First part.
How Joseph travels to his sick father Jacob; and how the latter accepts Ephraim and Manasseh in the child's stead.
(v. 1, 2) Then Joseph was told, Behold, thy father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told Jacob, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee. And Israel made himself strong, and sat down in the bed.
1. Genesis goes on to describe how Jacob blessed his sons and says: After some days, in the same year, one of them announced to Joseph (for that is how it reads in Hebrew) that the sickness and weakness of Jacob's body was increasing and growing; and the physicians undoubtedly also indicated to him that a deadly aggravation had occurred and that it was now almost at the end with him; for which end Jacob had also long since waited and hoped with strong, constant courage. Joseph therefore feared that his father might die before blessing him and his sons, and had already spoken to him about this matter, especially and most of all.
Most of all for the sake of the tribe of Levi, that it might be divided and separated from the others. Therefore he brought his two sons with him, so that death would not befall their father before he had decreed, according to his fatherly authority, how each tribe was to be treated according to his will or according to the counsel they had previously held with each other.
(2) For this ordinance was most necessary, that there should be no strife or dissension among the descendants. And this was done by the special counsel of the Holy Spirit, that the tribe of Levi should be set apart and ordained to the priesthood, and therefore should have no goods or lands of their own, as the other tribes had. But in order that the number of the twelve sons of Israel might be fulfilled again, Jacob divided Joseph into two tribes, taking his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, in his place, who were put in Joseph's and Levi's place. And the holy scripture uses the two names, Ephraim and Joseph, without distinction; as is seen in the prophet Hosea, and also in the 77th Psalm, v. 16, where it is written, "Thou hast mightily redeemed thy people, the children of Jacob and Joseph."
3. Jerome has in this place the seven-
The interpreters have been punished for interpreting the same word differently and differently. Here they want to have that mittah means "bed", and afterwards they will also interpret it in the same way. They have no reason to make so many different interpretations and to be so inconsistent, and I do not like such inconsistency at all, for it seems as if they have taken special care to introduce so many different interpretations.
4 Since Jacob did not have the strength to stand up or sit on the chair, he made himself strong as best he could and sat up in bed, remembering that he had resolved to take his son's two sons in his place.
The blessing which Joseph received with his sons is not the special and particular blessing which will be described in the following chapter, v. 22 ff. but it is only a general blessing, because Jacob adopted Joseph's two sons as children. And though there may have been more such examples before in the generations of the patriarchs, yet this is the first place in Scripture where it is mentioned. And I do indeed dispute and hold that Sarah, Abraham's wife, was also Tharah's daughter, that is, that he adopted her as his daughter and brought her up. For this reason Abraham calls her his father's daughter and not his mother's, and also calls her his sister. Therefore this is the first example of adoption or adoption in the place of a child in the holy scriptures.
(6) This is the basis of the great fame and glory of the tribe of Ephraim, which has been very proud and exalted because of this text and the blessing that will soon follow, and they have often been severely punished because of this glory. However, they were not so proud without a reason, because it is a great glory that they were especially proud.
chosen by their grandfather, and as Jacob's grandsons to be joined with their cousins and made like them, to take the inheritance and possess the land. Hence came the pride and great hope of Ephraim, as they had arrogated royal power to themselves under Jephthah and Jeroboam, and had stood fast for it; and David also praised them highly, indicating that this tribe was the most powerful of all the others, saying, "Ephraim is the power of my head," Psalm 60:9. 60, 9. And 1 Chron. 8, 21. is told that the children of Ephraim out of their own iniquity and presumption took the right to fulfill the promise; for they wanted to be the forerunners of those who went out of Egypt and to take the promised land before the proper time. That is why they were severely punished by God and almost exterminated by the men of Gath or the natives of the same land.
7 Therefore we see how the descendants of the patriarchs have generally become naughty and not at all like their ancestors. For there was no such modesty and humility in them as there was in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were able to constrain and restrain their minds when things went well with them according to their will. But these became puffed up and proud when they had great honor and happiness.
(8) For it is much harder not to become proud in happiness than to have a peaceful heart in misfortune, to remain patient and constant in it; and the human heart can much more easily bear all kinds of misfortune than great happiness and when it is full; as it is said in the German proverb: There must be strong legs that can bear good days. So we should think that the Ephraimites also became proud because of this adoption, because Jacob had adopted them as children and blessed them; although God had not showered them with so many goods that they should become proud of it.
V. 3-6. And (Jacob) said unto Joseph, The Almighty God appeared unto me in Lus, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will cause thee to grow, and multiply, and will make thee a multitude of people; and
I will give this land to your seed after you forever. Now therefore thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came in unto thee, shall be mine, even as Reuben and Simeon. And they that thou begettest after them shall be thine, and shall be called as their brethren in their inheritance.
(9) Thus Jacob began his discourse, which he cut short, and told how the Lord had appeared to him in the land of Canaan, and had promised to multiply his seed, which must be repeated from what has been said above. For he had two appearances, at Lus and at Bethel. First, he saw the Lord on a ladder, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it, in the 28th chapter above. V. 13. The second time, when he came again from Mesopotamia, Cap. 35, 1. when Simeon and Levi had slain the Shechemites with the edge of the sword because of the shame they had committed with their sister Dinah, Cap. 34, v. 26. ff. For when they made the same noise, Jacob was so distressed by it that he feared that if perhaps the neighbors would avenge such unjust tyranny, he would perish with his whole house and be slain, and therefore there he spoke harshly to his sons and accused them, saying Cap. 34:30: "You have caused me misfortune, so that I stink before the inhabitants of this land, the Cananites and the Perizzites." Now when Jacob was so distressed and in such fear, God spoke to him and told him to go up to Bethel and live there, and also to make an altar there, Cap. 35:1. 35, 1. But when he had done this, he appeared to him a third time and spoke to him, changing his name and saying, Cap. 35, 10. "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but you shall be called Israel."
10 Now Jacob actually and primarily looked at this same appearance. Therefore, this text should be carefully noted, because it repeats the promise. For there God says to him Cap. 35, 11: "Be fruitful and multiply"; but here
he says, "I will make you grow and multiply." And perhaps this is the reason why he seems to break off so shortly, as an old childish man is wont to speak. For he starts so high, and yet so suddenly stops talking again.
Now it is often said why God is called el shaddai in Hebrew, and the same name is also found in the 91st Psalm v. 1, since our interpreter has given it thus in Latin: Sub protectione Dei coeli commorabitur, "He who remains under the shadow of the Almighty. And the Lord also used the name several times above, when he spoke to Abraham and Jacob; and it comes from the word schad, which means breast; it is also called desert or spirit; as the Jews now call the devil sched in Hebrew. It is such a word, which has many meanings, but in this place it means only one; as if we wanted to say: God is such a God who nourishes, Deus alumnus, as the Greeks called the goddess Diana in their language polymastos, in Latin mammosa, who had many breasts, so that she was a wet nurse or mother of Asia and the whole world, who gave food to all animals and nourished them all. And the name belongs to God alone, for he alone is the one who nourishes and sustains all that he has created. We have translated it: "The almighty God" etc.
(12) Now, although it seems that Jacob stopped his speech very short, he who looks at the words a little more diligently will find that they are not the words of an old childish man, or that he does not finish his speech because of his age, but that they are actually the words of a man who has been full of the Holy Spirit. For from this repetition, as he repeats the promise of the increase of his seed, it is clear that he understood from the Holy Spirit that it would come about that Ephraim, Joseph's son, would be adopted into the number of the twelve tribes of brothers and his children.
13) And this can often be seen in the holy scriptures, as the prophets, through special enlightenment and gift of the Holy
Spirit from comparison of the things and words much have been able to read out. When in the 51st Psalm v. 9. David says: "Defile me, Lord, with Ysophen" etc., he took the same way of speaking of the sprinkling of water and ashes, of which 4 Mos. 19, 4. 6. is written; because from this he concludes: It will be a much different sprinkling than the one of which the law of Moses says. So they could also decrease at the sacrifice of the paschal lamb and understand the right true lamb, which carries the sin of the world.
14 And they had a very beautiful rule of such figures and models in Moses himself, since he says 2 Mos. 25, 40: "See that you make it in their image, which you saw on the mountain," namely, the tabernacle and the rest of it. From this the prophets could easily understand that the same whole building must signify another pattern and image, namely, the Lord Christ. The outward image according to the Law is that they had incense, blood, sacrifice and tabernacle to go around. But God gave Moses another meaning in the heart and also in the mouth; although He cannot give anything else but only the shadow, an outward painting and image of the things He has seen; as He says of Himself, Deut. 18, 15: "A prophet like me, the Lord your God will raise up for you" etc. As if he wanted to say: I am not yet the right prophet; I am only a shadow and outward image: but another will come, whom God will raise up from you etc.
(15) In this way the fathers and prophets, by the inspiration and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, from the comparison of things and words, understood gloriously and well what was done in the law by outward ceremonies. And just in such a sense Jacob repeats here also the words of the previous appearance, and concludes from it that this son Ephraim, so of Joseph was born, is actually entitled to him. As if he wanted to say: Now I realize why God said to me in Bethel: "Be fruitful and multiply". For since the promise was made to him at Lus, when Jacob went to his father Isaac, his wife Rachel died on the way, from whom he had hoped for children and
He was unable to beget children because his wife had died and he was also very old.
(16) For this reason he thought: I see that miraculously what was promised to me at Bethel is yet to be fulfilled. For this reason God has especially preserved Joseph, that heirs should yet be born to me from him. And as he was the greatest of Jacob's sons, so the tribe of Ephraim was also the greatest and royal tribe when it was joined to Manasseh. Jacob saw this in his mind and concluded that the increase promised to him would take place in Ephraim, whose name comes from the Hebrew word parah, which means to bear fruit. Fruit-bearing; as Joseph interprets it in 41 Cap. V. 52. where the text says: "The other he called Ephraim; for God, he said, has made me grow in the land of my misery." And for this reason he will be preferred to his brother Manasseh, so that he may fulfill the meaning of his name.
(17) Therefore the words of the speech which Jacob hath here hang together very closely. For if you want to ask: What is his reason for adopting Joseph's sons as his children? he answers thus: Because the Almighty God appeared to me in Lus, and promised that I should be multiplied. So both the appearance and the promise of God are in perfect harmony with the name of Joseph's son. That is how he interprets it. As if to say: You, Joseph, were a prodigal and a sold son, but I have now received you back by a rich and glorious restitution; for I will accept your two sons, born of you, into the number of my sons and of the twelve tribes.
18 Therefore it is also said in 1 Chronicles 6:1 that the firstborn of Reuben was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel. According to the law, the firstborn was entitled to two inheritances: the kingdom and the priesthood. Joseph was born of Jacob's right wife, whom he loved best, although Reuben, the firstborn of Leah, went before him in time. But when he had left his father's bed
unclean, he has lost his right and glory. And in the next chapter v. 4. the father will say to Reuben: "You shall not be the chief"; and Moses adds one more, Deut. 33, 6. and says of Reuben: "And his rabble be low" etc. Therefore the increase is taken from Reuben and given to the youngest son and his brother Joseph. Just as Jacob does not apply it to the other brothers, but especially to Joseph and his sons, who were to grow and become great before the other tribes. And this is the reason that Jacob took Joseph's sons as his children. Therefore he says to Joseph, "You and your two sons shall be mine. Why is that? Because, he says, God appeared to me in Lus, and said to me, Behold, I will make you grow and multiply etc. So everything Jacob says here is finely connected, if you consider the promise, namely, as the cause and the effect.
019 And he called his two sons Reuben and Simeon, that Ephraim and Manasseh should come in their stead. For the firstborn would have been theirs, but the father punished Reuben because of the blood shame, and Simeon because he had been a ringleader in the sale of Joseph, and deprived them of such glory. Therefore these two tribes were the least and most despised of all the people, and are still the least in that yeast of the Jews, as we have said many times. But the tribes that came in their place, that the number might be fulfilled, are sometimes called after Ephraim, sometimes after Joseph, and sometimes after Jacob.
020 And the rest of the sons, whom Joseph shall beget, saith Jacob, shall be called by their brethren's names; that they may be as the nephews of them whom he shall make like unto his sons, when he shall receive them for children: and these shall be written children of Israel, and shall be called brethren of the rest of Jacob's sons, though they were his grandsons. Therefore Ephraim and Manasseh are the brethren of Judah, and of Joseph their father, for the adoption of Jacob.
