to free again without any trouble, if only they would bring Benjamin. But now that they have opened their sacks, they are again dismayed, and fear that they have been secretly pursued; and when they come again to the lord of the land, they will all be wounded for theft. All this is only to humiliate them. For Joseph will not harm them, but will do them good and honor them, and when they are humbled, he will bring them to the highest glory.
Seventh Part.
Of Jacob's conduct, when he hears that Simeon is to be left behind, and Benjamin is to be sent with him to Egypt.
V. 36. Then Jacob their father said to them: You are robbing me of my children; Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, Benjamin you will take away; it is all over me.
262 We have heard before how the sons of Jacob have spoken so fine artificially, and indeed thought that they would get away in this way. For they said that the lord of the land had dealt so harshly with them without their merit and through no fault of their own, and that their brother had not been imprisoned, but had only had to remain there as a guarantor, without any danger; but they kept silent about the imprisonment, so that they would not frighten their father with it, and that he would not take cause from it to inquire a little more diligently about all things.
But it seems as if the words of his sons did not count much with him and that he believed them little. For he says: You are killing all my children. And this is not a fictitious complaint, but he speaks out of a fatherly heart and concern in the potential indicative (that is, he pronounces as certain that which they possibly intended), as if he wanted to say: You now want to take Benjamin.
You say that the lord of the land kept Simeon there out of good gracious intention; and when I sent Joseph to you in the field that time, you brought me the news how a wild beast had torn him apart. What else could I think now but that you boys are dealing with it, that you want to rob me of the children I had most dear? Joseph, who was born of my most noble wife, perished; now you want to take away his brother by force, so that nothing remains of Rachel, but all her children and heirs perish. Devour one by one.
These are all fatherly thoughts and suspicions, which would have troubled me myself. And so God tempts the patriarch Jacob through his own sons, so that he must not believe or trust them at all, but must think and have suspicion that it is all a set-up, as one is wont to say, that he is only to be robbed of his dearest children.
Jerome has even obscured and falsified the correct historical understanding of this passage by translating the text too freely, namely: Simeon lies imprisoned, and now you also want to accept Benjamin. For the Hebrew text does not say this, and the other brothers have diligently concealed the fact that Simeon was bound and imprisoned, so that they would not increase his father's pain. Therefore Jacob knows nothing of the prison; otherwise he would not have let Benjamin go. He had already decided that he would rather let Simeon stay in Egypt than let Benjamin go down with the other brothers. If they had said this: We have been imprisoned three days, and Simeon is still imprisoned, and will not be released unless Benjamin is sent there; then they would have gained nothing at all from the father. Therefore they say that it was for a good reason that Simeon remained in Egypt as a guarantor, so that they might return and prove before the lord of the land that they were not spies.
With this rhetoric and finely decorated speech they intend to persuade the father to send his son Benjamin with them. But Jacob again meets them with a short dialectic and says thus: I have now been warned so often to my detriment that I have also become wise about it, and for this reason I cannot so easily believe you. Simeon and Joseph are no longer present. He thinks that both of them will have perished, and he cannot be persuaded that Simeon should have remained there as a guarantor, but says: "As often as I send you out, whether to the field or to unknown places, you come again, and always leave out one whom you have either lost or killed. You boys, he will have said, you yourselves will strangle one another.
So the pious old man is tempted hard enough by his own sons, and he will not have made this complaint without great pain of his heart, that his two sons would no longer be there. If Benjamin should now go down to Egypt, he says, he would also perish through your wickedness. And this is also truly a frightening example of godlessness against their father. And because God has made these wicked boys blessed, He will also make us blessed. But they have finally had to suffer severe punishment enough because of their ungodliness. Reuben now takes the rhetoric he has begun to the full, as follows in the text:
V. 37 Reuben answered his father and said, "If I do not bring him back to you, strangle my two sons; only give him into my hand and I will bring him back to you.
Reuben, as the firstborn, wants to earn gratitude and offers his father to make his two sons his guarantors. But this is a very unwise thing, and he has not done it wisely. For what could be more foolish than to make your grandchildren your guarantors, so that he should punish them when you would not believe him? Or, how do you know that you will surely return? How, when you are with Simeon and
Benjamin would also be imprisoned? So Reuben has lost all sense and common wit or reason; for there must be much another pledge or surety. For this reason Jacob despises him, even with his two sons, because he prefers Benjamin to Reuben and all his children. Benjamin alone is left of Rachel, in whom the father had put all his hope and comfort for the firstborn; therefore he would rather keep Benjamin than Reuben and Simeon. And it seems as if he also considered him lost and perished.
