(1) In this chapter we hear of various things, especially how God began to help His people out of the bondage of Pharaoh, where they were in Egypt, and how He appointed Moses as duke over the children of Israel, and brought him to the office in a strange way, who sought all kinds of excuses, so that he might avoid such a profession. First of all, the text says:
V.1-7. These are the names of the children of Israel that came with Jacob into Egypt: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. And all
The souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy. But Joseph was in Egypt before. And when Joseph was dead, and all his brethren, and all that were alive at that time, the children of Israel grew, and begat children, and multiplied, and became very many, so that the land was full of them.
2. in the first book of Moses we have heard how God drew a line or cord and led it from Adam, also all the other old fathers and patriarchs up to Jacob, and God did not place Himself otherwise than as if He alone looked at the cord, so from Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham and Isaac, up to the Pa-.
to preach and explain the other book of Moses." These sermons did not flow from Luther's pen, but were intercepted. A manuscript of them was in the possession of the provost Georg Buchholzer in Berlin; however, as he wrote to Count Vollrath von Mansfeld, it was stolen from him in l564 during his illness. Another, incomplete copy (which contained only the sermons on the first eighteen chapters) was found among the books of Philipp Fabricius, former pastor at Ringleben; this was purchased by Wolf von Schönburg, Lord of Glauchau and Waldenburg, and given to Joh. Aurifaber for publication. Aurifaber published these sermons in 1564 in the first part of the Eisleben Collection, where they are found on pages 279 to 392b. After that, they are reprinted in the Altenburg edition, vol. Ill, p. 523; in the Leipzig edition, vol. Ill, p. 471, and in the Erlangen edition, vol. 35, p. I. We give the text according to the Eisleben collection.
Jacob, and acts as if he does not know the other generations in the world, nor does he know anything about them; as he then honestly touches all the others who have lived next to this line and cord 1). Although this line of the human race was very small (for he did not get any further with it than Jacob and his twelve sons, and those born of them, namely seventy souls, who had gone to Egypt, Gen. 46, 27.), yet in the beginning of this first chapter it is described how this people of Israel grew in Egypt, begot other children, multiplied and increased so that the land became full of them, and afterwards they got their own regiments and kingdoms, spiritual and temporal.
From this we see our Lord God's masterpieces, how wonderfully he rules, fulfills and keeps his promises and pledges. God is thin and narrow when he wants to put his promise, made to Abraham and his seed, into practice. For He had promised him [Gen. 15:5] that his seed would become a great and innumerable people, as the sand on the sea and the stars in the sky; also [Gen. 17:6] that kings and princes would come from his loins; but the promise can be seen as if it were to become water. For Abraham and Sarah, like Isaac and Rebecca, are single men, and die, having few children. Where is the promise? God sees it as thin and small; only with the patriarch Jacob does it start a little, to whom God gives twelve sons, of whom seventy souls will soon be begotten, and now the promise wants to see something and lets itself be seen.
These are the great people that the patriarch Abraham is to have. He dies and goes on believing that God will keep His promise to him, even though he no longer sees his Sarah but only Isaac. For God is true in His words and promises. But nevertheless he acts strangely and strangely, as if he did not want to keep the promise, and yet he does. By this we are to be caused to believe God's promises, to build firmly upon them.
1) "honest - hardly.
and to rely on it in all afflictions and temptations, and also to wait with patience for His help, so that God will come at last and comfort us and save us from our troubles. Continue:
V. 8 There arose a new king in Egypt, who knew nothing of Joseph.
(5) How this happened, whether perhaps the land of Egypt fell in a heap with the previous king, I cannot know. But it can be seen that the pious Pharaoh, who lived and ruled at the time of Joseph, died and a new king was chosen in his place, who did not know anything about Joseph. For Joseph lived to be a hundred and ten years old [Gen. 50:22] and was nine and thirty years old when his father, the patriarch Jacob, came to him in Egypt. After that he lived another seventy years, and reigned at least fifty years after his father's death. Then in fifty years there was a great change, that one or two new kings followed in Egypt after Jacob's and Joseph's death.
Egypt was a fine land and kingdom, and was then in its prime. When Joseph, full of the Holy Spirit, reigned in it, it was the most beautiful and fruitful kingdom under the sun; but when Joseph dies, and the right head and nucleus are gone, things are much different; as regiments and kingdoms are wont to rise and fall.
Thus God does with all kingdoms and regiments. He gives each country its time to grow and rise, so that it may increase and expand in wealth, power, honor and authority, and so that it may flourish and soar in honor and dignity. But even if it seems to be the time of our Lord God that such a country should fall again and go to the ground, it also suddenly falls again, so that no one can endure it. Therefore the prophet Daniel [Cap. 2, 21] rightly says: Deus constituit et transfert regna, it is God who establishes and changes kingdoms.
8 Thus he helped the Roman empire to its feet, so that it forced many other kingdoms under it and suppressed them, and became a mighty empire; but it has again gone to ruin. Item, the Jewish Empire has God
The Babylonian empire was also made glorious and great, but now it lies in ashes again. Similarly, the Babylonian empire was a mighty regiment on earth; but it did not stand long, after which it fell again over a heap. In the same way, God gives to every city its time, when it is growing and flourishing; when the time of its growth is over, then suddenly the regiment is over, and comes again into decline and fall.
(9) Thus acts our Lord God: He can make everything out of nothing; a small kingdom he can make large, and again, a great empire he can easily overthrow, so that all the world has enough to cool down [Isa. 13:19]. And if it is then in the change or in the turning, that he pushes a kingdom to the ground, then no defense still helps to hold out; yes, if it hung on iron chains, or stood on iron stakes, then it must go to ruins and to the ground.