They have therefore inherited and possessed the Promised Land with the other tribes, and Ephraim has also attained the royal glory.
21 Therefore God honored the holy man Joseph, so that his sons would not be considered lower or inferior to Judah and the other sons of Jacob.
022 Now this last part Lyra and the rest that wrote of this book have interpreted otherwise, that the other sons of Joseph should not make a separate tribe, which is rightly said, but that they should be reckoned with their heirs among Ephraim and Manasseh. But this is false and unjustly spoken. But thus will Jacob say, These two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, will I accept, that they shall be mine, and not thy sons. You are their father by nature, but they will not be counted or reckoned according to their natural sonship, but as I have adopted them as my children. They will not keep your name, but will be called after me, the children of Israel.
023 But that Jacob adds, These shall be called as their brethren; this is not to be applied to Ephraim and Manasseh, as Lyra interprets it; but he saith, The brethren without, these two excepted, shall have thy name. As the pronoun sufficiently indicates, it is added: "in their inheritance. As if to say, "The others will have their own property, which will be distinct from the inheritance of Ephraim and Manasseh, which is mine in the land of Canaan and which I will distribute among my ten sons, to whom I will add these two, born of you, for they will be included in their number. The others shall have their possessions elsewhere, whether in Egypt or in Arabia etc. And they shall be called either by thy name, or by the name of any other, so shall they be called.
They are not called the children of Israel, but they may be called Josephites; for after these two, who are to be called Israelites, some have already been born in this world, and some will be born of you in the future.
V. 7 And when I was come out of Mesopotamia, Rachel died unto me in the land of Canaan, in the way that was yet a highway to Ephrath; and I buried her there by the way of Ephrath, which is now called Bethlehem.
(24) This also does not seem to fit in well with what has been said above. Therefore, the others written about this book raise many questions, all of which I leave unanswered, for they do not indicate what Jacob might have omitted in his speech. Jacob says that Rachel died in childbirth in Hebron on the way from Luz to his father Isaac, as is evident from what has been said above. Bethlehem or Ephrathah was not far from Hebron and Jerusalem, and I believe that these two cities were about five miles apart. Bethlehem, however, is about halfway between the two places and is two miles from Jerusalem.
26. they also dispute the word kibrat; but we understand it simply to mean a field way, as we have also Germanized it; in Latin, stadium.
(26) But what does Jacob mean by this account, which does not seem to belong to this place at all, nor does it seem to be connected with that which is spoken of here? We have previously indicated the reason why he had put on the promise, namely, that he wanted to establish the sonship of Ephraim and Manasseh through the Holy Spirit. Now this also belongs to it. For he is not such an old childish man, but he wants to say this much: Since God had promised me that he would make me grow and multiply, and my wife had already borne me two sons, I hoped to beget more children with her, so that my children would be many and my family would be multiplied according to the promise: but that same wife has come to me unawares, whom I never expected.
died, having been overcome by the pains of childbirth. Therefore it was necessary for me to adopt your sons as children, since I myself had no children in the flesh, and the promise could not be understood that the increase should come from myself, since my wife had died and was buried. So this also, what Jacob says here, belongs to the reason why he took Joseph's sons as children.
(27) The rabbis of the Jews bring forth useless gossip, that Jacob should have apologized before his son Joseph, why he buried his mother at Bethlehem, and not in the twofold cave. But this is a vain loose talk. For he could easily have had the body of the deceased Rachel carried several miles to the burial place of the patriarchs. Therefore, it is not an excuse, but a simple narrative. Nor have they in this place rightly drawn the text from the prophet Jeremiah about the weeping and crying of Rachel; but this our opinion and understanding I hold to be quite certain, namely, that Jacob, when he was very poor and miserable because of many temptations and afflictions which he suffered, raised himself up and strengthened himself in this way: If my seed is to be multiplied, it will be necessary for me to adopt others as children, for the woman from whom I understood this promise has died. For I never thought that the promise should go to Leah; but I have a son by Rachel, Joseph, and another, Benjamin, in whose birth she died miserably. But now that my hope is gone, says Jacob, I will accept your two sons as my children. For two reasons: first, because the promise was made to me; and second, because my wife died to me, and the promise cannot now be fulfilled from myself.
This is such a cause and opinion, which history itself brings with it and so that it also rhymes finely, and is the first part of this chapter. For up to this point, the foundation of this filiation has been laid, which
is in the divine promise, which Jacob understands by the illumination of the Holy Spirit from the sons of Joseph.
V.8-12. And Israel saw the sons of Joseph, and said, Who are they? Joseph answered his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them hither unto me, that I may bless them. For the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and could not well see. And he brought them unto him. And he kissed her, and blessed her, and said unto Joseph, Behold, I have seen thy face, which I thought not of: and, lo, God hath made me to see thy seed also. And Joseph took them from his bosom, and bowed himself to the earth toward his face.
29 This is the other part of this chapter, in which the adoption is dealt with, for which Jacob has made a preface up to now. But why does he ask, "Who are they?" as if he had not known his son's children, who had already come to their years. For he had been seventeen years in Egypt, and Manasseh was born in the second or third year, and Ephraim in the fourth year, and now they are three or four and twenty years old. Moses himself put the cause afterward, saying, "For the eyes of Israel were dim with age." For they did not stand so near to him as Joseph did, but remained a little farther from him out of humility and reverence. But the other brethren were not with him. Therefore, when Jacob saw them standing far away from him and could not recognize them by sight, he asked, "Who are they?" and told them to bring them both to him, so that he might at least touch and feel them, since he could see so badly with his eyes.
(30) For old age dimeth the eyes, and dulleth the ears, and all the senses. According to the Hebrew it reads: Oculi gravescebant prae senio, erant gravati: The eyes had become heavy before age, which could not see well still stiffly. Jacob was old and cold to see, to hear and to believe. So Isaiah also speaks
On 6 Cap. V. 10: "Let their ears be thick, and blind their eyes." As if he wanted to say: They are hard to hear the gospel, do not allow themselves to be moved by the preaching of the gospel, do not ask anything about it, but despise it, no differently than if they heard an unknown foreign sound from afar, which they could hardly hear; as one says in the Latin language: graviter audire, to hear badly.
031 And when they were come nigh, he kissed them, as the sons of his son, and embraced them, and did the same with great delight and joy, though they were of old age. All this served that he wanted to accept them as his children. Therefore he rejoices in the Holy Spirit and says: "I never thought" or hoped for this. The Hebrew word is pillalthi,, in Latin: Non judicavi, non feci hoc decretum vel judicium etc., which is: I could not have decided this for myself, nor should I have taken it into my mind that it would come to me that I should have seen your face. So now he goes out with an exclamation, rejoices and gives thanks with all his heart, thinking of this immeasurable goodness of God. As if he wanted to say: You were dead in my heart and I had despaired of you. But are not the works of God marvelous in the government of the saints and believers? O how great and marvelous is this good deed of God, which hath restored thee unto me, that I may not only see thy face, whereupon I had no hope that I should see thee again; but he hath also caused me to see thy seed, which are very beautiful godly youths.
He said all these things when he was full of joy and of the Holy Spirit, and there this adoption is confirmed by the Holy Spirit, as are the other works of the patriarchs, both of which they did in the temporal and domestic government, although there were no other witnesses, nor were letters or seals made.
033 And when he had kissed her, and was about to bless her, Joseph came near; and fearing lest peradventure
the father with his dark eyes cannot distinguish the two brothers and perhaps prefers the disciple to the eldest, then he takes them from his bosom and bows to the earth against his face. The Hebrew word aph they have commonly interpreted in Latin, facies, nares, face or nose; as, in the 18th Psalm v. 9. stands, as they have given it from the Hebrew: Ignis accensus in naribus ejus etc. Joseph inclined his face or nose, that is, Jacob turned his face toward Joseph and his sons, and since the same were now accepted as children and among the number of the children of Israel, Joseph comes forth with both and now waits for the blessing of the father.
34 Now this is a strange thing, that the two sons of Joseph, who were already so great and old, should yet have sat in their father's bosom. But I think that when he was lying in his bed of rest, they sat with him, which Moses calls sitting on his lap or knees, that is, at his side or at his feet. Therefore Joseph called them up from the side and fell down with them on his knees before Jacob, who was sitting in his little bed. For this was the way that they received the blessing, with bending of the knee and with such gestures as those who pray are wont to have.
Then Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand against Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand against Israel's right hand, and brought them to him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon the head of Ephraim the youngest, and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh: and he did so knowingly with his hands, because Manasseh was the firstborn.
The use and manner of laying on of hands is a very old use and has come from the fathers also into the New Testament; as can be seen in Paul, since he says 1 Tim. 5, 22: "Lay hands on no man soon." Moses laid hands on Joshua. And such has been a ceremony of the fathers, prophets and the whole church, which has been used at all times,
when they have commanded an office or regiment.
(36) Now it is easy to understand the narrative and what is reported in the text. Joseph takes his son Ephraim as the youngest at his right hand, as he should be placed at Jacob's left hand; but he brings Manasseh at his left hand to Jacob's right, as the firstborn. For he knows well that he who is on the right hand is to receive something more and greater, and fears that there will be confusion or disorder between the blessings of the elder and youngest son. The firstborn had a double portion and preference, which he wanted to be given to Manasseh and that only one part be given to Ephraim. This is evident from the outward gestures that Joseph made.
(37) Behold, what a great spirit of divination was in Jacob, the weak old man. He sees that Manasseh is placed on his right and the other on his left; he also understands well that Joseph would have liked to have turned the glory of the firstborn to Manasseh: but Jacob abandons the ordinary opinion according to the law and according to the common order and according to the law given by God, and takes another way and follows the same.
38. it is described 5 Mos. 21, 15-17. describes the right of the firstborn, since Moses thus says: "If a man have two wives, one whom he loveth, and one whom he hateth; and they bear him children, both the lovely and the hostile, that the firstborn be of the hostile; and the time come that he should divide the inheritance unto his children, he cannot make the son of the lovely the firstborn son, for the firstborn son of the hostile; but he shall acknowledge the son of the hostile for the firstborn son, that he may give him double all that is present; for the same is his first power, and the right of the firstborn is his." According to this rule, the firstborn son remains the firstborn by virtue of the law and divine command. But God, who is the founder and Lord of the law, also moderates or breaks it again, and makes Jacob and Isaac the firstborn and the firstborn.
rejects Esau and Ishmael. He does the same thing in this place with the two sons of Joseph.
39 For here that does not apply which one is accustomed to say: Legem patere, quam tuleris, the
is: You must also judge yourself according to the law that you have made. God is not subject to the law, and often does what is contrary to the law, so that we may honor His works, wisdom, counsel and wonderful judgments; yes, that we may also walk before Him in all humility.
40 Although David was the least and most despised of the brethren, yet he was exalted to the kingdom of Israel. Because of this, God knows how to give and establish a law in His own way, and yet sometimes acts wonderfully without and against the rule of the law. Joseph wanted Manasseh to be the firstborn, but God did not like it that way and wanted to do it another way. Therefore, Jacob corrects and changes the mind that Joseph had made up, and he does this through the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and has moved him to do so, the promise that God gave him, that he should be fruitful and grow, which promise he has often and diligently considered and pondered in his heart.
41 And so Ephraim, the youngest son, to whom the Father gave the name of growing, becomes the firstborn, and that by the grace of God, which is a mistress or master over the law, and gives not out of debt according to the law, or out of merit, but freely, Rom. 4:16. And yet the law is to remain in its discipline, constraint and order; but grace always has its exception and is over the law.
But when Joseph saw that his father made a change with his hands and reversed the common order, he might have thought that he must have been deprived of his reason and all his senses; as we say of old people that they tend to become childish when they have greatly diminished their strength, memory, and almost also their reason and common sense. For Joseph, out of a special intention, had put his two sons in order so that he could avoid this confusion.
But his father gave the firstborn to his youngest son, which Joseph did not mean or expect.
Second part.
How Jacob blesses Joseph and his sons.
V. 15. 16. And he (Jacob) blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, God, who hath nourished me all the days of my life unto this day, the angel that redeemed me from all evil, bless the children, that they may be called by my name, and by the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, that they may grow and multiply upon the earth.
