After these things it came to pass, that the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a cloak, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy very great reward. And Abram said, Lord, Lord, what wilt thou give me? I go without children, and my servant hath a son, which is Eliezer of Damaseo. And Abram said again, Thou hast given me no seed; and, behold, the son of my servant shall be my heir. And stand, the word of the LORD spake unto him, saying, He shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come of thy seed shall be thine heir. And
And he bade him go out, and said, Look toward heaven, and number the stars; canst thou number them? And said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
(1) This is also a rich chapter, for the sake of the one2) saying which Paul indicates, not in one place. Behold, Abram has no child yet, and it is promised him, not only that he shall have children, but also that his seed shall be so great that God wills the land for their sakes.
2) Erlanger: one.
not only one, as Egypt, where he led them out, but also others, namely the one where he is a sojourner; so that he will destroy them and put his seed in them. Here we must now grasp the history of what God means by this. How he leads the children of Israel out of Egypt and sets them in the land, we will hear later in the other book. The promises are here, but they are still dark until it comes to pass that 1) everything is fulfilled and done.
2) The first, that he says, "After these things came unto Abram the word of the Lord, saying, Fear not," 2c. is not the word of the law, but a promise and a gospel word. For we have heard the difference between the gospel and laws. Law is when God means to do or not to do, and demands something of us. Gospel is when he proclaims something good that he himself wants to do and give to us. Thus the two go against each other: one drives, the other gives; one demands, the other gives. Thus all sayings that promise God's grace and mercy should not be called anything else than gospel, which means good news.
(3) Secondly, see again how God is so particular about His own. Abram is a stranger in the land, so he holds on to God that he does not even consider the good that he had great right to do, willingly remains on the road among the enemies; therefore God does not leave him without comfort. If we also believed, he would also let us hear such comfort; but we cannot come to it, for we do not try.
-The gospel has now gripped Abram, making his faith stronger than before; as God always tends to make stronger the more and more one preaches. Therefore he was glad of the promise that God said he should not be afraid; made him sure that nothing would harm him. Item, that he further says: "I am your shield" and protector, who will protect you everywhere; not only your shield, but I will also be "your reward" myself, and will repay you abundantly. The 2) is the same, that he will give him such a great seed, and also the land.
1) Erlanger: da.
2) Erlanger: what.
5) Now faith belongs to these words, because if he had not believed it, it would have been lost. So then he had to do this, that he had considered, 3) that he needed no man's protection, and had a certain patron from heaven. These are excellent, great words, also a mighty faith that grasps them; he] sees none, but hears only the words, and relies on them. God had called him from his fatherland and promised to bless him and make him a great nation, as mentioned above [Cap. 12, 2/ heard. He did not understand how it should be done, nor did he know if the people should be his flesh and blood, or otherwise add a great nation. For God can raise up a man and give him many people, when he has already become so great that he has three hundred servants in his house, none of whom is his blood or flesh.
006 Then he inquired, and desired to know whether it should be of his blood and flesh, or of his servants only; saying therefore, Lord, what wilt thou give me? As if to say, "I do not desire much good; I have restored all the people to the king of Sodom; I would have a desire, if I had one, to have an heir; but thou givest me none, but my servant and his children, I hope, are my goods and my inheritance. As if he should say, "You treat me so strangely, giving children to so many people to whom you promise nothing; but to me, to whom you show such great mercy and make such a promise, you give none; how can I wait? Then God gives him comfort, saying, "The son of thy servant shall not be thine heir"; thou shalt not become a people by thy servants, but I will give thee a son out of thy womb. And still further he says, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them; so great shall thy seed be also." These are the words of promise, from which Mosi's word follows and speaks:
Abram believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness. And
3) In the old editions: "to venture"; to venture - to rely on.
4) Erlanger: wool.
And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Chaldea from Ur, to give thee this land to possess.
7 This is the great main saying in this book, which Paul [Rom. 4, 3.] leads and rightly emphasizes, that [it] is a miracle; says, it was not written for his sake, because it was written long after his death, but for our sake, so that we also believe. Therefore the text is not to be taken for granted. So you see that no work is mentioned here at first, no more than that God promises Abram that he should have a child from his womb. He does nothing, prays nothing, works nothing, but believes alone; and faith is counted so highly that it is therefore holy and righteous before God.
