(vv. 1-33) And there came a tempest into the land above that which was in the days of Abraham: and Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines to Gerar. Then the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, but tarry in the land which I tell thee; be a stranger in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for unto thee and unto thy seed will I give all this land, and will confirm my oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father. And I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all this land, and by thy seed shall all nations be blessed; because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my statutes, my judgments, and my judgments. So Isaac dwelt at Gerar. And when the people of the same place asked of his
He said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife; they would kill me for Rebekah's sake, because she was beautiful to look at. When he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked through the window and saw Isaac joking with Rebekah his wife. Then Abimelech called unto Isaac, and said, Behold, it is thy wife: how saidst thou then, she is my sister? Isaac answered him, I thought that I might die for her sake. Abimelech said, "Why have you done this to us? It would have been easy for one of the people to lie with your wife, and so you would have brought guilt upon us. Then Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, Whosoever toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. And Isaac sowed in the land, and found the same
year a hundredfold. 1) For the Lord blessed him, and he became a great man, and went and increased until he was almost great, that he had much substance of flocks and herds, and a great company. Therefore the Philistines envied him, and stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and filled them with earth: and Abimelech said unto him, Depart from us; for thou art become too mighty for us. Then Isaac departed, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And when he had sat down, he digged the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines stopped up after Abraham's death, and called them by the name which his father had called them. Isaac's servants also dug in the valley, and found there a well of living water. But the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds, saying: The water is ours; so he called the well Esek, 2) because they had mocked him there. Then they dug another well, and there also they quarreled: therefore' he called it Sitnah. 3) Then he departed, and digged another well, and they quarreled not against each other: therefore he called his name Rehoboth, 4) saying, Now hath the Lord made room for us, and caused us to grow in the land. And he departed thence unto Bersaba. And the Lord appeared unto him that night, and said: I am Abraham your father's God; fear not, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake. So he built an altar there, and called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tents there, and his servants dug a well there. And Abimelech went unto him from Gerar, and Ahusath his friend, and Phichol his captain of the host. But Isaac said to them: Why come ye unto me?
1) In the editions: "hundred bushels". But afterwards, where this text is repeated: "hundertfältig"; only the Erlanger has also there: "Schäffel".
2) Marginal gloss: Esek means mockery, when one does violence and injustice to someone.
3) Marginal gloss: Sitna means resistance, hence the devil is called Satan, an obnoxious one.
4) Marginal gloss: Rehoboth means space or width that is not narrow.
yet ye hate me, and have driven me from you. They said: We see with eyes to see that the Lord is with thee, therefore said we: Let there be an oath between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee, that thou do us no hurt; even as we have not touched thee, and as we have done thee nothing but all good, and let thee go in peace. But thou art now the blessed of the Lord. Then he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up early in the morning, and sware one to another. And Isaac let them go, and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came and told him of the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. And he called it Sheba, 5) therefore the name of the city is Bersaba, unto this day.
(1) Thou hast shown how Moses is a useless launderer, that he makes so many tests of useless things. What business is it of ours that God Almighty should proclaim such things in the world, so that everyone must read about them? But all reason must say it is vain foolishness; have we nothing else to do nor to read, but how Isaac digs wells, and jests with the woman? Is this such a delicious story, since the power is on? Since he wanted to write about holy fathers, he could not write about good works and examples, such as praying, fasting, celibacy, etc., and leave such foolish things at home, which are especially annoying for spiritual people to read, because they should not study useless worldly things. He has indeed given cause enough for the Bible to be pushed under the bench, and has not considered it worthy that our high doctors should study in it. Why does he also write such foolish things?
(2) The first, which we have often heard, we also see here: Isaac had to become one of the greatest of the fathers, in whom much was due in the sight of God. Therefore, even if we do not understand what Moses means by this, we should not proceed with mad reason and conclude that it is foolishness. For (as often said) God has
5) Marginal gloss: Saba means an oath or vow, but Ber means a well.
6) Fests - fuss.
He has a desire to make fools of us; he puts such foolish works before us, so that he may put down the great saints, that it may be seen how he is all in faith alone, and cannot suffer any work to be praised, but his mere grace. Now if it has its glory and price, it is not because it is a work, however small it may be. And the most foolish work is as worthy of praise as the very highest and most exquisite. [He has such small works praised and preached throughout the world, since he does not want to see or know any of the great saints of works.