In the common Latin translation, it is added without cause: Filii Joseph: The sons of Joseph. For Jacob, the father, blessed Joseph himself, although he laid his hands on the two sons and also blessed them. But in the Hebrew it says, "He blessed Joseph," namely, in his sons. For he had chosen him that two tribes should come from him to receive the inheritance and divine blessing, and he gave him the right of the firstborn in the land of Canaan.
44 Therefore these two tribes were not chosen and accepted by their merit or worthiness, because the father is blessed, and they should not have been called Josephites, but rather Jacobites; and the prophets sometimes use the name Joseph and also sometimes the name Ephraim; as they also kept the name Jacob, although it was changed by God, when he said to him Gen. 35, 10: "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but you shall be called Israel."
45 These are words of blessing or dedication: "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked" etc. The Hebrew word is written in Hithpael as if to say: Qui se ambulare fecerunt, as it would be rendered in Latin; that is, "Those who have so sought that they might walk rightly before God, that is, in whom they have believed with steadfast faith, and who have been able to walk in the presence of God.
In the trust and promise of which they also died, in the sure hope of the resurrection to come; as was said above of the faith of Abraham and Isaac.
46 And he adds: "God, who has fed me all my life," etc. "I am his sheep, for which he has cared like the most blessed shepherd, whom he has redeemed, saved and protected in many great tribulations until this day. Therefore Jacob speaks almost as if there were two gods. Thirdly, he says: "The angel who redeemed me", in Hebrew goel, not podeh, but a true savior and redeemer, and like a kinsman; of which Moses says Deut. 19, 6: "Lest, goel, the avenger of blood pursue the slayer of death" etc., that is, the one who has power by right to avenge and punish the one who did the death stroke.
So Job also says in chapter 19, v. 25: "I know that my Redeemer is alive. V. 25: "I know that my redeemer, goel, lives." This is a different word than padah, which Hosea uses in chapter 13, v. 14. v. 14: "I will save them from death." The same word means one who has power to save others. As Christ the Lord became our podeh and goel; for he not only redeemed us, but by right he also delivered us and brought us to himself in such a way that the devil and hell also had to let him go according to the strict law, because they had killed the innocent Son of God. Because of this, the law burned itself on him, death cheated itself, the devil, hell and sin committed crimes; so they all became guilty of God and his son Jesus Christ, who is now well justified against his enemies. For why did you, O law, crucify the Son of God? Thou devil, death and hell, why hast thou slain the innocent? "We have a law," said the Jews John 19:7, "and by the law he shall die; for he hath made himself the Son of God." Therefore look at him now, since he has risen from the dead and has kept the victory against you. I, he says, am the Son of God, am such a person who is invincible. What will you, Satan, you law, death and hell, say now? "Death
is swallowed up in victory" etc., 1 Cor. 15, 55. I have lost, they all cry out together, thus recognizing themselves that they have overcome according to the highest and complete right.
(48) And of these things Christ commanded, after his resurrection, that they should be preached in all the world, and that the gospel should be preached to every man. Come, he says to us, believe in me, be baptized, I will give you my victory; you shall not be condemned, but though you die, you shall live in my name: you shall never die. For "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," John 11:25.
49 This is now our goel, our redeemer, whom Jacob calls an angel in this place. As if he wanted to say: The angel or redeemer, who was able to redeem and protect me from all evil of conscience, the law, sin and death, also from the violence of my brother Esau, and from all misery and distress, so that I had to struggle all my life.
50 From this it can be seen what kind of people the holy patriarchs were, of whom the 4th Psalm v. 4. says: "Truly, the Lord leads his saints in a strange way. For when they begin to speak of faith and of the promises of God, they as it were ascend high above all the heavens. But again, when they become weak, as when Jacob wrestled with the angel, and in other places more, they are so utterly struck down that they appear no other than as poor men; so that it seems as if they almost despair and are sunk into the deepest hell. Just as we have seen such fear and marvelous terror and trembling in Jacob above, not otherwise than as if he were one of those who are utterly rejected and condemned to eternal torment. But again, as here in this place, he is so joyful, triumphant and exultant, as if there is no more danger or fear that would meet him.
(51) Thus the holy patriarchs, when they desired, were fathers of the household, and administered the political government,
They have ruled over their wives, children and servants, have quarreled with their wives, and have dealt with worldly affairs to such an extent that they have been regarded as the lowest of the low among those who are to be found in the household and in government. Sometimes they soar high above all the heavens, sometimes they are in hell, but sometimes they get stuck in the middle of the world. They are vain miracle-workers.
Their life is wonderful, their speech also wonderful. As Jacob here calls God an angel, just in the same way as he says above, Gen. 32, 30, when he had fought with the angel: "I have seen God face to face." For this angel is the same Lord, or Son of God, whom Jacob saw, and who was to be sent by God into the world to proclaim to us salvation from death, forgiveness of sins, and the kingdom of heaven. And this angel is our savior, our redeemer or avenger, who saves us by all right and frees us from the power of the devil, who is now subject to the law, because he has slain the Son of God; and for this reason the law, death and the devil must now fall silent, and reach out their hands and give Christ the Lord, as the right victor, victory.
(53) Therefore it is to be diligently noted that Jacob here speaks of Christ, the Son of God, who alone is the angel or messenger, in time a true man born of the Virgin Mary, not the Father, nor the Holy Spirit. For he clearly distinguishes the three persons, and yet at the same time adds, "He blesses the boys." He clearly attributes the blessing to God alone. He does not say, "bless them," as if he were speaking of many, nor did he repeat the previous; but rather, in the One work of blessing, he puts together the three persons, God the Father, God who feeds him and is his shepherd, and the angel. Therefore, these three are One God and One Blesser. The angel does the same work that the shepherd and the God of his fathers do.
54 Thus the Fathers understood this article of the Holy Trinity quite well, which we also teach today.
And Jacob walks in the same right perfect faith and word over all the heavens. For he says: I do not bless these boys, but God blesses them by my mouth, namely, the God of my fathers, the God who is the right shepherd and feeds us, and the angel; the one who is triune and yet one, he blesses them. Therefore Jacob understood well that the Son of God was to become man and be sent into the world, crucified and raised from death. Although he does not say this so clearly and distinctly as is now taught, he says it emphatically enough; and the others who believed this article also understood it clearly in this way.
(55) The word "bless" must be understood broadly and emphatically, so that its power may be properly grasped and understood, as we have reminded you above. For if the blessing comes from God, it must be understood not so absolutely, but relatively; and is thereby indicated that those who are blessed are previously subject to the curse. Such emphasis (emphasis sive epithasis) of the same word must be diligently considered. For all men in Adam are damned, are subject to sin, to the law, to death, and to the power of the devil; as Paul says Gal. 3:10: "Cursed be every man that abideth not in all things which are written in the book of the law." The law accuses and condemns all men, for it punishes and convinces them that they are sinners, and brings their sin and iniquity to light.
Therefore, when God says, "I will bless you," both physical and spiritual blessings are offered to man. How in this place not only the bodily blessing is to be understood, so that these boys may grow bodily and be multiplied, but that the angel may be with them, who also saved Jacob from all evil.
57 And this is the blessing of the New Testament, of which St. Paul speaks abundantly in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians, holding these pieces against each other: being cursed and being blessed, sin and grace. And the angel blesses at the same time the seed of Abraham
or the Jews, and also the Gentiles; as the saying is Rom. 9:8: "These are not the children of God, which are children after the flesh: but the children of promise are counted for seed."
58. Therefore these are very high and important words, in which Jacob says that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless these boys; and that in the Gospel of John Cap. 5, 17. Christ himself also says: "My Father works until now, and I also work"; item, there he says further v. 21.: "As the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so also the Son makes alive whom he wills." Now this agrees very finely with this present text. To make alive is only God's work, which happens according to God's will and by His grace. As then the Father wills to be gracious and to make alive, so will I also do, says Christ; this is one will and one work, and are nevertheless three different persons. Therefore Augustin rightly said: Opera divinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa, that is: What God does towards the creature, all three persons do without distinction. Thus, the blessing of God and His Son, who is called an angel here, are one and the same.
The holy fathers understood and taught this rightly. Therefore, you can see the great and excellent knowledge of God and the faith that they had; and when they speak of it, you can see in them especially no other works, domestic, worldly or political, no sin, no trembling; but they are led high above the clouds and the air. For we see that the patriarch Jacob is, as it were, drunk and full of faith and knowledge of God, and that he does nothing else but speak words of faith, and always insists on the promise and repeats it, and lives, rules and is blessed in it completely; and now, by divine power, he imparts the same promised blessing to these children, and also promises them temporal life and all welfare therein.
(60) For now they are assured and certain that they shall live until they beget children. So the death is taken away from them and with the same
the wrath of God, the devil and hell, and the inheritance, which he himself had not obtained, namely the possession of the land of Canaan, is distributed among them by this blessing of the Father. For he did not doubt that he would receive it and that he and his descendants would become lords and kings of the land. In which blessing all kinds of benefits, both physical and spiritual, have been included.
61 Although the flesh and reason have not seen or understood any of these things (for what is it that he says about the promise of God, about the blessing angel and about the land of Canaan, because they are now in misery and servants in Egypt? But all this notwithstanding, Jacob, full of faith and with great strong courage, says freely: I have the promise, I know and believe that I shall inherit and possess the land of Canaan; I am more certain of this in the promise than if I had already possessed it and lived in it.
(62) How we can and should take more comfort in the goods God has promised us, as if we already had them in our hands. I have the kingdom of heaven, baptism, the word, the Lord's Supper: these goods are more certainly mine and more mine than this life itself, in which I live here. Yes, you say, but I do not feel it. Answer: You must learn to hope with your fathers that you do not see, and you must look up to heaven. You must learn to ride on the clouds with your fathers. The kingdom of heaven is already yours, your sins are forgiven by the blood of the Lamb; see that you believe. It is no joke with God's promises, God does not lie. He says that you have been justified, that you are holy and blessed; as these same goods are presented and offered to us in the clearest and most splendid way through the Word and the ministry; but it is only because we do not hold firmly to the Word and the promises of God and applaud them with right faith that we lack them.
63) After this also the fathers had this specially before us, that this life should be prolonged unto them, of which we cannot be sure; for we have no
Word of God about it. But they certainly thought that they would grow and possess the land, as their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had it in faith and promise; which possession was more certain to them than when they possessed the land outwardly by deed itself without faith; as their history testifies, when Ephraim is cast out into Assyria and Judah is led to Babylon. This is indeed a small thing, if it is only a factual and legal possession; but if it is theological and conceived according to the Scriptures, then the dominion remains, even if we already die over it.
(64) So now we have in the fathers examples of perfect enduring faith. Jacob not only offers them this life in the flesh, but also promises it to their seed and descendants.
(65) Finally, your faith is followed by the good in the true deed. But where faith and spiritual possession do not exist, the possession that exists in fact cannot last long.
(66) Jacob also adds one more thing, that the children should be called by the names of their fathers. These are only words of faith and promise, and are not understood by the Jews, who only boast of the fleshly seed. But Paul gloriously refutes this same boast, saying Rom. 9:8: "These are not the children of God, which are children after the flesh: but the children of promise are counted for seed." For the fathers have put the bodily and spiritual fatherhood together, that is, they have inherited the faith of the promise, and not only the outward goods which they should have possessed.
(67) Therefore faith is the sum and chief of all commerce, which the flesh almost oppresses and greatly hinders: but we must comfort and uphold ourselves with the promise and with the word, and not be afraid of any danger, so long as we do not deny and fall away from the angel who is our Savior. For we must also become a little weak at times; as the strength
and the great courage of the fathers has not been granted for and for. In this place Jacob is very strong in his faith in the promise; there is now no weakness, no trembling in him; everything is vain and highly heavenly, so that he can go about. But up there, when Joseph was sold, Jacob was the most miserable and weakest man on earth.
Therefore, we should pray to God not to lead us into temptation, but to deliver us from the evil, and to compel and restrain the unbelieving, senseless, evil beast, our flesh and body of death, so that we must drag ourselves, which always torments and kills us. For it resists faith and promise, insisting that it may draw and drag us only to that which is now present and before our eyes. It wants to be only a jurist and not a theologian. But righteousness does not lead us to heaven, but the promise and faith, which are heavenly gifts and surpass all miraculous deeds and all works, both political and domestic, but rather the dreadful self-decreed works of the monks, and the whole discipline or outward ceremonies of the law.
