v. 1-9. Moses answered and said, Behold, they will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is it that thou hast in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it from thee unto the earth. And he cast it from him, and it became a serpent: and Moses fled before it. But the LORD said unto him, Stretch forth thine hand, and catch it by the tail. So he stretched out his hand and held it, and it became a rod in his hand. Therefore they shall believe that the LORD hath appeared unto thee, the
The God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And the LORD said unto him, Put thine hand into thy bosom: and he put it into his bosom, and drew it out; and, behold, it was leprous as snow. And he said, Put it again into thy bosom: and he put it again into thy bosom, and drew it out: behold, it was again as other flesh. Now if they will not believe thee, nor hear the things which thou sayest by one sign, yet will they believe when thou sayest of the other sign. But if they will not believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice, they shall believe thee.
Take the water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the same water that you took from the river will become blood on the dry land.
We have heard so far in the three chapters of the other book of Moses how God called Moses to a great, glorious work in which he was to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and to overthrow the mighty, powerful king in Egypt. We have also heard of God's promise and promise that He would be with Moses, help him, so that he could carry out this great work. But Moses refused to accept and carry out such a ministry and work.
Now God goes on in this fourth chapter and gives Most three different signs or miracles, by which he and also the children of Israel may notice his divine presence. First, a rod or staff that he throws out of his hand to the earth, which becomes a serpent. Second, that he put his hand into his bosom, and it became leprous, like snow; but when he put it back into his bosom, and drew it out again, it became like other flesh. Thirdly, "If they will not believe these two signs, nor hear your voice," says God, "take the water out of the river and pour it on the dry land, and the same water that you took out of the river will become blood on the dry land.
(3) Moses did these signs to confirm his profession, so that he might confidently continue in his office and calling, and not doubt that God was with him, teaching and speaking with his mouth what Moses should do and say, item, so that the children of Israel would also be assured and assured by these miracles that Moses should be the man specially appointed by God to deliver them from Egypt. Otherwise, Moses had for himself the fiery bush and God's promise, so that he could be comforted in his profession. But these three miraculous signs were to happen for the sake of the children of Israel, so that they would believe that the time of their salvation was also at hand. But what the staff or shillelagh, the leprous hand and the water are, we will hear in the allegory.
(v. 10-12) And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I have not been well discoursed since the time that thou spakest unto thy servant: for I am slow of speech, and slow of tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who made man's mouth? or who made him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Have I not done it, the Lord? Now therefore go. I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Now we are in history and want to see how much effort it takes before a man trusts God and accepts His word, especially if it is something high and great, as here, in this chapter, since God humbles and humiliates Himself so much, and so kindly entices and drives people until they believe. Moses nevertheless sticks to his last excuse, because he cannot do otherwise, and has looked for another excuse or hole, since he wants to go out, so that he will not obey God. For he says: "Even though I do everything, I cannot speak. He freely confesses that he is not a talker. The Jews interpret it as a lisp; but I believe that Moses had a difficult speech and tongue, that he stammered and stuttered, and spoke a word two or three times, and yet did not get it out right. He had this infirmity, and that he did not lisp.
5 So the Jews say that he put fiery coals in his mouth to burn his tongue, and that is why he lisped. But the text says that he stuttered. These are Jewish tales. It is the last exodus or evasion, by which Moses wants to leave this office. But God answers him rightly, is not yet angry, and says: "Who made man's mouth? or who made the mute or the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have I not done it?" If God were as wise as we are, He would have begun all things better than they have happened otherwise.
(6) For here He takes for this great and heavy work one who cannot speak well, as Moses himself confesses; nor does God say to him, "Go and execute it well.
Which is just as if I said to a blind man that he should see, and to a lame man that he should walk, and to a dumb man that he should speak. Could not God find another to use for this work? But it is written that we should learn how God is minded. He does not respect what is valid in the eyes of the world; He rejects and rejects what others take to Himself; what others love and cherish, He throws away; and what the devil does not like, He accepts. He gives a right answer to Mosi and says: You are clever and a fine fellow; they are stingers, 1) as if he should say: Do you think that I do not know that you stammer, and as if I do not hear it? So it seems to us. For we are always mastering God in His works, just as if we were the very first to see the flaws, shortcomings and infirmities, but God did not see them. What does it matter, God wants to say, if you are deaf, blind or dumb? How then, if I call you and command you, can I not make you see, hear and speak? Who is the one who talks to you? It is not Kunz the cobbler, but he who gives eyes and face to the blind, ears and hearing to the deaf, and can make the unreasonable eloquent; in turn, he makes the great talkers mute. And thou wouldest set a goal and a measure before me, thou that canst not speak, seeing I have chosen thee because thou canst not speak? If thou couldst speak, then thou shouldest exalt thyself. So that they may see that I am the man who does this and not you, I am using you, the stammerer, for this work. For if one were so skilled as Gabriel and all the angels, and God did not call him, he would accomplish nothing. God makes the eloquent and the mute. Again, if one is unspeaking, and God calls him, he brings it forth as he pleases, so that the world may see that it is not we who do it, but God who does it.