Therefore, the highest part of this chapter is that God speaks to the man twice. Work now back and forth, live otherwise or so, when God's word sounds, open your eyes, ears and heart; when the majesty speaks, it has strength and power, because he now holds two strong sermons with Isaac.
4. the first is almost long, which are vain excellent, strong promises, as given before to Abraham, that they are also confirmed with great power, oath and oath. [But it passes before our ears, and because it does not strike us, we turn a deaf ear to it. But if we look rightly at what words they are, and what they have behind them, we would be astonished at them, and consider them great enough.
(5) Because we hear (I say) that God speaks twice here with so many words, you should certainly consider that He is much more interested in the little works, jokes, digging wells, eating and drinking, than all priests, monks and nuns, and much higher to praise than all their prayer, fasting and holy life. What is the cause? None other than that here is God's word, which Isaac kept, but our clergy go without word and faith.
(6) It was the same for me. Before I became a fool, and still wanted to be a learned doctor, I was hostile to the book only because Moses made so much talk, and told how God talks to the fathers, as one cobbler to another; therefore I thought no more of this example, than if one made a legend of me, and wrote how I wandered over the field, or sat at home and slept.
7 So it throws all reason to the wind and does not look at what wonders are there.
that happens that God Himself speaks; that she only sees: O this is a loose work. But again, he fasted for so long, ate dry bread and drank water, and wore a hair shirt for the rest of his life. St. Jerome lay so long in the desert, and had a stone under his head for a pillow, and beat his breast with stones. O these are great, holy works! Moses, however, knows nothing to write, but how Isaac drags himself with the woman and jokes and fools with her.
(8) Therefore, God is always busy resisting the foolish whore, reason, which wants to measure the goodness of works by their greatness and length, proposing to her against and in defiance of such works that she considers to be nothing. Therefore conclude that nothing depends on many, great, long works, but only on God's word. If this is attached to it, consider it neither a joke nor a jugglery; as soon as it sounds and is spoken, it is a delicious thing. So that God does not want to be judged according to works, but according to his will. Reason says, "The work is great, therefore God will regard it; for what is great should be exalted. For this reason it is useful and necessary to describe such examples, lest reason should master God and tell him what he should or should not do. We must often say this, because it is so often indicated that we see how the whole of Scripture insists on it, even though it has not helped.
9) Notice, then, that Isaac must be a chosen one, because he is honored that God Himself speaks to him; for it is the greatest 1) wrath that he shows when he is silent and does not speak; and again, the greatest 2) grace when he lets his commandment and will be heard. But this is an exuberant grace, when he speaks so kindly and fatherly. Therefore look on the words, and hold them against each other, "I will be with thee (saith he), and will bless thee." If God thus promised us, as he does through the gospel, even if we should go into fire, hell and death, what would we rather hear than that he should say, "Go in fresh,
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: large.
2) Erlanger: large.
410 Erl. 34, 82-85. interpretations on the first book of Moses. W. Ill, 614-616. 411
I want to be with you? What defiance and consolation would we have, that our hearts might be filled with joy, and not be afraid of a thousand dreads? 1) For if God, who has all things in His hands, is with me and will not leave me, what harm can come to me? Therefore, if all devils were one devil, I still go fresh.
(10) No one has felt such comfort except Isaac, for he is in a foreign land and in the precious time. How can a stranger be afraid, to whom everyone is hostile, and who does not want the bread crust? Where shall he go? All lands are closed to him, he has wife, child and servants with cattle. Where is the house, and the corn, and the hay, and the straw, and the stall, and all manner of food? [Moreover he is among the enemies; where will he go out? All this must have hurt him. Then God comes and does not let him go, saying, "There is no need; the temptation shall not kill you. Do not go to Egypt, which is a full land, but stay here in the land, and I will feed you, so that you will have enough; when it happened that he got a hundred bushels, where another got hardly one; he must have enough, if the whole country should starve.
(11) Therefore he has always thought, 'Here is a wife, child and servants, but nothing to feed them. Well, God has said that he will be with me and bless me; I know that it will be true. [He might have said, "How long will it last? It will come to nothing! But he held fast to the word, believing not only the promise of temporal nourishment in the time of trouble, but also of the seed by which all the world should be saved; therefore his heart was glad, and thought, Before I should suffer trouble, an angel must come from heaven and feed me.
(12) Now this is the right core of the Scriptures, which no reason sees or perceives, that such power is written in God's words, and such faith. Because they preach in the name of the devil about works, so that one should go to heaven, they do not see how in this history there are thoroughly excellent examples of faith, which one should preach, and thus say: See Isaac's faith in God.