69 Therefore let us remain in the simplicity and purity of the Christian faith, that we are the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not according to the flesh, but rather according to the Spirit. For if I believe the divine promise, I am sure that my life is pleasing to God, and better than all monastic orders can be; for it makes a heavenly man who conquers death, an heir of eternal life, and who tramples the devil underfoot; as the 91st Psalm v. 13. says: "On the lions and vipers you will walk, and tread on the young lions and dragons" etc. Such strength and violence is especially peculiar to Christians.
(70) As here Jacob is even an angel, yes, he is a great and excellent preacher of the Godhead, who presents the right power of promise and divine blessing to his descendants and heirs. For he looks to his descendants or seed, not according to the flesh, but chiefly according to the spirit and faith; which spiritual seed the
Jews should also know and boast that they are children of the fathers and heirs of the divine promises. But these promises they shamefully trample underfoot, spitting upon them and blaspheming them, while boasting highly only of the fleshly kingdom.
71. but these are the true children of Abraham, heirs of the angel who spoke to Jacob and through Jacob. And if God does not find such children, he calls them his people, who were not his people before, and in a foolish people he enrages the carnal seed of Abraham, Deut. 32:20, 21, that Abraham is the father of the Gentiles, who accept the promise in faith, without flesh and reality; since the Jews, contrary to this, follow the flesh without the promise.
What follows now belongs to the bodily blessing, as what we have heard so far concerns and concerns the spiritual blessing. For so the words in the text read: "That they may grow and become much" etc. And yet Jacob also wants to indicate here that the spiritual blessing should also be wrapped up in it, and that Ephraim should not only be multiplied and grow in the land or in any other corner or place of the world, but that the faith of Abraham's promise should be spread over the whole world.
The Hebrew word, dagah, means to grow or to be fed, like fish. As if to say, piscescant, as one would express it in Latin, that is, like fish they shall grow etc. It comes from dag, which means, piscis, a fish. It is a verkam nominale, as it is used to be called in grammar; that is, a time word formed from a: noun; as in every language nouns become tense words and vice versa. For there is no animal that grows and is fed in such great numbers as fish. Birds also have their fertility and multiplication, for one bird often hatches four or five young, but among all animals none is so fertile as fish. Therefore, the same word is metaphorically applied to and used of immense multiplication.
Now Joseph comes along and wants to be wiser than his father. And according to the law, he judges rightly, but he still runs and falls far short, even though he is a great and excellent man and a prophet full of the Holy Spirit.
(v. 17, 18) And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon Ephraim's head, it displeased him: and he took his father's hand, and turned it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head, and said unto him, Not so, my father; this is the firstborn; lay thy right hand upon his head.
(75) Here are two very holy men arguing and quarreling with each other, disagreeing about the whole main thing; though they agree in their hearts, but the things are very unequal. The father wants to bless Ephraim, the youngest son, but Joseph does not want that. Now they are both very spiritual men, but there is great strife among them concerning matters and opinions, and one will have this and the other will have that.
76 We also had similar examples with Abraham and Sarah Gen 16:5, Isaac and Rebekah Gen 25:28, where the same husband and wife, who loved and valued each other very much, were against each other. Abraham wants to prefer Ishmael, but Sarah considers Isaac the firstborn. Isaac thinks of Esau, but Rebekah thinks of Jacob. And they quarreled hard with each other, not because of temporal or small things, but because of the descendants or heirs and about the divine blessing. And if they had been loose, frivolous people, easily angered, they would have had real cause for great enmity; for they quarreled among themselves over a very great matter of importance.
Our kings, princes, and bishops often wage great harmful wars and shed innocent blood for the sake of minor offenses; yet they do not quarrel with one another for any benefit, nor for the sake of pleasure or honor, but fight against one another only out of pure malice and atrocious nonsense. Here, however, these great and noble men are disputing with each other about a great and important matter,
and have very good and important arguments on both sides. Abraham, Isaac and Joseph stand firmly on God's law, which is the highest wisdom, so it also agrees with the natural right. For they conclude thus: Ishmael, Esau, Manasseh is the firstborn, therefore he is entitled to two parts of the inheritance. And Isaac is very firm about this calculation: Esau is my firstborn son, therefore the glory of the firstborn will be due to him by nature, according to the law and finally also according to all right. So Joseph also insists on it, as if he were hardened in the wisdom of the law and of nature; but Jacob resists it, just as Rebekah and Sarah also challenged the same law and opposed it.
78 Now nevertheless the woman ought to have yielded to such a great and excellent man, who is the father of the promise, and to have justified him. But Sarah goes out freely and says to the man, "Cast out the maid with her son; for the son of the maid shall not inherit with my son Isaac," Gal. 4:30. And Moses says that the word was very evil to Abraham. So Isaac is not in agreement with his wife about such things either. For who would speak or do anything against him who has divine right and the law of nature for himself? This is certainly a difficult dispute, and yet Abraham and Isaac have been brought to confess their ignorance and revoke the law of the law and of nature.
(79) How Joseph must put up with the opinion of his father Jacob, and what he does against the law. At first, he lies against his father, as if to say, "Dear father, you are mistaken about the blessing. But Jacob answers him, "I am not mistaken; indeed, I do all this with good counsel, and with knowledge and will. I do not sin through ignorance, though my eyes are dark; but I see and know them both well.
80 But why do you do this? Because it must be done this way. For Jacob very firmly grasped and kept this promise made to him at Bethel, now that Rachel was about to die, and therefore
there was no hope that he could have heirs. He was a man full of the Holy Spirit and took much from the promise through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and remembered the previous examples with Abraham and Isaac, where Sarah preferred Isaac, who was the second-born son; but this Isaac also preferred the younger son Jacob to the greater, namely, Esau. He saw from these examples that they rhymed with what the Holy Spirit had given him. The sins of his sons were also added, so that Reuben, Simeon and Levi, who were the oldest, lost the firstborn. Therefore he thought: I now have no firstborn son, nor do I have any other sons by Rachel, and God has shown me something special by a miraculous appearance, since He said of me: "Be fruitful and multiply", Gen. 35:11. Therefore he certainly sets this before himself in his heart, that he would prefer Ephraim to Manasseh.
Now this must be applied to the two doctrines taught and practiced in Christian theology and law, namely, to the grace of the promise and to the law. The teaching of the law must be kept, for it is necessary for the preservation of discipline and peace. Therefore one should keep it most carefully: as Abraham keeps to Ishmael, Joseph to Manasseh etc. For the promise of grace does not mean that the law should be thrown away; but it should and must be taught, so that discipline and the doctrine of good works may also be preserved, and that we may be taught to know ourselves and to humble ourselves after sin. This is the right and necessary use of the law. For we must have authorities and parents in this life, who keep discipline and honesty with rewards and also with punishment, and who keep the law, and govern their lives Christianly and well, and judge according to the law. These are righteous, and God also rewards such outward righteousness. For one should and must honor God, and not go astray like the wild cyclopes, which neither disciples nor teachers can do.
Nor shall any other state be permitted in this life to live without laws, without all discipline and order, as if God had not demanded that one should obey his commandments. For where the commandments are not kept, various punishments soon follow, whether by the authorities, schoolmasters or parents, or otherwise by common misery and misfortune. For the common misery or harm is like a dungeon or prison of the human race, into which they are led when the law is transgressed and the authorities are also tardy with the punishment.
But God Himself is free from the law, nor should He be subject to it, so that He must do according to the law. For he is a lord over the law, who can dispense and do otherwise than the law commands. There is another thing about the kingdom of grace and another thing about the kingdom of the law. The law forbids sin, shows the rod and proclaims the wrath of God and severe punishment to those who sin. This is actually the right office of the law, and it is part of it that the boys, the disobedient, the courageous, the secure people are to be restrained by it.
But the kingdom of grace is a kingdom of mercy, pardon, salvation and redemption from sins and punishments that people have earned with sins.
(84) And among the jurists there is also a fine and excellent doctrine of epieikeia, as it is called in Greek, that is, of equity, so that the strict law may be somewhat alleviated; according to it one should diligently judge in all regiments, if both concern the police and housekeeping. It is necessary for a householder to have both the law and the epieikeia, that is, the equity, in his household regiment.
Aristotle also taught very finely about this epieikeia in the fifth book of Ethics, which is the most noble. The authorities are appointed to rule and judge according to strict law, and they are also to observe and administer it in every way. However, because the cases and cases are infinite and innumerable in number, which cannot all be comprehended in the Scriptures and in the law, for the sake of many a case.
For the sake of circumstances, and there are few who can see and understand where the law should be wisely alleviated: therefore Aristotle has indicated a fine way how to keep in it. As he also draws the definition or description of virtue, since he says: Virtus est habitus electivus, in mediocritate consistens, quoad nos, ratione aliqua, ut sapiens judicat, that is: Virtue is such a skill, when a man does what is right out of well-considered counsel of reason, but in such a way that he keeps the middle in it and does not do too much or too little, as an understanding sensible man knows to do and to judge of it in this life. Thus fortitude is the right middle between anger or insolence and sloth.
But this measure or alleviation is subject to the affects or desires of men; therefore Aristotle adds to it: As a wise man of understanding can judge or judge it. For such judgment could not be comprehended in any laws, but there must be a living law, namely, the authorities, who are the heart or life of the law, and should diligently see where and how the law must be kept, and should alleviate the same where an impossible case occurs.
Just as a householder prescribes a certain way and order for his servant to do his housework, so he must get up at five in the morning and then wait for his work to be done; he must take his modest share of food and do the other work faithfully and diligently. This one law, however, cannot foresee all cases that may arise that could hinder and destroy the prescribed order. Therefore, when a servant wants to go to the field and wait for the land to be cultivated, he suddenly and unexpectedly encounters an obstacle: that his master has fallen ill, or that the weather is not convenient or suitable, or that the householder must otherwise use the servant for other work that is more convenient for him. Then such a householder thinks and concludes with himself thus: I am the living law in my Hanse, and have in my hand and power the epieikeia or equity, and have
Right and power to moderate and mitigate the law. Therefore the severity of the commandment, which I gave before to my servant, shall cease. There he breaks a hole through the law with the epieikeia or equity because of the case that happened suddenly and unawares.
So also the jurists seek such a measure or alleviation of the strict law, according to which the circumstances or cases are various, and some of them demand and want either that the law be made stricter, or else that it be alleviated, so that the law is perhaps impossible.
Therefore, the great constraint of the statutes or rules in the monasteries is not to be praised, since the monks, without distinction or equity, forbid all monastics to eat meat, to bathe, to wear linen clothes etc. For the physicians, too, are in the habit of prescribing these foods, exercises and medicines to some people, and other foods, exercises and medicines to others, according to opportunity and moderation. And if they see that a monk is somewhat weak in the body and that because of this he cannot abstain from eating meat without injury and danger to his health, they order that the severity of the monastic rule be eased so that the weak brother does not die. For the Carthusians have practiced such great tyranny that they have killed many with their sour and hard fasting, whom they could well have kept alive, for example, with a chicken broth or a piece of meat, or also with a clean or clean garment, since they have in vain reminded the physicians, who were called upon to treat such patients, and have admonished them, namely, that one must always change the order of eating and drinking according to the constitution of the body. This was truly a real pit of murder and not a proper monastic life, namely, killing a poor sick person whom they could have kept alive and healthy with a little broth or soup.
(90) Yes, at last superstition has become so strong and great that some fantasists have not wanted to kill the lice or the fleas. And I have seen a priest who thought that he would be able to make God a
He spared the vermin and did not kill them. For he did not clean his garments; indeed, he put the lice that came from him back into the cap, indicating this reason why he was so unseemly, namely, because he knew that his parents would be eaten and devoured by worms even in the grave. God has not commanded us to kill our bodies, but wants us to honor them, even though they need to be kept in check and restrained.
Therefore this was the highest foolishness and nonsense of the devil, who, as it were, mocked with these hideous and nasty works of the human race; for many good pious people have been miserably caught in these pieces. I myself have been such a person that I had almost killed myself with fasting and fasting, with hard and heavy work and clothing, since I had horribly spoiled and debilitated my body.
Nowadays, young people know nothing of these dreadful monastic works, nor is it hard to challenge them when they are remembered; indeed, the young people are now becoming exceedingly wilful and disobedient, completely like wild animals. One must mortify or tame the body in every way, and burden it with work, study and other common works of this life; but one should not kill it. Rather wait for your profession, there will be enough toil and work for you. It is not necessary that you voluntarily burden yourself with evil or impose death; it will come to you in its time, if God wills it.
