V. 1-4. When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shalt cut off many nations from before thee, the Hittites, the Girgothites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than thou; and when the LORD thy God giveth them before thee to smite them, 1) then thou shalt banish them, that thou make no league with them, nor show them favor. And you shall not make friends with them; your daughters you shall not give to their sons, and their daughters you shall not take from your sons. For they will make your sons disgust me by serving other gods, and the wrath of the LORD will be kindled against you and will soon destroy you.
(1) Now another trouble comes on, and drives Moses again, that they are afraid of the evil, and calls such trouble a woman and a wicked company; which brings many into great misery and distress; for as the companions are, so must he howl with them. If this is so in outward, civil things, much more will it happen when one joins those who transgress the first commandment of God and rage against it, and seek other gods and make friends. For if they join them, they also turn away from God. Therefore, over mammon is the
1) "that you beat them" is missing in the original and in the Erlanger.
worldly favor; it is also a great wall-breaker and devil, when you go to court the rich and wise; everyone wants to get high.
(2) Wherefore Moses doth strongly charge his people to beware of them that have strange gods, and to have no fellowship, favor, or friendship with them, neither to take their daughters, nor to give their sons in marriage unto them. Cause, for it is dangerous thing for the world's favor; much therefore dare wife, child, body, life, and soul. Because it is such a wicked thing, he sets before them this other evil, and exhorts them to beware of it.
003 How think ye that it was done? The Israelites saw many pious and wise men among the heathen, and many young and beautiful virgins and women, all of whom should be killed and destroyed; and they thought in mercy, Well, we will not harm them, but join ourselves to them; and they married them, saying, Therefore God will not be displeased, neither will he punish us so severely, nor destroy and cut us off from the earth. This is how it happened: they brought the idol into the house, and so the idolatry remained, as can be seen in the book of Joshua and the Judges.
(4) We should also take this upon ourselves, for it is dangerous even in our time. For
Behold, how many there are who deny the gospel for the sake of princes and ungodly bishops and tyrants, only that they may retain grace and favor with men. And now they take many wives, not for the sake of a godly life, but only for the sake of wealth, power and friendship; and no one asks whether the woman or the man is a Christian, if they only have a lot of money. Some people have to abandon God's word for the sake of a rich wife. So the whole world has this idol.
5 After that, it is even worse and more dangerous that one joins the sects and cults, which are very humble and patch in with the people. That is, to hold fellowship with the Cananites, that is, with those who falsify the word of God and let it go. It is a dangerous and annoying thing, and a real idolatry in the world, to seek friendship, worldly favor, wealth, power and wisdom; for one is deceived by deviating from God's word. Thus many fall from the word in our time, for the sake of temporal honor and favor, as the Jews of old clung to the great princes and kings among the Gentiles.
(6) So they also still cling and hang on to the great 1) Hanses, and so they go. Therefore Moses speaks here: Do not look at any splendor or humility, power, honor, wealth, favor, wisdom or friendship, but look at me alone. I will give you all these things and help you more than all the kings, mighty men and wise men on earth. But again, if thou forsake me, and turn to them, and hold with them, and pretend, I will also cause thee more calamities and plagues than they. If there is trouble, remember my word; for my word is more than all this, the wealth, favor and power of the world.
(7) So he wanted to keep his heart pure in the word of God and faith. Flesh and blood cannot do this, but the Holy Spirit must give the courage for one to become so bold that he trusts God more and keeps his word more than he does on his own.
1) "large" is missing in the Erlanger.
Good or riches, wisdom, kings, and the spirits of the rotten with their false teachings. Otherwise, reason closes its eyes and leaves God's word, goes away, and soon becomes idolatrous. But a God-fearing man, whose heart is strengthened by the Holy Spirit, holds the Word more dear than all these treasures. What good is it if you have all the treasures on earth, and if all the princes and the whole world are your friends, and God is against you and your enemy [Matth. 16, 26]? And again, what can you lack if you have God with you [Rom. 8, 31. 38.]? If you trust in God's word, He can punish you so that no one can redeem you.
(8) These are the two vexations which Moses relates in the interpretation of the first commandment; namely, that first of all mammon offends us; then there is either too much or too little, and that in abundance we forget God, or in want we tempt God. Secondly, evil company, violence, and the favor of the world, and also the spirits of the wicked, which we should avoid and flee, for they lead us away from the first commandment and God's word.
This is the story of Martin Luther from the pulpit, concerning his journey to Marburg and the conversation he had there with the Sacramentarians..
(9) Perhaps you would like to know what we did at Marburg; so that you will not be left in doubt, and so that you can shut the mouths of the blasphemers, I will tell you the same thing recently.
(10) We have suffered no danger on the way, and God has heard your prayer, for which you should thank Him; for we have fared better than we had hoped. Thus our adversaries have been very kind and humble to us, more than we thought. For I myself thought that we would find all hard stones there; but God gave them grace to humble themselves, and if God wills, their hopeful writing against us will now come to an end.
11. de peccato originis we disagree 2c. Otherwise they have conceded and entered a piece six or seven willingly- as, of
of infant baptism, of justification, of the use and custom of the Lord's Supper, and agree with us in these matters of God's word, and have willingly renounced their former doctrine; and admit that one receives faith and consolation in the sacrament. But that there is truly and bodily Christ's body and blood, they cannot yet believe. And they have said so much that if it had been with them, they would have given in, and their speeches have been thus: If one had the beer back in the cask, one would not have tapped it. But because they had a measured order from their own, they could not go back.
(12) But they desired brotherhood of us, which we refused them for this time, and could not grant. For if we accepted them as brothers and sisters, we would have to agree to their teaching. However, they did not like this rejection and pretended to show love towards them until God would bring them back, because we should also love our enemies [Matth. 5, 44]. Now, whoever wants to interpret it in an evil way, let him do so; whoever is also able to do more, let him do so. They persist in their opinion that God wants to enlighten them, even though they have mended and adorned themselves, and they have not denied that the true body and blood of Christ is not there, which is as if they were with us.
1.]. They confess that those who go to the Lord's Supper truly partake of the body and blood of Christ, but spiritually, that they have Christ in their hearts. They do not want to partake of the body; we have put this on their conscience. For we have God's word and the text for us, which they do not have. Therefore, the matter stands in a good hope. I do not say that there is a brotherly unity, but a kind, friendly unity, that they may kindly seek from us what they lack, and we may serve them again. Wherefore ye shall diligently ask, it shall also become brotherly.
End of the Narration or Report from the Colloquio at Marburg.
14. in the interpretation of the first commandment Moses tells the first trouble, when,- the
Mammon, as the same is a very great hindrance that one does not respect, understand, learn, do or keep the first commandment. For by mammon the world falls away, and also rises again. When mammon is present, it is secure and proud; when it is not present, it despairs and tempts God.
The other trouble is evil company, friendship and violence on earth. These are also an idol, for one defies and trusts in them more than in God, since we should trust God with all things. That is why Moses declared the first commandment, that we should watch and trust in God more than in mammon, violence, all goods and friendship on earth. For goods cannot help in the last moments. When pestilence reigns and death creeps up, a little pestilence can take away all our good company; what we have relied on is in vain. Why then does the heart turn to money and goods, or defy men? For this reason Moses decreed that they should not make friends with the idolatrous nations that were around them, nor should they make alliances with them. And now he sets up the cause:
V. 4 For they will make your sons disgust me by serving other gods. The wrath of the LORD will be angry with you and will soon destroy you.
(16) He is always with the words of the first commandment, and includes them, which are, "I am a fervent God, visiting the sin of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. This is how he says here: "No mammon, friend, violence helps against God's wrath; when it festers, he pulls it up out of the earth root and stem. So he always repeats the words of the first commandment, always weaves them in, and keeps them by the hand.
V. 5 But so shall you do to the heathen: Their altars you shall break, 2c. their pillars you shall break, their groves you shall cut down, and their idols you shall burn with fire.
017 They shall not make friends with these heathen; and this is the cause: for they shall surely make you idolaters;
As was done. Because they did not keep the commandment and did not follow Mosiah, they thought, "These are good, pious, fine people, and they are also wise; how can we alone be wise? Therefore they have freed their daughters, and have also accepted their gods and served them. This society with the pagans has also brought about a change in religion among them, against which the prophets have cried out and preached so much, and have had great work with it.
(18) Therefore he commanded that it should be rooted up, broken, and washed away, as it is written, that nothing should remain to give them occasion and cause to fall into idolatry; so the idolatry should be destroyed. For as long as idolatry remains, there will always be trouble and a beautiful image before the eyes, for there is no trouble more dangerous or harmful than superstition or false worship. No good or treasure on earth glitters so beautifully as false worship; it is the highest adornment. Money and beautiful young people do not glitter and shine as much as false worship.