V. 38. He said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone remains; if an accident should befall him on the way you are traveling, you would bring my gray hairs into the pit with sorrow.
Jacob has firmly decided in his heart that he will not let his son Benjamin go, and so he says: "Those of you who want to go, let them go; but I will not allow this one to be torn away from me. He does not pay attention to the other sons, he commands them to fortune, they may go as God wills; he is also silent about how Simeon would like to be redeemed again. Although they told him, the father, that he should only have good hope for Simeon's sake, because there was no danger with him. He did not believe them, however, but thought that Simeon had also perished.
But Benjamin is the only one he cares about now; he is very concerned about him and prefers him to all the others; and he has important and necessary reasons for this, namely, because he was Rachel's son and the honor of the firstborn belonged to him. But of all the others he could think nothing good. I see," he says, "that your counsels, and what you undertake, are all unfortunate and come to a bad end; therefore I will not so easily put Benjamin in such fear and danger. Nevertheless I will not hinder you, lest ye all go down with one another, or lest some of you go down among yourselves.
271. this fear and suspicion of Jacob is
human and natural. For those who are in temptation always think in their hearts of that which is most evil and sorrowful: just as those who are punished and miserable also think nothing good of God, for only such things occur to them in their minds, by which their misery and unhappiness are only made greater. Yes, over all this they let themselves think that all circumstances and what might only happen by chance are unfortunate and highly dangerous.
And this is the devil's work, which he is especially wont to practice in a poor conscience that is guilty before God; he attacks it with poisonous bites and his fiery arrows in a very frightening manner. Just as again, when everything is well with us and goes according to our will, no one thinks of how close to us death, the devil and all kinds of danger may be; as the old man wisely says in the comedy: Quamobrem omnes, cum secundae res sunt, maxime meditari secum oportet, quo pacto adversam aerumnam ferant, pericula, damna, exilia, that is: We should all, when we are well, think most of all how we will bear the misfortune, danger and harm that may befall us. He who travels through the fields and returns home should always remember either that his son has sinned, or that his wife has died, or that his daughter has fallen ill, because these are common things and can easily happen to anyone; and that he should not let himself think in his heart that such things are new. But everything that happens differently than we had hoped for before may be counted as a gain.
But this does not occur to us when we do not encounter any misfortune; indeed, we tend to sleep on both ears as if there were no need at all, just as we tremble and tremble in temptation and where punishment is present. For this is the nature of man. That is why we are poor people on both sides, for better or for worse. We often make up for ourselves one sin, for the sake of which we are punished, many other innumerable sins more. And again, when we are safe and at peace, even though we have many sins, we are not at peace.
We don't think about any of them, and we don't fear any danger.
274 We should recognize this weakness in ourselves, namely, that our conscience, when it is secure and joyful, gathers much innumerable joy: but when it is sad and sorrowful, it can gather nothing but vain harm, misery, and unhappiness. For this is shown both by the examples of holy scripture and by each man's own experience. When my heart is burdened with sadness or anger, many thoughts seem quite true; but when I come to myself again afterwards, I can easily understand the error.
275 But the sons of Jacob were delayed at home a little longer than they had hoped. For they thought they would soon return to Egypt, so that they could keep their promise and release their brother. And they had a good enough reason to come to Egypt again soon, but their father stood in their way, so that they could not accomplish what they had planned. For he would rather that Simeon should be put in danger than Benjamin, and he puts forward a fine dialectic argument against all the rhetoric they had used, saying thus: "For if Benjamin should meet with an accident on the way, you would surely kill me.
The Hebrew word, ason, means harm or injury, whether it is fatal or not. Dear sons, he says, consider what a misfortune it would be if I were to die of pain and suffering through your fault, which could happen if you were to take Benjamin away and he were to come into danger, as we did for Joseph and Simeon: I would also have to die a very heavy and unworthy death. Yes, he also cites his gray hairs about this; which is movable enough. "You would," he says, "bring my gray hairs into the pit with heartache." I want to die gladly, and because I am now almost old and weary from many worries, I long for death. But it's pathetic that my sons are thinking about it.
are to blame that I, an old man, should now still die of sadness and suffering, and that I, who have been well tried and almost consumed for a long time because of so many misfortunes, should still end my life in such great sorrow, lamentation and pain.
