V.1-8. Then Jacob lifted up his feet, and went into the country that lieth toward the east. And he looked, and, behold, there was a well in the field, and, lo, three flocks of sheep lay by it. For the flocks had to drink from the well, and there was a large stone in front of the hole of the well. And they gathered all the flocks there, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again before the well in his place. And Jacob said unto them: Brothers, where did you get him? They answered: We are from Haran. And he said unto them: Do ye know me Laban the son of Nahor? They answered: We know him well. And he said, Is he also well? They answered: And, behold, his daughter Rachel cometh with the sheep. And he said, It is yet high day, and it is not yet time to bring in the cattle: water the sheep, and go and feed them. They answered: We will not water until all the flocks are gathered together, and we roll the stone from the well, and so water the sheep.
1. Here Moses describes how the patriarch Jacob came to the land of Mesopotamia,
and there he got a wife and children. Now you see that God lets his dear saints describe legends in a strange way; that it is told how Jacob went and found nothing on the way but a well and three flocks of sheep, and how he talks to the shepherds. This could be seen as a useless, unnecessary thing to describe, when he could have found other things and larger pieces that would have been of some value. But this is what we have often heard, that it is all for this reason, that God may put out the eyes of reason and blind it, so that one does not see according to great, seeming nature and works, but, as all Scripture points out to us, according to the works that God does. If we could get there and let it go as God has done, it would be all right.
When Adam and Eve were in Paradise, there was no human work of their own devising, but everything went as God had planted it and nature had given it. These were also the very best works. But now that nature has fallen, we have fallen into our own works, and the world is foolish and foolish, wanting only to deal with other works, because [the]
God has planted, so that in all words and works God acts to bring it into pregnancy, to walk as He created it. Now this is a great knowledge, which even great saints lack. We all confess in faith: I believe in God the Father, Almighty Creator of heaven and earth. So, whoever believes it, knows a lot.
3 Therefore this also is described, that Jacob comes to a place to the shepherds, and speaks of things, which one looks at, as if they do not concern God at all. If he wanted to describe a holy man, should he not rather write thus: He came to a place and taught the people to do good works, made them go to church. Hearing mass and praying; and so forth of great spiritual works: so he entereth in, and knoweth nothing to say, but how he washeth with the shepherds of sheep to water them. We have heard it enough how God has air to deal with such foolish works. What do we get from the fact that he calls them to water the sheep, and then rolls the stone from the well? [It is worth mentioning that he writes such things and lets the world read them, as if there were nothing else to read. Now these are the proper natural works which God has planted in nature, and ordained that man should govern the cattle, handle them, and thereby seek his food, eating, drinking, and forage; which are described by the great saints. If God would have us do the same, we would see what fools I am.
4 So the whole chapter is a fool's work before the world, and a sermon that serves no purpose at all. Christ himself and Paul preach in this way, as can be seen in almost all the epistles. St. Paul, when he wants to teach about Christian works, knows nothing to say, because how a man should wait for his wife and children [Eph. 5, 25. Col. 3, 19. Eph. 6, 4.], the wife should fear the husband and hold him in honor, and bring up children [1 Tim. 2, 12.], the servant should be obedient to the Lord [Eph. 6, 5. f.], the children to their parents [Eph. 6, 1-3.], nor do we deal with other works. The great apostles knew nothing better to preach; but if they were to write now, they would have to study a while in the high schools, and give much money to become doctors. The
The people of the world, who are better acquainted with how to serve God, make great books of it and argue about which are the best works.
(5) But we may well thank God, if we could, that the Scripture comes to our door, and shows us rightly what is pleasing to God, what he himself may praise in his highest saints, what the apostles may praise and preach. [It is right for us to keep our mouths shut and say: We do not know any better; if there were something better, he would have let us write and preach it. [It is all to do that with this book God has wanted to ward off all the misery that has followed 1) (as can be seen in the following books), and to preserve what he has created and made; so that each one may wait for his thing, position and office. If thou shalt seek to be called something else, thou shalt fail. Both experience and the Scriptures give this; nor are we foolish and foolish, that we should throw such things to the winds, and fall upon other things. Let this be said of it; I know no more to make of it. Follow further in the text:
V.9-30. While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was tending the sheep. When Jacob saw Rachel his mother's brother Laban's daughter and his mother's brother Laban's sheep, he came and rolled the stone from the well's hole, and watered his mother's brother's sheep, and kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept, and told her that he was her father's brother and Rebekah's son. Then she ran and told her father. And when Laban heard of Jacob his sister's son, he ran to meet him, and hugged him, and meted him, and brought him into his house. Then he told him all this story. And Laban said unto him, Well, thou art my bone and my flesh; tarry with me a month. And afterward he said unto Jacob, Though thou be my brother, shouldest thou serve me for nought? Tell me, what shall be thy reward? Laban had two daughters, the eldest named Leah and the youngest Rachel. But Leah had a wicked face, and Rachel was fair of form and beautiful of countenance. The same Jacob loved and said: I will give thee seven
1) In the editions: has.