10 Thus Egypt was a blessed, Christian, glorious kingdom and principality, which had God's word abundantly preached through the high patriarchs, Jacob and Joseph, and also through the twelve sons of Jacob, who even planted a fine church there for our Lord God. God also gave this kingdom praiseworthy kings and rulers, who gave shelter, protection and protection to the church, and were its nurturers, suckers and protectors [Isa. 49:23], who heaped up and sheltered [the] patriarchs.
The worldly government is also glorious and excellent, that in this kingdom judgment and justice were found. God also gives it great wealth and nourishment. It has had high people in the spiritual and temporal regiments, and this kingdom has stood on strong and solid legs. But when the time comes that this kingdom should also take a blow and fall, it lies in a heap, so that religion and worship perish, and justice, judgment, discipline and restraint cease and come to an end.
12 But when does this happen? This is what the text says: "When Joseph had died, and all his brothers, and all who had lived in his time, there arose a new king in Egypt, who knew nothing of Joseph" 2c.
The downfall of the church and religion, and the destruction of the worldly government, occurs when the godly patriarchs, preachers, bishops and pastors, as well as the Christian, pious kings, princes and capable rulers are taken away. It is also written in the book of Judges, chapter 2, v. 8 ff: "When Joshua the son of Nun died, the servant of the Lord, when he was an hundred and ten years old, and all that were alive at that time were gathered unto their fathers, there arose after them another generation, which knew not the Lord, neither the works that he had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and forsook the LORD their fathers' God, which had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went after other gods." So it goes, when the pillars and support are gone, so the church and worldly regiment have carried, it falls over a heap. When the kernel is eaten out of the nut, one keeps only the empty shells in one's hand, only the husks or the foam remain. The greater the blessing of God was before, the greater is his curse, malediction and disgrace afterwards [Matth. 11, 23]. And if in the same land the saints of God were honored before, afterwards they are thought to be put to death, as happened to the children of Israel in Egypt. Thus the land is turned back, and the people become ungrateful to God, depart from His word, and lose the true worship of God.
V.9-11. And Pharaoh said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are many, and more than we. Let us therefore subdue them with stratagems, that there be not so many of them. For if there be a war against us, they will join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, [and go out to the land]. 1) And he set over them servants of valor, who should press them with service. For they built for Pharaoh the cities of Pithon and Raemses for treasuries."
Here let the ingratitude of the world be known. Even if you do everything good for it and serve it for a long time, it will still hit you on the head as a reward. The world is
1) The bracketed words are missing in the Eisleben edition.
applies good deeds with evil deeds. Until now, the Egyptians have received many good things from Joseph and the children of Israel, such as the true knowledge of God, that they were rid of the abominable, pagan idolatry and now knew the true, right service of God and could find the way to eternal bliss. Thus they also had a Christian, well-ordered, worldly government that was pleasing to God. Item, they had had pious authorities, fruitful years, and many years ago good peace and other bodily benefits more; so that God, for the sake of the Israelites, had blessed the whole kingdom of Egypt. The host had to enjoy the guest. The Egyptians had from the people of Israel salvation and blessedness of their souls, good government, a common peace of the land, food and abundance, since the theurungs began, and all spiritual and bodily welfare. How then the godless world of the Christians still enjoys much; and for the sake of the pious it must often go well with the wicked. But this is all forgotten among the Egyptians; Pharaoh and the Egyptians now think how they would destroy and oppress all the children of Israel with cunning.
14 Such is the world's drink money and reward for faithful service. It gives such evil drink money. We must also get used to it, it does not work differently in the world. For, as the pagans have said: Nihil citius senescit, quam gratia, one forgets nothing so soon as good deeds; item: Beneficium in pulvere scribitur, in marmore noxa, good deeds are soon thrown to the wind, but if one has done something to another's annoyance, that can be remembered for a long time.
(15) Now Pharaoh wisely proposes, first, to destroy the children of Israel by sour, heavy, hard labor, that they may be cut off by the laying of bricks, and other glad tidings of the fortresses. He wants to hang the food too high for them, if he could deceive them 1). But what happens? The text speaks:
V. 12. The more they pressed the people, the more they multiplied and spread out. sAnd they held the children of Israel as an abomination. 2)
1) deaf - to muffle, to suppress.
2) The bracketed words are not in the Eisleben edition.
Here again, behold the wondrous work of our Lord God, how he will perform his word and promise and bring it to pass. He handles it in such a way that it cannot be said that men have carried it out in this way. God had also promised Abraham that he would make a great nation out of his seed. Now he deals with the children of Israel in such a way that they have to be servants and slaves in Egypt, and lets the opposite happen, as if they would even be exterminated. Nevertheless, in the end they become a great nation, for God brings them out of Egypt in great numbers [Ps. 136:11, 12]. So, even though Pharaoh is also very tyrannical, raging and furious against the children of Israel here, he plagues them hard with joyful services and other burdens, nevertheless it does not help at all, he has to let this people stay.
God mocks the tyrants even more, when they thus lay against the Christians with their ravings and persecutions, and does it to their scorn and vexation, yes, in spite of them, that he protects and preserves his own. As if he should say: Dear, go to and forbid me! Nevertheless I will let my people grow and become great, so that all of you will have to confess yourselves that it is not done by any human power. For God has the children of Israel in Egypt forced, pressed, pressed and weakened, and yet makes them so fruitful. It happens with them. Childbearing came more easily to the wives of the Jews than otherwise; it did not become so sour for them in childbirth as it did for the Egyptian wives. For God had it in mind to bring this people away. The more one has resisted here, the more the people have increased; the less one wants them to suffer in the world, the more God receives them [Proverbs 19:21]. And after God had promised that they should become a great nation, they were sure in their conscience that it pleased God that every man should take a wife. Therefore, the more Pharaoh resists, the more it goes.