277 These are indeed hard arguments, which he sets against their rhetoric, by which they had pretended that the Lord of the land had dealt graciously and kindly with Simeon, their brother, and was still favorable and gracious to him. But Jacob answered them, saying, Be it what it may; Simeon was not kept from among my sons alone without a cause, when nothing of the kind happened to the others. I see that you have agreed with one another and have devised this cunning among yourselves, so that you may lead Benjamin away and thus deprive me.
Such arguments are very good, and are taken from the necessary, impossible, honorable and conscience. For this is a great sin, that one should put his old father into such sorrow and grief that he is completely consumed by it and dies.
279 Lastly, in this place also the Hebraists dispute about the word sheolah, which they understand of the grave and translate "pit. But they mock us for interpreting it to mean hell. But we ask nothing of the unlearned asses, who have been given a wrong meaning and have already been plunged into utter darkness, so that they cannot understand even their own native language.
But the word keber must mean something else and scheolah must also mean something else. And as the Latin word sepulchrum, grave, in Hebrew liver, is a common word for both the godly and the godless: so it is also with the word sheolah. This is certain and is taken from the common usage of the holy scriptures, only that this is the difference: the word liver, grave, actually means the earth that is dug up, and in it the body of the deceased is laid and buried. For many die who are not buried in the ground, as those who are buried in the ground.
torn apart by wild animals, or who are hanged or burned, they cannot have a burial, and yet it is said of all that they descend from this life into the pit.
281 Therefore these words are properly distinguished, that "grave" is a place where the body and bones of the deceased are buried in the earth, there being a certain definite time, person and place. Sheolah is a common place or receptacle, not only of bodies but also of souls, where all the dead are gathered. Augustine, in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium, calls it: abdita receptacula animarum, that is, secret places where souls are kept. Therefore, this chaos, this chasm, although unknown to us, in which there is no difference of place, time or person, is where those go who have no graves. It is a common place, where it is otherwise called a place, not for the body, but for the soul.
In the apostolic symbol we say that Christ suffered, died, was buried, and descended into hell; since these two things are distinguished in the manner of the Hebrew language, namely the burial and the descent into hell. And in the 16th Psalm v. 10. Christ says: "You will not leave my soul in hell."
Therefore Sheolah is actually, if one wants to describe it correctly, the place or container of the souls. But what kind of place this is, the ancients have made many countless questions and disputations. We should be content with this distinction: that as the body is preserved in the earth, so the soul, when it is separated from the body, also comes to its certain place, Sheolah. And are not distinguished sheolah or receptacles of the godly and godless. The others dispute about it somewhat sharply, and there are various arguments on both sides, which give me little to do.
284 In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus Luc. 16, 22. 23. it is said that the rich man was buried in hell, which was not a grave of the body, but of the soul; and yet we must think differently of the godly than of those who have been buried in hell.
The wicked, both of whom are in the same sheolah with each other. As Jacob says here and above, Cap. 37, v. 35, also: "I will go down with sorrow into the pit to my son"; item: "You will bring my gray hairs with heartache into the pit." And of the death of the godly is a certain and very clear text in the prophet Isaiah at 57th Cap. V. 2. "And the righteous come to peace, and rest in their chambers"; item Gen. 15, 15. "And thou shalt go to thy fathers with peace, and be buried in a good old age"; and in 25. Cap. V. 8: "Abraham was gathered to his people." This is the Sheolah, that is, the place where the godly are gathered, which Isaiah calls "peace," since in 57th Cap. V. 2. he says: "The righteous come to peace, and rest in their chambers"; for they have walked rightly before him. There he speaks of the dead. So it is said to King Josiah, 2 Chron. 34, 28. "Behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave with peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof."
All this is evident and certain from the holy Scriptures, that the saints or believers go after the body into their pit (keber); as Abraham was buried in the field of Ephron near Mamre, Gen. 25:9. But after the soul they go into their chambers, into the Sheolah, where they are gathered together with their fathers. And the godly also have their pits, wherein they go; but that they may rest therein. And though they go thither with sorrow, yet there they come to rest and peace. And this descent of the godly is nothing else, but that this life is changed into another state, since one no longer lives under the sun and on earth; but while they leave this life, they now go into their sleeping chamber and little resting bed, in which they sleep and rest, until body and soul come together again in the future and eternal life.
286 Therefore the Scripture does not say anything about purgatory, but it says that the saints and the righteous go into it sheolah, as
they enjoy the most pleasant and sweetest peace and tranquility. But he is righteous who, though a poor sinner, believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and receives absolution, so that he is absolved of his sins through the ministry of preaching, is baptized, and has used the sacrament of the altar; and is thus truly absolved of sins and also righteous before God. There is no purgatory prepared for him, but the grave of the soul, the Sheolah of the blessed, peace and rest in his bed of sleep.