(19) And where one does not diligently keep the word of God and the first commandment, no one can help himself. You have often heard the reason. For every man is so minded that he would rather keep the doctrines and laws of men, however hard and great they are, than the commandment of God. How much fasting and torment have we suffered under the papacy? so much money has been given to foundations, monasteries, altars, masses, vigils. This has not been a sore arrival or a burden for us. For it was not called idolatry, but it had a name and appearance that it was a service of God. Nothing is more difficult for reason than to trust in God; and again, nothing is easier than to choose superstition and superstition.
(20) Secondly, that each one by nature prefers to trust and build on what he himself does, rather than on our works; we are inclined to build on these; so we have said, Thus we have lived, doing this and that, which God sees 2c. If we hang these two things on it, as, first, that it has a holy form and beautiful color, or glistens beautifully; after that, that man is inclined for himself that
If he likes to do something he relies on, we will soon fall and fall into idolatry.
Therefore it is very difficult that we do not get angry with God's word and stay with it or do not fall away from it [Matth. 11, 6. Luc. 2, 34]. For this is the highest heresy in the world. And now, what other appearance and reason do our enthusiasts, the papists, Anabaptists and iconoclasts have for their doctrine than works and false confidence? For works or piety and false confidence are always mixed in, so that they think that holiness and the Christian faith are in iconoclasm; or, if otherwise this or that work is done; confidence in our work always creeps in with it.
No one understands this affliction; so deeply is it ingrained in us, and so it clings to us, unless death or the road comes. Because man lives and is healthy, he does not understand it, it does not enter his mind; only in the hour of death, when misery and distress come to his heart and make him despair, it teaches him to say: Oh, Lord God, help me! and to keep the first commandment. Therefore God is the God of those who are in the greatest distress and misery; otherwise they do not call upon Him, because they are in distress or in death [Ps. 32:7]. Like the thief on the cross, who said to the other thief, "We have well deserved our punishments," (Luc. 23:41) and was to blame for the torment in which we were caught, and fell into the first commandment, clinging to it, trusting in it, since he had nothing in himself of good works; he had only sin. Therefore he relies on nothing but God's mercy, and says [v. 42.], "Remember me, O Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom." For this one has said, "You shall not have other gods. I am the LORD thy GOOD"; let me be thy GOOD. Therefore, whoever is not in need or danger cannot learn to trust in God.
23Therefore those pagans were fine, excellent people, and much more pious than we under the papacy; although we also erected many altars there, founded many churches and worship services at great expense, and ordered the worship of the people.
also had many ceremonies, and also poltergeists, and asked them, and did what they wanted. The old fathers were much holier, because they sacrificed their children, as sons and daughters, like other cattle, and burned them on the altars as a delicious, fine sacrifice; therefore, they were much finer people than under the papacy.
(24) Why were they not godly, because they did it in the name of God alone, who created heaven and earth? And it should have been a service to God, that they should do it in honor of God, and God should reward them, because they wanted to sacrifice the children to the true, living God. Why then does God reject them, saying that it is against the first commandment? Where the first commandment does not rule, there can be no worship, and there can be no trust in God; but there soon creeps up a false trust in the work that you yourself do; if the trust is there, then it is false. For so the Gentiles thought: If I sacrifice and burn my son, I will surely obtain favor with God and be saved. So such a heart and trust is attached to the work, when I sacrifice and slay my children to praise and honor God; that is, I rely on this work. Such a thing is contrary to the first commandment.
(25) Now it is my work that I do, and I also rely on it. For he who is so minded must not count himself worthy of our Lord God, but will work until he obtains grace by works. If one obtains it by works, he makes himself God, so that he has no need of God's grace, and our salvation then does not come by grace. But God's commandment says that God will not be merciful to you because you want to buy it from God; for he is not obligated to you, you will not bring him there. Also in these words you hear that he commands the Jews to remove such idols, and it is threatened that they will be destroyed. For this reason the Gentiles are condemned and utterly destroyed.
26 So, under the papacy, if before his death, he has endowed a mass in his will, none has been a
He had no other opinion than that he wanted to become blessed and earn God's grace with this work; unless God had otherwise miraculously helped him out of idolatry. Now it is not as important as the previous pagans'. The same pagans dared something greater, bought it with a greater earnestness than with their own blood, yes, with their bodily children, than with their flesh and blood. Our forefathers wanted to buy it only with money, about three, four florins 2c.
(27) Both these things are contrary to the first commandment, when a man sets up a different kind of worship, and does good works, in which people trust; and such worship is not called, "I am the Lord thy God," but it is such worship that a man remembers his good work, and trusts in it. Such trust is poison and pestilence, even damnation itself; for the heart trusts not in God, but in this or that work.
028 Now therefore the sum of the first commandment is, Trust in me only, and fear me: whatsoever is contrary thereto, let it be condemned. Therefore, he who slaughters or burns his child, son or daughter, trusts not before God, because he has sacrificed the child; he trusts the work more than God. Truly, such work has seemingly failed before reason, and had a glorious appearance of great holiness and worship. The works have been too high, and a great splendor has been made; reason has not been able to resist them; no one has been able to jump over them; as the Jews have also been very angry about it. Dear, what did we do, since in our time the works of the monks shone so beautifully in the papacy, and were considered so great, that we could not resist them? We were annoyed by them and could not jump over them.
For this reason Moses so diligently impressed upon them the first commandment, that they should trust in God's grace alone and not seek comfort elsewhere. The heart should rely solely on God's. The heart should stand and rely on God's grace and mercy alone, and not rely on any work. But if there is a service, work, law and merit elsewhere, do not trust in it. Therefore I say,
that this challenge of the Jews has not been a small annoyance, because they have seen that the Gentiles have been doing such a powerful worship; as you see in the papacy with the monks and priests a glittering worship.
(30) Because the trouble is so great, and the heathen, the Jews, and the Papists, and all the teachers of works of God, are rushing and shooting against the first commandment, 1) therefore Moses saith, Beware lest thou make friends with them, nor have fellowship with them, lest they deceive thee: but so shalt thou do with them, thou shalt destroy their altars. You shall have nothing to do with them, lest you be deceived by them; then you shall destroy it all, tear it up, that they may worship. The altars were as our churches and chapels are now. After that they had pillars on which they stood and erected images. Especially they were common in the woods, as in our time to the oak, and in other lonely places more, where Satan has had his fool's play. That's why there are also groves of small woods, like our Speckhölzlein, where funny meadows have been laid out; like, the Poltersberg is a real grove, where one comes there to the Kirchmeß, drinks and eats, and all Büberei drives. After that, everyone had a little chapel at home, his own place, where he wanted to worship God and wait for his own services. The Jews are to eradicate all of this, so that there is no opportunity or occasion left for idolatry; also, all places and cities of idolatry are to be avoided, and only the right God is to be served.
V. 6 For you are a holy nation, which God has chosen from all nations.
Here the iconoclasts have a text for themselves, and the question is: whether we should remove all images and push them out of the world, because Moses calls us a holy people. Item: whether this law of Moses compels us to do so? Listen, the first commandment teaches you that you must trust in no thing on earth but God alone; that is the point. Therefore, what images are erected or used for this purpose?
1) Erlanger: close.
The first commandment throws them down first, as if one thinks that God helps for the sake of the image, as if to the oak. There was a small picture of Mary painted on a paper, on which the trust is directed, Mary helps in the picture, and have called in the picture Mariam, and not God. That is called an idolatrous image. The same image of Mary was also in Grimmenthal; item, at Regensburg.
But the other images, in which alone one sees past history and things, as in a mirror, these are mirror images, which we do not reject, for they are not images of superstition; otherwise we would not be allowed to have an image on the coin, and a virgin would not be allowed to have a mirror in which one sees the form and face of the one who looks into it. The images of coins are not worshipped, no trust is placed in them, but they are images of memory.
33 Therefore see it diligently, and discern it. To overthrow images is not to throw away all kinds of images, but these, as the text implies, which are worshipped as idols. They are called idols, since the heart is attached to them as the pear is attached to the tree, which were many among the pagans and are still in the papacy today, which are not only looked at, but are looked at with trust, since such an image is taken for a god, and heretics have worshipped such images, since the trust is attached, as those to the oak and pear tree, St. Mary's; item, St. Nicolas', St. Wolfgang's in Bavaria, St. Leonard's; item, the image of the holy cross. These may be torn down, but by proper authorities; for such images are not only looked upon, but a devotion, trust and worship is made of them.
