48 a. D. Matt. Luther's scripture that Jesus Christ was born a Jew.*)
Anno 1523.
But a new lie has 1) gone out about me: I am said to have preached and written that Mary, the mother of God, was not a virgin before and after childbirth but
1) but - again.
she had Christ from Joseph, and after that she had more children. About all this I am also said to have preached a new heresy, namely, that Christ is Abraham's seed. How well this lie tickles my dear friends,
*This writing appeared in 1523 at Wittenberg in seven individual editions (Erl., vol. 29, p. 45), all without indication of the printer; one of them has the title Lotthers (Dietz, Wörterbuch, p. XHII). In the collections it is found: in the Wittenberger (1556), vol. V, p. 434b; in the Jenaer (1585), vol. II, p. 216b; in the Altenburger, vol. II, p. 313; in the Leipziger, vol. XXI, p. 646 and in the Erlanger, vol. 29, p. In 1577, Selnecker had all of Luther's writings Wider die Juden at Leipzig (in octavo) reprinted, namely: this writing; wider die Sadbather; von den Juden und ihren Lügen; and vom Schem Hamphoras. We give the text according to the Jena edition with comparison of the Wittenberg. A Latin translation of this writing made by Justus Jonas in 1523 is found in the Wittenberg edition, Lora. VII, col. 156. By comparing them, we have been able to correct many readings. However, in some cases the translation is such that it is not possible to decide on the variants, but these are usually only insignificant.
1794 Srl. SS, 46-48. I. Luthers Schriften Wider die Juden. W. XX. Wsa-srW. 1795
the papists! And because they condemn the gospel, they are worth nothing better than that they atone for and feed their heart's joy and lust with lies. I would bet my neck on it, whether the same liars, who pretend such great things to honor the Mother of God, would believe this article from the heart, and yet want to pretend with such lies, as [if] they are highly interested in the Christian faith.
(2) But it is such a poor merciful lie that I despise it and would not answer it. For these three years I am almost accustomed to hearing lies, even from our closest neighbors; and again, they are also accustomed to the noble virtue that they do not turn red, nor are they ashamed if they are publicly overcome by lying, let themselves be called liars, and do it more and more; nevertheless, they are the most Christian people, who want to eat the Turk, and exterminate all heresy with body and soul.
But because I must answer this lie for the sake of others, I have thought to write something useful as well, so that I do not rob the readers of their time in vain with such lazy, loose jokes. Therefore I will tell from the Scriptures the causes that move me to believe that Christ is a Jew born of a virgin, whether I might also provoke some of the Jews to the Christian faith. For our fools, the popes, bishops, sophists, and monks, the coarse asses, have thus far dealt with the Jews, that whoever would have been a good Christian might well have become a Jew. And if I had been a Jew, and had seen such dolts and gags governing and teaching the Christian faith, I would have become a sow rather than a Christian.
(4) For they have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs and not men; they could do no more than to bark at them and take their goods when they were baptized; they have been shown neither Christian doctrine nor life, but have been subjected only to piety and monasticism. When they have seen that the things of the Jews have such strong Scripture for themselves, and the things of the Christians have been mere babble, without any Scripture, how may they still their hearts, and
become really good Christians? I have heard it myself from devout baptized Jews that if they had not heard the gospel in our time, they would have remained Jews under the Christian mantle all their lives. For they confess that they have never heard of Christ from their Anabaptists and masters.
(5) I hope that if the Jews were dealt with kindly, and were carefully instructed from the Scriptures, they would become many true Christians, and return to the faith of their fathers, the prophets, and the patriarchs; but they would be further frightened if their cause were rejected, and nothing at all left, and only acted with arrogance and contempt toward them. If the apostles, who were also Jews, had thus dealt with us Gentiles, as we Gentiles do with the Jews, there would never have been a Christian among the Gentiles. If then they have dealt so brotherly with us Gentiles, let us again deal brotherly with the Jews, if we may convert some; for we ourselves are not yet all gone, let us not say all gone.
(6) And though we boast highly, yet we are Gentiles, and the Jews are of the blood of Christ; we are sisters and strangers, they are blood friends, cousins and brethren of our Lord. Therefore, if one should boast of blood and flesh, the Jews belong closer to Christ than we do, as St. Paul also says in Romans 9. God has also proven this by deed, for He has never done such great honor to any nation among the Gentiles as He has to the Jews. For no patriarch, no apostle, no prophet has ever been exalted among the Gentiles, not to mention very few true Christians. 1) Paul says Rom. 3, 2. and Ps. 147, 19. 20.: "He proclaims his word to Jacob, and his statutes and his judgments to Israel. He has not done so to any nation, nor revealed his judgments to them."
7 I hereby ask my dear papists if they are tired of calling me a heretic.
1) "St." in the Wittenberg; missing in the Jena.
that they now began to call me a Jew. For I will perhaps also become a Turk, and what my Junkers only want.
8. the first is promised to Christ soon after Adam's fall, when God said to the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; the same shall bruise your head, and you shall bite his heels". [Gen. 3:15.Here I leave it to prove that the serpent spoke possessed by the devil, because no unreasonable animal is so clever that it could speak and hear human language, much less speak and ask of such high things as the commandment of God is, as the serpent does here; therefore it must certainly have been an understanding, highly reasonable and powerful spirit that can make human language, and so masterfully handle of God's commandments and saw and guide human reason.
(9) Since it is certain that a spirit is higher than man, it is also certain that this is an evil spirit and an enemy of God, for he breaks God's commandment and does against His will; therefore it is certainly the devil. So the word of God, which speaks of the trampling of the head, must also refer to the devil's head, but not excluding the natural serpent's head, for he speaks with the same word of the devil and the serpent, as of one thing; therefore he means both heads. But the head of the devil is his power, so that he rules, that is, sin and death, so that he has brought Adam and all Adam's children under himself.