Before the time of the incarnation of Christ, it was called "the bosom of Abraham. And Christ Himself also uses this name, which He undoubtedly took from the speeches of the godly and the dear fathers, since He says Luc. 6, 22: Lazarus was brought into Abraham's bosom, but the rich man's sheolah was flames of fire. And this state and condition of the wicked alone is known to God, and cannot be comprehended or understood by us; but the rich man's body was laid in the grave (keber). This, then, is my opinion as I understand these words or names.
There is another question about the soul of Christ, which, united with the Godhead, descended to hell. And how this descent took place, we do not know; for this was something special about Christ, of which he says in the 16th Psalm, v. 10: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou suffer thy saint to perish. For hell did not keep his soul, sleeping or resting, nor did the grave keep his body, that it should rot therein, as Martha says of her brother Lazarus John 11:39: "Lord, he stinketh already; for he hath lain four days." Therefore he is called the firstborn of the dead, Col. 1, 15.
Those who have been raised by Christ have not been able to testify otherwise than that they slept and lay in a bed of rest, and were preserved in the bosom of Abraham, as they are now preserved and preserved in the bosom of Christ.
(290) And this much we may know of the places where the body and soul are preserved and kept, namely, that keber, that is, the grave, is the place for the body; but sheolah for the soul that sleepeth, either of the godly, or of the wicked; but yet with a difference. And what kind of rest this is, we do not know.
But I often think that we cannot reach or understand such a thing, since we cannot even understand how man can live in this life when he sleeps. For if we were not accustomed to sleep through constant and daily use, we would be frightened by it, as by death itself, since sleep is nothing other than, as it were, an exit from this life, so that you yourself do not know where or who you are. While I am alive, I do not sleep, but take note of what is around and beside me, and go about bravely and uprightly: but when I sleep, I know nothing of myself, nor do I know the place where I may be, and it seems as if I had been placed in another life.
Because sleep is such an ordinary thing, no one is frightened by it, as we are used to being frightened when we see an unusual, frightening disease, or hear about it, as the disease called epilepsy is the falling sickness. When people are attacked with it, they are soon deprived of all their senses, and cannot move or move at all, as one usually does in this life, yes, they seem to be driven into another life, as it were, even in such a way that they feel nothing at all, if they were already burned by fire or immersed in water, they also see and hear nothing: therefore, those who are afflicted with the same disease are dead alive.
In this way also the children sleep in the womb for and for. And no one can achieve such miracles either with thoughts or words. And if we did not know that sleep is useful and healthy and does us no harm, we would not shy away from it any more than from death. But now this rest is
The sleep of the deceased people is even more miraculous, which the Scriptures use to call a sleep.
But since we, still living in this world, can sometimes feel or understand nothing less than that we should live, and yet God preserves the life of those who sleep and do or work nothing at all, why would we not ascribe to Him such great wisdom and power that He could preserve the soul even in death? For while the soul still dwells in the body, it is mocked in many ways in sleep, since in dreams loose or vain figures of many things occur to it, which are not true; yet it lives, regardless of the fact that it is so weighed down with sleep that it cannot exercise its effects and actions; the body, however, lies like a log without all sensation. Therefore, no one can easily say what sleep is, what waking is, or what the soul is 2c.
Until now we have spoken of the grave of the saints and also of the ungodly, and it is difficult to say something certain about it; we are also not so concerned that we should know so exactly how it is with the ungodly, because we must believe the words of Christ, who says of the deceased little girl Matth. 9, 24: "The little girl is not dead" 2c. The godly have enough of such knowledge and faith.
The theologians, called scholastics, make four spheres, that is, four places of hell. The first one they call limbus patrum, where they put those who died before the birth, suffering and resurrection of Christ, who were waiting for the redemption of Christ and descent to hell from this life. For heaven was not yet open. But they themselves do not understand what they say or hold. We call it Abraham's bosom, as the gospel teaches us, which they call limbus patrum, wherein all the saints and godly are set before the future of Christ. And I will not dispute about the name, because it is truly known that the bosom was Abraham's, which is now the bosom of Christ.
297 For while Moses and Elijah were with Christ
Matthew 17:3, it is clear that he has all of these saints in his hand and power and that he is their God. They sleep and rest, as is known of all the blessed, so that Christ can raise them up when it pleases Him. Therefore, it is not necessary to pray for them, and it is much less necessary to spend so much money uselessly to deliver souls from purgatory, as is done in the papacy.