8 Therefore we conclude with Paul that faith without works justifies. Why is that? Because, says St. Paul, he gave God the highest honor that can be given to him, that he believed him to be true and was obedient. For he would have had good reason to doubt, because he was now ninety years old, and also his wife not much younger, that they were both of course no longer capable, so long ago in the age) that it was impossible that they should beget fruit; as he was also concerned here that he would have to go without children.
(9) Then he contended against reason, against nature, and against hope, that he should be the father of such a rich seed, which should become so great. But what did he do? He grasped the words that God speaks here, "did not see (says Paul Rom. 4, 19.) the dead body", and that her womb was completely cold; there was no hope of having a fruit; yet he closed his eyes, did not see how impossible it was, walked in darkness, held to the word; there he put on all his confidence, and was sure that it could not lie. Thus he gives glory to God, that he considers himself a fool, God wise, kind, truthful, mighty, almighty. To do so is the right worship of God. For this is the right honor, when you honor him from your heart,
1) "so long there in the age" - so far advanced nn age, "so" put by us instead of "pulled" iy the issues.
2) In the editions: "deceased".
That is, if you think of him as you think of God, that he cannot lie and do whatever he says, no matter what. Unbelief cannot do that. Thus he has fulfilled the first and highest commandment.
See, St. Paul builds his sermon on this text, makes it dry, pure and strong, and concludes that faith is nothing else than a killing of the old Adam, who would have to say, according to all reason and sense, that it is impossible, unheard, and contrary to nature, therefore it will not be true, it will be a dream or a deception. Thus the old man judges God's word. But such arrogance dies completely in Abram, and he becomes strong and alive in the word, so that he insists that it will and must happen this way, even if all the world says otherwise, and all the senses are deceived. In this way he even gains a different, new delusion and understanding about nature. This is what it means to be justified by faith alone.
11 So now I command to move this example well from St. Paul's epistle [Rom. 4, 1. 2. 3.], who leads it with higher words. "What shall we say (saith he) of our father Abram, that he found according to the flesh? This we say: If Abram was justified by works, he has glory, but not before God"; as if he wanted to say: God does not ask that a man justifies himself by works. "But how does the Scripture speak? Abram believed God, and this was counted to him for righteousness." The Scripture says plainly that he was justified by faith without works.
12 He proves this further by what will follow in chapter 17, v. 11, about the circumcision, which came long after. And if it had done any work, it should have done that also. [But it^ is long before described that he should be justified before he remembered this work. Thus the holy father goes forth in God's words, saying that he would be his reward, and give him a child and a great nation from his own womb, which was now dead. To beget fruit according to nature. Now God says to him again: "I am the Lord who brought you out of Chaldea" 2c. Then he explains what he means and decides that this is the land that he has brought him.
as he also promised above [Cap. 13, 15]. These are all strong gospel words and sermons to show that Abram was distressed and needed to be comforted with so many words. For such words of God and great comfort do not come in vain or without need.
(v.8-21) And Abram said, Lord, Lord, how shall I know that I possess it? And he said unto him, Take a heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took all these, and divided them in the midst of one another, and laid one part over against another; but the birds he divided not. And the birds fell 1) upon the carcase, and Abram scattered them away. When the sun had set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto him, 2) Know thou that thy seed shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and there shall they be made servants, and shall do evil four hundred years. But I will be judge over the people, whose servants they shall be. After that they shall go out with great goods. And thou shalt return to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age. And they shall come again after four days: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet here. Now when the sun had set and darkened, behold, a furnace smoked, and a fiery fire went up among the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To my seed I will give this land from the waters of Egypt to the great river Phrath; to the Kenites, to the Kinites, to the Kadmonites, to the Hittites, to the Perizzites, to the Giants, to the Amorites, to the Cananites, to the Gergesites, to the Jebusites.
1) Marginal gloss: birds fell. The birds and the smoking furnace and the fiery fire mean the Egyptians who were to persecute Abram's children. Abram scares them away, that is, God delivers them, for the sake of the promise promised to Abram. But that he is frightened after the sun goes down means that God wanted to leave His seed for a time, that they would be persecuted; as the Lord Himself indicates here. In the same way it happens to all believers that they are abandoned and yet are redeemed.
L) Jenaer: Abram.