(10) Therefore this woman's seed must not be a common man, because it must tread down the devil's power, sin and death, since all men are subject to the devil through sin and death, so it must certainly be without sin. Now human nature does not bear such seed or fruit, as has been said, because they are all under the devil with sin. How then will it be here? The seed must be a natural child of a woman; otherwise it could not be called nor be the seed of a woman. Again, human nature and birth do not bear such seed, as has also been said. So finally the means must remain, that this seed
Let him be a natural son of the woman, not coming naturally from the woman, but by a special work of God, so that the Scripture may affirm that he is only the seed of a woman, and not of a man, as the text clearly indicates, that he will be the seed of a woman.
11. So this is the first saying, in which the mother of this child is described as a virgin, and that she is a quite natural mother, and yet should only conceive and give birth supernaturally by God, without a man, so that he may be a special man without sin, and yet have common flesh and blood, like other men; which could not have happened if he had been conceived by a man, like other men, because the flesh is burned and corrupted with evil desire, his natural work and chastening cannot be done without sin, and what is inseminated and impregnated by the work of the flesh also bears a carnal and sinful fruit. Therefore St. Paul Eph. 2, 3. says: that we are by nature all children of wrath.
This saying has now become the very first gospel on earth. For when Adam and Eve, seduced by the devil, had fallen and were summoned to judgment by God, Genesis 3:9 ff, they stood in mortal peril and in the fear of hell, seeing that God was against them and condemned them, from which they would have gladly escaped and could not. And if God had left them in fear, they would have soon despaired and died. But when, after the terrible punishment, he let them hear this comforting word that he would raise up the seed of the woman over the serpent's head to trample it underfoot, their spirit was refreshed, and they drew comfort from such a word, with firm faith in such a future blessed seed of the woman, which would trample underfoot the serpent's head, sin and death, by which they had been trampled underfoot and corrupted.
(13) Now this gospel the fathers preached and preached from Adam onward, by which they also knew and believed in the future seed of this woman, and so were preserved by faith in Christ, as well as we, are also true believers.
Christians, as we are; without 1) that in their time such gospel was not preached publicly in all the world, as was to happen after Christ's future, but remained alone with the holy fathers and their descendants, until Abraham.
14 Secondly, Christ is promised to Abraham, Genesis 22:18, where God says, "In your seed shall all the Gentiles be blessed." If all the Gentiles are to be blessed, it is certain that otherwise they are all unblessed and cursed, except for this seed of Abraham. But from this it follows that human nature has vain cursed seed and bears unblessed fruit, otherwise it would not be necessary for them all to be blessed through this seed of Abraham. He who says "all" excludes none. Therefore, besides Christ, they must all be cursed in sins and death under the devil, who are born of men.
15 Now here the mother of God is proven to be a pure virgin. For since God cannot lie, it had to happen that Christ would be Abraham's seed, that is, his natural flesh and blood, like all Abraham's children. Again, because he is to be the blessed seed that should bless all others, he could not be begotten of man. For such children, as said, may not be conceived without sin, for the sake of the corrupt and poisoned flesh, which cannot do its work without poison and sin.
(16) Thus the Word, when God promised Christ to Abraham's seed, compels that Christ should be born of a woman and become her natural child. For he came not as Adam from the earth, nor as Eve from Adam; but as a woman's child comes from her seed. For the earth was not natural seed to Adam's womb; so Adam's rib was not natural seed to Eve's womb; but the flesh and blood of virgins, whereof children are otherwise born in all women, was natural seed to Christ's womb, even as she was of the seed of Abraham.
17 Again, the Word, when God promises blessing on all the Gentiles in Christ, compels that Christ should not be blessed by any man or woman.
1) Wittenberger: "and" instead of "on" in the Jena.
Man's work come. For the work of the flesh, which is cursed, does not suffer with that which is blessed and blessed. So this blessed fruit had to be the fruit of a female body only, not of a man; although the same female body comes from the man, yes, also from 2) Abraham and Adam, that this mother is a virgin and yet a real natural mother; but not by natural ability or power, but by the Holy Spirit and God's power alone.
18 This saying has been the gospel from Abraham to David, and also to Christ, and is a short saying, but it hastened to become the gospel, and was wonderfully practiced by the fathers, both in writing and in preaching. Many thousands of sermons have been preached from this saying, and countless souls have been saved. For it is a living word of God, which Abraham believed with his descendants, and thereby redeemed and kept from sins and death and all the power of the devil. Although it has not yet been proclaimed publicly before all the world, as happened after Christ's future, but remained only among the fathers with their descendants.
19) But look at the perverse praisers of the Mother of God, who, when asked why they think so harshly of Mary's virginity, truly could not say. For the foolish 4) idolaters do it 5) no further than to honor the Mother of God, that they exalt her 6) for the sake of virginity and immediately make an idol out of it. But the Scripture praises this virginity nothing at all for the sake of the mother; she is also not preserved a virgin for her sake; yes, cursed.
2) Jenaer: from.
3) Thus the Jena. Wittenberg and Erlangen: right. The reading given by us is confirmed by the translation of Jonas: opulentissimae gratiae nun- cium.
4) The Jenaer has as marginal gloss: "unvernünftigen", what the Wittenberger and the Erlanger have in the text. Jonas: stulti.
5) Thus the Jenaers. Wittenberg and Erlangen "thun".
6) "dieselbe" taken by us from the old edition of Walch. In the other editions: "the same". Our reading proves to be correct by the translation of Jonas.
1800 Erl. 2", ÜS-S1. 48 a. That JEsus Christ was born a Jew. W. LX, 223S-2240. 1801
This virginity, and all virginity, would be there for its own sake, and nothing better would work than its own benefit and praise.
(20) But for this the Spirit praises virginity, that it was necessary for it to conceive and bear this blessed fruit. For after the corrupt flesh such blessed fruit could not come without through a virgin. So that this tender virginity went in foreign service, for God's honor, not for her own honor. And if it could have come from a woman, it would not have taken a virgin; because virginity is against the appointed nature and was condemned in the law before times, and is now only praised because the flesh is poisoned and remote appointed nature cannot give its fruit without cursed works.