34 But that I have a painted picture on the wall, which I look at badly without superstition, is not forbidden to me, nor shall it be taken away. For why would I not look at a painted cloth, I look at a sow, cow or dog? The little children must have wooden horses, dogs, docks and the like; and I must also have a picture, otherwise I would not have to have a mirror. Whoever does not want to have them
I can't do without it, because nothing is said about it in Scripture.
35 But when an image is set up or presented, and confidence is placed in it, tear it in two. Let the first commandment be a gloss, and give right understanding to images. If an image is set up for fear, and faith is put in it, tear it down; but if it is not an idol or altar, so that one bows the knee to it, nor makes a worship of it, it is not an idol, but an image that you keep, and is right and good. This is the difference between images and idols.
V. 6-8. For you are a holy people to God your Lord. God your Lord has chosen you as a people of possession from among all the nations that are on the earth. The Lord did not accept you and choose you to be more than all the nations, for you are the least of all the nations, but because he loved you.
This is another idolatry. As if Moses should say: Because you are such a holy, high and strong people, you should make an idolatry out of it, as if God should look at you for your power and strength and choose you as his people. But God alone wants to be respected, and does not want you to look to mammon, friendship, power, company, nor to quantity and strength, nor to trust in them; for trust strikes God to the ground here, and pulls down the idol.
I wanted this text to be remembered, especially by us Germans, who also insist and defy our power and authority when we are to go against the Turk. That is why he tears away the idol here. For this happens by nature, that when someone is powerful, he is a throbber, a poker and a snorer; there is no humility, no trust in God and his mercy, but only on his power and might he insists and defies, as if there were not also many people and many fists on the other side of the water and on the other side of the mountain. When such people do something, they do it not by trusting in God, but for the sake of their strength and quantity, as if there were not many people and many fists on the other side of the water and on the other side of the mountain.
would be no GOt. They do not ask anything about God, but only about their power. So powerful I am, so much people I have.
038 But if thou lookest not upon thy multitude and thy strength, base not thyself thereon [1 Sam. 17:47]. Not that it is evil to have many people, to have a mighty principality, to have armor, sword, guns, money and goods. It is all good to have friendship, power and helpers, for these are God's creatures; but that you make an idol for yourself out of them, and put your trust in them, and trust God no more than mammon, your wealth, the multitude and great power, that shall not be. All this is good, but beware that you do not trust in it. These things shall not be the ground of our confidence, because I put my trust in them. So he overthrows everything in which a man and his heart trust, and which is contrary to the first commandment.
I am not so old, but I have seen many of them who relied on their power and were proud of it, who are now lying in the mud. The reason is that they wanted to overthrow the first commandment and thought: We have so many cities, castles, so many thousand villages, 2c., boasted of their warriors, guns, alliance and company higher than God's; therefore we cannot lack, we will have happiness and victory. Yes, indeed! For what does God sit in heaven? They have gone over it to failure, or have come home, have brought the horror in the neck with them, and have lain down, yet have not become wise.
40 Now, because one wars with the Turk, he also hunts us down in the first commandment; still some will say, We have done it, and ascribe to their strength and power what God alone has accomplished by such means. Therefore, when these things are present, flesh and blood is proud of them. On the other hand, I have seen some who were so bold and proud, when the crowd was attached to them, that they had strength, chance and support, and obtained a little fortune and victory; but when they fell away from them again, they became such treacherous, shameful and pusillanimous, stupid evil-doers, that it is a shame that they even had wood hewn in two and split. So you can see who their god was
is, namely, their authority, attachment, principality, guns and swords, and not God, in whom they should have hoped. Then one must sing them the little song that is appropriate for such rascals [Pf. 60, 13]: Vana salus hominis, "Menschen Hülfe ist kein nütze"; item: Superbia praecedit casum, et exaltatio ruinam, "wer soll zu Grunde gehen, der wird zuvor stolz"; ante ruinam exaltatur cor, hoffährtiger und stolzer Muth kommt vor dem Fall, Sprüchw. 16, 18. Item [Ps. 116, 11]: Omnis homo mendax, es ist eitel void Ding um menschliche Hülfe.
41 Thus Scripture takes it from the first commandment; for the summa of that commandment is to trust in God alone, and to give leave to all other creatures. For whoever relies on anything other than God's mercy cannot stand, he must fall, God grant that he has for help and friends the Turkish emperor, or the whole world with all its might and power, yet he cannot carry it out, he will be lacking; he will be proud before the victory, but it will not last. With this Moses wants to keep the hearts pure in the united trust in God, that no one knows or knows anything but God, and sticks to Him alone. He who looks at something else does not lead it out.
(42) But this does not stir our hearts until the greatest need and temptation comes. If one does not then hold up the first commandment to him and consider it, then flesh and blood despairs, where God does not help. But it does not help the world, it does not go to their hearts until they are brought down; so they must confess that it is so, when they are forsaken by all strength and all good friends, and have no one to help them. Again, he who remembers the word, "I am the Lord," may stand, he may rise again.
43 Therefore Moses says: God loves you, not because yours is much. Yea, beware, he hath not regarded your multitude, because yours is so few. How do you like that? Therefore do not build on it. So when you fight against the Turk, say: I do not build on cannons, and that I have a great army, or many baptized men and people of war; for you, dear God, have soon beaten them. I have indeed the armor of war with one another, but I
do not rely on it, but in your name and trust I will fight, for you are our God; and you say that you alone are to be trusted, and therefore I will use guns, armor and other things only in your name 2c. [Ps. 20, 6. Ps. 10, 14.] So one should go up.
044 What then is the cause that he loveth you? Therefore it is not because of your power, but because he is so gracious, and has thus offered himself against you, and because he keeps the covenant which he spake unto your fathers, to inherit you out of pure mercy and grace, saying:
V. 9. Know then that the LORD your God is a faithful God, who keeps the covenant and mercy to those who love him and keep his commandments.
45 Therefore, whatever happens to you is done out of love and favor; that is, look behind you, remember my previous help, and therefore trust in me alone, 2c. because I have taken care of you. See nothing else, but that I love you out of pure goodness and mercy, and thank me for being so gracious, and offer myself against you, that I will be your God; for this I do out of pure grace and favor.
Thus God overthrows all idolatry and wipes it out of our hearts. And this is a fine commentary on the first commandment. First, he overthrows the false trust and confidence and superstition that is in our hearts and wants us to trust in him with all our hearts, for he says that he is our God. By this he wants to eradicate mammon, friendship, violence and crowd. For if you accept these three, you have a false and strange God, and you cannot stand, but you must perish. And he will tell more of them, which do the same hurt with the former; as there is our own righteousness, which also subtracts us from the first commandment.
So far Moses has dealt with the three enemies, that is, idols, who fight against the first commandment, as, mammon or riches; violence, their own power or multitude; 1)
1) In the original and in the Erlanger: "less power"; few - quantity.
Power and friendship of the heathen. These three things, or idols, cause a great number of the world to fall away from the first commandment, and people trust in them more than in God. Favor and love, riches, friendship, their own powers and authority are the idols of the world, as experience shows. Against this he said: "If you have a house, a farm, and other things, so that you have abundance, riches, and food, and have enough of everything, see to it that you do not go to God. Item: Do not make friends with the heathen, and do not worship their gods; beware of evil company, and remember that God did not accept you for your strength and multitude, 2c. but out of mild kindness and mercy.
(48) By all of which Moses would keep the people in the word of God and in the first commandment, so that they would cling to God in all things and not trust in any other creature, but, according to the first commandment, put their heartfelt trust in God alone, in His word and promise, and let all other creatures go. But he that trusteth and buildeth upon mammon shall fall with him: he also that trusteth in friendship, or in power, or in multitude, or in his own strength and might, shall fall with them, and his neck, or rather his soul, shall fall: for there is none of these idols that 1) can help man out of trouble.
(49) I said that Moses had many words to say, and he wanted to persuade the people to trust in God's words, and to put their hope and confidence in God's promise, and he practiced the first commandment very diligently. For we see and experience for ourselves how things are in the world, how strange faith is; it may be preached, but it produces little fruit or benefit. He who has money and goods is brave; he who has great friends is defiant; he who has power and strength is bold. And again, he who has not, but is weak, poor, and miserable, is stupid and despondent, fainthearted and sorrowful. One lets preach, sing and say what one wants, and so remains as it is; but one must say it for the sake of the small group. The others believe
1) Original: the.
but they want to experience it and will also experience it with their great damage; as, at the time of the misfortune and repugnance, also if distance leg comes behind them. There these three will not help, they must nevertheless leave behind them mammon, money, property, friendship, power and violence. But you who love the word, learn it in the fear of God, and let it be said to you [v. 7]: "The Lord has not accepted you and chosen you to be more than all the nations, for you are the least of all the nations."