18 It is the same with the dear gospel. Where it flourishes, all the attempts of the tyrants, who otherwise want to control and prevent the gospel from progressing, must recede. But against God's word
No wisdom, power or force helps, but it penetrates and sweeps away everything in its way. For just as water in a pond may be stopped for a time, so that it cannot flow out, if it is dammed up and buried with rice wood and earth, and its course is blocked; But it swells in the pond, and the water in it grows, increases and accumulates, until it finds some hole in the dam where it can break out and flow out; or, when the pond becomes full of water, it runs over the dam, because it wants to be unrestrained, and to have its stream, river and course: So the devil and the world also oppose the dear gospel, want to hold it up and stop it, hinder preachers and listeners, oppose it with all kinds of tyranny and persecution; but it does not help. The divine word wants to have its course, and should the devil and the world become furious and nonsensical about it.
(19) But what is God's pleasure in this? He does it so that we do not think that we do it, but that it comes from God, who alone does it. For so it goes on, even if the world becomes mad and foolish about it. Here we have an example. The more Pharaoh intends to weaken the people of Israel, the more it spreads and grows. Pharaoh is being foolish here. He builds two strong cities, or two fortresses, two treasuries, and the children of Israel have to work like donkeys. This is the first plot of the king in Egypt and his advisors, so that they think they are making this people less. But God remembers in the meantime: O, my hand is not too weak that I should not feed, protect and defend this people, Isa. 50, 2. 59, 1., and mocks Pharaoh in addition.
20. For thus God does against the world and the devil's wrath and raging. They must not only do no harm to the gospel with their tyranny, raging and fury, but only promote and spread it further and tear the head in two against the gospel. As the other Psalm, vv. 1-5, also teaches us, when David says: "The nations rage, and the peoples speak in vain; the kings of the land rebel against the Lord.
Lord and his anointed and say: Let us break their bands, and cast away their cords from us. But he that dwelleth in heaven laugheth at them, and the LORD mocketh at them. One day he will speak to them in anger, and with his wrath he will "terrify" them, so that they will fall to the ground for a little while.
21 All this is done so that we may learn to trust God and believe in Him. For He will not and cannot abandon us. Our enemies do no more with their anger than to promote God's work the longer the more, and only hinder themselves. God allows the enemies to rage, so that they may offend him, and God will pay them again and give them their deserved reward. But in the meantime, God has the other part pressed hard, and sees through his fingers that they are hard-pressed, so that he may soon help them out and save them.
(22) It is the same for us today. Our doctrine is violently persecuted, Christians are drowned, hanged and burned from time to time, I and you are badly plagued; and we can see what the pope, cardinals, bishops and princes have in mind. If they could drown us all in a spoon, they would not take a rivet 1) to it. But God is sitting up in heaven, watching them, and says: "You boys, you have long since deserved that I should strike you with a sharp rod; therefore, make haste with your persecution, be very angry and wicked, so that I may come upon you the sooner and destroy you.
(23) For the enemies of the gospel must burn their fists against our Lord GOD, that they may perish in their persecution and lie in ashes. For God is too strong and mighty for them that they may not push Him from His throne and chair; therefore the game is over their heads. As also the Lord Christ says to Paul in the stories of the apostles [Cap. 9, 4. 5.], when he was still snorting against Christianity with persecution: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It will be hard for you to lick against a thorn." For
1) Zober Zuber.
Whoever does such things makes himself blood disgraceful, paralyzes and corrupts his feet. Just as St. Paul did not accomplish much more with his persecution, but finally had to stop with his raving.
24 This is very comforting to all Christians, that they know that if they cry out to God in their anguish and distress, He will hear them and deliver them from persecution, and will also give their enemies and persecutors their reward [Ps. 142:2, 74].
V.15-17. And the king of Egypt said unto the wombs of the Hebrew women, the name of the one was Siphra, and the name of the other Puah, If ye help the Hebrew women, and see out of the throne that it is a son, slay him. But if it is a daughter, let her live. But the wives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them, but let the children live.
(25) Since the first attack did not help, the king used another practice, which our Lord God also beat to the ground. For God's power is strong. It may at times appear weak and impotent, but in the end it shows itself again and prevails. In the same way, God sometimes acts foolishly and foolishly, but His wisdom finally persists. For human and divine wisdom run counter to each other, and human wisdom must lie below.
026 Pharaoh will cause the sons of the children of Israel to be strangled here, and not the daughters, that the people of Judah may not increase, and that the Egyptians may be driven out of the land: remember, we can compel the wives of the Israelites, but they must be our handmaids, and in time we will kill them also. Let the women go, but not the men; otherwise the women must die in time.
27 Thus Pharaoh thinks that he has blocked up the hole for our Lord God, so that he cannot get a hair through it, and so that he cannot help the children of Israel; therefore he takes the Egyptian mothers of sorrow for his attack, and not the Hebrew mothers of sorrow. But God disgraces the king's counsel with his mothers of sorrow; as Solomon says in the book of Proverbs
in the 21st chapter, v. 30, says: "No wisdom, no understanding, no art helps against the Lord" [Job 5, 13]. And the prophet Isaiah [Cap. 8, 10.] says: "Decide on a council, and nothing will come of it; talk it over, and it will not stand; for here is Immanuel." It does not have to go out to Pharaoh in such a way as he has in mind. There are many things that go wrong with his own ideas and his own cloth. The tyrants are often lacking in their attacks.
