V. 1. ff. If someone takes a wife and marries her etc.
That the law of divorce is only a secular law, and that it was left out because of the hardness of the common people, is sufficiently proven by Christ (Matth. 19, 8). Therefore we do not read any example of this law, which holy men would have left us. For even Abraham did not let his Hagar go until God commanded him anew [Gen. 21:10-12]. In a community, however, many things must be left undone for the sake of the hard and unyielding, so that no greater evil may occur.
Therefore, a distinction must be made among the laws, so that there are some that command good and others that forbear evil. Among those that command good, the first is the law of faith, which also rules over love, in such a way that if faith should require it against God, the neighbor is to be denied love, because God, who is worshipped by faith, must be preferred to a man who is served by love. According to faith, it is love that governs all laws, both ceremonial and secular; but faith is exempt.
Second. A young husband shall be free from all common burdens for one year. This is a law of equity and civil benefit. For it is reasonable that a newlywed (sponso) be allowed a year with his wife. It is useful so that the community grows through offspring and households (familiis), which would not happen if the husband were exposed to war and common dangers immediately after the wedding, and men would not easily be found who would marry. But that this is a general law, and must be extended to other cases, is sufficiently evident from Cap. 20, 5-7, where a bridegroom who has built a house and planted a vineyard is declared free from military service. In the same
In the sense this is also understood of the assumption of any other new office, by which a household is established, so that this law could serve as a proverb of the freedom of all who enter (neophytorum), namely: One must give a year to a bridegroom etc.
Thirdly. "Thou shalt not take for a pledge the lowest and the highest millstone." This law likewise teaches in a general proverb that for the sake of debts no one should be deprived of his craft, by which he is nourished and sustained, as with us cruel people (barbaros) such rampages are found that we either imprison debtors, or forbid them their craft or their work, whereas here he says it is enough that he has given his soul in pledge, that is, that he himself is entirely a debtor, and by this craft he must acquire that by which he pays his debt. It is therefore cruel and inequitable to hinder his craft, namely, that he is forced to pay the simple debt with twofold damage; one is that his mill stands idle in the meantime, the other that he loads new debts on himself from elsewhere, or sells his own in order to pay.
Fourthly. Whoever steals one of Israel, either to sell him or to desecrate him, that is, (as we have interpreted the same word above [Cap. 21:14]) to hire him out for gain, or to deliver him to another, he shall be put to death. This law applies to thieves, murderers and robbers, and to those who capture people to extort money, as with us the vultures and wolves of the merchants are called noblemen.
Fifth. Beware of leprosy according to the teaching of the priests, the Levites; only let them teach as I (says he) have commanded them. 1) That is, the lepers are to be kept away from the common traffic of the citizens.
1) According to the Vulgate: juxta iü, xraeospi eis.
because leprosy is contagious and a community needs a clean and strong people. He gives the example of Miriam, the sister of Moses, who was excluded by the command of the Lord [Num. 12:14]. If she was not spared so that she could have remained in the camp, then no one should be spared. Others want to understand it like this: Take heed lest thou commit such a sin as to be beaten with leprosy, as Miriam was beaten with it, or if thou be beaten with it, that thou do as a leper ought toward the Levites.
Sixth. He who calls in a debt shall not enter the house to take what he pleases, for that is violence (as our cruel usurers 1) do with debtors, robbing them of what they want by judicial power), but what the debtor brings out according to his ability he shall take. Then it shall be returned before sunset, if he should be poor and in need of it. Of course, this law allows to reclaim what is his, which is forbidden by the gospel, 2) even though it prevents violence. But in a civil nation, such laws, which are somewhat lenient, are necessary in order to avoid greater evil. For if reclaiming did not take place, the worthlessness of idle people would find nourishment, and the fortune of the godly and good would be exhausted. Although the godly suffer both in faith, the law and the authorities must not tolerate this, just as the godly also bear all other evils, and the sword is nevertheless an avenger against the wicked, which a godly can also use for others, as I have said elsewhere.
Seventh. 4) One should give the poor his
1) äünisias of δανειστής. The Wittenbergers and the
Jena edition seem to have taken this word for a proper name, formed from "Dan", because they write it with a capital initial.
3) Instead of camouflage in the editions may well be stiarn to read what we have assumed.
4) Here the Wittenberger has again: 8sxto and darnach in the following wrong counting.
He does not reserve his reward for himself, lest he cry out to the Lord etc. This and the preceding law also show sufficiently how God takes care of the poor and afflicted, so that all who are abandoned and oppressed in the world can take comfort in God. At the same time, they teach that in times of need, the debts of the poor should also be forgiven, and that they should be helped in a well-ordered community, so that an intervention (actio) because of debt claims only takes place against the idle and frivolous.
Eighth. "The fathers shall not die for the children" etc. That is, the wicked are to be punished in such a way that the good are not also injured at the same time, as in the Gospel it is forbidden to pluck up the tares for the sake of the wheat, lest the latter be injured. For if a guilty person cannot be punished without an innocent person being injured at the same time, the evil person is to be tolerated rather than the good person injured at the same time. This law is necessary for persons in authority, so that they do not, in a tempestuous excitement of the mind, let the severity of the law prevail, and by punishment sin more than he who deserves the punishment. Such is the case when a whole community is involved in war because of a villain, and similar things.
