V.1-20. And the Lord appeared unto him in the grove of Mamre, as he sat by the door of his tabernacle, when the day was hottest. And when he lifted up his eyes, and looked, there stood three men against him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tabernacle, and bowed himself to the ground before him, 2) saying, Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, pass not over before thy servant. Let a little water be brought unto you, and wash your feet, and lean down under the tree. And I will bring you a morsel of bread to refresh your heart, and after that ye shall depart. For this is why you came to your servant. They said: Do as you have said. Abraham hastened into the tabernacle to
2) Marginal gloss: Falling down before him. He falls down before one, and also speaks as with one, and yet with three; there the Trinity in God is indicated.
And Sarah said, Make haste, and mix three measures of fine flour, and knead, and bake cakes. And he ran unto the oxen, and fetched a good tender calf, and gave it to the lad, and he made haste, and prepared it. And he took butter and milk, and of the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them, and stood before them under the tree, and they did eat. 3) And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he answered, Within the tabernacle. And he said, I will come again unto thee, if I live; behold, 4) Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it behind him, behind the door of the tabernacle. And they were both of them, Abraham and Sarah, old and well stricken in years, so that Sarah was no more able to go to the tabernacle.
3) The following text is missing from the Wittenberg.
4) Erlanger: "About a year, after the time the fruit can live, I will come to you again, so shall" etc. - In addition, there are some variants in this text; we, as well as the Jenaers, have given the text of the Bible.
the women's way. Therefore she laughed with herself, and said, Now that I am old, I shall yet cherish pleasure, and my lord also is old. Then said the Lord unto Abraham, Why laughed Sarah, saying, Thinkest thou that it is true that I shall yet bear, seeing I am old? Should anything be impossible for the Lord? At this time I will come again to thee, and if I live, Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, and said: I laughed not; for she was afraid. But he said, It is not so; thou hast laughed. Then the men arose from thence, and turned toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to lead them. Then said the Lord, How can I hide from Abraham what I do? For he shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the fires of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, and to do that which is right and good; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath promised him.
I. This chapter shows how the holy father Abraham was a great man and highly respected in the sight of God; that the Almighty God wants to show all the world by example how gracious and kind He is to those who believe. It is ever true that there is no greater thing on earth, indeed in all God's works, than faith; which is so powerful that it takes away everything that is sinful, makes us children of God, that it thus deals with us as one brother with another. As here, with Abraham; how kindly does he behave toward him? [He looks at nothing but high faith; with this he has caught God, pleases him so well that he jokes with him like with a best friend, yes, like with a child: comes the third, eats with him, jokes with Sarah; but that seriousness is there. At last he himself starts and says: "How can I hide from Abraham what I am doing? As if he should say: He is my friend, so good that I must tell him everything. At the end Abraham talks to him, and he listens to him so long, and grants him as often as he asks.
2- Behold, there is explained and interpreted what Paul sTit. 3, 4.] means by the words: JpparuitetDsi, that.
Let this be great and high, that God Himself should do this to him, go into his house and be his guest, speak so many words to him; then also, repeat the promise that He made to him in the previous chapter [v. 16], that his Sarah should bear a son, which she had not heard; but now it is so strongly urged that she must also hear it, although she does not believe so soon, but still doubts. What more is indicated in this, I do not know; so it looks to me as if Sarah did not believe Abraham, for he will no doubt have told her many times. Now, when she hears it from the three of them, it seems so strange to her that she speaks mockingly to it, as it were, and says: "Shall I still indulge in pleasure, like a young woman? She is still ashamed that she should deal with pleasure. There he also shows what a fine, chaste woman she has been, even in outward conduct; also how she is subject to her husband, and calls him master. Which St. Peter [1 Ep. 3, 6] considered good, that he put it on, and set her as an example to the women.
4 Now, we must stay on the one that Sarah herself must hear the word. She wants
no longer know pleasure in the world, stands in the sense that she now waits for death, and she was no pleasure to courage, as the text says: erant ei muliebriu, it went to her no longer after the woman kind. (It] was also not according to nature that she should have a child; therefore she throws it to the wind, does not believe Abraham yet, thus thinks: Who knows whether my husband has understood it right? Therefore God Himself comes and speaks to her so kindly. Which he would not suffer from another: She hears it from Abraham, and doubts; now, when she hears it from the angel himself, she starts to laugh. He would not have liked that from another.