21 Therefore we also see that St. Paul does not call the mother of God a virgin, but only a woman, when he says Gal. 4, 4: "The Son of God was born of a woman. Not that he meant that she was not a virgin, but that he praised her virginity in the best possible way with her right praise; as if he should say: "To this birth no woman came, no man, namely, that there remained everything that belongs to it in a woman, that a child might be conceived, born, nursed and nourished, which works no man's image can do; therefore, if it is only a woman's child, then she must certainly be a virgin. But a virgin may also be a man; a mother cannot be only a woman's image.
(22) Therefore the Scripture neither denies nor says anything about the virginity of Mary after the birth, so that the hypocrites are highly concerned, just as if they were serious about it, and all blessedness would depend on it; although it should be enough for us to hold that she remained a virgin after the birth, because the Scripture neither says nor gives that she was crazy afterwards, and no doubt no one is so powerful 1) to fear that he extends without Scripture from his own head that she did not remain a virgin. But the Scripture remains that she was a virgin before and in childbirth; for so far from her virginity did God
1) powerful - very.
We need him to give us the blessed promised seed without all sin.
23. the third saying is said to David, 2 Sam. 7, 12-14.: 2) "When your time is up, and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will come from your womb, and I will establish his kingdom forever. He shall build an house unto my name, and I will establish his kingdom's throne for ever: I will be his father, and he shall be my son."
24 These words may not have been spoken by Solomon. For Solomon did not come from David and rise after his death. So also after Solomon (who was born and became king in David's time) God never called anyone his son, and gave him an everlasting kingdom, or built him a house. Therefore it is all said of Christ. But because this saying is too far, and would cost much to interpret, we leave it now. For it would be necessary to show here how Christ must be the son of a woman alone, that he should be called the child of God, who could not nor should come from cursed works.
The fourth saying is Isa. 7, 14: "God will give you a sign Himself; behold, a virgin is with child and will bear a son. This 3) may not be said of a virgin who is yet to become a bride. For what great sign would it be for a virgin to bear a child for more than a year, since the common course of nature is 4) daily before our eyes? Therefore, if it is to be a sign of God, it must be something special and great, which the common course of nature cannot give, as all signs of God tend to be.
026 Neither do the Jews help themselves that they would escape here, and make up such an excuse, that it is therefore a sign that Isaias saith even now, that it shall be a son, and not a daughter. For this would not be a sign for the virgin, but for the prophet Isaiah, as he had just guessed that it should not be a daughter. Thus
2) Here the Erlangen edition has reprinted Walch's wrong Bible quotation: "2 Sam. 23, 7."; furthermore in this writing two other wrong quotations.
3) Wittenberger: "this".
4) "is" is missing in the Wittenberg and the Erlanger.
the text should read on Isaiah, thus: Behold, God will give you a sign himself, namely, that I will tell Isaiah that a young woman bears a son and not a daughter. But this is shameful and childish.
27 But now the text powerfully presses the sign on the woman's image, and clearly says: This is a sign, when a woman bears a son. Now it is not a sign that a mad woman bears a child, be it Ezekiel's mother, or whatever woman the Jews may interpret; but it must be something new and different, and an especially great work of God, that this woman is with child; the impregnation is to be the sign. So I do not consider any Jew so rude who does not give God so much power that he may make a child from a virgin, since they must confess that he made Adam from the earth and Eve from Adam, which requires no less power.
028 But if they pretend that it is not written in the Hebrew, saying, A virgin is with child; but, Behold, an Alma is with child. But Alma is not called a virgin, but Bethula is called a virgin, but Alma is called a young harlot. Now let a young harlot be a mad woman, and be called the mother of a child.
29. here is easily answered by the Christians from St. Matthew [1, 22. 23.] and Luke [1, 31.], which both lead the saying of Isaiah on Mariam, and interpret the word Alma virgin, which is more to believe than all the world, let alone 1) the Jews. And even if an angel from heaven said that it was not called a virgin, we should still not believe it. For God the Holy Spirit speaks through St. Matthew and Lucas, whom we certainly believe to 2) understand the Hebrew language and words well.
(30) But because the Jews do not accept the evangelists, we must meet them differently, and say here first, as before, that it is not a miracle nor a sign when a young woman becomes pregnant; otherwise one would like to call the prophet Isaiah by all means a miracle.
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: "denn wenn".
2) So the Jenaers. Wittenberg and Erlangen: "and understand".
Rightly mock, and say, What other women should conceive, but the young? Are you drunk, or is it so strange with you that a young woman bears a son? Therefore such a requested answer of the Jews is only a vain defense word, that they only do not keep quiet.
31 And another thing, let it be said that Bethulah is called a virgin, and not Alma; and that Isaiah saith not Bethulah, but Alma: yet all this is a vain word of defence. For they pretend not to know that in no place in all Scripture is Alma called a madwoman, and yet they know it so well, but in all places she is called a young maiden, who is unchanged, and has never been guilty of any man, who is ever called a virgin, as St. Matthew and Lucas here interpret Jesaiam.
32 And if they are so eloquent, and so attached to the letters, we admit that Bethula is another word than Alma. But with this they have won nothing, except that this woman is not called here by the name virgin, but she is called by another name, which also means nothing else, but such a woman, who is still young and unchanged. Now call it what you will, so it is ever a virgin in the person. But it is childish and shameful to make do with words when the interpretation is the same.
(33) Therefore, for the sake of the Jews, let us not translate Isaiam, Behold, a virgin is with child, lest she mistake the word virgin; but rather, Behold, a maid is with child. For as in German "Magd" is called such a woman, who is still young and wears the wreath with honor and walks in the hair, that one says: It is still a maid, and not a woman; although it is another word than the word virgin, so also in Hebrew Elem is a young man who has never 3) had no wife, and Alma is a maid who has no husband yet; not like a maid, but who still wears a wreath. So Mosi's sister is called an Alma, 2 Mos. 2, 8. and Rebekka, 1 Mof. 24, 16. since they were still virgins.
3) "never" is missing in the Wittenberg and Erlanger.