1) Wittenberg and Jena: Todte.
not the works. It is a bad work that he goes from one country to another; but he goes there at the word of God, he is sure of it; but you go and do so many works, and have no word of God.
Therefore his work is mighty and great, and yet only a household work, not fasting, praying, nor establishing churches and masses, and keeping orders, which our fools consider delicious, yet God does not consider any of them, even rejects and condemns them to hell, because everything is without faith. But all this is so important in his sight that he has it written and preached to the whole world. Now name me one work that is like it. It is a small thing, but if you were to do it with all the priests and monks, you would not know how to do it, but would despair of it and go to the devil. Ah! God have mercy, how we mad fools have taught and acted.
(14) This is the first part of how God's word is preached to Isaac, and how he so vehemently accepts it, written as an example for us; he proved it, preached it and practiced it, but also suffered many blows. For God would not have spoken such words to him in vain if there had not been great need to strengthen and comfort him. Therefore the office of bishop, to preach [and] to govern, rested on him, but [he] will sometimes have faltered here and there; there was also still flesh and blood, that he must have needed such comfort, so that he might also continue to comfort and strengthen others. There must also have been pious people who followed him and clung to him; it is written that some also ran away from him. So it went with him, and is written for an example to us, who have the promise, every man for himself. We shall have enough, we live or die.
(15) Yea, sayest thou, if God had promised me as he promised Isaac, it were well to believe. Answer: Who knows how he told it to him; it is probably written that he told it through one of the oldest patriarchs, as Shem or Eber. But if an angel spoke it from heaven, is it ever so certain, if 2) he told it to us through men in the scriptures,
2) In the editions: "as if". The "as" seems too much for us.
or through priests. The tongue is not man's, but God's tongue; thus also the sermon. Therefore, if God Himself stood there and took a child in His hand and baptized it, it would be nothing 1) more certain than if He commanded the Christians and did and spoke through us men. It is his word and not ours; the only thing missing is that we do not have faith. Isaac will also have had many people who did not think much of him and even mocked him; therefore he must have always kept his word. 3) So he wants us also to look at the word alone, he speaks it how and where he wants. That is the main part of this chapter; let us now go through it according to the text.
V. 1: And there came a tempest into the land above that which was in Abraham's days. And Isaac went to Abimelech the Philistine king to Gerar etc.
16 The first part, that in the time of the holy father Isaac there was a theurge in the land, gives us a question: how does it happen that God commonly sends theurge in the land, especially when His word goes out? as we also heard above [Cap. 12, 10.] in Abraham's histories, and afterwards under Jacob and Joseph [Cap. 42, 1.ff.] and often among the children of Israel. When, under the prophets Elijah [1 Kings 17, 1. 18, 2.] and Elisha [2 Kings 6, 25.] was a noticeable theure time, and so from then on. Also in Christ's time, and the apostles, one reads of great theurge under the emperor Claudio [Apost. 11, 28.]. Now it also happens now and then in countries, after the gospel has arisen again, that everyone starts to complain, more than ever before, that there is a lack of money and food everywhere, just as it happened in the time of the prophet Jeremiah, as he writes [Cap. 44, 17. 18.]: Then came together woman and man, and said, Is it not a plague that, while we served and sacrificed unto the queen of heaven, we had bread enough, and were well; but because we have ceased to serve her, we are in want, and are by the
1) Erlanger: not.
2) "him" is missing in the Erlanger.
3) "have" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
Sword and hunger consumed? Therefore they also went and did it as before.
(17) Thus it is: as soon as one is to do God service, there is a lack everywhere, and everyone wants to starve. [I have said the cause, and it is quite possible, where the gospel remains in momentum, that everything will become too narrow for us. One cause is that where the gospel goes forth, sin also goes forth, that it is despised, condemned, persecuted, and blasphemed. Before, one could give two hundred guilders, but now one does not give one to poor people; then all cities were built and endowed with churches and monasteries; now we all cannot accomplish anything.
(18) This is one cause that God again afflicts the world, and makes the food short, because the gospel is despised. Nor will the plague remain, but will afflict us greatly when the gospel has run its course and there is room enough for repentance. God will not let the sin go unpunished, that one acts so shamefully and contemptuously with His word. The longer he bears with us, the worse we make it, and the more senseless they become, the more he must strike.