But if Augustine or other fathers have a different opinion, we should know that their writings must be read with right understanding and that no articles of faith should be made from the sayings or opinions of the fathers; as in former times, through such foolishness, terrible darkness and error were brought into the church.
Gregory alone was the beginning and founder of the many lies about Purgatory and the sacrificial masses for the dead. He wrote in one place that there had been a steward in his monastery who had left three florins among his books or letters, approximately and out of carelessness. When Gregorius found them after his death, he became extremely impatient with the deceased steward and cried out that he was damned for the sin of theft and would have to suffer eternal torment for it: although it was credible that the same monk had more opportunity to steal in other things, he never stole or embezzled anything; but this money had thus secretly lain among the letters or books, so that he himself knew nothing about it. And yet, as he said, Gregory's example and cry had so upset and frightened the others that from then on none of them wanted to keep even a penny. Finally, however, Gregory ordered that thirty masses be said for him, and when these were said, he writes, the same administrator appeared to him and thanked him most sincerely for such a great blessing, through which he was delivered from the chastisement and curse of God.
300. these were actually the powerful errors of which Paul writes, 2 Thess. 2, 11. and is from this example of Gregory
The infinite number of abominations and sacrifices for the dead have come into the whole world. But the ghost that appeared to him was the mischievous, wretched devil himself, who came out of hell to deceive and seduce the whole human race. For the frightful and outrageous lie of the purgatory and the masses for the dead is so great that no one can sufficiently understand or explain it.
It is a long fable, and long are the puffery activities, so that the pope and cardinals have brought about and obtained countless amounts of money and property. For there have been innumerable of the same horrible monsters, as, church robberies and other drudgeries. Yes, look at all the churches and monasteries, which were built with no other costs than with such money, which was given to buy sacrificial masses for the dead, and also the whole world gave their money and goods in heaps, namely, to redeem the souls from purgatory with it.
302) And there is no doubt that Christ spoke especially and particularly about the profanation and abuse of the Lord's Supper, so that they made the mass a sacrifice for the living and the dead, as he says Matth. 24, 15: "When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, that it stands in the holy place (let him who saw it take note)" 2c. For this has been a real idol and devilish monster, but has served them very well for their profit, money and property, and also to gain power over all the kingdoms of the world with it.
The doctrine of the gospel, which testifies that the godly sleep and rest in Christ, refutes and rejects all this ungodly and idolatrous nature of the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, which they made in their masses for the dead. Therefore, the godly, who have fallen asleep in the Lord, are not afraid of any chastisement of the purgatory, from which they could redeem the living with gold or silver. For it is written Isa. 57, 2: "They that have walked rightly in the sight of Him rest in their chambers." Item,
Revelation 14:13 says: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yea, the Spirit saith, that they may rest from their labor." They themselves often use this saying, but they have wrongly applied it to the salvation of souls from purgatory. Therefore, there has been a devilish malice in the pope and his apostles, as well as a pitiful blindness of foolish people, who have had no senses at all, and have been too careless to believe and to give money to such shameful and unbelievable abuses.
304. but we should fortify our hearts with the sayings of the holy scriptures against such strange opinions and false delusions, namely, that the souls of the saints do not lie in torment after this life, but rest from their labor; as Christ says Joh. 8, 51: "If anyone will keep my word, he will not see death forever"; item Joh. 11, 25. 26: "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die." He himself, the Lord of heaven and earth, was sent into this world by the Father to teach the same thing, which is to be grasped and held fast. But if we are deceived by this, how shall we have it so good, if we are deceived by our dear Saviour, and since we believe in the Son of God!
These things must be remembered for the sake of the young boys who are now growing up, and who do not know how great darkness, error and misery have been in the papist religion, which they still intend to defend and preserve by force; and above all they hold fast to the purgatory and abomination of their sacrificial mass for the sake of the great profit they have had from it over all Europe.
The third place is assigned by the scholastics to the damned, which is none of our business, since Christ alone redeems his saints so that they do not taste death; but we do not want to and cannot redeem the others, but rather consign them to the judgment of God. But there is no sheolah of the godly,
but the pit of the wicked. And how it is about the same, nothing can be said for sure; and this place they actually call Gehenna. Jerome says that the Lord Christ himself invented this word.