years to serve Rachel, your youngest daughter. Laban answered, "It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to someone else; stay with me. So Jacob served Rachel seven years, and it seemed to him as if they were days, for he loved her so much. Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for the time has come for me to join her. So Laban invited all the people of the place, and made a marriage. And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her in, and put her to sleep. And Laban gave Zilpah to Leah his daughter to be his handmaid. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And he said unto Laban, Why hast thou done this unto me? Have I not served thee for Rachel? Why then hast thou deceived me? Laban answered, "It is not done in our land to give out the youngest before the oldest. If thou endure this week, I will give thee this week also, for the service which thou shalt serve me another seven years. So Jacob did, and endured the week. Then he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife, and Laban gave Rachel his daughter Bilhah to be his handmaid. So he lay with Rachel, and loved Rachel better than Leah, and served him the other seven years.
6th Then he describes how Jacob came to Laban, who called him his brother, when they were brother and sister, children of one another. But here we are to answer Mrs. Hulda, the mad fool, the reasoner. How the scholars were offended by the fact that the patriarch thus becomes a fool and takes two wives, yes, two sisters at once! And what is much more foolish is that he serves Rachel for seven years and loves her so much that he makes himself believe that it is only for one week, so that our clergymen have to say that it is pure foolishness. I would have to say it myself, if I were a monk, who is not taught to think what the world does, but only what the angels in heaven do; and shall read here how the fool courts the mead seven whole 1) years, and keeps it for seven days. Rhyme, so long with Metzen courting, and yet be holy. But here is the scripture; whoever can do better, let him do it, we will watch in the meantime.
1) Walch and the Erlangers: whole.
(7) What shall we make of this? Let us leave him in the mire and confess that he is a fool, that he has so far dared to live his life in this way, and now he comes and hangs himself on a maid; and when he is betrayed, he takes the other sister and serves her for seven more years. But that Jacob did not do this out of malice is evident from the fact that he was at least seventy years old, so that he should have lost the thrill. For Esau, his brother, took a wife when he was forty years old, but he waited thirty years. And though the text does not tell how old he was, yet if one should reckon it back from Joseph, one finds that it runs almost to seventy years, yes, even further, almost to eighty years.
8 Now imitate Jacob, and let them make a mockery of it, saying, He hath done nothing, but revelled and lain with women. But give us also such men, even of those who so highly praise virginity, who have kept chastity so long. As many as there are among the priesthood, if you were to forge them together, you would not find one who has kept chastity until the fortieth year: nor do they want to say much about virginity, and reproach all the world; they themselves are in the dirt up to their ears, and it should be nothing that this pious Jacob has persevered seventy years. That he should not also have had flesh and blood is not to be believed. For he loved Rachel as soon as he thought she should be his; nor did he abstain so long that I might set Jacob above all virgins. For to abstain so long must be a grace and spirit that is great. Therefore, it is not acceptable for a man to go overboard like this, thinking it is frivolity and not considering the seriousness he has had. If I were to set an example of chastity, I would set this very Jacob; set me one in the Old and New Testaments whose chastity is thus praised. Therefore God is wonderful with His own, making fools of the world, so that it does not know what it is like.
9 Again, in such great grace that he has lived so long purely, now is the other
Work, that God nevertheless lets the nature remain in him. Whether he was deceived in that he loved Rachel so much and served her for seven, yes, fourteen years, I let go. I also like that the saints are in the mud like us. But this is true, that besides the spirit and grace, God lets nature remain as He created it, in order to shut the mouths of the great saints, who lift the saints as high as if they had felt no natural movement. Indeed, if it were written of me, it would probably annoy me that one should read of me how I had courted with metzen; and Moses writes it of the holy man who lived so long without a 1) wife, and was now an old man.