19 The other cause I give to the devil, but by God's will. For since he is a prince of the world, as he boasts against Christ in Matthew [Cap. 4, 8. 9. 1, it is also due to him to resist things that are not for his kingdom. Now that one does not give as much because of preaching the gospel as before is not a miracle. He would be a fool if he allowed it. Because we now fight against him, he must hold us so that we must die of hunger, as much as is in him.
020 Therefore it is not a bad sign, if he resists and resists, that now one cannot feed one good preacher, when before one filled two hundred monks. For before they served him; therefore he also had to provide for his servants; therefore he provided so well for all monasteries and convents, and gave enough to all; but now he sees that one wants to tear a hole in his regiment, he resists on all sides.
(21) I once heard an example, which, if it were not a lie, would probably rhyme with this: "As a householder once was,
A ruthless, crude Christian who swore and cursed without ceasing in his house and taught his children to do the same; he had everything full, cellar, floor, house and yard, until once a pious man came to his house and asked him to stop such things, so long that he allowed himself to be persuaded and stopped. Soon it began to be missing in all corners. The devil was also right in not wanting to serve and reward him, because he no longer served him.
(22) One also reads of St. Ambrose, whether it is true I do not know, but it is not unlike the truth: that he once came into a rich man's house, where he saw that everything was abundant, and the man confessed that all his days had been according to his will. Then the pious man was afraid, and said to those who were with him: Here is high time that we go away, for there the devil reigns. And when he came out, the house fell down, and the earth swallowed up all that was there.
This is how it shall be: The devil is master of the world, therefore he will not give food to God's servants. But if you are to have it, God must give it and feed you. Therefore, God has decreed that those who are Christians must live in the time of trouble. When such cries and complaints arise because the gospel is being preached, you must be wise and know how to respond properly. Before, the devil gave everything enough, since we were his servants; but now the gospel has arisen, he withdraws his hand. So God also punishes the world, as is right; but stand firm, and believe in God, and you will have enough in the midst of the temptation. And methinks that the saying in the 37th Psalm, v. 25, goes here and sees: "I have been young and have grown old; but I have never seen a righteous man go hungry, or his children go after bread."
(24) God causes the pious to live in the present time, that He may prove His word to be true, and that He may feed His children by faith. And [it] is a sign that the gospel is true. That it bringeth forth fruit, and is not preached in vain. If it were not, I would think,
1) Erlanger: theurer.
The devil did not feel it. But because he feels it, you see that it has power in the people and pulls them back. But let him go, it will still remain Isaac. He who does not believe, let him die of hunger; but he who believes will have enough, for God does not lie, even if it rains grain from heaven. God only does it to punish the unbelievers and to try and strengthen those who believe. That is one part of this chapter. The other follows:
V. 6-8: So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. And when the people of the same place asked of his wife, he said, She is my sister. For he was afraid to say, She is my wife, lest they slay me for Rebekah's sake: for she was fair of face. When he had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through the window and saw that Isaac was joking with Rebekah his wife.
(25) It is easy to see why the good father was so afraid. At that time, the gospel had not yet come forth, so that it could have been hoped that there would be some pious people in the land; it was only a regiment according to nature and reason. But where God's word and grace do not live among the people, nothing good can be provided for them; reason and nature cannot remain pious there; they are all liars and scoundrels; or, if they must be pious, they do it out of compulsion. Therefore you can think that this country and kingdom had to be a worldly being, that everyone did what he wanted, and especially the king may take his wife with good grace.
26) And it is but one, 2) that Moses suggests God's foolishness, that he writes such foolish work as Isaac said she was his sister, and the king looked out at the window, that he jested with her; not that he saw anything lewd, but that he perceived from outward gestures that she was not his sister, but must be his wife.
Did he have to write that just now? As I said before, I still say. When you see in the Scriptures such words of God as these
2) again - again.
Works, that thou mayest know that it is to scandalize the world. Therefore the lowly saint must stand with lowly works and be mocked before the world, but it does not see how such works have been done in faith, in God's word and good pleasure. So she goes on, and measures the works according to her own discretion, when all Scripture says that all works have their weight from God's good pleasure, and nothing depends on the quantity and greatness of the works. So this work must also be delicious and preached, no matter how much reason and hypocritical saints consider it foolishness. On the other hand, they must also see that God does not ask anything about their holiness, does not write a word about it, and deals with such foolish works against them.