1804 Erl. so, ü<r-ös. 48 a. That JEsus Christ was a Jew by birth. W. xx. 2243-2245. 1805
34 If I were to say in German, Hans has entrusted him with a maid, and someone were to say, Je, so he has not entrusted him with a virgin, then everyone would laugh at him as a useless word warrior, who does not want to let virgin and maid be one thing, because they are two words. So it is also in the Hebrew, because the Jews help themselves here in the saying of Isaiah and say: Isaiah would not speak Bethula, but Alma. And I appeal to their own conscience among themselves, that it is so. So let them say, as they will, Bethula or Alma, so Isaiah means such a harlot, who is manly and still walks in the wreath, which we call a maid in the most proper German. Therefore one also says rightly of the mother of God "the pure maid", that is, the pure Alma.
035 And if I had spoken the name of Isaiam, he should have spoken unto me even as he spake, saying not Bethula, but Alma. For Alma is better suited here than Bethula. It is also clearer when I say, Behold, a maid conceives, for a virgin conceives. For virgin is a broad word, which may well be a woman of fifty or sixty years, unfit to bear fruit. But "maiden" actually means a young woman who is manly, capable of fruition and unchanged, so that she not only understands virginity, but also youth and fertile womb. Thus, in German, the young people are commonly called Mägde or Mägdevolk, and not Jungfrauenvolk.
36 So this is certainly the text of Isaiah in the most authentic German: "Behold, a maidservant conceives. That these are the words in Hebrew, no Jew will deny to me, who understands differently Hebrew and German. For we Germans do not say concepit, the woman has conceived; the preachers have made such German out of Latin; but so speaks the German man and the mother's tongue: the woman goes pregnant, or goes heavily, or is pregnant.
(37) But here in the Hebrew it is not written, Behold, a maid shall conceive, as though she were not yet with child; but, Behold, a maid shall conceive, as having the fruit already in her womb, and yet being a maid.
That 1) you must look at the prophet, how he is amazed that there stands before him a maidservant, who carries a child, before she recognizes a man; she should have a man, would also be skilled for it, and big enough; but before she comes to it, she is a mother. This is a strange miraculous thing.
38) In the 2) way St. Matthew acts this saying, when he says: "When Mary, Jesus' mother, was trusted, before they sat together at home, it was found that she was with child of the Holy Spirit" 2c. Matth. 1, 18.]
039 What else is this said, but that she was a young maid, which had not yet known a man, and yet was able, but before she knew the man she was with child? This was a strange thing, since no maid conceives before she is guilty of a man; so that the evangelist looked upon her even as the prophet, and made her a sign and a wonder.
(40) Now herewith also the false understanding is accounted for, which some have drawn from the words of Matthew, 3) when he saith, Before they sat together in the house, it was found that she was with child. They interpret this as if the evangelist wanted to say: Afterward she sat at home with Joseph, like another woman, and made love, but before this happened she was with child without Joseph. 2c. Item, when he speaks v. 25: "And Joseph knew her not, until she bare her first son." This they barked, as if the evangelist wanted to say that he had recognized her, but not before she had given birth to her first son. Such opinion Elpidius 4) held, and is punished by St. Jerome.
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: Da.
2) Wittenberg and Erlanger: these.
3) Wittenberger and Erlanger: "gesogen", which has the Jenaer at the edge. Jonas: acceperunt, which confirms our reading.
4) "Elpidius" is probably a misprint instead of "Elvidius". Otherwise, we find in Luther's writings everywhere the spelling: "Helvidius", e.g. in the Table Talks, Cap. 7, § 26, para. 2. Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XXII, 283; ibid. there, vol. XIX, 200 towards the end of the Columne, and in this volume in Luther's writing of the Shem Hamphoras, §167 (Walch, old edition, vol. XX, 2617). Against Helvidius at Rome" Jerome wrote his book at the end of the fourth century: Adversus Helvidium. Jonas offers: Helvidium.
For such carnal senses do not consider the opinion and cause of the evangelist. The evangelist, as I said, wants to put this great miracle, like the prophet Isaiah, before everyone's eyes and say how strange it is that a maid should conceive before her husband takes her home and puts her to sleep, and he does not recognize her until she has a son, whom she should have known beforehand.
(42) So that the words of the evangelist do not refer at all to what happened after the birth, but only to what happened before the birth. For the prophet and the evangelist, as well as Saint Paul, do not treat this virgin any further than until they have the fruit of her, for the sake of which she is a virgin and everything. After the fruit they leave the mother and say nothing about her, how it was with her, but only about the fruit. Therefore it cannot be concluded from these words that Mary became a woman after the birth, therefore it is not to be said nor believed. For all the words only indicate the miracle that she became pregnant and gave birth before she was asleep.
(43) The common tongue also has this way of speaking, as if I said, Pharaoh did not believe Moses until he was drowned in the Red Sea. Here it does not follow that Pharaoh believed after he was drowned, but the contradiction that he never believed. So when Matthew says that Joseph did not recognize Mary until she gave birth to her first 1) son, it does not follow that he recognized her afterwards, but the contradiction that he never recognized her afterwards.
(44) Pharaoh overtook the Red Sea before he came out. Nor does it follow that Pharaoh came out after the Red Sea had overtaken him, but rather that he did not come out. Neither does it follow that Mary was asleep afterwards, since Matthew says: "She was found to be with child before they sat together in the house" [Matth. 1, 18], but rather that she was not asleep.
45) In the 2) way also the Scripture speaks, Ps. 110, 1.: "God said to my Lord:
1) "first" is missing in the Wittenberg and Erlanger.
2) Wittenberg and Erlanger: these.
Sit at My right hand until I put your enemies at the footstool of your feet". It does not follow that Christ does not sit thereafter when His enemies are placed at His feet. Item, Gen. 28:15: "I will not leave thee till I fulfill all that I have spoken unto thee." Here God did not leave him after the fulfillment happened. Item Isaiah 42:4: "He will not look sour nor storm until He establishes justice in the earth." And much more like that; that such talk of Elpidii has no reason, and he neither respected nor perceived the Scriptures, nor the common language.
(46) Let this be enough for this time, that it may be proved strongly enough that Mary is a pure handmaid, and that Christ of Abraham's seed is a true Jew. For although more sayings may be used, these are the clearest. In addition, whoever does not believe a light saying of the divine majesty, it is to be assumed that he also does not believe any other dark saying.