Now, what shall we make of this? Even though it was an overlong 2) from him, it is still indicated to us that grace allows nature to remain; so that if you are a Christian, you must not even take off what is flesh and blood. God allows you to remain a man or a woman; how He now further ordains that the marital state should be to beget fruit, this does not cancel [the] grace, but confirms it, and makes it all blessed. Now if a man is given grace, as Jacob was, to remain so long without a wife, it is good for him; if not, he knows well where he belongs.
11 God gave Jacob special grace to live purely for seventy years; then, when he heard the saying that through his seed the world should be spread out and filled, and now sees that the time has come, he stands up to it. Therefore he vowed in such a spirit that he had certainly not been deceived, and had done so without God's word.
This is what I have often preached, to make consciences free. For we are now so taught by the grace of God that we know why woman is created. That is understood enough, one may say no more of it; only that the consciences are saved, are so caught with false doctrine that one has almost thought it would be a disgrace to take a woman or a man. It must ever happen that lust and love are put together.
1) "a" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
2) overlong - more than necessary, superfluous.
I have had love. Without love it is vain misery and misery; otherwise there will be misfortune enough. Therefore the Holy Spirit will not be angry if a maiden loves a boy, and again, so that they may have a desire to live in wedlock. He gave it to Jacob, and not only that, but also let it be written; not for his sake, but for the sake of the great preachers who have strained it so tight, and to comfort us. These are the two things that God graces with chastity, and yet lets remain with nature as it was created.
(13) But how shall we excuse this, that he feedeth, and taketh two sisters? We cannot deny it. It is a sin with the priest, which must be atoned for with fire; so hard, if it happens in such a case, that a man sleeps with his wife's sister, he must never sleep with his wife. Here now see, this text applies more than a hundred thousand covenants; and because the scripture does not punish Jacob, you must let this be done to me without sin. The text also says, "When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he made her fruitful, and Rachel barren." There he confirms the error, and wants it that he has the two sisters and keeps, and makes the scholars, who torment themselves so hostilely about it, fools. It is true that the example is not to be followed because God does something special with the man that he has not done with others; but that is why I say it, so that one may see God's work in this, and if such a case should arise, that one would know how to judge it. For I know well how consciences have been driven and acted under the law of the priest.
014 Now the first thing to be said here is, If it had not been customary in the land to do this, there is no doubt that Jacob would never have done it. For his heart was set on having Rachel for a wife, and not both sisters. That Laban deceived him and first put Leah with him in Rachel's place was not his fault; he did not know how to do what a pious man must do, he does not know how to do otherwise. If he had not wanted to be evangelical and stick to his rights, he would have said, "You have your
Daughter again; if thou wilt deceive me, deceive me to thy hurt. But he did not want to take revenge; although the father acted like a mischievous man, nevertheless he does not want to let her pay for it, and does her the friendship that he keeps her. Therefore it is a sign that it was also the custom of the country, and not so strange that no one but he alone should have done such a thing. God also confirms that he allows it to happen. Therefore, he did not do wrong nor was he criminal.
15 However, because it is no longer the custom of the land, and God does not command or give cause to do such things, it should not be done. He also abolished it afterwards, as Deut. 18:18 states: Thou shalt not take a woman with her sister to bare her shame, because she is yet alive. But it was among the Gentiles, and Mosi's law was not yet the time. Even if it had been forbidden, he did it without his will and knowledge, so that the commandment had no place here. For God did not want this maiden to become a disgrace. Thus the commandment does not extend further than when a man would take his wife's sister out of his own will, but he has kept her for the sole purpose of preserving her in honor. Those who are Christians know well what they should do, but if such a case arose, I would not know how to advise otherwise than as Jacob did, so that one might not be a prisoner of the priest and not use his wife. Let this be the sum of it, that Jacob is a strange man, full of spirit, and yet also flesh and blood like others.
016 But how is it that it follows, that Leah was hated, and Rachel was loved? Answer: He must not have been hostile to her at all, since he has six sons with her and nothing with Rachel; nevertheless, the text says: "He preferred Rachel to Leah. God allows flesh and blood to be involved. There were also two pious children, the wives, still flesh and blood remains in all three, as we will hear more. The reason for this is given in the text when it says: "Rachel was beautifully formed and beautiful in face; but Leah had
1) Erlanger: dienn.
a stupid face." I do not know whether he is talking about stupid eyes, or about the whole face; as we say, lean, scrawny and pale of face, decayed and not full; which I like best. Rachel, however, is a pretty, smooth matzo, and has been perfect.
