V.1-12. Then God remembered Noah, and all the animals, and all the cattle that were with him in the box, and caused the wind to come upon the earth, and the waters fell, and the wells of the deep were stopped up, along with the windows of heaven, and the rain from heaven was prevented, and the waters went out from the earth continually, and decreased after an hundred and fifty days. On the seventeenth day of the seventh moon, the box settled on Mount Ararat. The waters continued to flow and recede until the tenth moon. On the first day of the tenth moon, the tops of the mountains appeared. After forty days Noah opened the window of the box he had made and let a raven fly out; it flew out and came back again, just as it had done.
When the waters dried up on the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had fallen on the earth. When the dove did not find a place to rest its foot, it came back to him in the box, because the water was still all over the ground. Then he waited another seven days, and again a dove flew out of the box, and came to him at supper time; and, behold, it had broken off a leaf of oil, and was carrying it in its mouth. Then Noah heard that the waters had fallen on the earth. He waited another seven days, and sent forth a dove, which came not again to him.
The chapter stops, how the flood has decreased and has gone away, after it had stood and grown an awful long time, and also has cost some days, until it has passed; hundred and fifty days it has stood, says the text, that is almost half a year. Then you can think: should Noah not have trembled and fidgeted with his own during that time, so that it would not stop? God's work is so horrible and terrible; faith is still much stronger, which can endure it and expect the end. To indicate this, he describes it here so diligently with so many words that he also counts the days so evenly. First, he says that it began to decrease after a hundred and fifty days, that the box stood on the highest mountain Ararat in the seventh month, when the water had previously gone fifteen cubits high over all the mountains. After that it fell forty days, until the tenth moon. Then he waited until the other moons of the following year. So he stayed in the box for one year and two moons. This is to show the power of faith and the miraculous work of God.
After that, he sets two pieces, one of the raven and one of the dove. And it is strange to behold, as if nothing had happened in the box but this. Of the first he sent forth a raven, saith Moses, which flew out, and returned as long as the waters were dry. That is so much said: he made it so long with the coming again, until it became quite dry, that he should still come again. As we would say in German: He comes and comes, he waits and waits; that is, it will be until he remains outside.
But what lusts the Holy Spirit to speak such a thing? It is a loose history, to reckon humanly. But God does not judge as men do; He is the Master who knows what He should have written. Summa Summarum: The history has that in itself, that Noah naturally needs the raven; because he is the kind, where he comes on a rotten carrion, he sits on it and eats; [so] Noah thought, he would eat himself full and come again. But he would not, and remained outside.
4 Then he sent out the dove, which was to come again and say. This is a
pure animal, eatset no carrion nor unclean; therefore a saying is: It is so pure, as if the doves had selected it. This one comes again, and brings nothing. The other brings a green oil leaf; the third remains outside.
If one wants to interpret this, one cannot do it better than to the preachers who are commanded to preach God's word. The Christian church, signified by Noah's box, has two kinds of preachers: first, the belly-servants and gluttons, signified by the raven, who seek nothing by preaching but to have enough and fill their bellies; where the word will not serve their bellies, they turn their noses at it, so that it must be directed to it. In addition, if it goes to the meeting, that they should confess it, then they deny; these are unclean rogues, who eat carrion; we must have these also. For so it has been in all the times of the prophets and apostles until now, that beside the right doctrine false teachers fly out; for this purpose this raven shall be lifted up, that he preacheth the right law of God, though he interpreteth it not aright.
Our lumpen preachers, who preach humanity alone, are not yet so good. Now, these also come from the box, have the name that they belong to Christianity, are preachers and bishops. But what do they do? They eat unclean, dead carrion; that is, their doctrine is all of flesh and blood and outward works; there they drag the Scriptures, there they stop, they do not come back, as Paul [1 Tim. 5:12, 6:4, 5 Tit. 3:11] says: "They have their judgment there." The hub brings no good testimony, nor anything comforting; such teachers preach, since no one has any joy from it, make vain fear of the conscience.
7. but those who are signified by the dove are those who walk in the word of God with simplicity; as St. Paul [2 Cor. 1:12.That is, we preachers have a simple mind, like the doves, seeking nothing else but the pure teaching of the gospel, desiring neither honor nor favor, daring everything to be done only so that the teaching may remain pure, so that it may be done to them as God would have it.
will. But the others are not simple-minded, but are full of their own profit; this is a mischievous eye, as Christ says [Matt. 6:23]. Now this is the dear dove, which first flees, but finds nothing; it is not yet time for the gospel to be preached; God must be left to flee, until the raven gorges itself full of carrion; therefore it comes back into the box.
(8) And again he sends forth another dove, which cometh again, bringing a leaf of oil in the mouth at the time of vespers. All Scripture has indicated everywhere that the Gospel is to be the last sermon; therefore one finds in Scripture from time to time that the evening always means and indicates the last time and sermon, as also in the Gospel, where Christ [Luc. 14, 16.] compares it to the Lord's Supper. Even though the evening is long gone, it is still the last sermon, after which there should be no other. That is why the dove comes at vespers, when the day is about to end.