Why does God need the Egyptian mother of sorrow for this, when He could have used others to help the Israelites? But God does it because the enemies of the Christian church must themselves do good to the Christians, often against their will and thanks. For the Egyptian women were otherwise by nature hostile and opposed to the Hebrew women; [that] still, against the king's earnest command and strict order, they should let the Hebrews' babies live. Someone here might have said, "How wise is our Lord God! Should the Egyptian wombs help the children of Israel, since they are their mortal enemies? But what does our Lord God do? Where men have no counsel, salvation, help or comfort, he will help; as he is called in the 9th Psalm, v. 10, a helper in trouble. Therefore he comes and takes away the heart of the mothers of sorrow, and turns their mind and courage, and inclines their heart to the children of Israel. This is a small art to our Lord God, for he rules in the midst of his enemies, says the 110th Psalm, v. 2. Therefore he often makes the Christians' adversaries and enemies their friends. As Solomon in the 16th chapter of the book of Proverbs, v. 7, also speaks of this in a glorious and comforting way, saying: "If a man's ways please the Lord, he also makes his enemies happy with him.
(29) So this attack must also be lacking in Pharaoh the king. For God puts fear and terror into the hearts of the mothers of sorrow, so that they do not kill the children; as God in the fifth commandment seriously forbids that one should not kill; therefore, they do not want to act against this commandment of God, they are afraid of God's wrath and punishment. Thus, God can control the iron eaters, angry squires and scoundrels, and bring them to justice.
Make them cowards. Therefore the 72nd Psalm, v. 9, says: "Before him those in the wilderness will bow down, and his enemies will lick the dust", that is, the enemies of Christ must not be so hopeful, but let their throbbing, defying, pawing and persecuting. To lick the dust means to be in fear and trembling, and not to know what to do in fear and trembling, that one may also let his feet go over him. Kissing stones, licking earth means to be frightened by God's wrath, to desist from persecution; like Paul, the persecutor, when he was struck down with lightning before Damasco, he also became frightened, licked dust, stuck his nose in the ashes, said with trembling, "Lord, what shall I do?", Apost. 9, 6, becomes an apostle and preacher. Before, he strangled the Christians with thirst, now he makes them alive with the teaching of the gospel and does all good to the Christians.
(30) But these pious, honest matrons, these two mothers of sorrow, have dared to transgress this mighty king's mandate, not wanting to strangle the innocent little children, but having God more in mind than their king. And it is right and well done. Saul's followers [1 Sam. 22, 17] did not want to kill the five and eighty priests of Nobe 1) who betrayed Doeg that they had fed David in flight, and the king commanded them to kill the priests with the edge of the sword. So [1 Kings 18:4] when Ahab king of Israel, with his wicked Jezebel, chased Eliam and the other prophets out of the kingdom because of Baal's false worship, and wanted them all dead, Obadiah, king Ahab's chamberlain, was against the king's lord's ban, and hid a hundred prophets in caves, and fed and nourished them.
These all feared God more than their kings. Just as the Lord Christ also confesses, when he says Matth. 10, 28: "Fear not those who can kill the body, but him who can cast both body and soul into the infernal fire. If the king had known this, he would have punished the Egyptian mothers of woe much more severely than all the Egyptians.
1) Erlanger: Niobe.
Hebrew women. But God with His wisdom disgraces the great king so that two old cripples have to mimic and fool such a mighty king. They are not afraid of his great power, but of God's displeasure and wrath. Only God does this.
32 Now the king finally realizes it, and is very angry with the mothers of sorrow. Then they devise a lie, as follows in the text:
V.18. 19. Then the king of Egypt called unto the women of sorrow, and said, Why do ye this, that ye suffer the children to live? And the women answered Pharaoh, The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: for they are hard women. Before the mother of sorrow comes to them, they have given birth.
They apologize and say: Before we come to them, we have failed. Here is the question: Have the mothers of sorrow also sinned, that they turn their nose to their king and authority, and speak a lie? Abraham also told such a lie when he called his wife Sarai his sister in the presence of King Abimelech [Gen. 12:13]. To this it should be answered, that though Christians have the Holy Ghost, yet have they flesh and blood in them: so also much sin and infirmity doth hang and cleave unto them, wherefore they must always pray: Lord, forgive us our trespasses [Matth. 6, 12]. And whether the saints of God do too little or too much at times, it nevertheless goes away with the heap and multitude of the forgiveness of sins [Ps. 32:6] and belongs under the heaven of graces, that is, under the forgiveness of sins.
34 But lying is when one wants to harm his neighbor. If a lie is of this kind, that one wants to harm or deceive someone's property, honor, life and limb, then it is a sin, because I am seeking my own benefit and the harm of others. This is mendacium perniciosum. But if I lie in such a way that I do not harm but serve and benefit someone, that I promote his good and best, then it is called a friendly lie, mendacium officiosum, if someone presents himself in such a way and fabricates something for the benefit of others. When Lucä on
In chapter 24, v. 28, the Lord Christ stood against the two disciples who were going to Emmaus, as if he wanted to pass by, and yet he did not; he did not have it in mind, and yet he allowed himself to be asked. This lie is the same here. The mothers of sorrow want to serve the children of Israel and save them from Pharaoh's fierce rage; they do not want to harm the Israelites with this, but prevent and spoil them, 1) so that Pharaoh does not shed innocent blood with the little children; they want to ward off the murdering devil, who would have gladly caused a bloodbath with the babies of the Hebrews. So they, the mothers of sorrow, want to break the devil's entrenchment with this prudence of theirs and keep the Hebrew babies alive.
V. 20. 21. Therefore God did good to the mothers of sorrow, and the people multiplied and became very many. And because the wombs feared GOD, he built them houses.
(35) Behold, how God rewarded abundantly the mothers of sorrow in Egypt for not strangling the children of the Hebrews in childbirth, that God might do them good again; their godliness must be rewarded abundantly. Just as godliness has the promise that it will be rewarded and paid for by God with spiritual and physical goods. For thus also the Lord Christ says Matth. 6, 33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the rest shall be added to you." And St. Paul to Timothy [1 Ep. 4, 8.] says: "Godliness is profitable for all things; it hath promise of the present life and of that which is to come." And 1 Sam. 2, 30. God says: "Those who honor me, I will honor again." That is, those who live godly lives must again be blessed by God, so that it may go well with them here in this life and there in the Kingdom of Heaven.