50 As if to say, If he had considered this, he would have chosen a greater nation, but you were the least of all the nations; [v. 8] "but that he loved you, and that he kept his oath which he swore to your fathers" 2c. Such a God you have, who does not ask how strong, how great, how rich, how mighty anyone is, but that His word and grace be regarded, and nothing else. He does not want to celebrate, but to be celebrated. He does not ask for things. Nothing counts with him but his grace and mercy, which he promises you [Ps. 130:7]. He respects not thy money or friendship: he will not look upon it. No good, strength, power or fortune shall count with you, but over all and only his grace, as he finely emphasizes here with a glorious text that reads thus:
V. 9. 10. Know that the LORD your God is a God, a faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand members, and repays those who hate him before his face to destroy them, and does not delay to repay those before his face who hate him.
51 These are the words that are written in the first commandment. Grace and mercy he keeps, he does not deny. Truly you have a God who will repay. He repeats this promise again, so that he may put it into his heart: "There is a faithful God. And it is extremely necessary that he puts this word, faithful, with it. As if to say, "Believe that he promises grace and mercy, help and comfort, for it is faithfully spoken,
And shall also be faithfully kept. Therefore remember and keep his word, hold fast to it, and his grace and mercy will come faithfully [Ps. 111:8].
52 And again, he will not lack the unbelievers and the disobedient, but will punish them severely, as he reproaches them with his zeal and anger. In sum, he wanted to impress the first commandment deeply on his Jews, and on all other people; that is why he so often repeats the words of the same commandment. As if he should say: Only turn to him, then you have a faithful God; as the 86th Psalm, v. 15, also depicts him: Tu, Domino Deus, miserator et misericors, patiens, et multae misericordiae, et verax. He has promised mercy, help, good deeds and consolation everywhere, and just in the Psalm; he also faithfully keeps this promise. Again, he will not fail to punish the wicked who do not believe him but hate him and transgress his commandments. Let no one doubt that both will come to pass unfaithfully, as he has said: Good to the faithful, severe punishment to the disobedient.
Moses is very serious about this, and all the prophets have taken much warning from this text, that in the first commandment God promises, promises, and faithfully keeps grace, mercy, counsel, comfort, and all good things to the faithful, and that He intends to punish and punish the wicked without delay. But the world does not believe it; if it sits in abundance, in goods, and has its mammon, its friendship and power, then it is a mockery to it, then it does not respect it, but says: Let Moses preach as long as he wants. But hear thou, verily, the time will come when it will not be thought of.
As long as there is mammon, friendship, happiness, 2c. among others, one goes there, and Moses cries himself to death over these words: "I am a zealous God", "a consuming fire"; item, I am not joking. But it is all a vain and dead letter to the unbelievers; one does not feel it, so one does not believe it. The words are colder than ice to us, do not ring in our ears until experience and adversity come to hand, and misfortune strikes; then one will be the first to know.
quite aware. As now with the Turk, who a few days ago 1) besieged Vienna 2c. However, even though God cries out: "I am a zealous God", I want it, and I can't stand it, it doesn't help. Oh, no preaching is valid with the rabble. But fools must be listened to with pistons. He who will not listen to words must be advised by spears and rifles.
(55) Thus Moses warned his own and us, saying, Remember that ye keep the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments of our Lord God; but if ye despise them, and make a jest of them, he will make a mockery of you again, as he did of them. Although they hoped and thought that the trouble and danger would be over a thousand years away, it was there in an hour. The same happened to the rebellious peasants; they were not afraid of any misfortune, but in one hour they were all slain. The Austrians also did not take care of the Turk, but thought he was a thousand miles away from them; but in two days they had him over their necks, and misfortune fell upon them, that many of them were slain and carried away captive; the punishment came to them even in time. Moses therefore diligently exhorts us not to trust in these three things, but to be most careful and cautious against them; for calamity cometh unawares.
I could tell you many examples, but I have seen two recently: how the peasants were beaten and destroyed in the uprising and how the Turks have now tyrannized cruelly. There were other examples before: Saul, Sodoma and Gomorrah, the flood of the whole world; for before they looked back, the punishment came. The world does not want to believe this, but thinks that God is not in such a hurry with the punishment, until it experiences it and lies there in the ashes, or is drowned and stabbed to death. Therefore, he who cannot be advised cannot be helped. The world wants to be run with pistons.
(57) And here you see how Moses so faithfully and earnestly warns that one should fear God, for he adds these words: He will repay without delay. As if
1) The Turks besieged Vienna on September 13, 1529; this is preached towards the end of October.
He will say: His wrath will come suddenly [Ps. 2, 12], and punish the unbelievers, who now confidently scrape and throb, that should they become senseless, the wrath of God will soon strike behind them. What they will then gain from it, they may grease their shoes with. This text belongs to the wicked and is their lesson; but they do not turn to it, they are hardened and blinded, so that they do not perceive the first part that is said to them, the wicked.
58. the other piece: "He is a faithful God, who keeps the covenant and mercy." This write both diligently, says Moses, namely, that God is angry and cruel toward those who do not believe in Him, to whom belongs wrath and plague. Again, he also shows mercy and grace to the believer. This should be serious and true on both sides, and it applies to us who have to endure a storm with the world, or pour out the bath with it. In such dangerous and anxious times, let this be our comfort, that God is a faithful and true God in adversity, who has promised grace and mercy, help and counsel to all believers, and will certainly keep this promise.
59 This is so necessary to be eliminated when war, flood, pestilence and other accidents come, as the previous one. The previous one, how God will surely punish the wicked. For when hardship and affliction come, we see our weakness, and there is great trembling and fear; then we realize how poor and meager we are. Soon we run to and fro, and would like help; we want to donate this and that; we hope for mammon; we call on all our good friends and acquaintances. But with this there is no continuance anywhere, here all idolatry perishes. We become so soft, stupid and despondent that no one can raise us up or comfort us; just as the wicked, on the other hand, are so stubborn, stubborn, immovable and hard that no one can soften them up, nor bring them to terror and fear, until they lie on the ground; just as again no one can make the soft, weak and frightened hard and strong enough.
60 Therefore, it must be done: that which
Stubborn, lumps, stones, sticks, and troughs, who fear neither God nor the devil, are to be frightened with serious dread. Again, stupid, frightened and despondent people are to be raised up and strengthened with these sweet words of comfort, saying to them: You have a faithful God, who has promised you grace and mercy, and swears to you that he will be your God. For thus he speaks in the prophet Ezekiel [Cap. 18, 23. 32. 33, 11.]: "As truly as I am God and live, I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he may repent and live."
61 Therefore he does not jest with this promise; such a promise is not a light and easy word to him, but a true earnestness, and it shall be kept to the faithful; he would set heaven and earth before it, yes, heaven and earth would rather perish than that his word should not be fulfilled [Luc. 21, 33]. Put your trust in this, then, and be sure that God is a faithful God, who does not lie, joke or scold, but keeps the covenant and has mercy. "He shows mercy (toward those who keep His commandments) to the thousandth degree." You will certainly experience this.
(62) And so we do: when we are in poverty, we look nowhere, but only where there is money, or not money. When there is shame and disgrace, our eyes are soon turned to where there is honor or none. In times of death, pestilence and war, we see where there is health and where there is peace or no peace. All our thoughts are directed to this. We cannot lift up our hearts to consider these words here. For this reason Moses says: "If you want to trust in God and not have foreign gods, but keep the first commandment, and you are in trouble, distress, or in danger of life and limb, then remember that you should not look where human help and advice, where money and goods, where friends or enemies, life or death remain, but look here at God's word, listen to what God has promised you. For even though there is hardship, death, war, sickness and trouble, you should not be deprived of these words that are spoken here: "I am the Lord, I will keep my covenant faithfully.
From this text many psalms are made, all of which refer to this saying of Moses, since David also boasts that God is faithful, just and a retributor [Ps. 31:24], item, a helper in trouble; as, in the 145th Psalm, v. 18: "The Lord is near to all those who call upon Him, who call upon Him in truth." Item [Ps. 34, 20.], "The righteous must suffer much, but the LORD helpeth him out of all." Item, the 44th Psalm says, v. 23: "We are esteemed as sheep for the slaughter"; as St. Paul also accuses the Romans [Cap. 8, 36], and then speaks [v. 37]: "But in all this we overcome far, for the sake of Him who loved us." The Psalms are always lamenting our distresses and miseries, but the promise is always included: God helps and saves, so that the Psalms are a correct interpretation of the first commandment. For the covenant is firm, that God is faithful [2 Tim. 2, 19], he will keep what he has promised. Again, the Psalms also tell how God will judge the unrighteous and put them to shame. As, in the 91st Psalm, v. 8, it is said: "You will see how it will be repaid to the wicked." God knows well this art, that what the wicked scrape together and gather, that another shall eat it up; yea, for body and goods, people and country shall they come, for they sin against the first commandment. Moses has faithfully warned us about this.