(17) Behold, is not this a strange saint? He should be so spiritual that he would not look at her more than if she were a woman; yet he has such a great difference, and soon looks at the most beautiful one; he has a desire for her, but not for the other. God still has him so deeply stuck in the flesh that his heart is more attached to this one than to the other. Leah was the first bride, she was to be borne, nor did she have to leave afterward; the household, including Jacob himself, held on to Rachel and let her be the wife of the house; no one gave much to Leah. She was also annoyed by this; she thought, "My father did not do too well with me, and could have advised me better. God lets such infirmities remain and write of the great holy children, that one must say and preach of them how they have been divided and envious.
(18) What then does God do to them? [He makes all three of them stumble, and always flesh and blood run with them. He still has such pure eyes, does not see which is the prettiest or not, and does not give a child to the pretty woman; but the poor maiden must soon have five or six of them. He is quite fond of women, sees nothing but that they are women, does not ask how they are shaped. He also does this: When he sees that someone wants to make a Cinderella, he goes to her and gives her fruit, and none to the others, and prefers the one who is the ugliest and most despised, who must be the right mother. For Christ came from Leah, from the tribe of Judah. No matter how pretty Rachel is, she is of no use; that which is to be Christ's must come down from the first and become humble. Leah must have suffered many a proud word, even from the servants in the house, and will have sat at the bottom that the other ruled. But God is so skillful that He looks down even on His saints, all of whom are His children, and He is more careful with those who are weakest than with those who are more proud. This is why the text speaks:
31-35 And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he made her fruitful, and Rachel barren. And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and called his name Reuben, saying, The LORD hath looked upon my affliction, and my husband loveth me. And she conceived again, and bare a son, and said, The LORD hath heard that I am hated, and hath given me this also, and called his name Simeon. And again she conceived, and bare a son, and said, Now shall my husband return unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore she called his name Levi. The fourth time she conceived, and bare a son, and said, Now will I give thanks unto the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah, and ceased from childbearing.
019 The first son she called Reuben, that is, a son of sight, or son of vision; as if to say, I wretched maid, because God looks upon me as a poor, forsaken child, I will call the son thereof, that God hath looked upon me. And behold, how flesh and blood rule. For this is quite a carnal thought, since 1) she says: "Now my Lord will love me", because I am the first mother, bring the first son. She thinks she also wants to be a wife, but she is not. She calls the other son Simeon and says, "The Lord has heard that I am hostile or hated. Now this is fine, that she can say: God has also given me the son. These are words of great faith, as if she were saying, "Though I am a Cinderella, yet He looks down and hears my need.
020 And when she had the third son, she called his name Levi, which is. A companion, or a keeper. As if to say, Jacob is with Rachel, and dwells with her, but now he will be
1) Erlanger: Fleisches Gedanken, that.
hold to me also. She would have liked to tear him away from Rachel, so that she would be the beloved. This will also have annoyed her, that she should not also have children. After that she had another son, whose name was Judah, a thankful one, because she said, "Now I will give thanks to the Lord," or confess, and say what he has done.
21 Now behold how the Scripture acts. What is it to me how many children the fathers bore, and what names they gave them? Must we hear and see all this, as the whole book speaks of childbearing and childbearing? Or, what should I hear about how the women were also arrogant, and each one wanted to be the best? It is all that I have said: God likes nothing but his own work. So you see what He thinks of childbearing, that He allows so much to be written about it, so that both His work and His word are revealed to us; which the world does not see, indeed, considers to be nothing but shame and laughter, and is ashamed to write about it. But God is pleased to let Himself down like this and make something delicious out of the dirt, and what the world considers delicious is left lying in the dirt.
(22) Let it now be foolishness to beget children, and let us remain fools with the holy fathers, and wait for God's work, for which He created us, to abide in it, and to consider it His work, and to regard it as great, whether it is shameful and unworthy of consideration before the world. [It is enough for us that it pleases him; we will not do better than he has done. So now we have four sons of the holy patriarch, let us hear about the others as well. We will save the spiritual interpretation until we get deep into it and have this history.
3) Walch and the Erlangers: es.