(47) Thus no one can doubt that it is not impossible for God to make a maid pregnant without a man, since He also made all things from nothing. Therefore, the Jews have no reason to deny this, because they confess the omnipotence of God, and here Isaiah the prophet is clear.
The other part.
How to deal with the Jews, to convert them. 3)
(48) But because we are about to answer not only the useless liars who have carried me off in these matters, (4) but also would gladly serve the Jews, if we might bring some of them to their own right faith, which their fathers had, we will continue to deal with them, and present to those who wish to deal with them a manner and sayings which they shall use against them. For many of the sophists have also subjected themselves to this. But
3) This caption is missing in the Jena edition and in the Latin.
4) So the Wittenberg and Erlangen; Jenaer: austragen. Jonas: traduxerunt.
Just as they attacked it in their own name, nothing came of it; for they wanted to cast out the devil with the devil, and not with God's finger.
49] First of all, that the present faith of the Jews and the waiting for the future of Messiah is wrong is proved by the saying Gen 49:10, 11, 12, where Jacob, the holy archfather, says: "The scepter shall not be turned from Judah, nor a teacher from those at his feet, until the Shiloh come, and the nations shall cleave unto him. He shall bind his colt to the vine, and his ass to the noble branches. He shall wash his robe with wine, and his mantle with the blood of grapes. His eyes will be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
(50) This saying is a divine promise, which cannot lie, and must be fulfilled, or else heaven and earth shall pass away. Thus the Jews could not deny that, since Jerusalem is disturbed, they have not had a scepter, that is, a kingdom or a king, for fifteen hundred years. Therefore the Shiloh or Messiah must have come before these fifteen hundred years, and before the destruction of Jerusalem.
(51) And if they would say that the scepter of Judah was also used at the time of the Babylonian prison, when the Jews were led into Babylon, and were captives seventy years, and yet at that time Messiah did not come, it must be answered that it is not so, for all the time of the prison the royal tribe remained in King Jechoniah, and afterward in Zorobabel, and other princes for ever, until Herod became king. For the scepter means not only kingdom but also principality, as the Jews well know. In addition, they had prophets everywhere, so that the kingdom or principality never fell, even though they were out of the country for a time, nor were they all driven out of the country, as has happened these fifteen hundred years, when they had neither princes nor prophets.
52. for this reason God created for them the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggaume, Zechariah at the same time, who told them how to get rid of Babylon.
lest they think that the saying of Jacob the archfather 1) was false, or that Messiah had come. But these fifteen hundred years they have had no prophet to proclaim to them that they should be delivered, which God would not have allowed to happen for so long a time, because he did not allow it to happen for such a short time that time. That he might abundantly shew that this saying must be fulfilled.
53) Since Jacob says: "Let the scepter last until Messiah comes," it clearly follows that such a scepter must not only not perish, but also become much more glorious than it ever was before Messiah came. For all Jews know well that Messiah's kingdom is to be the most glorious and greatest that has ever been on earth, as the 2nd, 72nd and 89th Psalms say. For David was also promised that his throne would last forever. Now the Jews must confess that their scepter is now nothing from fifteen hundred years ago, but that it should have become more glorious.
54 Therefore this saying is not to be understood of any other than Jesus Christ our Lord, who is of the tribe of Judah, of the royal house of David, and came in when the scepter came to Herod the stranger, and has been king until now, and remains these fifteen hundred years to eternity. For his kingdom is extended to the ends of the earth, as the prophets have said, and the nations have fallen to him, as Jacob says, and it is not possible that a greater king should be established on earth, of whose name more nations have boasted, than this Jesus Christ.
55 It is true that some of the Jews feel this saying, that it penetrates mightily and is deceiving; therefore they seek some wild help and evasion, which, if one pays attention to it, even sees itself; as when they say here that Shiloh is not called Messiah or Christ; therefore the saying should not penetrate them. His name is not Shiloh or Messiah; we do not deal with the name, but with the person, that the same shall come to pass when the scepter is turned from Judah.
1) So the Jenaer. Instead of "Jacob, the archfather" the Wittenberg and the Erlangen have: "Jacobi". Jonas: Patriarchae.
1810 Erl. ss, "s-64. I. Luthers Schriften Wider die Juden. W. xx, ssso-Wss. 1811
will. Such a person cannot be found, except JEsum Christ; or the saying is false. He will never be a cobbler or a tailor, but a Lord, to whom nations will fall, so that his kingdom will be more glorious than the scepter ever was before, as has been said.
(56) So also is the remedy, when they say, The nations that fall to him may be the Jewish people alone, and Shiloh is called a lord. But be it as it may, I will not almost dispute what Shiloh means. 1) Although it seems to me that it means a man who is happy, who is well off, and who has enough and gives enough. From there comes the little word Lalve, which means, copia, feIicitas, abundantia, full sufficiency of all goods, as Psalm 122, 7: Et abundantia in turribus tuis: It is all full and enough, and is well, that I would like to call Schilo in German: Wohlfahrt.
(57) Now his name is called Lord, or welfare, or prosper, or felix, there is nothing said that it should mean one of the former kings, princes, or teachers; for the scepter of Judah certainly comprehends all who have been kings or princes of the tribe of Judah, except this Shiloh, who is here singled out and preferred to all those who have had the scepter of Judah, as even a special one, because he says, "The scepter of Judah shall endure until Shiloh. What kind of speech would this be to me, that I would make Shiloh one of those who have had the scepter of Judah and the nations, since the saying here is that Shiloh is to come after all of them as a glorious and great king, and that no one is to come after him? Why else would he not have said so much more: The scepter of Judah shall last forever, and not wait for Shiloh?
58) Therefore Christ's kingdom is certainly described here so masterfully that before him the scepter of Judah should have many kings, 2) until he himself came and took it alone forever, so that no one would succeed him, nor would any other king from 3) the tribe of Judah. This indicates that his king
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: means. Jonas: significet.
2) So the Jena. Wittenberg and Erlangen: should. "Kings" inserted by us according to the Latin.
8) Jonas: de tribu Judae. In all editions: on.
The kingdom was to be spiritual, succeeding the physical kingdom, for no person can have an eternal kingdom if he is mortal and rules in the flesh.