The origin of this word is that it may have come from the valley or the beautiful meadow in front of Jerusalem, where there was a forest towards the exit of the sun, which is remembered in Jer. 7, 31, where it is called the valley of Hinnom. For there the Jews sacrificed often and gladly, and thus despised the priesthood and temple that was in the city and had God's word and promise, namely, that God would accept the sacrifice and prayer of this people there. But they had more desire for the beautiful and pleasant valley, which was covered with many trees. This is the constant nonsense of the people at all times and among all peoples, namely, that outside the Temple and against divine order they always like to follow the beautiful pleasant forests, fountains, and water flights, just as if the sacrifice and prayer there should be more pleasing to God than in the place which He Himself has appointed for worship in His Word. But there they built altars and chapels, as can be seen from time to time in the sermons of the prophets.
3i)8 And before that time it also happened that people despised the right parishes and the preaching ministry and ran into the woods and to the sanctuaries of the dead saints. And the papists still persecute the right doctrine of the divine word, and often run away from the gospel and from their domestic and ordinary profession to St. Jacob's, to Our Lady's, and other such places.
So no one has been satisfied with his baptism, or with the church, having had the Word of Christ and the holy sacraments, having been called, baptized, and absolved, having had, heard, and felt God Himself speaking with him in the Word: but in every place they built churches and altars, and left off the Word and the sacraments; just as the Jews did, so did the people.
The king and queen, the princes, the priests, the prophets and the people went there in great numbers.
So great is the power of the devil, to whom the same is thus imposed by God, that he may thus mock the temple, the worship service and God's people. And it is no wonder that many people are annoyed when they see this disorder, so that they either say that there is no God at all, or cry out that God knows nothing about it, and does not pay attention to what people do on earth, so that he allows the devil so long and lets him have his way, and does not punish the great abomination and blasphemy of his holy name and the right worship.
For look at the impudent godlessness of the popes, how they still defend their mass, pilgrimages, monasticism and other such abominations with great boldness and outrage. With what abominations our Lord God is frighteningly angered, there is no doubt about it; and yet he lets the devil play his devilish game so impudently and nonsensically, mocking God Himself.
312 Now such a valley the Jews had instead of the right church, and called it Topheth of the children of Hinnom, and near it was the Oelberg and the valley Rephaim, which was very fertile, as in Thuringia there is a place called the golden meadow. They built a church there, which in reality was a real whorehouse, so that the poor souls were deceived and seduced. And they were so eager, foolish, and foolish in their imaginary worship that they not only sacrificed unreasonable animals there, such as goats, sheep, and oxen, as was done in the temple at Jerusalem and was despised at that time; but they also sacrificed people there, as in a place that was more holy, and even slaughtered their sons and daughters for it.
313. it says also Lyra and the others that in the church, so built there, the idol Moloch had been, whom they called a
God, or their king, or a severe judge, whom they must atone for with the sacrifice of their sons and daughters; as Ahaz sacrificed all his sons or dragged them through the fire, so that he did not leave an heir to the kingdom. Now there was an idol of brass, hollow within, made in the likeness of a man, and filled with fire behind, until it glowed and burned as it were. In the hand of the idol the child was placed, which was to be sacrificed to the idol, and the priests rang the bells with bells and timpani, so that the parents should not hear the cry of the dying child, and they had a special cry, so that they cheered the parents. They wished for happiness and thanked God for accepting the child without pain and suffering. Help God, how this has been such a terrible inhuman tyranny and cruelty! And yet it is certain that these sacrifices were very mean with them; as the 106th Psalm v. 37. 38. says: "And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the devils, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, which they sacrificed to the idols of Eanaaüs" re.
314 Therefore God threatens to destroy the same place to the ground, as He says Jer. 7:31-33: "The children of Israel are building the altars of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters; which I have never commanded nor thought of. Therefore, behold, the time cometh, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Topheth, and the valley of Ben Hinnom, but Chokethal; and they shall bury in Topheth, because there shall be no more room. And the corpses of this people shall become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, from which no one will scare them away" 2c. It shall be called the valley of death and the valley of strangulation, that the same holy place may become the burial place of the slain for the sake of idolatry.
315 The word "Thopheth" comes from toph, which means drum or kettledrum, as if to say: A temple of drums, so beaten, when the
Children are killed; in German, a drum church or pipe church.
In the 30th chapter, Isaiah poetically depicts the torment and torture that was to come upon the king of the Assyrians in hell. He makes him a song dance in hell. "It will," says Isaiah Cap. 30, v. 32, 33, "shall pierce the rod utterly, and shall well strike, when the LORD shall bring it upon him, with timbrels and harps, and shall strive against it everywhere. For the pit is prepared from yesterday" 2c. Which almost all who interpret the prophet understand of hell, Gehenna.