(36) A house in Scripture is not called a beam, a rafter, or a roof, but a tabernacle, a dwelling, or a dwelling, a garrison, where man and woman, parents and children, masters, wives, and servants dwell together, having food and drink, food and covering. So also a church is called a house of God, where people come together to worship God.
1) degenerate - to forestall, resist.
They act according to the word, use the sacraments, and perform the true service of God, even though there is no house or roof there. Thus a house, a regiment or a household is called, that God has blessed the mother of sorrow, that she has received men, children, wealth, money and goods, and that her family has increased and spread. For house also often means a family; as we Germans say, the House of Saxony, the House of Brandenburg, that is, the tribe, the princes of Saxony and the margraves of Brandenburg. This reward was given to the mothers of sorrow for their service and office, that they let the Hebrew babies live in the birth, and not for the lie, that they deceived the king Pharaoh and destroyed his evil plan, tyranny and murderous plots.
V.22. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, All sons that are born cast into the water, and all daughters let live.
(37) When the first two acts of Pharaoh, his persecution and tyranny, and the glad tidings, and the murder of the children in childbirth, had fallen, Pharaoh the king nevertheless continued in his bloodthirsty murderous purpose, desiring to destroy the people of Israel root and branch; therefore he sent forth a public edict or mandate in the kingdom, that all the children should be cast into the water, and drowned.
(38) This was an earnest commandment, that the devil, the murderer of the flesh, should be grievous to the children of Israel, and that many children should be slain; and this commandment might have stood twenty years. Moses is also born immediately in this edict. His brother Aaron is three years older than he, and has not been in this danger of death, but Moses is put into the water to be drowned.
39 But what does our Lord God do about it? This third attack of Pharaoh must also be nullified. For persecution and murder must not harm the Church of God and the Christians, the Christians must not become less by it, as Pharaoh would have liked to wipe out the people by his bloodthirsty attacks, but the Church takes its place under the cross, of the
As the old teacher of the church, Tertullianus, said so well: Sanguine martyrum rigatur ecclesia, that is, the church is sprinkled, moistened and watered by the blood of Christians. From the blood of Christians there always grow other Christians, who reflect and marvel at their faith, confession of Christ, patience in the cross and constancy, and who are also converted to the Christian faith and become blessed.
(40) In our time, the pope and his followers have also raged against the gospel and its followers, and have driven many Christians into the misery of their wives and children, their possessions and goods, and have burned them, hanged them, watered them, beheaded them and strangled them, thus wanting to hinder the preaching of the gospel and reduce the number of Christians. But the longer the gospel has been spread under this raging of the devil, the more Christians have become, just as the children of Israel have increased under this persecution.
The devil, along with the world, means ill and would gladly devour the Christians, but God sends it for the good of His own. Such persecution, hardship and temptation must be a cause for them to cry out to God in earnest, to trust in Him, to patiently await His help. He can certainly send it differently, namely, that the Christians will finally be delivered from their distress, and the wicked will be overthrown with their rage. As he does here, Pharaoh throws the sons of the Israelites into the water and drowns them, but in the end he must stop. For God also finally takes Pharaoh the king, together with all the people of Egypt, and drives them through Moses to the baths in the Red Sea, where they must all drown. This shall be the end of the tyrants.
(42) Thus far we have heard in the first chapter of the second book of Moses how the children of Israel were afflicted and oppressed by Pharaoh the king in Egypt with three kinds of plagues. First, how he weighed them down with burdens and labor so that they would not multiply. But it did not help. Second, as the king commanded the mothers of woe,
to kill the young children at birth. This did not happen either. Third, he ordered that the male children be thrown into the water and drowned, but that the female children be left alive. But nothing happened.
(43) So it must be with the people who have the true word of God, through which word they escape the devil body and soul. The devil slaughters them as sheep for the slaughter [Ps. 44, 23], he tortures and torments them, otherwise he lets false teachers and other godless people remain safe and in peace and quiet; only those who have God's word must let him have their hair and suffer persecution from him. As St. Paul also prophesied [2 Tim. 3:12], "that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. The Lord Christ also said [Matth. 10, 38. 16, 24.]: "Whoever wants to be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me. The Lord Christ himself had to suffer persecution from the devil and the world; why should we want to be better off than he was?
(44) But we have also heard of the great wonders God does for His own who trust in Him and believe His word and promise. For though at first he may well set himself against them, as if he would forsake them altogether, that they should perish and perish: yet he comforts them again, and helps them out of persecution; he takes hold of the game of the tyrants, throws away their dice, bites their cards, and puts them to shame with all their attempts and persecutions.
Allegoria or spiritual interpretation of the first chapter.
(45) We have often told your dear ones, and especially those who want to study the Scriptures and become preachers, to beware of spiritual interpretations or allegories (as they are called). For I have also hitherto proceeded by leading the histories to a secret understanding; there have 1) well to beware, who there-
1) Taken by us from the old edition. Eislebensche: has one.
with, and they must be properly instructed.
46) It cannot be prevented that one should not take histories before oneself and draw secret meanings from them, which Paul [1 Cor. 13:2, 14:2] calls mysteria. Than that I give a gross example: Isaac is sacrificed on the altar and yet remains alive, that it means Christ must die and rise again and come to life. This must be allowed to happen. For St. Paul says: The Holy Spirit speaks mysteries, that is his office, he can also meet and interpret the mysteries. As St. Paul also does to the Galatians [Cap. 4, 23] with the two wives, Sarah and Hagar, which are the two testaments. Item, with the two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, which mean two different nations. If he did not lead and interpret it this way himself, then sows should have fallen in, wildly and desolately interpreting it.