This is the main part of Christian doctrine, that we learn to trust in God, not to despise Him, and to pride ourselves when the three things are present, namely, good, friendship, and power, that we put our trust in creatures, being sure and bold of money and goods, as if we could not trust in our Lord God. Again, that one may not despair even if these three are not there.
65 Therefore, do not do as some of the villains among the burghers and peasants do. When they have money and goods, they are brave and proud, and become mammonists and idolaters, deny God, pride themselves against their God, and trample the first commandment underfoot; they say, "If I only had enough money, what would I complain about? God wants to get behind them before they know it, and oppress them, and God does not want to be there.
They shall lose body and goods, souls and everything. On the other hand, the pious who are afraid of God shall not despair in their affliction. For I and my kind do not have many good days, therefore it is said to us: Let there be no trouble, let God be faithful, and keep His mercy and covenant. As the promise says: "I will show mercy" 2c. If we could only believe the words and be sure that it is God's word, how would our heart and conscience become so proud of it; how would I be so courageous against all creatures; then I could say: Because I have a gracious God who promises me mercy, who is richer than I? For to whom He promises something, He may keep it.
If you believe that God is so favorable to you that he will not abandon you in poverty, disgrace and death, and that all creatures are favorable and favorable to you for his sake, I would like to see who would do me harm! For I could look upon mammon, all friendship, tyrants, the Turk, or the king of France, as a louse or a fly. No one is richer than he; no one is more pious, no one knows more than he; for all this is nothing compared to the grace and mercy I have in God. Egg the devil! who would be stronger than me? This strength of the grace and mercy of God should be raised so that even the devil and the Turk are not respected.
But one hears these words alone and considers them as if they had been spoken by some priest, chaplain or preacher; one does not believe it, one does not consider it to be the word of God Almighty. But he who believes it has it all [Marc. 9, 23], and has it in his fist. But it should also frighten us very much that God says next to it: "If you do not trust me, know that I am angry, and these words or these threats will drive you so that heaven and earth will become too narrow for you, and you will always have to think that the sky will fall, and the sea will drown you, and the earth will sink with you. But if one says this at the same time that God is angry, one asks nothing about it. If any prince was angry, or if it was said that the Turk was angry
there would be great fear; but God does not count for anything in this kind, who says: He is angry with us 2c. So we see in experience and in this daily life how poor people we are, who do not fear the word of God, nor do we trust in it. Because we do not believe the word, we must learn by experience, as this time through the Turk, that he pours out his wrath on us, so that we may see how God is not joking.
(68) Moses wanted to bake, brew and cook the words so that they would come to us. For if we believed it, we would remember as often as we heard these words: O heaven is full of violins! These words would be our sweetest consolation, above all mammon and friendship and the violence of the world, for we would know that heaven and earth were ours. Again, if we did not trust in God, and then heard God say: I will repay and punish without delay, we would be terrified and say: O! if God is angry, He is more to be feared than a hundred Turks. 1) These words should be much more frightening to me than if a hundred Turks or emperors came. Is it not shameful and sinful that one should fear these three things, mammon, friendship and tyrants, more than God? and that one should rejoice more in the creature and a penny, and fear the Turk and evil time more than God? Shall a rustling leaf be stronger than God with all His threatenings; and a red fellow, a florin, delight thee more than all God's promises?
(69) Verily, we should curse ourselves, spit upon ourselves and condemn ourselves, that we should have such perverse hearts within us, which neither trust nor fear God. We should be sorry that we live, because we disobey our Lord God, and fear a rustling leaf more than Him, and love a red florin more. Such badness is in our hearts. This is what Moses wanted to impress upon the people (as I also wanted to do), and he says: God is truly lacking in grace and mercy.
1) "Turks" here stands for the Turkish Empire or the Turkish Emperor.
He will have enough goods to give to those who fear him. On the other hand, he will not joke, and he will provide enough plagues and misfortunes to send to you if you disobey him and live according to your will.
V. 12. 13. And if ye hear these statutes, and keep them, and do them; then the LORD thy God will also keep the covenant and mercy which he sware unto thy fathers, and will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee, and bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, and thy corn, and thy must, and thy oil, and the fruit of thy cows, and the fruit of thy sheep of the field 2c.
Now he will explain to himself what is "the grace and mercy of God"; item, what is "the wrath of God. For he said that God is a faithful God, who keeps grace and mercy, and does good to you. But what does God do when He shows mercy and grace? To this Moses answers: "He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you" 2c. This will be the blessing, the grace or mercy, that he will give you a wife and child; and all this he will also protect you from Satan, pestilence, weather, and from all misfortune and evil, so that your family will last to the thousandth generation. He will take all things into his keeping.
71] "He shall bless the fruit of thy womb," that is, thy children, that they may be healthy, and that thou mayest have good courage, fine children without infirmity. After that also the fruit of the land shall be blessed, as, thy corn, thy must, and thy oil 2c., and follows, "Blessed shalt thou be among all nations." There you see what is meant by grace and mercy, that he wants to say: If you trust in God, do not worry how you will be fed, how your house and farm, wife and child will be preserved, let me take care of that; only trust in me and leave the worry to me. As the 55th Psalm, v. 23, says: "Cast your concern upon the Lord, and he will do it well." Item, St. Peter in his epistle says [1 Petr. 5, 7.], "Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you." David and St. Peter took these sayings from this text.
(72) And God will say here through Moses: I have so many angels and so much power that I can bless you and protect you from the devil and from all misfortune, and also help you out of all tribulation and distress. But we would like to have such a God who would not let us suffer at all. Know, then, that it is no matter if the world hates and persecutes you; he wants to love you. If the world wants to make you less, he wants to make you more. He wants to be as strong (when he is not otherwise stronger) as your enemy may be, and wants to save you.
V. 14. You will be blessed above all nations.
73 Thou shalt be a blessed and prosperous people. For the other nations trust not in me: and because thou trustest in me, thou shalt have plenty, and there shall be no evil among thee, and thou shalt enjoy mine abundantly.
74. If this is so, how is it that God nevertheless often sends so many plagues and pestilences to His saints, and lets John the Baptist die the most shameful death [Matth. 14, 10.]? Item, to Job he sends much suffering [Job 1, 12. ff.]? To this I answer, All this does no harm; if he makes them suffer, they are not forsaken; he does not leave them in perdition; he puts them to death, and brings them to life again; he puts them to shame, and raises them up again to honor. On the other hand, if the wicked live here in honor, and then die, all their joy, honor and glory are gone [Job 21:17 ff], for they have nothing left but this life, and yet they should not use this life so much that they should be as joyful as a Christian is. The Christians' defiance and consolation is that they should be left alone in this life. Christians should live in want and need as well as the wicked in the greatest abundance, for they can use their poverty and little goods with a better conscience. Even if a Christian does not have as much as a rich man, there is nothing wrong with that, because we do not need abundance (Proverbs 15:16). But if you trust in God, you will have enough and will not die of hunger.
75 And let it be, that the wicked have more than thou; let it not be to him.
as well as to you. Therefore it is said, What thou hast need of, I will give thee all. But if you do not fear God, he will let you seek and gather money, houses, honor and goods, and let them become mighty; but in the end everything will go back to the way it came. Your children will die and be suddenly wiped out; someone else will consume your possessions, your house, your fields, your meadows and your wife, and you will be left with shame, damage and an evil conscience. Therefore it would be better for you to trust me; then you would be blessed in this world, and there in the other and eternal life.
V. 14-16: You will be blessed above all nations. There shall be none barren among thee, nor among thy cattle. The LORD will put away from thee all sickness, and will not put upon thee any evil plague of the Egyptians, which thou hast experienced, and will put it upon all thy haters. Thou shalt eat up all the nations which the LORD thy God shall give thee.
Moses wants everyone to learn to keep the first commandment of God, for there shall be no man who sets his heart, confidence or trust in anything but God and His word alone. And the little word "heart" is put here for this reason, so that one may fear God and be frightened or terrified by His word. The heart should cling to God with faith and fear alone; therefore he also promised to be your God, to show grace and mercy to all those who love him and keep his commandments. With this he wants to provoke and entice our hearts to believe in him.