(9) What is the oil leaf in their mouth? Nothing else, but the pure gospel in the mouth of the pure preachers. Oil signifies grace and mercy throughout the Scriptures. For it is of such a nature that, as wine makes the body inwardly beautiful and joyful, so oil makes the body outwardly beautiful, supple, smooth, and beautiful. Because it so delicately soothes, heals and soothes with its sweet, delicate juice, it signifies divine grace and mercy preached through the gospel. Therefore the dove carries the oil leaf in its mouth; for the leaf signifies the preaching, as the fruit signifies the works. So see what the gospel is: nothing else, but like the oil leaf, which the dove brings into the box.
(10) From such an example and figure we Christians should make a daily proverb, against all doctrines and laws of men, which we should keep in our speeches: The dove brings nothing in the mouth, but the oil leaf, that is, one should preach nothing in Christianity. Preach something else than the true gospel? Otherwise, if something else were to be preached, it would be some leaf from a bush, 1) or a piece of rotten carrion.
1) Holder---Elder.
bring. He who does not lead the oil leaf is not the pure dove, that is, he who does not preach the gospel alone is not a Christian preacher. So such figurae allegoricae, that is, which mean something secret, serve for mean sayings. Thus the Holy Spirit takes pleasure in describing such simple histories. I think it would have been necessary to write other things; he lets that go and takes the very least.
(11) When this was done, Noah saw, as Moses says in the beginning of this chapter, that God remembered him; now the distress is ended, and the wrath is gone. This is now the last sermon, as the dove is the last messenger, after which no more shall come. When this goes out, we have a certain sign of grace, that God turns away the wrath; there comes comfort, and the temptation ceases, and the heart comes forth from death into life. Up to now, the pious Noah has always been in a great struggle, so that the dove with the oil leaf has certainly been a comforting messenger.
In the six hundred and one year of Noah's age, on the first day of the first month, the waters of the earth dried up. Then Noah took the roof off the box and saw that the ground was dry. So the earth became completely dry on the seventh and twentieth day of the second month.
You see that they have been in the box for a whole year. Above [Cap. 7, 11.] he says, how he went in in the six hundredth year, on the seventeenth day of the other moon. Here he says that the earth became completely dry in the six hundredth and one year, on the seventh and twentieth day of the other moon, that Noah went out. On the first day of the first moon, he says, the earth dried up; then, on the seventh and twentieth day of the second moon, it became completely dry, that is, it lasted three months after the dove flew out, and even longer.
V.15-19. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, "Come out of the box, you and your wife, your sons and your sons' wives with you, all the animals that are with you, of all kinds of flesh, of birds, of cattle and of all kinds of worms,
that crepeth upon the earth, let it go forth with thee. And stir yourselves upon the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. So Noah went out with his sons and with his wife and his sons' wives. And every kind of beast, and every kind of creeping thing, and every kind of fowl, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, went forth out of the box, every one to his own kind.
(13) This is also a proper text for faith, for you see that he did not go out of the box, nor would he have gone out before God commanded him to do so. By God's commandment he went in, by God's commandment he goes out again, and not only he, but all that lived on earth. And see how it goes one after the other. First, God bids him, his wife, sons and their wives, and animals, to go out. Then He says, "Be fruitful and multiply." For it seemed as if there should be no more life left on earth; therefore he tells them to discipline themselves again. And this is not only a commandment, but also strict earnestness, as we have heard above.
(14) Now this is shown in all of Moses, more than in all of Scripture, that no life or work is valid before God that he does not command, either publicly or secretly through men. Therefore he did not let Noah do anything, because he had commanded him to do it; although it was done here that such a work had to be done, that he went out of the box with everything that was with him, because he saw that God had let the whole earth become dry; nevertheless he was not allowed to do it until he had commanded him to do it, so that he would be sure that his work would be in God's favor.
(15) Accordingly, each one should arrange his state and all his works in such a way that he may be sure that they please God, and live in such a way that we may always be ready for death. Which no one can do unless he is sure that his life and what he does will please God. For he who cannot say this is in a damned state. But that we may be sure of this, it will not be done by works, but by faith, which makes a man comfortable, and assures the heart that everything pleases God;
And even if he does something he does not like, it often happens that he still credits him with it. For man's life is such that he does many things that he would not like to have done, as Paul says in Romans 7:19. But nothing else comes of it, 1) nor can anything else come of it; sins and gross infirmities must always run along with it; therefore man becomes hostile to your life, and always desires death. Thus a Christian man must always deal with the works that are allowed to grace and mercy; he would like to deal with good works, but he cannot.
(16) Therefore, we have taught that the whole life must be based on faith and God's words if it is to please God. For faith without the word is nothing. For what shall I believe if no one promises me? If something is to be promised to me, the word must come to me. Therefore Moses concludes that before everything we do, there must first be God's word, and then we must cling to it through faith. So man can happily say: God has said this, I am sure of it, and I cannot be deceived, so I know that what I do pleases Him; and if I find it, He spares me and looks through my fingers until I am dead.