47 For this reason, it does not suffer that anyone should fall with his head into the Scriptures, and therein ponder and mow, 1) as he pleases. No one should refrain from doing so, unless he has the Holy Spirit. And St. Paul said to the Romans in chapter 12, v. 7: "If anyone prophesies, let it be similar to faith", analoga fidei. Whoever wants to interpret secretly, let him see to it that he interprets them on faith, that they rhyme with faith.
I say this because I myself have wasted and lost much time in Gregorio, Hieronymo, Cypriano, Augustino, Origene. For the fathers, in their time, had a special lust and love for allegories, walked around with them and [clicked] all the books. Origen is almost a prince and king over allegories, and has made the whole Bible quite full of such secret interpretations, which are not worth a damn. The cause is this, that they all followed their conceit, head and opinion, as they considered it right, and not St. Paul, who wants to let the Holy Spirit act in it, or that the allegories would be similar to faith.
49. And I did not want to preach about it either,
1) mähren - to stir around.
If I did not do this, I would make you accustomed to use the allegories correctly, and I would be able to take away the power of the interpreters and teachers who thus err with the allegories, and I would be able to contradict them and keep the right mind. Origen did Christ much harm with this. For the Jews mocked the same teachers who "interpreted" the Scriptures by allegory, and knew how to interpret Christ's word in such a way that everything written by Isaac should be understood by Christ. For frivolous spirits, who were full and satisfied with the divine word, only gave themselves to searching for many allegories; and there one could not quite grasp God's word before the same interpretations.
50 That was a delicious thing, and people's mouths were opened; when one hears something new and brings something strange, one wants to know everything, writes and clicks everything; but nothing good comes of it. For when one is weary of history, one seeks what the world looks at, and one seeks his honor, the other something else in the Scriptures, and preach for the sole purpose of opening people's eyes, ears, mouths and noses, and one says: O, a learned man is this! But they lose the right reason and understanding of the Scriptures, and lead the people astray.
Look at the books of St. Jerome, I have also read them. But he thinks he has got it right, uses splendid words, but it is a bad thing, and is only the shells of the nut, the husks of the pea. You have to bite the nut open and break it out, and that's where you'll find the kernel; if you don't do that, you'll get dirt in your mouth. A young teacher might fall for it, and think that it is right and good, yes, that there is a secret mystery hidden inside, just as there is a kernel in the nut; he regards the histories as shells, in which there is nothing, and considers it a dead thing. I have also treated the histories as the best way to live a Christian life in faith, love, and patience, and to pray and keep oneself in the cross.
52 Therefore I have asked that whoever wants to study the holy Scriptures should not forfeit his pride and desire in the holy Scriptures.
Take before you Homerum, Ovidium, Virgilium, or any other poet, and try your art there, and do not plump here into the holy Scriptures, for you have washed your feet beforehand, so that you may get the kernel out of the nut and not the shells; therefore turn it over and seek the best. The main part and the reason, or the best in the Scriptures, they also call the shells without the nut, as, the histories read above and know. But let it also be your best study, that we may know how the histories go, how Abraham lived in the word of God and faith, and how he fared.
This corrects people, straightens and comforts consciences that are in great anguish and distress, and gives an example of how to live rightly, so that they may also remain in the simple mind. And history brings the fine examples of faith and love, yes, it brings forth their life. If you seek and ponder anything else from it, it is not good; for you are on the wrong track and go astray, and have already opened the door to the devil behind and in front, and have a reckless spirit that despises the holy Scriptures. Then the devil's head is made so full of allegories that you pour out sacks full of them, and you even become a fool about it, since you think you are very clever.
54 Now, I do not want to deny it, but I ask that you keep the core, the right treasure, and the most important part of the holy scriptures, namely, that you learn the holy scriptures well according to the historical way. For I warn you that you will find it much different in the old teachers, who are full of allegories. Origen has entangled himself and his disciples and the whole world with them, yet St. Jerome of Origen boasted that he, after the apostles, would place his doctrine on none but Origen. But I did not want to cough up St. Hieronymi and St. Origen's art. For any pointed head could do the same. Since they are supposed to teach me the history of how one should live in the Word of God, and also how one should believe and practice love, they are quite mute and stiffly go over it.
55. these masters of christianity have not
A history properly executed. It is fitting to show how life goes on in faith, and how a man holds fast to faith and leaves his wife and child above it. This should be the most noble thing, and one should be full of it. Therefore keep the rule: that whoever wants to act the prophets should act them according to faith and restrain himself from allegories. For they have made great thoughts out of them, and let him who studies them beware; for these Doctores are to be read as yearly as any poets, nay, Virgilius is much more harmless than they. Then we know that Virgilius and other poets are fools and have erred, but these let themselves be seen with their doctrine, that it is all good what they pretend, and yet they put dirt in their mouths.
(56) Take heed, ye that study, that ye learn not backward, and forget more than ye have learned. For it was the same with me. When I was still in school, I lacked a proper master who could have taught me such things. But now it is told to you, watch and keep it. One must take from the Scriptures the right treasure, the core, strength, power, juice and taste, which is the example of faith and love; one should look at it; where God has written it out, you must not dig deeply for it. After that, when you have this most noble piece, you can introduce secret interpretation along with the public text, decorate it, and attach it as beautiful clasps.