Therefore, St. Augustine is to be praised (as the bishop of Dalburg praised and extolled him) because of the rule he wrote, which indicates that he must have been a very wise and understanding man. For these are his words: Non aequaliter omnibus, quia non aequaliter valetis omnes, that is: one should not hold you all equal, or put equal burden, because you are not all equally strong. One must keep the geometrical proportion, that is, consider the difference of the persons, and according to the same one
Assigning to each his own place and thus sharing out the burden and work.
But this was a tyrannical word, which the monks used to say: "It shall be done to you as it is done to me, no one is wronged here. This means acting according to arithmetic proportion, since the persons are counted equal to each other and the burden also becomes equal: since as much is imposed on a child to carry as on one who is grown up, or on a strong servant; or if one wanted to impose on women that which is due to men. There the persons are unequal, and the burden or work is also unequal.
(95) I saw a brother in the monastery who could devour five rolls, as I had enough of one. If the prior had commanded him to be satisfied with only one roll, or if he had commanded me to eat as many rolls as he did, the brother would have died of hunger and I would have perished from eating so much.
For this reason, first of all, the distinction of the person should be taken into account, and then the office or order of each person should be considered. If a Carthusian needs to bathe, let him bathe; if he cannot eat herbs or fish, let him eat meat; or, on the contrary, if he cannot eat meat, let him eat herbs or fish. And of this Aristotle deals very finely, namely, with geometrical proportion, and with epieikeia or equity. For this is a part of the grace that must take place with the authorities, house regiments and police. If the woman in the house is weak, I throw away the law until she gets well. The law should be kept, but in such a way that the authorities always keep the geometrical proportion in hand, that they consider the difference of the persons, and make right measure and fairness. For Aristotle says, as we have heard above: Virtus est habitus, consistens circa mediocritatem, ut sapiens determinabit: Virtue is a skill that lies in the middle, as a wise, sensible man can rightly determine and judge.
In this way Joseph and his father also disagree. Joseph has a very good cause and has the law to himself according to his understanding; for the firstborn is rightly commanded and honored by God Himself. Adam loved his firstborn son Cain, and all his hope and welfare was in him: but God's blessing draws out another, and chooses Abel; and so Adam loses his firstborn. Manasseh was the firstborn of the patriarch Joseph; therefore he says, "Oh, my dear father, what are you doing? You do not know my sons, you are far lacking. I have arranged it with special diligence, that Ephraim should be on the left and the other on the right, and so the law should be kept by the firstborn and the divine right should not be changed. You are truly sinning now. I should obey you and follow you, as the son obeys the father: but the obedience of the law is better and goes first. You are a man who can fall and err. Therefore, dear father, take your right hand from Ephraim's head and lay it on Manasseh's head; for this has its right cause and is founded in God's law. This was well said and was a good cause. I would have done the same, and indeed should have kept above the order and opinion of the law. And if Joseph had done otherwise, he would have done wrong; for it behooved him thus to keep the law, and to follow thy right of the firstborn. Therefore he will not have the right of grace.
98 But Jacob answered him thus: My dear son, I understand well that you defend the right of the firstborn very hard according to the law, which you want to have kept and honored; and I myself also desire that it may remain firm and immovable. But now is not the time of the law, it has no place here now; but here only the divine blessing applies, which is not subject to any law, not even to our right or wisdom. Therefore he does not punish or reject Joseph's opinion, but lets it stand in the means and remain in its dignity. He does not abolish the law, but he aligns that which the promise holds and brings with it.
V. 19. But his father refused, saying: I know well, my son, I know well. This one also shall become a nation, and shall be great; but his youngest brother shall become greater than he, and his seed shall become a great nation.
Now this is a confirmation of the blessing, to which he has given a certain and clear definition or description of the promise, and almost agrees with the answer given to Rebekah above, Gen 25:23: "The greater shall serve the lesser"; although she did not obtain the firstborn for her son Jacob without great difficulty, toil and labor, since her father Isaac resisted her in this, and his brother Esau persecuted him. And Ephraim also lost nine sons who had already grown old, of eighty or ninety years, as Lyra discusses, 1 Chron. 8, 21. 22. Because they wanted to take the land of Canaan before the right time, as if the promise had already been fulfilled, they were slain by the Philistines. And the text says there in addition: "And their father Ephraim bore long suffering, and his brethren came to comfort him." Then were the firstborn slain, that they might not receive the inheritance which was ordained for them of their father, and of the law of God; and they which he begat last obtained the promise: of whom afterward was born Joshua the son of Nun.
God wants the law to be kept, but in its own wonderful way, so that we become proud and presumptuous because of the righteousness of the law. And it cannot come otherwise, from such righteousness of the law must follow presumption and hopefulness, as can be seen in the small and common examples. For where will you give or show me a pious, chaste matron or a young, beautiful virgin who would not be somewhat proud and puffed up because of such gifts? But the courage and hopefulness of those who administer the regiments in countries and cities is beyond measure. For the righteousness of the law is such a hopeful and presumptuous thing; therefore
And when he sees that you become exceedingly proud because of the righteousness of the law, he abandons it and acts according to the righteousness of grace.
Thus the Jews followed the righteousness of the Law, but did not attain righteousness through it, and the firstborn were slain, so that God might thus humble the proud and the proud. For he wants us to hear Daniel's confession in chapter 9. V. 18 with all our heart and also orally, saying, "We lie before you with our prayer, not on our righteousness, but on your great mercy"; likewise in Paul's epistle to Titus, 3 Cap. V. 4. 5. "But when the kindness and brightness of God our Savior appeared, not because of the works of righteousness which we had done, but according to his mercy, he made us blessed. "etc. The works of righteousness are what we have done; but God does not look at the same. Grace reigns over the law, which does not make man perfect, but only proud. Therefore, God turns His mercy on poor sinners and prefers the righteousness of grace to the righteousness of law. Then the world becomes mad and foolish, angry and cries: "Should we not do good works? Is not the law good? Yes, it is good, and we always exhort you to do it and keep it; but so that you say, as Christ teaches Luc. 17:10, "If we have done all things, we are unprofitable servants.
V.20. So he blessed them that day, and said, Whosoever shall bless any man in Israel, let him say, God set thee as Ephraim and Manasseh.
(102) It does not matter whether you understand this speech actively or passively, as one speaks according to grammar: Israel shall bless, or shall be blessed in thee. For the Father wants to say this much: You shall be an example of blessing, so that it is said: As Ephraim and Manasseh are blessed, so shall God also bless you. So in the history of Ruth, the women and all the people wished Boaz and Ruth well and said:
"The Lord make the woman who comes into your house like Rachel and Leah, who both built the house of Israel," Ruth 4:11. 4, 11. Jacob's wives are presented as an example of blessing.
Now you see how great and wonderful men the holy patriarchs were, how confidently and without doubt they spoke freely of the future blessing. For now Jacob speaks like God, for he also does all this in the person of God: he gives his sons the blessing and the inheritance of the promised land, which he himself did not yet have, except in faith. That is why I said: What we have in the promise is so certain and so firm that neither the devil nor death nor hell could take it away by force. But what we have in our hands, or what is in our box or bag, is not so certain and safe: thieves can steal it, or others can rob it; indeed, mice and moths can eat it. But what is offered to us in divine promises, no one can take from us. As God promised the pious and godly in the 37th Psalm v. 19: "They will have enough in the time of trouble. They know that their kitchen and cellar are well provided for, even though nothing special is prepared in their home; indeed, they often do not have a penny or a mite at their disposal.
Where did they get it from? Answer: They have it in the word that God says: "In the time of theuration they will have enough. He who believes has it without a doubt, and even though he is the poorest of men, he has everything he needs. As Jacob here is quite sure that he will take the promised land, and gives his sons the same blessing no other way than as if he were now leading them into it, so that they might indeed take it: yet he has given them nothing but these mere words. But he held the land of Canaan more surely than when his descendants possessed it. For since they did not possess it by faith, but with
They became proud and proud because of the righteousness of the law and the service of God, and therefore they could not keep it. The king of Assyria and Babylon came and drove them out. The promise was given to them without law and without merit, but when they took the land of Canaan, the covenant of the law was added with the condition Deut. 8:19, 20: "If you do not keep the law, you will be destroyed and perish, just as the Gentiles whom the Lord kills before you.
They received it without merit, and it was given to them without any condition, by grace; but they did not possess it thus without condition. Therefore, because the law is not kept, the right of the possessors cannot be defended, but is a bag of holes. But grace is a firm certain ground. Here we should extol and praise the great glory and riches of Christ's graces and benefits, which are also given to us with the blessing of the fathers, if not in body, then in spirit. But further on there is a better opportunity for this.
Third part.
As Jacob, blessing Joseph's sons, preferred Ephraim to Manasseh.
V. 20. And so (Jacob) set Ephraim before Manasseh.
(106) Moses used this piece to praise the great and miraculous work of taking the firstborn away from Manasseh, to whom it belonged according to the common law, and giving it to Ephraim, his youngest brother, to whom it did not belong according to any law. For this is almost like a miracle and a strange, unnatural thing, according to all laws and statutes, since the firstborn was assigned to the eldest according to the law of nature and according to the written law of the land and also according to divine law. And one has especially among the same people
would hardly allow such a law to be changed, since both the royal and the priestly dignity were given to the firstborn son. That is why Esau hated his brother Jacob so fiercely, became bitterly hostile to him and persecuted him when he deprived him of such great honor and inheritance.
The same order is still maintained in the Roman Empire and in all other kingdoms. The Dauphin in France soon follows his father in the empire or regiment. The Duke of Saxony, who is the first-born or eldest, becomes Elector, and because they divide the inheritance, he seizes the Chur and the estates belonging to it before his other brothers, and does not divide them with them. For this reason there is still great glory in the firstborn. And Joseph did not marvel in vain at this change; for Ephraim by grace became the firstborn, who according to the law was the youngest and last.
The Mailn, who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, be he who he will, Paul, or, as I think, Apollo, draws this text fine artificially, because he says Cap. 11, 21: "By faith Jacob blessed, when he died, both sons of Joseph. He does not remember the blessings described in the 49th chapter; but he remembers this blessing when Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. For this blessing is also much more wonderful than those that follow. For Ephraim receives the firstborn without any merit; but Manasseh is deprived of it without all his guilt. But why does Jacob do this against the law and against common usage and custom? It is true that much has been taken: no king or prince would suffer such injustice, with whatever great excellent gifts or virtues his youngest brother might be gifted or adorned. Answer: Jacob did this in faith and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because the promise that he would grow and be multiplied rhymes finely with the name Ephraim. Therefore the right cause of this deed must be taken from faith and promise, and not from the law, nor from rights, nor even from nature.
Now let us compare the honor and glory of the blessings of the fathers with the glory we have in the New Testament. For there is no doubt that the kingdom of Christ is higher and more glorious than the kingdom of Moses and the fathers; as the 145th Psalm v. 10-12 says: "Let all thy works give thee thanks, O Lord, and let thy saints praise thee, and let them magnify the glory of thy kingdom, and let them speak of thy power, that the children of men may know thy might, and the glory of thy kingdom. And it was a great honor that the fathers were able to bless, that is, to promise both physical and spiritual goods. Although the blessing is not primarily for flesh and blood, it is also for the body. And in this respect it has the condition of keeping the law attached to it: but inasmuch as it is drawn to the spirit, it has not the condition, but comes by grace.
(110) Therefore Ephraim is severely punished and accused in Hosea and other prophets because of the abominable sins of Jeroboam, the first king of the same tribe, "who sinned and made Israel sin," as it is written in 1 Kings 14:15, 16. 14:15, 16, when he sacrificed to calves, which idolatry all the prophets abhor and punish, and for this very reason the people were finally scattered and carried away to Assyria, because they did not keep the condition attached to the law. For this threat is written with the foregoing: "The Lord shall smite Israel, as the reed is moved in the waters, and shall pluck up Israel from this good land, which he gave unto their fathers, and shall scatter them upon the face of the waters; because they have made them groves to provoke the Lord to anger."