13. Abram is now sure that the Safire, which was promised to him, should come from his body. The father is interpreted, but the mother is still in doubt, as we will hear. For GOD is still exercising him more and longer. Now what is it that he says, "Whereby shall I know that I shall possess this land?" I have often said that when God makes a promise, He also makes a sign; so also here, when He promised to give him a child to possess this land, He gives him such a sign that he should take three kinds of animals and divide them and lay them one against another. It is a strange sign, as it seems to us, because he has been dead for a long time; but it was comforting to him, it confirmed and strengthened his faith. But what this sign means, the Lord himself interprets; as we will hear.
(14) To the first: Those who read the Bible above consider it as if Claus Schmid were talking to Hans Mist, one man to another; but, if one looks right into it, it is great and excellent that the divine majesty speaks to man as to a child. sIt] is no greater sign of God's grace and mercy than when he lets himself be heard, than again no greater plague is than when he is silent and does not let himself be heard. Therefore, such stories that God spoke to the fathers should be held in high esteem, not because of the fathers, who were people like us, but because God held them so high that He spoke to them. If Abram had no other praise, it would be enough that God had spoken to him once or twice. Now you see how he lifts him up so high that he speaks to him so often and with so many words and comforts him, and yet leaves him stuck beside it in all danger of body, good and honor, and also of the woman. For this reason, the histories are not to be overrun and considered bad.
(15) So this sign is almost unpleasant to the disgusting spirits who do not like the Scriptures, but otherwise it is almost rich to him. For God strengthened Abram's faith with the sign, so that he would not doubt that he would not only have a seed, but also take over the whole land. But how far the figure and interpretation stretches, we can not better meet, because the text
itself gives. For the text does not deal with the meaning of the three-year-old heifer, goat and ram; but this much it wants, that the sign should make him so certain, not only that he should have the seed, but also know how it would go with them. As if to say, This land I have spoken to thee, and thou shalt not doubt it: but so long shall it be delayed, and faith shall be so well tried, that it shall seem as if nothing came of it. Therefore he proclaims to him that his seed shall be a stranger in foreign lands, and shall do evil until the time comes for him to possess the land, that is, after four hundred years, when no one will believe that God remembers his word.
For thus I have said that God's work is always so done and skillful, that when he wants to fulfill his word, he so foolishly attacks it, as if it should even go back: as, here he promises him such a great thing, that his seed shall have the land. Since this was to happen, no reason nor sense could see and feel otherwise than that it was to perish with him. For it is written in Exodus 1:7, 10, that when the children of Israel multiplied so that it was teeming with children, and it seemed as if it would come to pass, a king arose and put all the children to death, weakening and deceiving the people, so that all hope was gone. Yes, when they had already left Egypt [Ex. 14:9, 10] and came to the Red Sea, the enemies chased after them, so that they could not get out on either side, and were like the enemies and stuck in the jaws of death. This is how God acts with all his deeds, words and signs. For His works are not like the works of men, Isa. 55, 8, but even contrary to sense. So here it is that when something is to go out, it goes down first; and again.
Thus such histories teach everything that faith is. Whoever cannot be guided by this, does not understand God's work, must resent it and fall back. Where there have been Jews who have not believed, they have thought, "Oh, it has long since ended, what is to become of it now? Whom no doubt there have been many
are those who have measured God's work with reason, judged by the eyes and senses, and cannot understand it.
18 For this reason the Lord gives a sign, comes first and warns as a kind father, as if to say, "See, this is how it will be, so that you will not be offended by my work or my word. As Christ also did when he said John 16:1, "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended." This is to say, "Here you have the word, but hold fast to it, for if it seems as if it is to be fulfilled, it will go back before the eyes of all people; but be of good cheer, and only see that you do not waver, but hold to the word, I will perform it well, higher than you can think or ask. This is also a warning: Although it seems that I have forgotten my promise to oppress you, I will use great power and miracles to avenge you on your enemies.
(19) Behold, so it was with Christ, and so it is daily in his kingdom. Since everyone thought that he should redeem the people and become king, he attacked them in such a way that the people had to say-: Now it is finished; ser] lay down, and was nailed to the cross, and was condemned as the worst of men, that they spied on him, and said [Matt. 27:42], Yea, is this the King and Redeemer, which helpeth other men, and cannot help himself? We esteemed him as the most despised," and saw nothing but pain and weakness in him, says Isaiah [Cap. 53:3], and Lucä at the last, v. 21, the two disciples said, "We hoped he should redeem Israel." Therefore, when he wanted to go to his kingdom, he went in such a way that all reason and senses had to resent it, even the apostles themselves, could not comprehend it, although Christ warned them so diligently beforehand.