Ninth. "Thou shalt not bend the right of the stranger or the orphan, nor take the widow's garment in pledge." All these laws, as you see, are ordered for the sake of love and mutual goodwill. That the right of the orphan shall not be infringed includes at the same time that no harm shall be done to an orphan or a stranger. And the widow's dress also generally means everything she needs to live. Higher than all debts and rights is the law that the poor person is entitled to the necessary food and clothing, which he is not to forego so that the creditor may be paid, but the creditor is to forbear and give so that the poor person may live. And he adds the cause [v. 18.], "Thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt," as if to say: As thou wouldest have been
would do to you. For as thou hast been a servant, so mayest thou be made a servant again. So learn by your own example what you owe them and what you should do.
Tenth. What is left over in the fields, vineyards and oil gardens is not to be collected but left for the poor. This confirms what has already been said, that one should not only leave food and clothing for the poor, but also give them some of our abundance, so that they may share in our goods in their need, remembering again what we would want to happen to us in our need, as he says here, "Remember that you too were a servant in Egypt," and that it may happen again that you must be of service. I believe that Moses here acted very richly and clearly on the seventh commandment: "Thou shalt not steal," where it is forbidden to do harm to external goods and commanded to look to the benefit of one's neighbor.
Secret interpretation.
The outcast woman is the synagogue and all the sects of the works saints. The "unwillingness" or the nastiness is the seemingly beautiful righteousness of the works, which is full of ungodliness and hardness of heart. The bill of divorcement itself is the testimony of the Scripture, which Christ gives into its hand, which it also bears against itself. The second man is the law. When he has died, that is, after the law has passed away, he [the first man, Christ] does not accept her again, even so, if she does not believe; for the synagogue never returns to its first glory, nor is it accepted again by its first husband after she has married the other, even though he dies, because Christ does not admit the righteousness of works apart from faith in him.
The new husband is a neophyte in the faith who is not to be placed in the public preaching ministry, as Paul says [1 Tim. 3:6]. It can also mean Christ who rules the new believers kindly and does not immediately expose them to the cross and persecution until they become strong. So he is cheerful with them for a year, that is, he gives
them peace and joy in the word just accepted, because the wedding party does not bear sorrow as long as the bridegroom is with them, Matth. 9,1 ) 15.
It is rightly said that the lower and the upper millstone mean hope and fear, or the law and the gospel. For the law, the word of wrath, is the upper millstone; it sustains fear and humbles through knowledge of sin. The gospel, the word of grace, sustains the conscience through faith, so that it does not stand in fear. Both preaching is necessary. In a general sense, however, it means that not too much should be done on both sides, so that you neither punish sin too severely nor treat the sinner too kindly, neither comforting him too much nor frightening him too much. For guilt means sin, for the sake of which the lower millstone is taken away if punishment is too much; in turn, the upper one is taken away if indulgence is too much.
To steal a citizen means to turn him away from faith through false teaching (verbo) and to hand him over to works and external righteousness, which seeks reward and makes rich thieves, that is, godless teachers, John 10:8: "All who came before me were thieves" etc. But he is killed by the gospel, that he may live, or eternal death is announced to him.
It is quite clear that leprosy is the plague of spiritual wickedness, therefore one must carefully guard against it according to the judgment and ministry of the Levites. For a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump [Gal. 5:9].
He who reclaims the debt does not receive what he wants, but what the debtor carries out to him, that is, the sinner is not to be atoned (mulctandus) according to our arbitrariness, but according to what he can bear, and if he is completely poor and weak, then everything must be restored to him and let up for the sake of the weakness of the flesh, according to the words Gal. 6,2 ) 1.: "If a man would be overtaken by a fault" etc. "Before sunset", that is, before he is in despair.
1) In the Jena and Erlangen: Lluttü. 12.
2) In the issues: Onl. 5.
or be consumed by sadness, as Paul says [2 Cor. 2:7].
Thou shalt immediately give the laborer his wages, that is, to those who are oppressed by labor and wearied by the burden of the law and tormented by an evil conscience, thou shalt preach the word of life and exhort them to faith, or else he cries to heaven, because the oppression of consciences is the greatest tyranny; this [cry] 1) God, who is reconciled, soon hears against the tyrants of souls, unless his wrath be there, in which he punishes the whole world.
The Father is not to die for the Son, that is, even though we all die in Adam's sin, that sin is remitted after the gospel is revealed. And whoever
1) To Huum Will have to add about full olnmnntium.
After this he no longer dies in his own sin but in the sin of others, as Ezek. 18, 2. 4. proves that it will happen that every man dies in his own sin. For now the teeth of the children are no longer blunted because the fathers ate herbs, because it now happens in the spirit, so that whoever dies dies because of his unbelief.
That the rest of the harvest and the grape harvest be left for the sinners means, since we gain everything through faith in Christ, that we should leave our remaining things to serve the sinners, so that they also may live with us through faith and the word which they have from us. And we must not live in the flesh as if we alone wanted to believe and be saved, but we should know that we live for this reason, so that we may also be useful to others for life and salvation.