111 And the same threat is repeated many times afterward by the prophet Hosea. But even though he deals harshly with them and threatens all kinds of plagues and misfortunes and that they will even perish, he sometimes adds comfort from the spiritual promises; as the beautiful comforting text Hos. 11:8, 9 indicates: "What shall I make of you, Ephraim? Shall I protect you, Israel? Shall I not cheaply make an Adama of
and make thee like Zeboim? But my heart is of another mind, my mercy is too fervent, that I will not do according to my fierce anger, nor turn to destroy Ephraim at all; for I am God, and not a man."
In this way he mixes the promise of the Holy Spirit and eternal life with the bodily promise, and has previously announced to them that according to the same bodily promise they will be destroyed and corrupted, because they had forgotten and neglected the condition of keeping the Law, and had departed from God, their Creator, who had made the promise to them. But because in the same bodily blessing the spiritual and eternal blessing was also included: I am the Lord, your God, and the promised Christ, therefore he says: I cannot even reject or destroy Ephraim, but I must have mercy on him. I am indeed grievously angry with the idolatrous people, but I am God and not a man; therefore, for the sake of my promise, I will still help and preserve Israel.
And so he makes a distinction between the godless idolatrous Jews and those whom God has left for Himself, who have not worshiped Baal and the calves and have not kissed their hand. This can also be seen in the history of the kings, when it is said to Elijah: "I have left me seven thousand in Israel, namely all the knees that have not bowed to Baal", 1 Kings 19:18.
Although we do not have a perfect temporal promise of the physical kingdom at this time, there is no lack of such promises, namely, that the church will be preserved and nourished even in this life. But the spiritual promise in the New Testament is much more glorious; as Paul says 1 Tim. 4:8: "Godliness is profitable unto all things, and hath promise of this life and of the life to come." We are promised all that we need for this life, to receive the same with it; as the 8th Psalm v. 7. says, "All things thou hast put under his feet"; and Luc. 10:6, 7, 8. Christ says to his apostles, "Where ye are brought into a
Come to the house, stay there, eat and drink what they have. For a laborer is worth his wages. And where ye come into a city, and they receive you, there eat that which is set before you." And 1 Cor. 9:14: "So hath the Lord commanded, that they which preach the gospel should feed on the gospel." Such promises we have; and though they be few, yet have we in them enough for the necessaries of this life.
But the promises of spiritual goods are very glorious, and we should also magnify and exalt them, namely, that the church should remain, that it should have shelter, food, drink, and protection, even though some suffer persecution and are killed; for the old church was not without torture and the cross. But though we are not kings, neither have we a temporal kingdom like the Jews, yet we retain the spiritual kingdom, wherein we live in Christ Jesus.
This glory should be made very great and highly exalted, and so much more, so much more terrible it has been darkened and suppressed by the pope. For there has never been heard in so many churches, monasteries and high schools a word or some teaching of God's Word, as at present, when the light of the Gospel has been given to us again. When we hear the Word called, we understand by it the promise and the ministry of preaching. But when at that time the "word" was thought of under the pontifical term, I turned my mind and thoughts only to the Donat, in which the verbum is described thus: Verbum est pars orationis cum tempore et persona etc.: The verbum, i.e. word, time word, is a part of speech with time and person etc.; for nothing at all was taught there of the promises of God.
117 And what shall I say much? In the beginning, when the Gospel first came to light again, I heard a monk say that he had put aside the papal superstition and had now heard and understood the pure doctrine: Help, dear God, all my life I have never heard of the promises! And this was dear to his heart, that he would now hear and understand the same word "promise".
For this reason, our theology and the New Testament should be primarily concerned with this part of the heavenly doctrine, although the law must also be taught; however, the kingdom of God does not consist in it, but in the word of promise. Nowadays it is said that he loves the word of the gospel or the ministry of preaching, but in the pope's decrees or canons you will not find a single syllable of the word. They only cry out about how one must confess sin, repent, and do enough for it; item, how one should be obedient to the pope and keep the rule of the monks; but about the promise of the gospel they are completely silent. Therefore, the realm of the pope has been a terrible devastation of the church, and even now, with the pope and cardinals, "promise" is an unheard-of word.
(119) Our kingdom of the New Testament is also to practice the doctrine of the law, in order to maintain outward discipline and discipline, also obedience in worldly police and the honor of the authorities and parents: but the kingdom of God does not consist in this, but in the word, that is, in the promise, which is the right and true ministry of the New Testament. But the pope has obscured and even eradicated the doctrine of faith, and has brought in nothing but hideous and strange wonders of human statutes; except that God, out of immeasurable goodness, has preserved and allowed to remain a little light in some.
120 As I well remember, my father despised the monks and all priestly and papal garbage, of which only the Decretals and their scribes speak. Therefore, when I first went to the monastery of the Augustinian Order in Erfurt, this made my father very angry; and afterwards, when he was invited to my first mass, as was the custom, and when, at a luncheon, distinguished men of the Augustinian Order praised this monastic life and said that it surprised them why he was so unwilling that I had entered the same order, he recently answered thus: "Dear sirs, know also that it is written: You shall honor your father and mother. Or do you know that
Commandment of God not to honor parents?
For this reason, the kingdom of the pope is to be detested and abhorred, because it has destroyed the very best and noblest part of Christian doctrine and, instead of the divine promise, has held up to the people unrighteous and shameful laws of decrees, monastic vows and pilgrimages.
122. At present, by the immeasurable grace of God, we have the great glory of Christ, as can be seen from our sermons and the whole ministry. See the baptism, the Lord's Supper, the absolution, the gospel. These great gifts of the Holy Spirit are to be praised and extolled by everyone, and by the same gifts one is to recognize and praise God, who has given such power to men. For I am not the patriarch of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, but behold what I do: I take a young child, and when I baptize it, I save it from death, from the devil, from sin, and transfer it from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This is done by the priest or church servant and, in case of need, by every Christian.
(123) Therefore, we should marvel at the great mercy and goodness of God, and boast that He blesses us with spiritual and eternal blessings, so that when the devil sees the infant being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he will flee and leave. For there I destroy not the kingdom of the Turk, nor of Augustus the emperor, nor of the king of the Persians, but the kingdom of the prince and God of this world.
In the same way, when a poor sinner comes confessing his sin and complaining about it, I also say to him: I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For there I draw him out of the depths of hell, who was terrified, lost, despondent, and swallowed up, and in his sins should have died and perished eternally. So, in the Lord's Supper I eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, the Son of God, given and given for me.
for the forgiveness of sins, that is, for eternal life.
(125) Therefore this glory is far greater and more glorious than the glory of the fathers. But this alone is lacking in us, that we do not open our eyes, ears, and hearts, and do not esteem and hold these glorious gifts high enough according to their dignity and glory. This is true in itself and is a certain thing: Whoever is baptized and absolved by the hand of the pastor and in the case of need of any Christian brother is without a doubt holy and blessed. There the kingdom of the devil, death and sin is destroyed. Dear one, by what? By the mouth of a poor man, the priest, or any other brother. These are truly great and immeasurable miracles, and we have been given such power by God, which is incomparably greater than that of the fathers, which was very high and great, because Christ said to us, Matth. 28, 20: "I am with you to the end of the world"; item Joh. 14, 28: "I go away, and come to you again"; likewise v. 23: "We will come to him, and make our abode with him."
The church shall be my fortress, my castle, my chamber; as it is written in Isa. 31:9, "The Lord hath said, that he hath a fire in Zion, and a hearth in Jerusalem. Therefore, when we baptize, Christ himself baptizes through the mouth and hand of the servant.
Are not these truly the great deeds of God, which the apostles spoke of with many tongues? Acts Hist. 2, 4. 11. It is truly a wonderful thing that a church servant or any brother is a servant of the kingdom of God and eternal life, the forgiveness of sins and destruction of hell, yes, finally the opening of heaven and the kingdom of God. Therefore, we are children of blessing, not only passively, that we ourselves are blessed, but that we also bless others. And so the promise made to Abraham was fulfilled: "Through your seed all nations shall be blessed", Gen. 22, 18.
God does not promise us great riches or bodily abundance, but food and clothing; and yet it is a
Great glorious promise, when Christ says Matth. 6, 33: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all the rest will be added to you", that is: First save the poor sinners from the power of sins, hell, death and the devil, and bring them into my kingdom, and then I will also provide the body with food and drink. But how or with what shall I do it? Christ answers this and says Matth. 28, 19: "Go and baptize them in the name of the Father"; item v. 20: "Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you": you are not to baptize them in your name, but in mine.
Dear one, who can reach these great and rich blessings and miracles with thoughts, or talk them out with words? Why then do we not cry out with the apostle Paul 2 Cor. 9, 15: "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift"? For is this not a wonderful thing, that a man who is like me in every way should give me eternal life, should take away from me death, sin, condemnation, the tyranny of the devil, the poison of sin, which is still in our flesh? But by what does he do this? Answer: By God's command, "Go and baptize them," etc., and by divine promise.
130 Yes, you say, but I do not see the good in itself? Answer: If you believe, you have it; but if you do not believe, you will have nothing. For thus the promise is, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," Marc. 16:16. There is the sacrament of the altar, there is baptism, there is the word in the sermon: but as much as thou hast, so much thou believest: if thou believest, thou hast all things, and art able to do all things.
(131) But I would gladly see the same, you say. Answer: You will not see it; but as I said, what we have in the word is more certain and lasting than what we have in fact; for the same can be taken from us, and at last all will be taken from us by death; therefore it is uncertain. But if I believe, it is impossible that I should die of hunger; and though I have not all things so superfluous and even abundant as the stingy and rich wives have, yet I shall have the same-
I will not lack anything that I need for this life in the flesh; but if first of all the name of God is sanctified etc.
132. but if you do not believe, you have nothing; but through faith and the promise you already have the kingdom of God; the fellowship of the saints is certain and firm enough for you, no different than if you were already in heaven. For the children of Israel also did not obtain this promise without faith. Jacob gives them the land, but how does he give it to them? He does not give them the property with that and yet he gives it to them. He does not give it to them in cash or in kind, as a hundred or a thousand florins are given into the hands of a man, but in the promise he gives it to them, just as Abraham, Isaac, Israel and Joseph received it. But as I have often said, they had it more surely in the promise than when they dwelt therein in deed and in sight, with the condition of the law attached, which they were commanded to keep.
For this reason, we should be diligent to magnify the promise of the word and to exalt it as much as we can or may. To this end, we should also ask God to increase our faith and keep it. For where we do not believe, we will receive nothing. Just as the unbelieving Israelites did not enter the Promised Land, but were struck down and died in the wilderness, except for two, Joshua and Caleb.
So we also, being baptized, know that we are God's children and citizens with the saints in the Kingdom of God. The thing is certain. But who gave you this assurance and comfort? Answer: The minister of the Word or the priest did it. Dear, what does the same poor man teach, who is so despised, who is even a poor beggar and can hardly pay a rope, that he could not be poorer? how should he give you the kingdom of heaven? For so ungodly, unbelieving people are wont to speak, as is said of the people of Israel in the 78th Psalm v. 19: "They spoke against God, and said: Yes, God should be able to
How can he give bread and provide meat for his people? And the Capernaites also said John 6:52: "How can this one give us his flesh to eat?" But the same Psalm also tells the punishments of the unbelievers, as it says v. 33: "Therefore he sent them to die, that they should gain nothing, and be afflicted all their days."
135) Therefore, it is to be considered certain and firm that a pastor or church servant has the power to open heaven to those who want to be baptized, absolve, and teach and report with God's word, because he has authority and command from God, and can and should also absolve and forgive sins; as Christ has expressly given them this authority John 20:23, when he says: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them" etc.
This is not taught in the papacy, but is obscured; indeed, the child of perdition has even suppressed and destroyed these great gifts and benefits that were in him. For they have taught that it is not enough to be baptized and to believe in Christ, but that you should also kiss my feet. For this reason, I am a sworn enemy of the Antichrist, who has taken away from us the glory of the promise, faith and the kingdom of heaven, as well as eternal life, and in the meantime I am called to obey a fictitious person and the shell of a man of sins. He badly assigns me to the devil in the butt. This has been a terrible punishment of ingratitude.