17 You will find this especially in Moses' books, that it seems to me that he wanted to do it so that he would teach us not to do any work, because we have the testimony of God that it pleases him. With this, all life and being is already down, except for God's commandment. So tell me, where will those remain who have conceived and chosen beings of their own, of which God has not commanded? How can anyone say that the works of the so-called spiritual state are pleasing to God, because no one can say that he commanded them? If you are not sure that he has commanded it, you are in danger that it will not please him; or, if it does please him, you do not know it. For this reason they build on sand and uncertainty. Yes, they say, the Christian church and holy fathers have ordered it so, therefore we are obedient; so God will say again: Yes, where is my word? where have I ordered it to be so?
1) In the issues: not different from.
The devil will pretend this to you when you die; so you are uncertain whether it is rightly commanded, because they themselves do not know whether it pleases God. But "uncertain" cannot receive the puff, nor escape the devil.
18 For this reason I have often preached that no one should do anything that is good in the sight of God, unless he first knows whether it pleases him. If you do something on your own initiative, so that it seems good to you, only know for certain that it is the devil's work.
19 Therefore notice this text, how Noah, the holy man full of the Spirit, does not step out of the ark without the word of God; indeed, that no animal should hedge until God has commanded it. Therefore he comes before anyone speaks of it, saying, "Reprove, be fruitful, and multiply." In short, he will not let any creature do any work, for he has commanded it. Thus we have heard above in the first chapter, "And God said," 2c. that no thing could thus go as it goes, he must first call it; nor do we want to be wiser and more than God, that we do everything according to our own conceit, and do not once think on God's word.
Noah built an altar unto the LORD, and took of all clean cattle, and of all clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings upon the altar. And the LORD smelled the sweet savour, and said in his heart, 1) I will curse the earth no more for man's sake: for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. And I will no more smite all that liveth, as I have done. As long as the earth stands, seed and harvest, frost and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.
(20) The sacrifice that was made in the Old Testament was commonly of doves or turtledoves, and of birds. But of cattle, goats, sheep, and bullocks or oxen. We will save these for the fourth book of Moses. And among other sacrifices, the burnt offering is chief, of which it is said here. This was
1) The words: "in his heart" are missing here in the editions; but later in the interpretation (Z22) they are set.
such a sacrifice, of which the priests got nothing, but had to be burned even, with dung and fur. Which all points to the faith; of it is to be said elsewhere.
(21) What is this that the Scripture says, as if God had a nose, and smelled sheep and cattle, and said that it was a sweet savour unto him, as it is afterwards often read in Moses? After all, it is a small pleasure to smell an ox or sheep being burned to powder. Therefore it is a spiritual smell; and that it comes before God is that God learns of it, or makes it known to Him, and takes care of the sacrifice, just as one can test what it is from the smell that one has of a thing that one does not otherwise see. So he wants to say that something pleasant and agreeable happens to him, which he likes and pleases him, from which a good cry goes out and comes before him. And this is especially said of our faith. If I do something pleasing in the sight of God, and my heart feels it, as it surely must, it is still hidden from me; therefore, as it is in my heart, so it is in the sight of God. The heart must perceive that it is pleasing to God, pleasant and a pleasant smell, but because I do not yet see it, it is still covered up in faith. Therefore, the Scriptures speak of how it is between God and us, that it be as we hold it, as my heart walks in faith. So the scripture writes that he now smells, now not, therefore that I feel it, now therefore, now differently.
22) There now come again the comforting promises of God, since the text thus says: "God said in His heart, I will no longer curse the earth for the sake of mankind" 2c. Who said this to Noah or to Most? It is this much: he felt it in the bottom of his heart that God would no longer curse the earth for man's sake. Why is that? "Because the thoughts of man's heart are evil from his youth." This is truly praised, and a great honor to us. He who thinks himself a man may well let the rhyme stand. It is painted in the shield of all of us, that we may put down our faces and never cheerfully rise up. And so I will say: What good would it do if I beat them without ceasing; I can see that it is ruined; it is nothing.
Good from his youth, that no young child is pure and innocent; for he speaks of those who are not baptized. If then all the intentions and thoughts of man, which come from your free will, are evil, what should the works be? For this is what the world must say: What comes from a wicked, mischievous heart is not good, even if it seems to be the very finest, and is called a treacherous evil. There all our clergymen, that is, world saints, are attacked, that God says out of thin air: there are boys in the skin, where they are the best; how they take it and write it, it is all basically evil.
(23) Therefore he says: I will no more smite the world so, with all that liveth. For after the mark he smites
He will leave a city, a country and a heap, but he will do so no more; we are safe until the last day. Day and night, summer and winter shall remain, lest all things perish, as long as the earth stand. And with it it is indicated that it is not to stand eternally, that once the youngest day will come. So long he will let it remain, until he turns it all around. However, land must always remain, which takes seed to itself, and grows, and lets it harvest. All this shall be consumed in one day, but no longer by water, but by fire; so that there shall be no more day nor night, winter nor summer, seed nor harvest, but new heavens and earth, and one everlasting day.
1) Erlanger: neus.