He is not only merciful, but also zealous, and a consuming fire against the despisers of his divine commandments (Sir. 16, 12. 13.), so that pure fear may be in the heart and remain against God, and that we may be subject to him with all fear and trust, and prefer nothing else. Now Moses, as reported above [Cap. 6, § 48 ff.], also included these among the idols, namely Mammon, who also captivates the hearts of men so that they forsake the first commandment and ask nothing of it, that God says: "I will be your God".
and show you grace and mercy. After that he spoke of another idol [Cap. 7, § 36 ff.], which is called: relying on strength, power, might and dominion. The third idol [Cap. 7, § 15 ff.] he called: great friendship. These three idols are in the world, and men are more proud of them than that they should rely on God.
Now this is Mosi's gloss, which he makes about the first commandment, that the first commandment is transgressed, when man sets his heart on mammon, on power and violence, or on friendship, and does not cling to the promises of the divine word, that God wants to nourish, protect and preserve us. This sin now disregards the world, does not punish it, or cannot punish it. It judges only murder, adultery, fornication and theft, but the unholy superstition remains unpunished before the world. And because sin is not punished like others, it does not seem to be a great sin; it remains small in reputation and is disregarded, but the sins that are punished seriously and severely, these are also more respected and much more avoided.
79 But we hear the counterplay here, that it is a much worse sin to build and defy mammon than theft; it also tears deeper. Murder and theft do not eat and drink. The culprit, as the murderer and death-slayer, is punished alone, his friends and family go out free and unharmed; but for the sake of idolatry, God often wipes out a whole family, a city, country and people, a kingdom and empire. Therefore, a Christian considers these the highest sins, which are considered the least in the world. The world considers it honest joy that it relies on money and goods, and that a prince defies his sovereignty. This is not considered a sin, but the same idolatry is placed on top. And this is nothing else than putting the devil in God's place, wanting to take away God's divinity, authority and majesty, and blaspheming him.
80 Therefore Moses uses many words here, so that he may teach us the first commandment, for otherwise such a commandment would not be given.
go into the heart, and it is also a dangerous commandment. For he that hath money is proud; and he that hath many good friends leaveth thereunto. But he that is poor is fainthearted, and there is no comfort to lift him up. Thus the world is full of idolatry. Therefore, God must do what is necessary, and send the Turk or pestilence, the time and other punishments, so that people may learn to fear him. Just as He punished Lucifer and his angels for this sin, and cast him down from heaven, because he sinned against the first commandment, and rebelled against God and His majesty, and wanted to be more than he deserved.
Therefore, we should look to our Lord God for all good things, and not turn our hearts elsewhere with confidence and trust. Nor should we pride ourselves against God, as if we had a better remedy and had nowhere to turn to God; for these are the thoughts of all who despise God. Nor should one despair or despair where things are bad and sorrowful, for the reason that 1) God Himself calls you to trust boldly in His promise. Therefore, it is a matter of concern to you that you should raise up another for God, or seek any other help; for he will give you enough [John 10:11], and take away all harm from you, that is, he will be your merciful God. If any harm befalls you, he will turn it around and give you restitution and everything you need.
There are indeed glorious promises in this text, which belong to those who keep God's commandment. For what they do not have, God will give them; and what He has given them, He will protect and preserve for them. And from this text, as I also mentioned above [63], many excellent psalms are made, which David, like a little bee, sucked the noble juice from it. The prophets, no doubt, also took from it so many beautiful sermons, and fed and watered their listeners from these lovely springs.
V. 17-19. But will you say in your heart, "This people is more than I am, like
1) In the original: from causes.
Can I drive them out? then do not be afraid of them. Remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, by great temptation, which you saw with your eyes, and by signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, that the LORD your God might bring you out. So shall the LORD thy God do unto all the nations of whom thou art afraid. 1)
This is an objection, because some small-minded, despondent man would fall into this challenge, or his heart would be tempted and made stupid by the devil, that he would say: This people is much more than that we small, fewer! and weak people should be able to resist him, stay ahead of them, or beat them and wear them out; it will be impossible that we should thus be greatly strengthened by God, for ours is little, theirs is a great multitude and multitude; and would thereby fall into another grave sin against the first commandment, which is called diffidentia, that one despairs of God's help, lets hands and feet slip, mistrusts God, and despairs of His help.
(84) The mistrust that comes from being weak and not seeing or feeling our outward strength, might and power, we fear that God will not be able to help us unless we are finished. In this hospital, the children of Israel lay ill here, and before that they also sinned greatly by sending scouts to the Promised Land, and by exploring the land's opportunities, fortresses, strong men and giants [Numbers 13:19 ff. 14:1 ff]. This frightened them so much that they did not want to leave; they thought that they were too weak for the giants, that they would not be able to overcome them, that God would not be able to save them from the hand and power of these heathens.
This objection and plea of flesh and blood, or temptation of the devil, is hereby met by Moses, and teaches how God's promises are fulfilled, not by our powers, but by His divine power. He wants to knock down the presumption and the trust in our own powers and human strength and power, to control and resist our mistrust and despair. For if the
1) Original and Erlanger: to those who fear you.
If the children of Israel had looked to themselves and their power or wealth, they would have been as nothing against the Gentiles, such as the Cananites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Philistines, Ammonites, and other mighty, powerful countries and peoples, all of whom the children of Israel were to destroy, and would have had to let God's commandment fall to the ground, and not rub against these Gentiles, but leave them satisfied.
But Moses pointed them to God's presence, who had faithfully promised to be with them and help them against all these nations and their great power. For this reason, God makes a comforting promise to the children of Israel. And so that they would believe this all the more, Moses referred the children of Israel to the previous miracles of God, how he had promised them help and how he would certainly give it to them. Therefore, he sets before them the clear example of divine help, grace and mercy, and reminds them of how he threw King Pharaoh and all the war powers of the Egyptians into the Red Sea, and freed the children of Israel from their coercion and tyranny [Exodus 14:7 ff], which alone was a divine work, and otherwise it would have been impossible for them to be free from Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the rest of their lives. With this example of the previous divine help they should comfort themselves; because the God, who would have helped then, could help them again.
So David also prepared himself and strengthened himself: When the Philistine Goliath set upon him, and he had torn apart a bear and a lion by the help of God before, he also remembered the benefit and help of God, comforted himself with it and said: "The God who helped me before from the bear and the lion, the cruel beasts, will also save me from this uncircumcised Philistine [1 Sam. 17, 37]. St. Paul also admonished the Corinthians that God, who brings the dead to life, had restored him to health in Asia through the intercession of the Christians, and that God would still deliver him [2 Cor. 1, 9-11].
88. for one should not forget the previous miracles and the help of God, because they are
Memorials, reminders and reminders of how God has helped us and can and will help all those who seek help from Him and expect help in faith. Therefore David also says in the Psalter [Ps. 119, 52]: Memor ero mirabilium tuorum, that is: "I remember your deeds of old" 2c. And with this we should also strengthen our faith, that we look to God's word and promise, and to the previous deeds of God and examples of His help.
(89) In particular, however, we are to set God's word and deeds before our eyes in this trial, even when this adversity comes to our hands. For it is common for our nature and reason to hold contrariness against each other in temptations [Ps. 42:6, 43:2]. This is the art of reason, which wants to measure and weigh everything, so that it considers the opportunity of the land, or the type of land, or the quantity of the people. So the Jews put the numbered pennies on the lines, and they calculated how many were the Canaanites, and how few were their number, the Israelites. So they calculated: There is much people and great power, but here little people and little wealth. This the devil is able to do, that he may make a noise before our eyes, and we may measure and reckon our iniquities and the strength of the adversaries; and because we are in the scales and in the measuring, we forget that God says here, "I am the LORD thy God.
90 Thus we do: When we are in need, we look only to the danger of the body, to food, drink, sickness, poverty, or whatever else weighs us down. Then we reckon that the water is too great, and our strength too small, and measure all this against our strength. When I look at my lack of strength and become aware of the countervailing force and the strength in the need before me, I am already lost and godless, and no longer ask anything about God. So it goes: When the devil takes me away from the word, I am stuck, and the devil has won the game, and makes me either despair, or otherwise run away and seek help; for I cannot stand there. Because I do not believe the word of God, the devil has me very soon.
and led onto his ice or slippery slope, so that I fall to the ground and lie down. So it remains that our inability and weakness against the power and force of our enemies is kept in the pursuit.