317 And with this name Christ also wanted to indicate eternal damnation, which name is taken from the bodily death stroke. For as there was the Gehenna or slaughter of the children, so God afterwards avenged their blood with a very great battle or defeat of the Jews, who were slain in the same place by the Chaldeans.
(318) But I hold that the children who perished in the same sacrifice became cowards; for the 106th Psalm v. 38 says, They shed innocent blood, that is, the blood of their sons. And as the children of Herod were slain, so were these slain and burned. But the foolish parents, who sacrificed such victims, have also finally received horrible punishments for it.
319. the word chinnam means free, free of charge, from chanan or chen; as, Ex. 21, 2. it is written of a Hebrew servant, who shall go out free in the seventh year, 2c.; and Isa. 52, 3.: "You are sold for free, you shall also be redeemed ohue money"; item in the 96th Psalm v. 5.: "They haffen me ohue cause." Hence comes chen or chamnah, that is, grace and mercy. Hence comes the name John. But I think that this valley was called so because it was a common place, where everyone could freely go for a walk; as with us are the forests, which are appropriated to no one in particular except the sovereign, and are otherwise open to all his subjects, that they may go out and come in there.
320. but Joshua in 15 Cap. V. 8. where he
the boundary to the tribe of Judah, the boundary line goes up through the valley of the son of Hinnom, passing by Jerusalem, but in such a way that it is excluded and remains at midnight, because it is not located in the tribe of Judah, but in Benjamin. Others say that Hinnom is the name of a man. But I will leave this to the grammarians.
321 I would rather interpret the word ben to mean a son, not of a man, but according to the custom of the Scriptures, which, according to their peculiar way of speaking, are wont to say "a son of death," item, "a son of the quiver," that they may understand an arrow; item, "a son of life. Likewise in Ecclesiastes Cap. 12, v. 4: "daughters of song," that she may have her ears understood. And in the 80th Psalm, v. 15, 16: "Seek out this vine, and keep it in the building, which thy right hand hath planted, and which thou hast firmly chosen for thyself." There he does not speak of a man, but of the place. And Is. 5, 1.: Vinea facta est dilecto meo in cornu filio olei: "My beloved has a vineyard in a fat place", which is situated high. For filius olei, a son of Oel, has no meaning for us; we also do not use the figure or manner of speaking: therefore we have rightly interpreted it to mean a fat place, a lard pit, in which everything grows well. Just as much is the word "Gethsemane," Matt. 26:36, the place where Christ was betrayed and taken, which Jerome has given as a fat valley, and writes that there were very fine gardens there; and Josephus also remembers it.
322 But I hold that Christ suffered the pains of hell in that same merry place; therefore he is hostile to it, and hath called it Gehenna, hell. For when he prayed in the garden, he was rightly in Gehenna and in hell. Perhaps the tree of knowledge of good and evil also stood there. For this reason our Savior Christ had to come into this valley and sweat bloody sweat; which sweat sufficiently indicates that he had tasted death, which is hell. Therefore
He does not call it a fat valley, but turns it around, like Jeremiah, and calls it Gehenna, hell, or, stranglethroat.
So Christ, our Lord and Savior, was in hell itself for us, for he truly felt death and hell in his body. What he did and felt when he departed from the body we do not know, but in life and in the body he truly tasted hell.
324 And I hold that his suffering on the cross was not so great as that in the garden, for nature could not have borne it. And this was truly a great thing, that he was able to endure the hard, difficult struggle that drove bloody sweat from his body; as Lucas Cap. 22, v. 44: "His sweat was like drops of blood that fell to the ground"; this was not just water, but pure blood that flowed from his body to the ground.
No one knows what kind of trial this was, and we should pray that we may never again struggle with such terror and fear. For we would not be able to bear it; indeed, our body and soul would soon perish with each other over it.
326 Therefore we should know that Christ at that time had to suffer the torment of hell, but still in the flesh; for what the soul did in hell, many dispute about in various ways. Whether he robbed hell and redeemed his own, who were gathered into the bosom of Abraham before his coming, is not necessary to be asked or investigated too closely. This we know for certain, that all saints or believers are eternally redeemed from the power of hell. And Christ has revealed this same grace to us in the gospel.