5. further he goes on, and does not jest, saying, "Why does Sarah your wife laugh? should it be too hard for God?" Nevertheless it shall come to pass, "When I come again, Sarah shall have a son." These are vain words, that he speaks as to his daughter; which he would not do to others. That is what it does, where faith is righteous, God is there with all his goods and blessings, everything is bad, peace and tranquility, even though faith is still weak.
(6) For here we have a great, comforting example of what Paul says in Romans 14:1: "Take the weak in faith. There has ever been a righteous faith here, because she went out with Abraham before, in strong faith, in Egypt, in the king's house, as heard, which she would never have done if she had not stood in firm faith. Item, so strong was she, that she gave Abraham her handmaid to a wife, which she would not have done, if she had not been sure that she would have children by Abraham; still she stumbles and doubts here. This is called weak faith; nevertheless, God does not reject her for it, spares her for the sake of the former faith, credits her if she does not believe as strongly as Abraham; for he deals with her as Paul says [Rom. 8, 26.], that he helps her weakness, and speaks so much to her that she must believe. When she denies: No, I did not laugh; he says, You laughed. Then she saw that it was God's word, even though she did not know the person.
7 So now the summa about the price is
of faith, which is shown here; is also the example that God always leads His own from one faith into another, always proposes a new piece for training, improvement and increase of faith from day to day. That is why we live on earth, otherwise it would be better that we die soon. These are the pieces of faith in the example.
(8) Then these also are moral examples, that is, examples of love. For the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 13, 2.] gives this example: "Do not forget to be hospitable, for by this some, without their knowledge, have sheltered angels." There he means Abraham and his cousin Lot, in the following chapter. With this work God has given us an example and praised the kindness that we should gladly shelter and do good to the strangers. To which virtue the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, often exhort, and such an example is not written in vain. Abraham was before in faith, which he now practices, and he also comes away in love; he has left his door open, whoever has come, he has received; yes, when he sees the three men from afar, he goes to meet them and compels them to stay with him. He sat there, the text says, in front of the door, and rested, since it was about dinner time (for otherwise he certainly did not walk much idly), and waited, where guests would come, whom he would receive. 1) There are no more examples among us of taking in poor pilgrims or strangers, or, if it is done, it is done for the sake of pleasure. But whoever did it out of love would undoubtedly have saints as guests, and even God Himself.
V.20-33. And the Lord said, There is a great cry in Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sins are grievous. Therefore will I go down, and see whether they have done all according to the cry that is come before me, or whether it be not so that I know. And the men turned their faces, and went to Sodom. But Abraham stood still before the Lord, and stood before him, and said, Wilt thou then slay the righteous with the wicked? There might be fifty righteous men in
1) Thus the Wittenberg. In the: other editions: "Das".
Wouldst thou destroy them, and not forgive the place for fifty righteous men that were therein? Far be it from thee, that thou shouldest do this thing, and slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked: far be it from thee, which art the judge of all the earth, that thou shouldest not do such judgment. And the Lord said, If I find fifty righteous men in the city of Sodom, then for their sakes will I forgive all the places. And Abraham answered and said, Behold, I have made myself to speak unto the Lord, though I be dust and ashes. There may be in it five less than fifty righteous: wilt thou then destroy the whole city for five? And he said, If I find in it five and forty, I will not destroy it. And he continued to speak unto him, saying, Peradventure forty shall be found therein. But he said: I will not hurt them for forty. And Abraham said, Be not angry, my lord, that I should speak any more, that there might be found thirty in them. And he said, If I find thirty in them, I will not hurt them. And he said, Behold, I have refrained from speaking unto my Lord; peradventure there shall be found twenty in them. He answered: I will not destroy them for the sake of twenty. And he said, Oh be not angry, my Lord, that I speak but once more, that there may be ten in them. And he said: I will not destroy them for the sake of the ten. And the Lord departed after he had talked with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
(9) Behold, there is another excellent example, wherein is seen the great earnestness of Abraham, how he was full of love toward his neighbor, when he heard that God was in earnest to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then he takes care that God will let his earnestness go, and punish the land, as before [Gen. 7:17] the world with the flood of sin. Therefore he comes before him, practicing a noble work of love, that he takes upon himself all the sins they have done, and asks for them with all earnestness, not once, but six times. [These are nothing else than vain and right fiery words, and such a heartfelt and fervent prayer as I have never heard before.
knows in the Scriptures. Thus his courage stands, that he ever wanted to drive back the anger, holds on so firmly, and brings it so close to God, that ev must go away from him. This is ever a rather flush work of love. So we should also 1) do and pray where we see someone lying in sin, since it is certain that God's wrath and punishment are present, so that we may pray that He will not let the punishment go.