Women do the same thing in childbirth: when they are in childbirth, they have already calculated that mother and child will remain; because the mother is weak, there are also great inabilities of the body. They look at the strong evil alone, and then despair, or vow the child to some saint, have recourse to an idol; as, to St. Margaret, who should help in such distresses. Many have also made a vow: if the son remains alive in birth, he shall become a spiritual person, and the maiden shall become a nun. No one there has with heartfelt trust commanded this child's need to our Lord God, or thought of the first commandment, that he would have a gracious God, and that he would do mercy in a thousand ways to those who fear him. Then I should say: I entrust myself completely to you, with all my own, in your mercy, because you have said that you will be my God, and that you will show me grace and mercy, and I will rely on that.
For this reason, it is only the devil's art that he makes our weakness and need so great before our eyes that we forget God's word and command and ultimately have to despair. That is what he has brought us to.
But again we should learn the art of saying: Dear God, you have not only commanded me, when I am in trouble, to call upon you and seek help from you, but you have also promised me that you will be my gracious God, my dear Father, helper and protector, and will stand by me in times of need, proving your power and authority over me. This is what you want me to believe and trust in you completely; for your commandment stands there, and demands faith from me that I should even command myself to you. And I could do you no greater harm than if I did not believe your promises, in which you promised me that you would be my God and help me. Believe
I will not leave you, without a doubt, and I will remain in your grace, and all that I ask and need from you will be yes. For this word and promise, which he gives here, God does not withdraw; it does not repent him. And if it should come to pass that God does not keep his word and promises, and I remain stuck in adversity, then it is certainly the fault of my unbelief that I have not trusted in God, but in childhood adversity St. Margaret was supposed to help me, in the days of toothache St. Apollonia, in wars the knight St. George, in shipwrecks St. Niclas, and so on; I have thus placed my faith, trust and confidence in the saints, and have been shamefully deceived.
94 Let us therefore beware of unbelief and despair; let us also put out of sight the peril and distress, but on the other hand let us model to ourselves God's word and promise, and also the examples of divine help. For if we look only at the danger and hardship, the devil has measured out the hardship with such a long yardstick that one cannot bear it, but must despair over it. So he also held distress and fear before the prophets' noses and made them smell it, so that they might be distressed, complain greatly about it, and weep. But the greater the distress, the more thou shalt take hold of this promise in this text, and thrust it back in the devil's face, for God says [v. 21], "Be not afraid of them, for the LORD thy God is among thee, the great and terrible God."
95 Moses set before them a fine example of their own deliverance from the house of Egypt, when they had passed through the Red Sea with dry feet, when nothing but certain death was before their eyes [Ex 14:21]. For so it was with them: Behind them was the enemy, Pharaoh with a great army and power; in front was the sea, over which there was no bridge built, nor any ford to cross, they would all have been drowned in it; on both sides were high mountains, over which it was impossible to pass; heaven and earth were closed up there; there was no other account but certain death. Therefore they also saw
There their strength, which was so great that they even despaired, and thought that now they were lost. They cried out and said, "Were there not graves in Egypt, that we might have died in them?" and could not overcome the danger of the mountains, the sea and the armor of Pharaoh; it was death in their eyes.
96) But when Moses had adhered to the first commandment, which is, "I am the LORD your God," and prayed diligently, he also struck the sea at the commandment of God, and the sea parted from one another, and a magnificent, great, wide highway was formed through it, as wide as almost from Wittenberg to Magdeburg, almost twelve or thirteen miles long. Therefore Moses wants to say here: You have indeed experienced that what your God promises, he wants to do, and he can do it well; therefore he lets these words resound: "I am the Lord, your God. So do not doubt that he can give you health, food, clothing, house, farm, children, and all other necessities; he does not lack power and ability, he can do it well [Luc. 1, 37.]; also the will is there, because he has promised it to you. Why will you not believe and trust in him in all your trouble, that he can and will do for you and give you what you lack? For this reason we should also trust in him, in the face of his highest disgrace, punishment and chastisement.
(97) We should also remember this miracle and special example of redemption from Egypt daily, for many psalms recall and often report this divine work; all the prophets also refer to it, and Isaiah in particular often remembers this redemption. For when an emergency occurred, they remembered how God brought their forefathers out of Egypt, and therefore concluded that he would also help them again. For this reason, Moses wants to teach them to beware, so that they do not raise anything themselves in challenges and hardships, no matter how great the danger; also, do not think primarily about how many enemies you have, and how few are yours; but place the divine word, the promise and beautiful examples before all, which will show you how God 1) can and will help.
1) "GOtt" taken by us from the old edition of Walch, instead of: "I" in the original.
Look into this helpful mirror, and let the emergency mirror go, or it may bring you harm. It is a comforting mirror that God, in His word, hangs before your eyes and says: "I am your God," I will help you; only hope in Me. And if his word is not enough for you to keep, since he promises you that he will do it and help everyone, look at the examples and proven deeds of God, since he has made it true and done it in others, on which we have to comfort ourselves and rely.
We Germans should do the same nowadays. We have as enemies the Turk, the Pope, the Emperor, and other tyrants who are all against us; so we have nothing but vain great danger before our eyes. If we now count the numbers, the Turk, the emperor and other enemies are too powerful for us, and we are against them as if one were set against thousands. This mirror is then vain, in vain and lost, which the devil presents to us. We must still turn our eyes away from this mirror and think as if there were no Turk, pope or other tyrant, and draw out the other mirror of life, namely the divine word and promise, and let us be greater and stronger than a thousand Turks and popes; yes, let us be stronger than the whole world is.
For what is the world against God? Is it not, as the prophet Isaiah says [Cap. 40, 15], like a drop of water that sticks to the bucket when the water is poured out? This droplet is far from being a stream; the air has soon licked up such a droplet of water. If we could only grasp this word and promise of God (if we are otherwise true Christians), we would find God's help against us. There would be nothing more certain than that we would defeat the Turk in a short time; we should not be sorry for this if we wanted to subdue the Turk. For God has promised us that He will be our God and in our midst 2c. Whom would this heartfelt comfort, these golden words not make merry and joyful, courageous and defiant, against all enemies, yes, against the devil and the gates of hell itself (Matthew 16:18)?
David in the 18th Psalm also looked at these words, when he says, v. 30: "With you I can crush the warriors, and with my God I can leap over the walls. For where the great and terrifying GOD is, why should there not also be happiness and victory against all enemies? Should not one be able to hunt down and defeat a thousand? Therefore he also speaks in the 46th Psalm, v. 4-6: "Even though the sea rages and rages, and the mountains collapse from its tempest, yet the city of God shall remain with its fountains, where the holy dwellings of the Most High are. God is within her, therefore she will remain well, God will help her early" 2c. Therefore also St. John speaks in his first epistle on the 4th 1) chapter, v. 4: "He who dwells in us is greater than he who dwells in the world." And St. Paul to Romans in the 8th chapter, v. 31: "If God is with us, who can be against us?" With this we should always comfort ourselves. For there is no doubt that with this comfort and faith in these words we Christians have resisted the Turks, the Pope, the Emperor and all persecutors so far, and we would probably want to remain safe from them if we believed God. But we pass by these words and promises, and we are not such people who build on them. Therefore, even if a misfortune befalls us and we get stuck in it, and no help comes to us, it is no wonder; we are not wronged by it; why are we ungodly and unbelieving?
102) The prophet Elisha also had this defiance [2 Kings 6:14 ff]; when he was besieged by the Syrians in the city of Dothan, and his servant went out and saw the enemies before the city, the servant ran in and cried, O we are all lost! and was about to despair. But Elisha the prophet did as if he saw and knew of no enemy, and so answered his servant, "There are more of them with us than with them. Then God asked him to open his eyes to the servant. When this happened, he saw all fiery chariots and horses on the mountains. All the mountains were full of angels, who stood on Elisha's side to drive away the enemies from the city,
1) Erlanger: "am3. Capit."
so that the prophet Elisha would not be harmed, and they would leave the turnips unsown for him (according to the common saying).
103) This is also shown in the battle of chivalry, 2 Kings 19:34, 35, which God did on Sennaerib before Jerusalem. Since he wanted to devour Jerusalem and make it a heap of stones, he knew how to keep the city from him, and he lost a hundred and five 1) and eighty thousand men in one night, who were found slain in the morning in the camp. If we still had faith, the great squires and soldiers would lie on the ground; but because we are either timid or pride ourselves on our strength, it is no wonder that sometimes a wheel goes over our leg and we get stuck in adversity. But if we persevere in this faith, help and salvation would soon be found.