In the meantime, the grave, Sheolah, remains for the deceased godly people. Gehenna, however, is not a place of the godly; but the wicked have there their receptacle, since the place, called Thopheth, that is, the drum or pipe church, will be changed into an eternal howling and gnashing of teeth. will be changed into an eternal howling and gnashing of teeth; as Christ says Matth. 8, 12. The hell of the wicked is not a sheolah, will be
1556 L X, 21S-22U Interpretation of I Genesis 42, 38. W. n, 22SS-WW. 1557
We do not know whether they sleep or how they sleep after death. This is what I wanted to say in this place about the difference between the two words grave and Gehenna, which is called hell, so that it would not be necessary to deal with or talk about it in more detail at another time.
We will now come back to the patriarch Jacob, in which example a very beautiful doctrine is held up to us, namely, that the holy men were also men and not stones, blocks or sticks. For Jacob here forgets all the most glorious promises and falls away out of human weakness, and becomes of Israel, who before had fought and prevailed with God, Gen. 32, 28.Now again he is a very despised little man, disputes and is worried how his sons will fare, whether they are alive or dead, and behaves as childishly and womanishly as any man could do, no different than if you saw the pagan Cicero weeping over his daughter Tulliola, or David when he mourned over his sons Ammon and Absalom, in whom you see true and righteous men.
329 Thus Jacob is also described here as having been such a man, and the same is often said of the most high and holy men, who had their own promises, so that they alone were especially affected. As we have baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the promise of the gospel given to us, let us hold fast to these things and take comfort in them, so that we may never grow fainthearted or despair, for better or for worse. For why should I be afraid of the pestilence, of the Turk, of other dangers, and of the death of my children? Why am I so foolish, when I have a gracious God who protects me, who is favorable to me and comforts me?
But Jacob complains childishly here, because he says: "You rob me of my children" 2c. He could not have spoken more carnally, that of the promise given to him.
would be more repugnant. For in the same promise God clearly says: You shall grow and be multiplied; I will be your God. But now he knows nothing of all this; indeed, he knows nothing of himself, nor does he think that our Lord's promise must be certain and true. He has completely put it out of his mind and is becoming a naive child.
331 This is what we have often said, and to which the Scriptures bear witness, that though we are righteous, we are still in the flesh, and have the Holy Spirit and remission of sins, because we confess Christ to be our Savior; which would be impossible if the Holy Spirit were not in us, glorifying Christ.
Therefore, whoever praises and glorifies Christ with earnestness and a good conscience has a gracious God; as the Scriptures and the words of the apostles and the Son of God Himself testify, which cannot deceive us or fail us. Why then do we lament so vehemently and are so grieved? Why does Jacob, who also has a promise, complain and yet so completely forget about it, is completely carnal? Sin not only contends in his limbs, but wages a mighty war and takes him captive. Is it not unreasonable that we should be thus exercised and weakened by our own flesh? And on top of that comes the devil, who takes cause from the flesh and helps to increase unbelief in us, so that we cannot trust God, yes, he makes us forget God.
333 Therefore, all this is written for our comfort, that Jacob hardly sinned against his promise, which he received from God. For he should have said thus: What do I care if my son dies or lives? It is about a son. I have a God who has made me a promise, who comforts me, protects me, who is gracious and benevolent, who can show me many more and greater benefits and accumulate them. Why then do I complain? Why am I so distressed? But against all this he still says: "I will go down with sorrow into the pit. Well, that the great, excellent man should be so effeminate and childish....
And so easily forgets all the promise! For it is no wonder that his sons sin so hardly; for they are unrepentant and quite sure, do not want to know anything about the great grave crime that they have had on their hands for almost two and twenty years, which they still conceal and do not want to confess: they are real bad boys. But it is not good for the father to tremble and hesitate.
Therefore, in this example, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is held up to us, which is highly praised in all the histories of the dear Fathers, and is also taught and indicated in other places, namely, that the natural affections and inclinations that bring about this lamentation and mourning still remain in the saints or believers, and that God is not such a God who wants to break nature, but to heal it. The Holy Spirit does not make people into
They are not lumps or mad fancies when he gives them faith; but they preserve and increase all that is good in nature, as such are the paternal and filial affections and inclinations that parents and children have toward one another, for they are God's creatures. They are indeed weakened in many people, and are taken away and lifted up by the devil; but God lets them remain, and does not abolish them, as the monks and the spirits of the rotten do. For Joseph is also a strong and holy man who had great courage; yet he also weeps, as we heard above, v. 24.
335. But although this weakness in Jacob is sin, yet it is useful and good for him for humility, for the fear of God, for faith and right invocation or prayer, and for a greater joy in his heart; as we will see in the following chapters.