059 Therefore the scepter of Judah was established from David until Shiloh, when it was in the flesh, and had kings in the flesh one after another; but when Shiloh was come, it abideth in one person for ever, and hath no more kings one after another.
(60) From this it follows that this Shiloh must first die and then rise again from the dead. For since he is to come from the tribe of Judah [Gen 49:11], he must be a true natural man, mortal like all the children of Judah. Again, because he is to be a special king before all who have had the scepter of Judah until him, and is to reign alone for and 5) for ever, he cannot be a mortal man, but must be an immortal man; He must leave this mortal life through 6) death, and through resurrection take on an immortal one, that he may be sufficient for this saying, and become a Shiloh, to whom all the world belongs, and be a true living man, and King of the tribe of David, and yet immortal, eternal, invisible, and so rule spiritually in faith. But these lovely speeches are still too high and too heavy for the Jews.
011 But if they say, Yea, hath not this Jesus yet done that which Jacob saith afterward of this Shiloh, namely, "He shall bind his colt to the vine, and his ass to the precious branches; he shall wash his garment in wine, and his mantle in the blood of the grape." Answer: A foolish man might understand this, as if this Shiloh should become such a rich king that the wine would be as cheap as water in his time, since one washes clothes with it 2c.
(62) But we have seen from the foregoing that this Shiloh is to reign forever, a single person, that he has no heir after him, which also all the prophets say.
4) "den" is missing in the Jena.
5) So the Jenaer. Wittenberg and Erlangen instead of "for and for" - "furt".
6) "durch" is missing in the Wittenberg and the Erlanger. Jonas: per mortern.
Therefore, it may not be a kingdom in the flesh, in mortal perishable goods and beings.
(63) And though it did not compel 1) that this wine and vine should be spiritual, yet the manner and nature of speech and words compelled it. For what praise would it be to praise such a glorious kingdom above all kingdoms with these four pieces, namely, to bind his fill to the vine, and his ass to the noble branches, to wash his garment with wine, and his mantle with the blood of grapes? Could he find no other praise than what concerns drinking? Must such a king have nothing but wine? Item, is there nothing else praiseworthy about him, except that his eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk? What does it help a kingdom, 2) that he has white teeth, reddish eyes, and a filler tied to the vine?
(64) I suppose it is said of other riches; why does he not rather say, he will wash his garment in balsam or myrrh? That would be even more delicious. Who ever heard of wanting to wash clothes with wine? Item, why does he not say: he will harness his horses in wheat? Who ever heard of wanting to tie donkeys to the vine? What is the point of tying donkeys to vines and clothes to wine? It's all a nonsensical thing to say. Wine spoils clothes; the donkey is better with thistles than with grapevines; a horse would be just as well with a grapevine to eat the leaves. Therefore, such clumsy speech violently penetrates the spiritual mind.
So why does he praise him for his red eyes and white teeth? Is there no other beauty in his body but red eyes and white teeth? What kind of praise is this against such a magnificent great king? It is customary to praise great kings with a strong, beautiful body, but mostly with a great mind, prudence, mercy, strife, power and magnificent deeds and virtues. But here only his eyes and teeth are praised, which is more the praise of a woman.
1) Walch and the Erlanger: "erzwinge"; the old editions: "erzwänge".
2) Jenaer: "kingdoms" with the reading _König" in the margin, which the other editions have in the text. Jonas: ad florern regni.
than of a man, let alone of such a king.
There is no doubt, therefore, that the Spirit through Moses, in such words, portrays to us this man in a spiritual kingdom, how it is to be run and governed. But now is not the time to go into this at length, because we have had enough of it for this time, that herewith the Jews are mightily denied that the right Shiloh or Christ must have come long ago, because they have been so long deprived of the kingdom and principality, and also of the prophets, although here the clear text stands strong and testifies that with the tribe of Judah the scepter shall remain until the righteous king comes, when it shall first begin to be right.
67 Thus the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ agrees very well with this saying. For a principality remained with the Jews until he came, but after his coming it was destroyed, and at the same time he began the eternal kingdom, in which he still reigns forever, and is also irresistible from the tribe of Judah. But because he was to be an eternal king for his person alone, it could not be that he ruled temporally and worldly; for what is temporal passes away. Again, because he had to be David's natural seed, it could not be otherwise than that he would be a natural, mortal, temporal, transitory man.
68 Now the two are opposed to each other, to be temporal and to reign forever. Therefore it must be separated, that he should die in time and pass away from this life, and rise again from the dead and live, that he might become an everlasting king. For he must ever live, if he is to reign, because a dead man cannot reign; so must he ever die, if he is to change this temporal life, in which he must come from necessity, that the scripture might stand, which had promised him a natural blood, to David and Abraham.
(69) So now he sits and reigns, and has the noble office in himself, that he binds his fillings to the vine and washes his garment in the red wine, that is, he governs the consciences with the holy gospel. This is a gracious sermon of God's mercy.
1814 Erl. ss, üa-6s. I. Luther's Writings Against the Jews. W. xx, ssss-ssss. 1815
of forgiveness of sins, of redemption from death and hell, of which all who believe it with all their hearts will be confident, joyful and drunk with the abundant consolation of God's grace. But this interpretation will not be respected by the Jews until they first come and realize that Christ must have come according to this saying; therefore we leave it until his time.
70 From this saying there is also a reasonable cause to prove that this Shiloh must have come at the time when our Jesus Christ came, and can be no other than the same Jesus, namely: The saying says that to this Shiloh nations shall fall or cling. Now I ask the Jews, when was there ever such a man from the Jewish tribe, to whom so many people clung, as to this Jesus Christ? David was a great king, Solomon also; but their kingdom never extended further than Syria, the smallest part.
This Jesus is accepted by the whole world as a Lord and King, so that the saying of the other Psalm may be fulfilled in him, when God says to Messiah: "I will give you the Gentiles for a possession, and your inheritance as far as the world is. Such a thing has ever come true in our JEsu, since the scepter was taken from the Jews, as before, and has never happened in any other Jew. Since Shiloh was to come at the end of the scepter of Judah, and since no other time fulfilled such sayings, this Jesus must certainly be the right Shiloh, whom Jacob means.