(57) As St. Paul also does, since he preached for a long time in the epistle to the Galatians that faith makes righteous and not the works of the law, he then finally [Cap. 4, 22. ff] also comes to the allegoriam or interpretation, and leaves it at that. So that he shows that allegories may well be used, but in such a way that they rhyme and serve as a basis. For I also know well that the secret interpretations do not hold the sting, nor should they be the reason on which we rely. For this alone the clear, explicit and public word of God should and must do, as believing in Christ and loving one's neighbor; thus one is blessed. Other doctrines and allegories you leave aside, as that also is St. Paul [Gal. 4, 22. ff.] with Abraham, that his two sons mean the
two wills. 1) Otherwise, 2) if there were no reason for it here, my heart would waver and always think how I would be sure of it. For one would say: Who knows whether it means this, whether it is also thus? The heart must fidget there, and cannot be sure, must also not base itself on the allegories, or rely on them. I must have the public text and leaf of the holy scripture.
58. Therefore, be prepared to consider the spiritual meanings as your least study, and take hold of the faith, love, and word of God that the patriarchs had and were preserved by. Let this be your highest study, and then come after it that which the doctors have otherwise considered the greatest; then you will preach and study usefully. You must turn it around, and throw back the allegories, and not interpret them, as Origen did; for I interpret and lead them all to serve the preaching ministry and faith. So do you also. As you will hear here in a rough example of the third chapter [v. 2 ff] that Moses saw the fiery bush burning. This green bush, in which was the flame of fire and God Himself, was drawn to the Virgin Mary and sung throughout the world during Advent. This pleased the world that it meant this; plump in so soon and must be delicious thing, that it should hit the Virgin Mary.
(59) Now if one had asked him who had given and interpreted these things: How does it rhyme that the bush should be the Virgin Mary standing there with her virginity and pregnant womb? Give me the reasons: then he would stand as a piper. For you say: Where does it rhyme? Does it also lead to Christ? Does it also lead to faith and Christianity? Then one must say, No, for it goes only to the Virgin Mary, the mother of the Lord Christ, and to her virginity; there it rhymes.
1) Here the relation seems to us to be unclear and deficient. It would be to be read approximately: Other teachings and allegories you leave, but accept only those that are founded in the holy scripture, as which is also 2c.
2) In the Eisleben edition, "sonst" precedes "allhier".
like a fist on an eye. Therefore it is an annual thing to lead and interpret the holy scripture as we want, as seems right to us. For how does it rhyme to be a mother, or to conceive, and to burn? How can the fiery bush be the mother Mary? The fact that the bush is not consumed should mean that Mary remains a virgin.
(60) If anyone is interested in this fool's work, he may read the history of the feast of the conception of Mary, in Advent, and see what the same fool there has fooled with the Scriptures, since he attributes the ark of Noah, the high mountains that look out of the water, the tree of paradise, and other things, all to Mary, and shows all the letters with the secret interpretation of the Virgin Mary. And we have also done it in the Papacy, that we have drawn everything to the Virgin Mary, as that she is the one where one should put all comfort and confidence; item, that she can save us from troubles. Take the feast of the body of Christ before you, and see what patchwork there is, so that it looks as if the swine had spit it. The notes and the chant are good, but otherwise there is a piece here and a patch there, and the bread of heaven must be the Lord's Supper, so that it looks like an embroidered and patched cloak. 3) The highest theologians have said this about the feast of Christ. The highest theologians have done this, and have been fools in the skin.
61 Look at Gregory, how the same man is a juggler. When he opens his mouth in his sermons, he forgets the text of the Scriptures and says nothing about faith, love or the cross, but only about spiritual interpretations; these teachers must still be called the pillars of Christianity, which should preserve the church. They last a good year.
62 Let this be said as a preface and instruction, so that one may beware and not be reckless and presumptuous in handling the holy Scriptures in this way, and in playing tricks with them. One should not and cannot prevent it, but be gentle with the allegories. If you have taken the histories [as a basis], then do
3) Eislebensche: er.
4) Added by us.
a neat allegoriam to it. If the spirit does it, then it will be found whether the allegory goes to faith or not 2c. Therefore I conclude, and say that few allegories belong to Mariam.
Now let us take the first chapter before us, and take the secrets, or hidden, secret interpretations from it and act upon them. For I will not let it be called a spiritual interpretation, for the whole of Holy Scripture is spiritual, and without it no other books.
The first part is that the people of Israel, who had God's word, were oppressed and afflicted by Pharaoh the king with brickmaking and other hard labor, so that they could not multiply. This is the main point in this history, that those who want to be God's people must suffer persecution. For Christ [Matth. 16, 24.] says: "Whoever wants to become my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me." So St. Paul [2 Tim. 3, 12.]: "Whoever wants to live godly in Christ JEsu must suffer persecution." Item, in the 44th Psalm, v. 23, the Christians are called sheep for slaughter, who are tormented daily for Christ's sake 2c. We have a clear, bright example of this here; and now show it to the preaching ministry, so this story can rightly and well suffer a secret interpretation and a hidden understanding, namely, how the right preachers and false teachers deal and do with the people. The people of Israel have God's word and righteous preachers, then Pharaoh comes with his drivers and his tyranny, oppresses the people, and the oppression of the body must also be drawn on the conscience. The holy scriptures are full of how the statutes of men weigh down the consciences and corrupt the faith, and cause it to perish; as the prophet Jeremiah and other prophets are full of complaints against the statutes of men, which weigh down the consciences and oppress them with false doctrines of good works.
So this interpretation of the office of preaching, as of the right and wrong preachers, is without a doubt, and rhymes with the Holy Scriptures and with faith. And I am sure that if this history rhymes with preaching
The first is that the interpretation is certain, and that the Holy Spirit interprets it Himself. For the heart of man can never rest unless he has the right doctrine or the divine word, so that he believes in God and holds fast to him; and he who has this can also lead a right life. The devil cannot stand this teaching, so he sets up false teachings and sends false preachers, forcing the people with laws to do good works, so that they will go to heaven, as we monks have done with our vows and other works. These false teachers are the devil's servants, who beat one burden over another on our consciences, torturing us with the stroke of a brick. For the works have not served us, nor have they benefited us; we have had no more than trouble from them, and have thus been weighed down and martyred with the striking of bricks; it has not benefited us, but the pope, bishops, monks and priests, who have become rich from it.