This is how it always goes, in all histories. Wherever God works, he does it so foolishly that according to reason it falls into mud, but according to the spirit it turns out in the strongest possible way. This is the warning that God is doing here, not only for Abram's sake, but for the sake of his seed.
21. for Abram will not receive the promise at all.
1) diligently preached, then Isaac, and so from then on, when this was their gospel: "We are Abraham's seed" [John 8:33], have the promise. "Abram believed, and is counted justified thereby beforeGOtt" [Rom. 4:3.], therefore let us also believe. Thus Joseph says to them, when they were already in Egypt [Gen. 50:24, 25]: "God will visit you and bring you out of this land to a land that He swore to Abram, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, when GOD will visit you, carry my bones away from there." They knew and practiced the gospel well, but when it was to begin, it turned out to be so absurd that it was necessary to comfort and strengthen the pious with these words, which God says here before. Now the examples serve us through and through, that we may be prepared: When we have the gospel, and it shall come to pass and help, it shall be as if he had forgotten us; when life shall come to pass, death shall come upon us with all power.
22 Now what is the sign here? The animals he divided and the doves are his seed and children in Egypt. The ravens and birds that want to eat it are the Egyptians, the king with his tyrants, who want to devour and consume Abram's flesh and blood. But he scares them away, not because of his holiness, but because of the promise. For he must stand there in place of the divine promise. For the word which GOD saith, that is, the promise, hath driven them away, that [it] might be so much as said, Because GOD remembered his promise, which he did unto Abram, therefore he helped the Jews, and redeemed them. Thus the prophets themselves often refer to it, and especially Moses [2 Mos. 2, 24], that God says: "I have remembered my covenant with your fathers, Abraham, Isaac" 2c., I have come down to help you. That is, the birds away Fescheuchet, that for his sake, that is, for the sake of the promise, he promised him, will help his seed. So, where in the Scripture it is mentioned that God remembers Abram and the fathers, everything is mentioned for the sake of His promise.
23. but here is a question: how the Rech-
1) Erlanger: fine. Wittenberger and Jenaer: vleissig.
How is it that the four hundred years of which he says here agree with each other? For when it is reckoned, it is found that they were almost two hundred years and some sixteen in Egypt; but the persecution lasted fifty or sixty years; so that from the time Jacob went into Egypt to Moses, who carried it out again, are two hundred and sixteen years. Why then does he say here of four hundred years? Because he includes Abram with his seed. Because from Abram to the exit from Egypt four hundred and thirty years are counted. As if he were saying, "It will not happen until four hundred years have passed. But that he says afterwards, "They shall come again after four men's days," that is, four men's remembrance, which is almost two hundred years. For one man's remembrance is not much more than fifty years. This is what I command the scholars to do further.
024 But that after this a great terror fell upon Abram, when the sun was down, 2c. is the same as the former sign. (He) gives him two signs, as Pharaoh the king had two dreams, which indicated one thing, how it will follow after [Cap. 41, 1. 5.]; so that he would ever be sure and certain that it should happen that way. God has great concern for the future people, that he would keep them in faith, so that they would know how it should be viewed much differently. Thus the fiery furnace means the Egyptians; therefore God says now and then in Scripture (Deut. 4:20, Jer. II:4): "I brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt," in which you were baked. The fact that Abram was terrified and in great darkness means that his blood and flesh were to be pressed, forced and persecuted in Egypt, so that he had to be a figure. The fiery fire or torch is Moses, or the angel who carried it out. This is the sign or both signs that God gives for sure faith.
(25) So also we, when we have the word, have also signs beside it. And as I said about Abram, that we feel in him that God has done great things with him, and for one of us.
2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: should.
great saint, that he spoke with him: so it is with us, we also have come into the grace of hearing God's word. How miserable a pity sund) strangling is in all the world, because the word of God does not go, no one can measure. Again, the riches of having His word, no one can measure.
1) "Strangle" is missing in the Wittenberger.
enough praise, no tongue to speak out. It is a gracious sign when the majesty lets himself be heard. Now he lets himself be heard much more abundantly than to Abram. But this is the defect, Abram perceived [it] with ears, but also understood; we hear it, but do not perceive it. But they that understand with the heart are as worthy as Abram: for as the word is one, so is the worthiness one.