The Jews must confess that the Gentiles have never so willingly surrendered to a Jewish man as to a lord and king as this Jesus. For though Joseph was a great man in Egypt, yet he was not lord nor king in Egypt; and though he had been, yet Egypt was but a small thing compared with this kingdom, which all the world giveth to this JEsu.
73] Item, neither Daniel nor Mordecaius was king in Babylon or in Persia, though they were great men in the army.
74. and is wonder that the Jews have the
not moved to believe in this Jesus, their own blood and flesh, on whom the sayings of Scripture rhyme so powerfully and evenly, because they see that we Gentiles hold so much, so hard, so firmly to him, that many thousands have shed their blood for his sake.
75 They know well that the Gentiles have always been naturally more hostile to no people than to the Jews, and do not want to suffer their dominion, nor their laws, nor their rule; how then should it be that they should so willingly and continually go among these Jews, and confess him King over all kings, Lord over all lords, body and soul, if there were not here the true Messiah, to whom God, according to this saying and other sayings, has made the Gentiles favorable and submissive with great wonder?
76) The other saying is Dan. 9, 24, where the angel Gabriel speaks to Daniel about Christ in the most clear way, saying: "Seventy weeks are appointed for your people and for your holy city, that the transgression may be controlled, forgiveness sealed, iniquity atoned for, and eternal righteousness come, and the prophecy and vision be fulfilled, and the Holy of Holies be anointed.
77. v. 25 ff: "Mark therefore, and take heed: From the time that the saying goeth forth, that Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, seven weeks and threescore and ten weeks, even unto the prince Messiah, shall the gaff and the wall be rebuilt in time of trouble. And sixty and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and they shall not be. But the city and the holy place shall destroy the people of the prince that shall come, and they shall make an end of it with fierceness. And when the strife is ended, there shall remain a certain desolation. But he will confirm the covenant among many in One Week. And in the half of the week shall cease sacrifice and meat offering" 2c.
Help God, how this saying has been used so many times among Jews and Christians that one would despair of taking anything certain from it! Well then, we will ever conclude so much from it that the
1) In the editions: "alleys". Jonas: platea.
The right Messiah must have come a thousand and five hundred years ago, as we think of our Jesus Christ, and we want to save the reckoning and interpretation to the last, and say first of all: Neither a Jew nor anyone can deny that the angel Gabriel speaks here of the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian prison, which was done by Nehemiah.
79) On the other hand, he cannot speak of any destruction of Jerusalem, except that which happened afterward by the Roman emperor Titum, after the ascension of our Lord about the fortieth1 ) year; for after Jerusalem was rebuilt,2 ) it was never destroyed, though it was won in the days of Maccabeorum. From this we conclude powerfully and irrefutably that the Messiah, of whom Gabriel says here, must have come before this disturbance; that is ever, I think, certain and clear enough.
It is true that the Jews have long felt this powerful conclusion, have protected themselves even fearfully with many a wild gloss, and make something else out of this Messiah than the right Messiah, namely the king Cyrum in Persia, whom Isaiah calls a Messiah in the 45th v. 1, whom the queen Tomyris3 ) slew in Scythia 2c. But this and the like are vain words of defense and wilful evasions, without any reason, therefore it is soon misplaced, namely thus:
These seventy weeks (saith Gabriel) shall run upon such a Messiah, that in his time, when the weeks are expired, sin and iniquity shall be put away, and forgiveness and everlasting righteousness shall come, and the prophecy and vision shall be fulfilled. Now I ask both Jews and every man, whether in the days of Cyrus such things were done? For in the days of Cyrus, and after his days, there was no righteousness in the earth, save that which was before and after in the days of other kings; neither was there righteousness in the days of David and Solomon much greater than in the days of Cyrus.
1) Wittenberger: dreissigst, also so in Latin.
2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: ward. Jonas: instaurata est
3) In the editions: "Thamyris". But Justin, Histor, ex Trogo Pompejo, lib. I, cap. 8, calls it:
Tomyris
Nor does the Scripture call it eternal righteousness. Therefore this righteousness must be much higher than it was in the days of David, the most holy king, let it be said that Cyrus the Gentile had such righteousness in his day.
82] Further, since Gabriel says here that the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt in seven weeks, and after that the Messiah will be cut off sixty-two weeks, how can it be King Cyrus who was slain before the seven weeks began, or at least, if their account is true, before Jerusalem was rebuilt? How can it be the same Messiah, who was slain before Jerusalem was rebuilt, and who was cut off after sixty-two weeks, after Jerusalem was rebuilt?
So we have that their word of defense is wrong, and this saying of Cyro cannot be understood. Since, according to Cyro, the Scriptures call no Messiah but the one, the right Messiah, and since such great things cannot be the same for a temporal king, we conclude, and forcibly overcome the error of the Jews, that the right Messiah has come after the rebuilt one, and before the destroyed Jerusalem. For no Messiah has ever been killed before the destroyed Jerusalem without our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we call Messiah, that is, Christ or the Anointed One. Therefore let us now see the text, how powerfully it refers to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Invoice of the weeks Danielis. 4)
84 But I must speak before them that know the histories of the kingdoms: for they that know them not shall not understand me well. The most certain thing in this interpretation is to reckon back to the time when Jesus was baptized and began to preach. To the same time Gabriel speaks, when he says: "Until the prince Messiah", as if he should say: I do not speak until the birth of Christ, but to the principality of Christ, when he began to rule, to teach, to master, and to set himself up as a duke, who should be followed, as
4) This caption is missing in the Jena edition and in the Latin.
also the evangelists, and especially Marcus [Cap. 1, 14.] and Peter [in the] Acts of the Apostles [1, 22.], mentioned Christ's being after the baptism of John, and Lucas also [Cap. 3, 23.], where it is to be assumed; but there Christ was thirty years old.
85 Now it is undoubted by all who know the Scriptures that Gabriel does not speak here of day weeks, where seven days make a week, but of year weeks, where seven years make a week, as the Scriptures are wont to say, that therefore seventy weeks all make four hundred and ninety years.