028 Yet it was not great joy to Isaac that he had to be in the foreign land, and was all the days in danger with the woman of his life, and of her honor. Therefore God did not want him to be in danger for long; as even the king says here, "You might have brought a great sin upon us." That is why God sent it so that it would be revealed, so that no harm would come to him or to Rebekah. There you can see the care and diligence that God takes for those who trust in Him. He had to dare the woman and put her in the entrenchment and give her home to God to keep her where she would be taken from him. [This is a great example of faith, and at the same time a great comfort, that God preserves her and keeps her pure. Moses did not write this so often for nothing, as we have also heard it twice from Abraham. Isaac was also undoubtedly tempted, for it is very difficult to put everything in God's hands, so that he might think, "You are sending me into the land, and putting me in all kinds of danger with my body and my wife; but it is useful for him to strengthen his faith. For this is the way God always goes, so that he may prove how strong faith is, and always stand against shame, death and all misfortune.
029 Now here is the question, Whether Isaac lied, saying, She is my sister? I let that go. If it is a sin, then let it be a sin; we do not have the dear sisters in mind.
Saints to be excused for never having sinned. We want to praise God's grace in them highly, but we do not want to exalt their nature so highly. But it would be easy to excuse it, it was not a lie, because she was his sister according to the spirit.
(30) But it is no wonder if a Christian man stumbles. If we were in such a situation, we would not be able to say "yes" at times. Nevertheless, it remains God's grace that sustains and protects him, even if he falls. Now this is the grace that God sends through Abimelech the king to give him rest and peace even among the people, to sit him down and feed him in the land. Let this be the first challenge, described in this chapter. Follow on:
V. 12-16 And Isaac sowed in the land, and found an hundredfold in the same year: for the Lord blessed him. And he became a great man, and went and increased until he was almost great, that he had much substance of cattle, both small and great, and a great household. And the Philistines envied him, and stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and filled them with earth: and Abimelech said unto him, Depart from us; for thou art become too mighty for us.
God tossed the patriarch back and forth like a ball, even caught him between the spurs, and made him so weak in his whole life that one could ever see how fine examples of faith are presented here. This is how happiness is shown here, how it is for the pious. And behold, how finely Moses describes it, as the Scripture should write: "Isaac has nothing that he has acquired, that all good, even temporal, must come from God's blessing; for there have always been many of them who have also worked, and yet have acquired nothing. Now God has given him a time of rest, but misfortune soon comes again.
So goes our life. We cannot have peace of mind, therefore it must be mixed that now the sun shines, now wind and rain come. So Isaac must now again suffer persecution and envy, [they] become fo enemy to him, that they do not grant him of the water, and block up all his wells. The land
has a special plague of water, that it is not to be found everywhere well. That is why they have kept the wells delicious and valuable, which is why there has been a lot of trouble; for it is a mountainous, hot and dry country, and does not have many streams and water flows.
Then Iak departed, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there, and digged the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines stopped up after the death of Abraham.
Then Moses describes four pilgrimages of the holy father one after the other. The first one to the king, as it is told. The other to Gerar. After that he was driven away until the fourth time, so that he always had to be a poor pilgrim. [It would not have been possible for him to exist without a high level of faith, to always leave with his wife, child and servants, and to go astray, and to have no certain place, house, stable, field or meadow, but to drag everything with him with great cost and effort, and to buy and rent everything in a foreign country. Faith had to strengthen, comfort and sustain him, otherwise he would soon have become unhappy; so that it may be seen how the dear fathers suffered more than we do.
(34) He took comfort in the fact that God had promised him, "I will be with you. There is no one with him but God; but he pretends that he is not with him either. Thus we have the greatest piece of the legend of this patriarch in this chapter, a precious and noble thing, so pleasing to God, that 1) he was sure, for he had God's word. Before the world it was a miserable, wretched life; but God looked upon it in mercy. So it must happen that the world makes the cross before it and shrinks from it; it wants to know where it should sit and stay; if it does not know, it does not lift anything. But this one hangs on the word alone. Wherever he goes, it is all against him; he must consider this beforehand. Behold, this is the simple legend, wherein is no glorious work, but cross, persecution, and poverty; but in great faith.
1) Wittenberg and Erlangen: that.
035 Now the first thing is, that he went to Gerar, and sat down there, and made there two wells to be his own, as they had been his father's; and he made another well, and called it Esek, that is, Hohnbrunn; and they let it go, though it be hard. For the shepherds of Gerar said: He is ours, we are masters, so you are a guest; take by force and rob, would have had enough with him, but drive him away with all that he has. He will suffer and give way; he will not rebuke or avenge him; he will do no more than call the well Esek.