137. Therefore, we should take care that we are grateful to God for the great glory and honor of Christ's kingdom, which has been purified again by the light and teaching of the Word of God Himself. For it is not such laws that are now held up to us as are found in the Pope's Decretals, but the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins. But the pope only imposed his human statutes on the poor church by force, he taught neither law nor gospel. Yes, if he had taught the Law, he would have been tolerated to some extent; but the right understanding of the Ten Commandments was also
have even left the church. For look at Peter Lombard and the other scholastics, how coldly they treat the Ten Commandments; indeed, they pay no attention to them and pass them by. After that, the canonists did not even think about the interpretation of the Ten Commandments. And yet both of them have filled the world with many great books, in which nothing is written, but only darkness and error of the monastic rules and vows, of their belts, caps and fasts, so that they have moved almost the whole world, and especially the simple, unintelligent people, to marvel at this foolish work and to praise it.
Therefore it has been a great pitiful blindness, and it is just and right that all monasteries and convents should be turned back and destroyed, except that some of them should be left standing in memory of the sins and abominations that have been lodged and committed in them, as the houses of Baal, Moloch, and Thopheth were in the Old Testament of old.
139. Therefore, when we remember the great and marvelous glory of the fathers, when they could believe that both the present and the future kingdom, or the bodily and the spiritual promise, clung to each other, since the bodily was like a covering in which the promise of Christ was also wrapped: Rather, we are to praise our baptism, the Lord's Supper, the keys, and the ministry, so that we become accustomed to them, and learn to honor and love the Word and the sacraments, also to think highly of them and praise them, and speak honestly of them; which is truly a very glorious power that opens heaven, closes hell, takes away sin and death, and gives life. But all this happens only in faith. For we still hope and wait for it, and do not yet see the goods before our eyes; as Paul says Rom. 8:24: "But the hope that is seen is not hope; for how can one hope for that which is seen?"
In this way, the promises of the New Testament must be held against those which the fathers had in the Old Testament. Although these were also included in the Old Testament, they were at that time still
not so publicly spread over the whole world, as now happens in the New Testament. At that time the Jewish people alone had the promise, but now the whole world has the promise, the word and the great deeds of God, and in the time of need every brother is commanded and entrusted with the ministry of preaching.
When I teach or preach, it is not I who teach and comfort people, but Christ who dwells in us. Therefore believe not me, but Christ, who baptizes, comforts, and administers the sacraments through me; as he promised when he said Matt. 28:20: "Behold, I am with you to the end of the age." For this is the power and glory of the kingdom of Christ, of which the 145th Psalm v. 11. says.
For this reason, I wish that the godly would become accustomed from their youth to speak most magnificently and gloriously of our firstborn, of our kingdom, and of your dear ministry, and that we would be grateful to God for them, even that we would honor these gifts with due reverence of heart and offerings of the whole body; for they are divine things, and such gifts give us the eternal kingdom.
143 I have said this in this place, because it was necessary to speak of the promises of the fathers, to remind you of the great goods we now have and the great glory of the kingdom of Christ. For though their bodily promises are somewhat greater, yet ours are less (for in the New Testament no bodily kingdom is set up, but rather is forbidden, lest our hearts be weighed down with devouring and drinking): yet we are satisfied that Christ said Matt. 6:33: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all the rest shall be added unto you." As if he wanted to say: First of all my name shall be sanctified, with all reverence, with spiritual joy, with words, with heart and mouth, then you shall also have daily bread.
But first of all, we should boast about this and push this teaching of ours fiercely against the pope, to disturb this abominable kingdom. For if I already had a hundred tongues and so many mouths, I would
But you cannot say in words what a monstrosity the kingdom of the pope has been. And one cannot speak so sharply or vehemently against it, lest this godless being, and the abomination that stands there in the holy place, surpass it all. For I have been miserably caught in the same papal ropes, and have done and suffered everything with all seriousness, which today the greatest part of the papacy does not respect and no longer holds.
Therefore whoever is able and willing, let him always be angry, curse and malign the pope, for he has done more harm to the kingdom of Christ than Mahomet. The Turk kills the body, takes away the goods of the Christians by force, ruins and devastates everything: but the accursed pope presses much more cruelly on his alcoran, namely, that Christ should be denied. They are both enemies of the church and servants of the devil, for they both reject the gospel, but the pope wants his canons and decrees to be worshipped, so that the light of the gospel may be suppressed and extinguished. Therefore he is lost and damned for eternity, and all angels and saints shall curse this monster of the papacy. For I would have died in the same pit of murder if God had not saved me. For I knew nothing of divine promises, of the use or benefit of the holy sacraments; as I have just recounted the words of a monk who was surprised that so many doctors in the papacy had never taught anything about the promise of God. Yes, when I heard the word and the name of our Savior Christ JEsu mentioned, I was completely frightened by it, so that I thought he was presented to me as a judge and not as a Savior. I rather wondered and held in greater honor a priest who walked along in a long skirt or sacrificed for the living and the dead, than the doctrine of Christ together with the promises and sacraments, yes, I thought that this doctrine did not concern me at all. Therefore, we have been talking about the blessings of the fathers, and I have said that our honor and glory and that of the New Testament should also be praised.
Fourth Part.
How Jacob announces his death and the return of his family to Canaan; and how he gives Joseph a piece of land in advance of his brothers.
V. 21. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die; and God shall be with you, and shall bring you again into the land of your fathers.
146 Jacob speaks of the land of the fathers according to the promise. For since they were miserable and strangers in Egypt, and had left the land of Canaan, how could they have it in any other way than in the promise, in faith and hope? But what he said to Joseph must be understood synecdochically, for he was there with both sons. Therefore, what was said to Joseph also applies to them, and they are also meant by it.
147 And, beloved, behold the faith and excellent comfort that Jacob had. For he does not doubt that God will take care of them and provide for them, since he says, "God will be with you," just as we are now certain in the New Testament that Christ will be with us to the end of the world. Above this he also promises them that they will be brought back to the land of their fathers. As if to say, I leave you now and depart from you out of this life; yet you shall not be forsaken or without comfort. For the same God and Savior, God, who has been with me in so many great tribulations of this life, will also be with you, and will lead you again into the land that is promised to you.
These are truly strong words. As when I say to one who is now to die, I absolve you from your sins, and command you to God and all His angels who want to protect you and lead you to eternal life. For I can freely say the same thing with all confidence, and I should do so for the sake of Christ's command, and because of the untrustworthy promise of God on which such absolution stands. Therefore, we can absolve those who believe the word.
viren and send them into the kingdom of God, so that this blessing of the fathers has also been given to us.
The pope, however, sends the poor afflicted consciences out of purgatory, and promises them nothing certain about their salvation, but demands of them repentance for sin, confession, and atonement, whether God might be softened and reconciled with it. Your repentance, he says, would be so great that God would look at it. So he always leaves the poor hearts in doubt, and finally brings them to the point that they become hostile to God and even despair.
(150) And we therefore lift up the troubled consciences, saying unto them, Believe that thou art baptized into Christ Jesus, and I absolve thee from thy sins in the name of Christ, who died for thee, and rose again, who said, John 14:19, I live, and ye also shall live. This is a certain and constant consolation, on which alone godly hearts can rely; therefore the devil also challenges it for and for, and always opposes it. Just as the rude asses of Leuven recently wanted to defend Purgatory in their articles that went out in print under the name and seal of Emperor Carl, with which articles they show their rude mind and foolishness, and thus publicly prove that God has blinded them a hundred times more, because they dared to extinguish the light of promise, which God has now, out of wonderful grace and mercy, again kindled in our churches.
Therefore, these words of strong, perfect faith should be diligently remembered, in which Jacob certainly concludes that God will provide for him and his descendants even in misery and death; that such words should be held against the doubt introduced by the papal sophists, and that the same error should be refuted with them. For Jacob says: "I do die, but not like an Epicurian sow, as if there were nothing left in me but death and the dead body; indeed, I proclaim to you beforehand with true and constant faith that God lives, and that he is with you who live, and with me,
when I am dead, I will also be and help us; for I believe in him.
From this it can be seen that faith is nothing other than the right true life in God Himself; and from these words one should learn to recognize eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. I may die, but God lives. Thus do not the epicureans or despairers speak, but this is the word of a believer who waits with certain faith and hope for the eternal life and resurrection of the dead. For he says: "Death will not harm me or you, for God will be with you and me, yes, I will be with him. He is so certain that God will comfort them and lead them back to the land of their fathers, as if they were all going up together and had the land before their eyes.
Faith has such great power that when we have died, it brings us back to life: in fact, in the same hour that we begin to believe and take hold of the word, we also begin to live in eternal life. For the word of the Lord endures forever, and God who speaks to us is eternal and will be with us forever.
For this reason, death and life are set closer to each other than we ourselves can see. For Jacob dies, but death is close to life, indeed, it is the very life. Again, Adam lived in paradise and knew of no death, although God told him beforehand how close death would be to him. For the words of Genesis 2:17 read: "The day you eat of it, you will die. But he could not believe it, since he still felt life and all that was good and had not yet experienced evil. But God reminded him of both. As if to say: You feel life, but you do not feel death; you do not see the misfortune that may befall you: but beware, death is certainly not far away. For this thou shalt know, that thou shalt die the same day that thou eatest of the tree; so near are death and life to each other. But God could not persuade Adam of this, and he thought he would never die.
Faith reigned there, therefore he is not afraid of death at all.
So we are also in death. We see that we die and give up the spirit, that the body rots and is consumed by worms; but we also do in death what Adam did in life. Adam did not believe that death was so near, but was sure, and his security and hope was a holy and praiseworthy security, since he felt no evil and no destruction at all. So we are also crushed and humiliated in death, and yet we have life just as close as Adam had death; for the promise is certain and true, Marc. 16, 16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved"; so life and blessedness are very close to us who are in death, just as death was close to Adam. But he that believeth, as Jacob did here, with strong assurance of life, reckoneth death nothing: for faith bringeth life near, and thus concludeth, Though I die, yet am I baptized, and believe on Jesus Christ; therefore am I alive and blessed.
Just as Adam was able to boast that he lived, and yet should also believe this word: "The day you eat of it, you will die of death," and be afraid of death, so we, on the other hand, should not fear death, but hope for life. For God, who said to Adam: Death is near you, the same God also says to us: Life, peace and blessedness are near you. And God, who speaks to us in this way, cannot lie or deceive; as Paul says in Titus 1:2: "God, who promised us eternal life, is true and does not lie," which is a word of faith that already has life in itself, even though it is hidden; for faith begins life in us and has life in itself.
157 And we who believe have this beginning, that even though we now feel death, we are not afraid of it, as others, who are troubled by an evil conscience, turn pale and are terrified when they hear death mentioned. But the godly and holy martyrs despise and mock death. Like St. Agnes, when she went
was torn into the dungeon and was to be tortured, said: It would not be otherwise to her courage, as if she were led to the dance. Dear, from where may the maiden have had such great courage that she is not at all afraid or frightened, but is cheerful and in good spirits, as if she were seated at the table, since vian wanted to do her a great favor? It was not an Epicurean disdain for death, but right wisdom and right understanding, from which she could conclude and take it for granted that life was very close to her. Therefore she mocked the devil and death and laughed at them, as it were; for death was swallowed up in her by life.
This is the theology we teach, so contrary to that which the blind and foolish scholastics and papists hold so harshly, knowing nothing of it and despising the faith. Therefore let us listen to the patriarch Jacob, who speaks of death as of sleep. For if thou shalt ask him: Dear Jacob, how can you not be afraid of death? he answers: I shall indeed die, and be laid in the grave: but God liveth, who hath promised us the land, wherein he will bring you: but he will set me in another life, which is far better; for he hath promised it.
Therefore all his life was swallowed up in this promise: God has promised to be gracious to me, so also that the Messiah shall be born of me; therefore He will also give the land and the place where this Messiah shall be born. In faith and trust I will die and sleep in peace.
160 This is now held up to us as an example, which we should follow, so that we may also greatly esteem our promises. For before times in the papacy, when I was a monk, these words were not needed, and no one knew to say anything about them, which was "word" or "promise"; and I thank God that I may live at this time, since now "word" and "promise of God" ring in my and all godly ears. For whoever hears the Word can easily understand the divine promises that are contained in the entire Pabst-
thum were dark and unknown to all theologians.
The word that God promises must be connected with faith, which faith they did not understand in the Papacy, just as little as the word and promise. For this was their usual teaching: the sacraments give God's grace to those who need them, without word and without faith: if one is baptized, he does not need faith; the sacraments have so much power that they give grace because of the outward work.