86) Now if you count back from the thirtieth year of Christ through the Greek and Persian kingdoms to four hundred and ninety years, you come to the twentieth and last year of Cambyses, the third king, or the other king after Cyro in Persia, who allowed Cyrus to build the temple in Jerusalem, 2 Chron. 36:22 and Ezra 1:1, 2, 3. 36, 22. and Ezra 1, 1. 2. 3. But about six and forty years later Cambyses, and after him Darius Longimanus (who had taken an oath beforehand), allowed the city of Jerusalem to be built, which was done by Nehemiah; as all this is proved in the book of Nehemiah and Ezra; so that the seventy weeks of Nehemiah's journey from Persia, that is, beginning about the seventh year of Darii Longimani, are the same as our Christ.
(87) Gabriel says, "Seventy weeks (that is, four hundred and ninety years) are decreed for your people and your holy city," as if to say, "Your people the Jews and the holy city Jerusalem have four hundred and ninety years left, after which they will both be finished. How this is to be done, he says, "That the transgression may be stopped, and forgiveness be sealed, and iniquity be atoned for, and everlasting righteousness come, and prophecy and vision be fulfilled," that is, that enough may be done for all sin, and forgiveness of sin be proclaimed, and the righteousness of faith be preached, which is everlasting in the sight of God, of which all the prophets and all the Scriptures say, as Paul Rom. 1:17 and Peter Acts 2:17 and following. 2, 17. ff. testify; for until then there was only sin and works righteousness, which is temporal and not valid before God. I
But I know well that the Hebrew word Hatuth [xxxxx] is interpreted here by some for sin, which I have interpreted forgiveness, as Moses uses it, and Ps. 51, 4, not without cause.
88. Then he shows when the seventy weeks began, saying: "From the time that the word went out to rebuild Jerusalem (that is, in Nehemiah's time, in the twentieth year of Cambyses) until Messiah the Prince (that is, until Christ's baptism in the Jordan), there are seven weeks (that is, nine and forty years, during which Jerusalem was rebuilt in fearful times, as Nehemiah's book teaches) and "two and threescore weeks" (that is, after Jerusalem was built, 4341) years), which together make nine and threescore weeks, that is, 483 years, there is still one week missing, that is, seven more years, so that the full seventy weeks, that is, 490 years; what shall now happen in the same week, he shows and says:
89. "And after two and threescore weeks (hear, about the first seven weeks of anxious rebuilding) shall Messiah be cut off" (this did not happen in the beginning of the last week, but immediately in the middle, for Christ preached four and a half years), and he speaks "cut off," that is, taken from this life into the immortal life, by death and his resurrection. "And they shall not be his" (that is, those who crucify him and drive him out of this world shall no longer belong to him and be his people, but [he] shall adopt another people), he declares, saying how they shall not remain unpunished drum, saying:
90. "And the city and that which is holy shall be destroyed by a people of a prince that shall come (that is, Titus, the Roman emperor), and it shall come to an end with tempest" (that is, be disturbed with storm and violence, as with a flood). "And when the strife shall have an end, there shall remain a certain desolation." So all this came to pass. For Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed with terrible severity, and never again in the hands of the Jews nor to their former power, however high it was tried that they had been before, and is now
1) In the editions erroneously: "441".
The people of the world are not going to be able to deny that this saying and the work before their eyes are one thing.
91. but in the one week he will confirm the covenant among many." These are the four and a half years that Christ Himself preached, and four and a half years after that the apostles, during which seven years the gospel (which is the covenant of God with us, that He will be gracious to us through Christ) went forth with the greatest vigor, and has never been so loud and powerful since that time. For soon after the time heresy and error [began to] mingle with it. "And in the midst of the week the sacrifice and meat offering shall cease," that is, the law of Moses shall cease to be in force, because Christ shall fulfill all things by his suffering four and a half years of preaching, and shall cause new sacrifices to be preached thereafter 2c.
92 Now tell me, where shall we find a prince, or Messiah, or king, to whom all these things rhyme, but to our Lord Jesus Christ? Because the Scriptures and history so powerfully coincide with each other, the Jews have nothing to say against it. For they are well aware of their distress, which is immeasurably greater than they have ever suffered; so that they cannot show any sin so great that they would have deserved it, because they do not consider it a sin that they crucified Jesus; otherwise they would have committed greater sins before, and suffered less punishment, and it would be impossible that God should have left them so long without prophets, when it should not be over with them, and all the Scriptures would have been fulfilled.
93 There are also more sayings: as, the Haggai 2, 10. where God speaks of the rebuilt temple: "The secrecy of this last house will be greater than the first", which also mightily smuggles. Item, the Zach. 8, 23.: "At that time ten people from all Gentile languages will take hold of a Jewish man's hem, and say: We want to go with you, because we have heard,
that the Lord may be with you"; 1) and many more; but it is too long to go into all of them in detail, and for the time being these two previous sayings are enough to begin with.
But whether it would offend the Jews that we confess our Jesus to be a man, and yet a true God, we also want to correct it strongly from the Scriptures in time. But it is too hard at the beginning. Let them first suck milk, and at first recognize this man Jesus as the true Messiah; then let them drink wine, and also learn how he is true God; for they are too deeply and too long deceived that they must be dealt with cleanly, as it is all too imaginary to them that God may not be man.
95 Therefore my request and advice is that they be dealt with carefully and taught from the Scriptures, so that some may come to you. But now we only drive them by force and deal with them with lies, blame them, they must have Christian blood so that they do not stink, and I do not know what is more foolish, that they are taken for dogs: what good should we do to them? Item, that one bequeaths them to work among us, to handle, and to have other human fellowship, so that one drives them to proliferate: how should 2) they improve?
If we want to help them, we must practice the laws not of the pope but of Christian love on them, and accept them kindly, recruit and work with them, so that they gain cause and space to be with and around us, to hear and see our Christian teaching and life. Whether some are stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we are not all good Christians either. Here I will leave it this time until I see what I have done. God give us all his grace, amen.
1) Wittenberger: "etc".
2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: should.