(10) So he first takes God's goodness before him in the harshest way; he does not say that they have not sinned, but calls upon his name, brings his honor upon him, thus saying: If you do this, you will bring dishonor and shame upon your name; spare yourself. What would the world say, but that you are an ungracious, horrible God? So he attacks him in the highest way, and wins him over with it, holds him up until he can no longer. That makes him think thus: In such a region there will ever be many pious people; ser] thought he wanted to stretch it close to him, and only count fifty; yes, there he asks the first, second, third, up to the sixth time; everything goes. He did not ask any more about that, so he thought: If there are only five of them, he will probably keep them, if the others go down.
11 Now notice that it is often said that there are still many righteous people in the world; yes, take comfort in this, Abraham also took comfort in this, that he would pray with confidence. If anyone had told him that there were not ten righteous people in the same country, he would not have believed it; nor does he find more than Lot, the third, the others all perish, without the stranger and sojourner; as above [Cap. 7, 13.] in the flood there are not more than eight people preserved in the great, wide world. Now boast, whoever wants to conclude that there are still many more pious people on earth. One relies on this, and then concludes further: "They cannot be mistaken, it is not to be believed that God is so angry. Thus God has snatched away our defiance, so that we do not rely on it. That it is not true that our papists pretend: so many people cannot err. Who should now resemble such cities to Sodom? as Christ resembles the city of
1) "also" is missing in the Erlanger.
Capernaum, on the other hand, holds and says (Matth. 11, 24.): "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom at the last judgment than for you."
(12) So I also consider it certain that the wrath of God that has been is nowhere equal to the wrath that has gone before among your ministry, and still goes on, that I may well say that so many books have been written, and doctors of the Scriptures made, and neither book nor doctor has preached the gospel. Whoever had the courage to do so, soon had to burn. Meanwhile, we have always said: "God is not so angry that he lets so many people err. If some are pious, they do not have the appearance nor the reputation that no one cares about them.
(13) Therefore, let this frighten us, and not be surprised if God destroys a whole country, because we know that it is proclaimed by God that the deception would be so great that Christ would have to say (Luc. 18:8): "Do you also think that when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith on the earth? I worry that it is all too true and all too true that everything that is only under and in the papacy is of the devil. It is certainly terrible, nor is it God's judgment; after all, everything is wrong that has ever come under the papacy. It is not a mean thing about a pious man; Abraham, of course, was the noblest treasure on earth at the same time.
(14) This is what is written to frighten all who are presumptuous, not for the sake of those who are foolish and fearful. God will not be kind to anyone, nor will he be kind to those who humble themselves, despair of them, stoop down and seek mercy from him; to them all is kind, but to others all is terrible.
(15) This is the example of Abraham, where we see how full of the Spirit he was, and great strength of faith and fervent love, that we are commanded to follow him also, how he even cares for the poor people as if he himself were in distress, how he has heard that he uses exceedingly excellent words, whether he would save them and avert wrath, and also that his prayer is heard everywhere, how often he asks.
1) itself --- itself deß. Wittenberg and Jena: itself.
That is now said after the history. What other deep and subtle thing is, I leave aside. Especially in the beginning of the chapter, where Moses says that he worshipped one, and yet he saw three. For the words are thus: "The Lord appeared unto him in the grove of Mamre, and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw three men standing before him; and he ran and bowed himself down before him, and said, Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, go not over before thy servant, and they shall bring you a little water. Therefore some say, as now said, that he saw three men, and talked with one; thus the trinity in God is signified. I leave that to the scholars to fight out. This is ever true that Abraham looked at One in God's stead, who it was. The text makes this clear when he says: "Lord, I have found grace in your sight", which is proven from the Hebrew language that it is the right name of God.
17) Whether he did this by accepting the person in God's name, or whether he himself was so enlightened that he recognized that he was 2) true God, I leave to the scholars. It is almost like him that afterwards he speaks so devoutly with God Himself, as if he had regarded the one person as the right God. For we have heard that he speaks to the Lord himself and that he answers him, which was done in a human person. Therefore, he must have had a high spirit that told him that among the three he sees One who is God and the other angels, and yet accepts all three as human beings, as they also give birth.