This is the main point of our teaching, that no sacrament can work grace in itself without faith. For the eunuch, Acts 8:36, 37, heard Philip say, "Behold, there is water; what hindereth me to be baptized?" "If thou believest with all thine heart, it may be so." Philip will not baptize him, because he believes. For he does not say, "Baptism is of use to you and makes you righteous, whether you believe or do not believe, as the papists dream that grace is poured out even to little children by the power of the sacrament. This is most false. For they are saved by the power of the promise, and receive the Holy Spirit, because Christ said Matt. 19:14, "Suffer the little children to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Therefore, let us learn from such examples the right power of faith, so that we may be saved from death and enter into eternal life. As Jacob says here, "I die, but God lives, and He will be with you. I am going to the grave, you will neither hear me nor see me; but I will leave you a much better father, who will be able to provide for you much better and more faithfully than I. For neither I, nor my son Joseph, but the God in whom we believe and whose promise we have, will Himself be your God, your Father, your Guide and Redeemer.
Jacob could not have said all this without faith. For the promise and faith are necessarily connected, as St. Paul says in Eph. 3, 17: "Christ dwells in your hearts through faith"; and in the Book of Wisdom Cap. 1, 4. it is also written: "God does not dwell in a man.
unbelieving people. If the Turk heard that something was promised to someone, he would soon understand that faith was required there. For what is a promise which no one believes, but only a useless thing in vain? But then it is a true promise if a person believes it and firmly relies on it, and believes God to be true.
(165) Historical faith does not hold to the word in this way, nor does it put its trust in it, but says, "I hear that Christ suffered and died" (2c); but true faith holds to this and says, "I believe that Christ suffered and died for me," (2c) and I have no doubt about it, and in this faith I am satisfied and rely on the word against death and sin.
This light and grace God has revealed to us at this time; for this we should be grateful to Him. And we have a glorious example of faith in these words of Jacob, which truly have great important things in them. For Jacob dies, not as one who doubted or wavered in his heart, but out of the most certain and steadfast faith he freely says, "God will be with you." Thus he has life in death, and since he is already dead, he nevertheless lives, he is brought to the grave full of faith; for he trusts in God and His promises. This faith devours death. For it is not a knowledge according to history, which alone comprehends history in itself, but does not dispute, nor does it stand firm in the challenge against death and hell; just as the devil also has such faith and knowledge.
But this is the true faith of the promise, which ascribes to God the honor that He is true; which believes His word and puts its trust in it. Such faith overcomes death and, as it were, defies it; as Paul does, saying 1 Cor. 15, 55: "Death, where is your sting? Where is your victory?" Even though you will swallow me up, I will come to the light again and to life.
168. such passages of scripture are to be held up to the church for the sake of examples.
of the holiest men, who have shone before us with the most constant faith, which faith we should also learn to follow, so that we may boast in this way and say: I have been baptized and absolved, and I will die on it. Whatever further temptation and distress may come my way, I shall not be deceived. For he who said Marc. 16, 16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved"; item Matth. 16, 19: "Everything you bind on earth will also be bound in heaven"; item Matth. 26, 26. 28: "This is my body, this is my blood, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins": he can neither lie nor deceive; that is certainly true.
V. 22. I have given you a piece of land apart from your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow.
Now this is a very wonderful thing, that this very holy man, who is now completely swallowed up in the faith and lives securely in the Lord, believes and hopes in the resurrection of the dead, still cares about a small, poor piece of the holy land; and even though it was small, he did not want to forget it.
Thus these holy men did: although they were sure of the life and resurrection of the dead, they did not leave their office and profession, nor their temporal goods; they no longer cared for themselves, but they ordered and arranged everything properly for their descendants, so that they would not leave anything behind from which their children or relatives might have cause to quarrel or fight with each other. So also does a pious, godly householder: before he departs from this life, he decrees and orders everything in his house, and wants that of his goods and possessions a part be given to his wife, a part to his son or daughter. For he thinks thus: These goods have been commanded and entrusted to me by God; I will now order and distribute them rightly in peace and in faith.
So Jacob said to Joseph, "Apart from the division of the land that you are to share with your brothers, I am giving you this special piece of land, which you are not to share with the others. You also have two other portions for your two sons, but over them you shall have this portion especially for yourself. So he honors his son with a special gift in view of his glory and godliness. For he was a great and excellent man, adorned and endowed with all kinds of virtues.
Although such outward things and bodily goods were perishable in Jacob's house, as in other places, nevertheless, because the church and the kingdom of God were to be there, and so many prophets, kings and noble men were to be raised from the house, who were great miracle workers in the world, God, for the sake of the future descendants, esteemed this place so great, where he wanted to dwell, speak and send Christ the Lord. This has truly been a very excellent and very great honor, which far surpasses all temporal goods, namely, to have God Himself present in the kingdom and worship with Him; as Christ says John 14:23: "He that loveth Me shall keep My word; and My Father shall love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
These are very great and immeasurable things, and if one were to compare them with the glory of all the kingdoms and precious stones and all the money and goods of the whole world, and what they all cost, all these things would disappear together. For what a great thing is it that the Son of God says: I and the Father want to come to him and make our abode with him? Therefore, the most distinguished honor of that land was that in the fleshly place there was eternal life, victory over sin and death.
brewers make a distinction between the shoulder or armpit and the piece worn on the armpit. Now the word schekem is everywhere called armpit; but from
For what reason it should be called the piece that is worn on it, I cannot understand, for only because it has pleased the Jews to interpret the same word in this way, that a piece or part is worn on the armpits, as they fable about it or speak uselessly; or else because the armpit is a part of the body. But it is a very harsh and Jewish unrhymed metaphor or simile.
For this reason I greatly hate the Jewish rabbis, and even despise them for being so completely obsessed with the various meanings of words. And Quintilian teaches and admonishes rightly that one should beware of such a word, which has more than one meaning, as of a cliff, where one is wont to buy. And those who teach others should take special care to avoid such diverse interpretations of words. There is also an old verse that was very common in the schools, which reads: Erroris mater est aequivocatio semper, that is, error always comes from words that have more than one meaning.
It can happen, however, that some words are ambiguous in kind and nature, which in schools are called aequivoca a casu, that is, ambiguous by accident. Such ambiguity cannot be avoided in languages, or even abstained from. As in the German language we express with One Word the two words, molere and pingere, and say, "to paint." There we have only one word, and no difference can be deduced from it between the two Latin words molitor and pictor. Similarly, the German word "Reif" also means two things in the Latin language, pruina and maturitas. So also, the word "nail" means unguis and clavus. And the same thing happens in other languages, too, so that a word, according to the common usage of the language, means more than one thing in kind and nature, and one cannot actually recognize its right force or meaning, for only from the circumstances, which at the same time as the construction given by the grammar, that is, according to which they are placed with other words, indicate the right meaning. As when
One would say to the painter: Paint me the grain, he would soon take the brush and paint a einkorn. And again, if you were to bring a paper or letter to the miller and tell him to paint you a picture on it, he would not be able to understand what you mean. We do not speak of such words in this place.
177 But it is a different equivocation, since the words do not mean more than one thing in kind and nature, but as is customary for the sake of language or speech. As when one says in Latin: Homo et homo pictus, a man and a painted man. Such an equivocation may be called in Latin artificialis, voluntaria, or arbitraria; that is, artificial and voluntary. And the rabbis have been very much concerned about this, so that one may well be hostile to their efforts in this respect. Whenever they see that something has been said by means of a figure called either metaphor or synecdoche, they immediately attach new meanings to such words. For they are unlearned people who know nothing of good arts; therefore they do not understand the figures.
It often happens that some words, because they are somewhat like one another, are also drawn from other things, which happens in metaphors. But in words that, by their nature and kind, mean more than one thing, there is no likeness other than, among the Latin words, molere and pingere, both of which are called "to paint," and no cause can be shown for this.
179) So in the history of Abraham is the word beer scheba, Gen. 21, 31, which is interpreted in Latin, fons saturitatis, or juramenti, or septem, that is, a fountain of plenty, or of oath, or seven; for all this is called the word scheba. Its proper original meaning is that it means oath; as, in the 110th Psalm v. 4. "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent." But why it should be rendered seven, or an abundance, I know not, except that in the Hebrew language, as in others, such words are prefixed to the word sheba.
The words that come in the schools are called aequivoca a casu, accidental ambiguities. But how to interpret them is indicated by the circumstances in the text.
180 Thus shekem is also a word that has more than one meaning. For sometimes it means a piece or part, and sometimes an armpit; but which meaning is best in each place must be judged, as I have said, from the circumstances. As, in the prophet Zephaniah at the 3. cap. V. 9, it says: "Then I will preach differently to the nations, with friendly lips, so that they will all call on the name of the Lord, and serve him with one accord," in Latin it says: ut serviant ei humero uno, which the commentators interpret: parte una, vel opinione, vel consensu unanimi, that is, on one part, or of one opinion, or with one accord; so that many bear Christ as on one armpit, and are true Christs (Christ-bearers).
181 In the same way Jacob says here also in one meaning: "I have given you a piece of land", and nevertheless it also points to the proper name "Sichem". For there are three meanings here when the name of this city is added to the previous meanings, and so Jacob plays with the word, which has so many meanings, and says, "I give you this piece of land," and wants to have understood the place called Shechem. With the generic word he assigns this part to him and says: This shall be your part. But with the proper name he wants to have meant and understood the city Shechem. As in Genesis 21:30, 31, where Abraham sets apart seven lambs, and Abimelech asks, "What is the purpose of the seven lambs you set apart?" He answers, "That they may be a testimony to me that I have dug this well. Therefore the place is called "Bersaba", namely from the seven lambs or from the oath that they both swore with each other there and made a covenant, in German, Eidstatt or Siebenstatt.
Now there are still some questions that belong to grammar and not to theology. For Jacob adds, and says, "Which I took out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow."
But we have heard above in 34 Cap. V. 25 ff. how Simeon and Levi killed Shechem and Hemor with the inhabitants of the city and plundered the whole city. Now Jacob speaks of the same death stroke and robbery or plunder here thus: I have won this piece of land with my sword and bow. Although, as Stephen testifies in Acts 7:5, God did not give him an inheritance in the land, not even a foot wide, and his sons did not slay the Shechemites at God's command, but out of their own devastation and fierce anger. And yet Jacob now approves of the same deed, and says that he did it, and thus confirms such an evil deed with fatherly force. Why does he now praise what he had punished and condemned above, since he said Gen. 34:30: "You have caused me misfortune, so that I stink before the inhabitants of this land, the Cananites and the Perizzites"? But contrary to all this he now boasts here and says: "I have taken this piece of land with my sword and bow."
We have answered this question above, and the same answer is to be taken here and repeated. For the sons of Jacob did not do this death alone, nor could they have done it without the help of the Canaanites, who gathered to them, moved by the unrighteous deed which Shechem had committed, in that he had weakened the daughter of such a great man, who was a sojourner and a stranger in their land. Zeal drove the Canaanites not only to help the sons of Jacob avenge the mistreatment they had committed against their sister, but also to grant them all the land. For no doubt some have heard the patriarch Jacob preach, and have thought it necessary to punish evildoers severely in order to preserve discipline and respectability.
184 Therefore, although the beginning was evil because of the wickedness of his sons, the possession of Jacob's land remained as it had been won by the sword, and the neighbors themselves had helped and consented to it. This is my
Opinion, and think that one must follow it therefore reasonably, because the history rhymes with this present text. This place is also remembered in Joh. 4, 5, where it is called Sichar; which came from the fact that in the grammar the writing was mistaken; because the writer of the book made a p out of the letter λ in the Greek text.
The last question belongs entirely to grammar, namely: Why does he say: "from the hand of the Amorites", since Shechem is called a Hivite above, and the Amorites and Hivites were different peoples? and the scripture testifies that the Amorites lived almost beyond the Jordan; as it is to be seen from the fifth book of Moses by Sihon, the king of the Amorites. How then is Shechem appropriated to them, which is this
since the Jordan? There I follow the common gloss, that such is spoken synecdochically, if one understands a whole for a part, or a part for the whole; as 5 Mos. 1, 20. also is said: "You came to the mountain of the Amorites", where likewise also Amorites are called, who lived in the country Juda. Therefore the word Amorrheus, Amorite, was either a generic word, or these peoples were related by affinity or alliance, so that Shechem had its origin from the lineage of a part of the Amorites and a part of the Hivites, which often happens among peoples so close to each other as among Saxons and Meissners. For this is how people tend to keep themselves. Therefore, not much is at stake in this question.