036 And when he is come away, he buildeth one; but he must let him go, and depart. Therefore he calls him Sitna, that is, resistance, from which the word Satan comes [Job 1, 6. 7.], so that Christ and the Scriptures [Matth. 4, 10.] call the devil, that is, an adversary. As also Paul calls the pope zuck Thessalonians [2. Ep. 2, 4.] άνταείμένος, adversarius, who only resists and vainly opposes, does not celebrate, and otherwise does nothing, but what is contrary to Christ. Christ does not give the devil this name in vain; he knows well how he does not rest, attacking us on all sides. So he also calls Peter in Matthew [Cap. 16, 23]: "Get thee behind me, Satan." So here Isaac calls the well, because they always sat down against him, and would not allow nor grant that he should dig up his father's well.
037 And he departed again, till he should have peace, and digged a well, which he called Rehoboth, that is, room and breadth; as if he should say, Praise God that we have room once. Which word sufficiently indicates how he was pressed before, that he was neither seen nor heard. But he did not stay long in that place, and went back to Bersaba, where he had lived with his father for a long time. What Moses now writes about how he unites with the king and makes a covenant is a consolation that God will not abandon the faithful if they only hold fast; He creates enough misfortune for them, but does not leave them without consolation. Let this be said of history. Now we should also deal with the mystery and secret interpretation.
38. we have heard that Isaac Christ's
figure, so he will remain in the chapter for a while. Now Christ's kingdom stands thus, that it is a kingdom of life, and p strong life, that it lives in the midst of death; and grace so strong, that it prevails in sin, and reigns in the devil's jaws. For it is a spiritual kingdom, therefore it does not appear, but the very contradiction appears. When one looks at Christians as holy martyrs, one sees nothing but vain death; as the 44th Psalm, v. 23, says: "We are slain daily for thy sake, and are esteemed as sheep for the slaughter." Where Christianity is, there must be blood, or [they] are not true Christians. They are not sheep for the pasture, but sheep for the slaughter, always one after the other. Thus the appearance of the Christian life is nothing but weakness, death and sin; nor does he rule it in life, spiritually, which no one sees, but faith alone grasps.
39 Isaac now bears this image, as he was Christ's figure before with his sacrifice, condemned and given over to death, and yet remained alive. So he is also here Christ's figure in his kingdom, as he drives here in the foreign, unknown country. If you look at his life, it is in danger of death every hour, and of his wife: he is still preserved, only as a sign that a Christian life should also go this way, and stand in all shame and danger. The Christians must use the title and be in danger, that it is heresy and called a whore; the others want to have right faith and be God's own.
40 But what is it that a theurge comes into the land first? This is it: If the gospel be rightly begun, there must first arise a hunger and sorrow in the conscience. The gospel comes to no one who has fullness and good days, but only to the troubled consciences, who are in greater hunger, and who have a soul that is alive and glad to hear such comforting preaching.
(41) That now afterward there standeth of the well of the pit, and that Isaac goeth blissfully for a while, is all the course of Christianity;
For a while it has rest, that it increases, and improves; as, in the apostles' time, it soon arose, and grew; but soon arises strife, contention, and heresy.
(42) But the well which they stopped up is nothing but the sacrilege which they do by the doctrine of men, against the holy scriptures, which for a time Christianity kept pure; but soon the devil came, and brought in the sand of men, that they could no more enjoy it, they put it out after their own head. That is to say, they put earth into the well, and stuffed it with it, so that it would ever show those who corrupt the Scriptures with an earthly mind, and guide them according to their carnal delusion; like the heretics Arius and Pelagius and others, and afterwards the pope, who boasts that he alone is the master of the Scriptures, and has power to interpret them; who has done nothing else in all spiritual law, and has introduced through all high schools but vile earth and dung, and has so corrupted and polluted the Scriptures that it is not possible to understand anything from the Scriptures from their books, but only prevents and studies back from them.
(43) So we shall go on, as we are going on, through some of the spirits of the wicked, and shall continue until the last day. We have also dug the well and opened it up; others are always coming to fill it up again with earth. Let us be bold in this: If we want to drink and strengthen ourselves from the Scriptures, they will refuse us. That is why it must have the name: Mockery and Resistance, that is, that we are mocked about it, and must suffer resistance; if not, then we do not have the Scriptures right, until God gives us room to remain in the right understanding of the Scriptures, and overcome heresy.
44 Thus we have the history with the secret interpretation, in which we see how everything must be done to preach the gospel and the kingdom of Christ alone. [But it must suffer opposition and be persecuted. Now follows another legend of the patriarch Jacob.