18 Summa, so much is it that Abraham has seen here an image and sight that God must be, and should become man; for he sees the human image before him, yet considers him true God, worships him also as a God. It is a great grace and a remarkable example, how the man is so pleasing to God, that he appears to him in such a way, and reveals his secret; so that it is written, that we should ever learn how great a good it is for a believing man. For what may it be written to Abraham? It is written for us, that we may see how God
2) "he" is missing in the Erlanger.
He has air and love for those who believe in him, so that he makes himself so close to them and deals with them as one companion with another, so that we also make ourselves available to him in this way and talk to him; but that this may happen through the Lord Christ. He who has faith may speak freely to God, and he will speak to him again as a brother, or as a father to a child. Now this is what 1) the Scripture has modeled here, to provoke to faith through Christ. For Abraham had to see God not only in the image of a man, but also in the likeness of a man: so must we also see him in the image in which he has set himself, which is Christ. If he does not appear, then it is lost; as the works saints do, who without Christ want to appear before God with their deeds.
19 Lastly, here is the confidence we should have to ask, that whoever is a Christian and believes, may ask what he will, so] he is sure to be heard. See how Abraham speaks so powerfully, and what he says must be yes. Yes, if he had continued to ask, he would also have had to be granted. There is no no, but only yes, prescribed for us as an example, not that we only look at the saints in heaven, but those who are on earth, as Abraham once lived on earth. Therefore let us take such an example, and only ask confidently. If it is asked, it is heard; if you can only believe, it must be done. Yes, you say, if I had such strong faith as Abraham. Answer: Yes, but it is not written for his sake; therefore it is not valid for thee to say, If I were so holy. Believe as he does, and thou shalt be as holy. Whence is he so holy? Joshua says [Cap. 24, 2] that he also worshipped idols and was also a sinner, but by believing he became righteous. Believe, then, and you too will be so pious. But we go in the sense that he acquired it with great works and holy life; but these are vain dreams. If he had not had faith, he would have acquired nothing everywhere. So we also must obtain these things by faith. It is an exceedingly great thing about the example that a Christian has such power that he can ask and God cannot refuse him anything.
1 > "nun" is missing in the Erlanger.
(20) Jacobus also referred to this in his epistle, and he uses it strongly; it is also the best piece in the same epistle: "The righteous prayer (he says [Cap. 5, 16-18]) is able to do much if it is active. Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed a prayer that it should not rain; and it rained not on the earth three years and six months. And he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit," actually adding the word, "He was a man like unto us." Thus we should also interpret all histories and examples to mean that they were men as well as we. For the larva only deceives us, that we make such a clamor with the saints. [We should say thus: If they are holy, then we are also holy; if we are sinners, then they were also sinners; after all, we are all born of flesh and blood, and God created us as well as them; one man is worth another, and nothing distinguishes us except faith. If you have faith and God's word, you are just as great; you must not worry that you are inferior to him, unless faith cannot be as strong.
21) And especially it is to be noted that such an example shows how powerful prayer is for the betterment of the good. One can find examples of how strong prayer has been to the detriment of the adversaries, as Moses, who was the most gentle man, did a short prayer, 2) so that Köre, Dathan and Abiram swallowed up the earth (4 Mos. 16, 32.). Likewise one reads also of David and others more. So the saints can also sometimes harm and punish. But this example is even more noble, that the prayer is so strong, if it is to serve the betterment of the neighbor, and God is more inclined to hear that which is useful and good, than that which is harmful.
022 Elijah the prophet did both these things. He asked that it would not rain for four and a half years [1 Kings 17:1, 7], and it did. [But he did it because the land was so full of false prophets and idolatry that his spirit was enraged and embittered, and brought punishment on the land, so that the king was so angry with him that he sent him to the kingdom.
3) Erlanger: that he.
in all lands sought to slay him [1 Kings 18:10,j. Thus you see that they can obtain what they ask, but more and more for good than for harm. Let us be comforted and strengthened, and be sure that what we ask will be done.
23 Thus John also says in his most serous epistle [Cap. 5:14, 15]: "This is the joy we have in God, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us; and if we know that He hears us, what
we ask, we know that we have the request that we asked of Him." That is, when we believe, we are joyful and bold that God will not let us; as Abraham did not doubt until he came to the "ten." Had he continued to ask, he would have been heard. If I had a Christian who asked for me, I would be of good cheer and not be afraid of anyone. If I also had one who pleaded against me, I would rather have the Turkish emperor as my enemy.