66 Thus the history can be rightly interpreted, that Pharaoh builds two cities from the sour labor of the children of Israel. For so it is with all those who live under the laws of men and under the priesthood; they are not improved by them, and their consciences are only oppressed, tormented and afflicted by them.
67. For whose benefit is it that these bricks are painted? We are the pabst's brickmakers, he has fattened his belly and filled it with our goods; but we have been weighed down hard, lest we should conceive and bring forth children; that is, the word of God has not been preached to us, lest we should believe in God and be saved. For where the Word of God is not preached, believed, prayed for, and taught about, we know nothing of God, and we are not God's children, begotten for the Kingdom of God. Just as the children of Israel were troubled and wearied here, so that they could not multiply and beget children in the flesh.
68. this could be drawn rightly against good works, and would this secret mind and understanding also be right, so that our good works might be put down, and God's word and
our faith would be established. As Saint Paul also did when he said: Sarah is the right housewife and the free one, who has God's word and faith; but Hagar, the other woman, is the law, who deals with works. So the prophecy rhymes and is similar to faith, if one leads the allegories to the word and faith against the works.
69 Two cities are built for Pharaoh, and his kingdom comes to power, honor and wealth, so that he becomes a great, strong and powerful king. In this way, we too have been greatly burdened by the pope's kingdom, but his errors, his decrees and canons have been confirmed. Which the devil does for this reason, so that he may hinder God's word and prevent us from multiplying or being made a great nation and begotten for the kingdom of God.
70 Therefore Pharaoh also has a proper name. For Pharaoh means to stand idle, or to walk idly; as when a woman has no veil on her head, or a man has not put on his hat, and has no clothes on his body, or walks idly with his jewels and coverings. As then in the fifth book of Moses [Cap. 32, 42.] in the song it is said of uncovering the head; that is, when a man is torn from God, that God does not hover over us, for otherwise he is our head; as St. Paul [1 Cor. 11, 3.] says that the man is the head of the woman; thus God is the head of the man, but the man rules the woman, and God rules through the man; God is the regent of the man. And this is also said of the authorities, that God rules through them [Rom. 13:1 ff. Ps. 82:1 ff]. Therefore one should humble oneself before it, for it is the lid, the head and regent, since we must go as God governs us through it.
(71) He who has such a ruler is not called bare, nor is he bareheaded, for he goes under God and has a cover to govern him, to protect him, and to wait on him; just as a woman goes under a man and has a ruler by her husband. But he who is without a ruler, the Scripture calls bare and bareheaded. So Pharaoh is called such a ruler or king, who makes us bareheaded, that we are without a ruler and without a kingdom; that is, these false teachers tear us from
God, that Christ and God is not our head, Lord and King, that we have no faith in Christ, but have lost Him, go bareheaded, are under Pharaoh, just as Pharaoh is also called bareheaded.
This rhymes well together. For this is the manner of all those who bluff themselves with good works, that when they do many works they want to be saved by them, and yet they do not attain to salvation, nothing comes of it. So we are bareheaded, and go without the head, Christ, if we want to be saved by works; just as Paul also says to the Galatians [Cap. 5:4], "You have fallen from grace, and have lost Christ, because you want to be saved by works," that is, you have fallen from the kingdom of Christ, and go without the head, Christ; just as a lewd woman runs away from her husband and goes to another. The head is there, but the harlot wants to be without a head and walk bareheaded.
73] In this other book of Moses [Cap. 32, 25] it is also said that Moses saw that populus esset nudatus, that the people went bareheaded and naked. For Aaron had made them naked, because he pretended a special service, that they should sacrifice to the golden calf, that he might tear them from God and make them bareheaded, because they trusted in the same good work.
(74) This is what this king means; therefore he must have this name, that he may show who he is, and what kind of fellows they are who teach laws and good works, and keep silence from the faith, that they are Pharaoh's oppressors, who trouble the consciences with good works, and help no man to rest and peace. Therefore it is not right to preach in Christendom that one should preach by faith alone against good works and the law of men. But I say of those who are Christians. For with the wicked it is already finished, they belong under the executioner, who is called to paint bricks and to weigh down the consciences; but we speak of those who are Christians and remain in Christianity, these are not under the law.
(75) To paint bricks, to work with clay in Egypt, is to be well blued and martyred with good works, that one may become pious, and to be a good man.
complaining to themselves with statutes, from which one gets a stupid conscience, because no one becomes rich or happy from it.
(76) The other allegory is also to be drawn to the ministry of preaching, if it will not help that the labor and burden of the people may be less, that the king commanded the mothers of sorrow in Egypt that they should kill the children of the Hebrews in childbirth as soon as they were young. For the false prophets, when they hear that a man preacheth of the faith, straightway they will have one dead, and put the people under ban. [But they let the maidens live, that is, those who depart from the preaching of the faith and fall into good works, and want to live a better life before God than other people. Those who are strong in the faith, and hold themselves as men, and do not want to rely on good works, the same
strike them dead, says the devil; but let the others live who continue in good works. But these are righteous Christians, who abide in the doctrine of faith and keep it, are also improved by such doctrine.
(77) Pharaoh's throwing all the little ones into the water and drowning them is the power and authority of taking hold of doctrine by force and thirst, and drowning people with water, that is, with the doctrines of men. For water is superfluous, false doctrine, when one falls into good works and lives without faith; in it one must drown and perish. So you have heard the first chapter, in which faith and the ministry of preaching were explained, and this doctrine is thus confirmed, that faith alone is valid before God, and works do nothing but serve the neighbor.