(104) And even if we were to suffer hardship and tribulation in such faith, since we consider God to be our Lord, and were thus beaten and killed, we could not be better off, nor could we die better; the skin would be sold at a high enough price. For if God did not save me here in time, He would still "redeem me from eternal death. God wants to save His own who believe; and even though they sometimes have to pay for the evil neighbor (for one neighbor owes another fire damage, and otherwise one often has to pay for what he did not buy or steal), we believers nevertheless have this advantage, that even though we are slain and perish with the ungodly world, it nevertheless goes to the devil in the abyss of hell, but we go to eternal life, since we want to remain with God forever.
Therefore, we should not be afraid of danger and accidents, but look to God's word and His help for proof, and rely on it; for these are living and powerful words and deeds, and they sufficiently testify to how God wants to help from all causes, even in the midst of death; only that one may be comforted by them and rely on them without doubt. Therefore, in times of need, do not go against God's word; also do not judge.
1) In the original: four.
a god in whom you trust more than in God; remember what the Lord, your God, did to Pharaoh in Egypt. If you do not have enough of this mighty work and irresistible help, then look at his certain promise, what he promises you of his almighty grace. For in these two things, as in words and examples, you will find comfort and help; but only that you base your heart on God and dare to go there.
For this reason Moses gives him so much space and time, and uses so many exquisite words, that he may bring these things before us, and teach us, that at all times, when adversity befalls us, we should put danger and distress out of our sight, and cleave to God's word alone, trusting more in God's promise than fearing all misfortune and calamity, and fearing and seeking no other God. For in this thou shalt have such a God as will put his hands under thee. He will also command his angels over you, to keep you in your ways, as the 91st Psalm, v. 11, gives us such a promise, and otherwise the whole Psalter is nothing but an interpretation and example of the first commandment.
(107) Let us therefore make every effort to learn the first commandment well, so that our hearts may know how to do all things, and then the other thing will follow from Himself, namely, that it may go well with us and that we may experience the power of these promises.
V.20. For this purpose the LORD your God will send a hornet among them, until what is left is destroyed and hides from you. Do not be afraid of them.
(108) With this he will convince them of this, and speak to their hearts, saying: Fear God alone, and no one else; for the LORD your God is with you. Therefore, they are still interpretations of the first commandment, that God will say: I am your God, it shall be well with those who love me. Therefore, if you trust in God, He will soon exterminate your enemies, even if He sends hornets among them to sting them to death. In sum, he will help you out of all troubles, only be undaunted.
V. 22-24: He, the LORD your God, will cut off these people from before you one by one. You cannot destroy them in haste, lest the beasts of the field multiply against you. The LORD thy God shall give them before thee, and shall smite them with a great slaughter, until he destroy them: and he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name under heaven 2c.
He still insists on the declaration of the first commandment, and gives them great comfort that God will equip them strongly enough to face their enemies and overcome them, for he is their God. If they believe in him, he will force the enemies under their power [Ps. 47:4], only that they hold on to him and let him be their God.
In this way, we too would be made right knights and be able to despise all enemies. But in the name of the devil, we trust in the temporal more than in God, and set our hearts more on human advice, on creatures and present help, than on the living God, who gives us such certain promises here. Therefore, we do not accept such a promise other than as if it had not been spoken by God, but by a juggler, a lottery boy, or a loose holiphile 1). The heart is so wicked that it is eager for mammon, for treasure, or money and temporal goods; and when it has these, it prides itself and insists on them, wants to be on top and nowhere else. But if it does not have such things, and poverty oppresses it, it wants to despair, becomes so fearful that it would let wood cut itself in two and fail, 2) forgets God altogether.
The Gergesenes are an example of what one should do in the world for the sake of God and one's neighbor [Matt. 8:31 ff.], who are very unhappy that the devils, driven out of the possessed man, have entered into their swine, push Christ out of their borders, and would rather have their swine than the Lord Christ. But let all who despise the word of God and put their trust in the creatures keep themselves and give themselves away.
1) See Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XX, 2395. s. v. Lolhipler.
2) fail -- to split into logs.
Whoever allows such comfort to be torn from his heart and does not want to be moved by these words is not worthy to be ruled by God, but may have the devil as his ruler. He who does not want to be God's, may remain the devil's.
(112) Truly, there are great fears and idols who fight and dispute against the first commandment, which Moses spoke about before, and worked diligently on it, so that he would bring it into the hearts of his Jews, and so that everyone would place his faith and trust in God's grace. The devil has made the world so clever and so wise that it thinks it knows everything, and yet in truth it knows nothing. So I also always work on this article, so that we first learn to know Christ well and have faith in God. For if this article falls, then all is lost; but if it remains and is preserved, then all is preserved. I am a doctor of the Holy Scriptures, but I am still learning about them, and yet I do not know everything. But the world knows it all. Moses saw that it was very important and very difficult to learn that God is our Lord and to trust in Him, because it is impossible to learn it all. It is spoken with short and few words, but it comprehends much in itself.
(113) And Moses commanded the Jews before that they should not be afraid of the multitude of the Gentiles, whom they should kill and destroy, but remember what God had done before with them, and set before them his word, and the former works or miracles, that they might be confident, and walk freshly, for God would not lie to them, or cause his manifold promises to fall away.
V. 25. thou shalt burn the images of their gods with fire, and shalt not covet the silver or gold that is in them, nor take it to thyself, lest thou be ensnared in it; for such is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 2c.
Here, it means not only to remove the images, but also not to melt them, nor to take them and pull them into his treasure. Item, burn them completely. Whether they are kept
or not, I leave that in its place and dignity. But this text has given much occasion to the enthusiasts and iconoclasts, who have considered it a perfection and righteousness in the sight of God to burn images, or to make a racket with the images and tear them down, and have wanted to be holy people and good Christians through such works. But if this were true, the Turk would be the most holy, and would have great righteousness before God; for he tears down many images, castles and cities. Therefore, one should not boast about it, or pass this iconoclasm off as an art.
I have now written much about this in the book against D. Carlstadt, vom Bilderstürmen, 1) therein I have strongly opposed the same work. And this is my opinion: A Christian should begin from the full righteousness of faith, that he relies on the word of God, and learns to keep the first commandment from the heart, that he loves God, trusts, and fears Him above all things. Whoever does this will easily despise all silver and gold idols. For outward iconoclasm is but a camouflage by which one seeks to gain temporal honor, and to boast as if he had done well.
But you have not yet trusted God, you are not yet godly and a Christian, even though you have torn down monasteries, churches and altars, for anyone could do that. But it is primarily up to God and us humans to learn to keep the first commandment, which is given to the whole world; not only to the Jews, but also to us Gentiles, that we trust in God and recognize Him as our God, who helps us in all needs and troubles, and that we fear Him in all happiness and misfortune. Faith shall shine forth against God in the cross and tribulation. But we are to use the fear of God when it is good for us. So whoever considers the first commandment well would easily forget the images; but careless hearts go out like the iconoclasts did.
1) This refers to the section "von dem Bilderstürmen" in Luther's writing "wider die himmlischen Propheten," Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XX, 138 ff.
First, learn to trust in our Lord God in all troubles and dangers, both spiritual and bodily, in trials of body and soul, so that you do not fall away from God and look elsewhere for help, or despair as Cain, Saul and Judas did. Again, when you are well, do not become proud or insolent, forgetting God as if you had body, life, prosperity and everything of your own.
In sum, a Christian man should be free to have and not to have images. For in the 22nd chapter of Matthew the Evangelist, v. 20, we read that the Lord Christ attacked the coin of the Jews, and was not afraid to take it in his hands, whether they tempted him thereby; asking, What coin of the penny or coin of the silver, or image and superscription? touches the emperor's image; does not reject these images, but rather confirms them; otherwise no Christian should touch the coin of gold and silver. Therefore it is not a sin to have images. But to have such images, to make idols of them, and to put one's trust in something other than God and the first commandment, such images are to be destroyed.
(119) As we have taken away many images of the saints, and if we had many silver images, we would want to use them for Christian purposes. In the New Testament, God does not ask much about images, but demands the heart. For those who are well instructed in the word of faith can easily forget all idolatry and images, even if they were in the midst of the images. But where one puts God's word and commandment out of sight, one gets all kinds of images and idols. And even if there were no images, one still attaches oneself to mammon, wealth, abundance, to the great multitude, also to good company or covenants, 2) as Moses has seriously forbidden all such things until now.
120) The Jews had a special commandment from this and other texts to burn the images and to beware of images, so that God would control them, that they might
2) Erlanger: "Bildniß".
have not offended against the same. Just as we still prevent our children from attacking lights or knives; not for the sake of the light or the knives, but for the sake of the child, so that it does not attack the light or the knives.
burn them, or cut them with a knife. So the Jews should avoid the images, so that they would use God's laws rightly in spirit, and not fall into idolatry and sin against the first commandment.