(7) For this reason he has shown his supreme wisdom here, so that this stammerer, Moses, will become such an excellent man who persuades all kings. One might say: "Attack it wisely, dear Lord!
1) Sticherlinge is probably as much as pointed speeches.
GOd. Yes, he answers, I am the Master; have I not done it? Is not Moses caught with his tongue, that he stammers and stutters? But what he should speak, that he has from me. If I do not want him to, he becomes dumb; if I want him to, he must speak again. We do not look at this, and do not think that God is so close, and should doubt that God has made me a mouth; but think that speech is innate to us. But there is no one on earth who could speak a word if it were not for God. We throw it to the wind, and think that we have it purely plump.
8 Now Moses is captivated by God and decided on all sides. For God says to him: Do you fear the king? Are you so afraid? If the impossibility of believing frightens you, you have the miraculous signs; if you cannot speak, I will speak in you. So Moses can go no further, for he sees that God does not accept his apology; therefore he says, "You have determined that I should be hanged; for you will give me strength, powers and all ability yourself. Nor does he say: I do not want to do it; and he says nothing more than: "My Lord, send whom you want to send"; as if he should say: Send another whom you want, I am satisfied; only do not send me.
(9) And when Moses, of his own mind and will, would cast away this profession, the LORD was very wroth with Moses, and said:
V.14-17. Do I not know that Aaron your brother, of the tribe of Levi, is eloquent? And, behold, he shall go out to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he shall rejoice with his heart. You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and his mouth, and teach you what you shall do. And he shall speak to the people for you; he shall be your mouth, and you shall be his God. And take this rod in thine hand, that thou mayest do signs.
10 Then Moses had to leave. Before, God was kind to him, but here he is angry. And when God is angry, one must stay. So Moses has a noble profession, so that we may see how God so whimsically leads out his work with
The people, since no one sees to it, must not even think of it themselves. For here this stammerer and poor beggar must perform what otherwise four kings would not be able to do. And so Moses is caught, that he says to God: I will yield to you. God has dealt with Moses in so many words that it is sheer sin and shame.
11. God says to him, "You shall be his God, and he shall be your mouth." How does Moses come to these honors? GOD says to him, "You have the words, you shall tell Aaron how to preach, and Aaron shall conform to your speeches, that he speak no longer, further, nor shorter, than you prescribe for him, and as you have received it from GOD.
Here the question arises: why is Moses called Aaron's God? In the Holy Scriptures Christians, and especially authorities, princes, judges, are often called gods, as in the 82nd Psalm, v. 6: "I have said that you are gods and children of the Most High"; and in the 21st chapter of the other book of Moses, v. 5. 6, it is said: "If a thing come to pass, that a purchased servant have taken a wife, and begotten children, and will not be freed, let his lord bring him before the gods. A man who has the word of God is called God, and those who hear it and accept it from him are Aaron; and the mouth that gives it to them is their god.
(13) This is written for the sake of all those who speak and speak the word of God. For Moses is not God alone, but they also are gods who have the word of God. For we are God's children [John 1:12, Romans 8:15], and those who have God's word and believe God have God's spirit and power, divine truth, wisdom, heart, mind and courage, and all that God is. If he has all these things that are God's, he must also have God's name. For this reason, such a man has been made a partaker of all the goods of God, and also of the divine name, as St. Peter also says in his [second] epistle [Cap. 1, 4]. For as God is Lord of all things, so they also who are Christians are called wise, righteous, and living 2c. Just as a father communicates to his son and bequeaths to him Na
As the father is called, so the son also has a name. The son receives and inherits the father's name and property; so are all the gods called who have God's word.
The Latin text has wanted to be wise, and thus given these words: Tu eris ei in his, quae ad Deum pertinent. But it means thus: You, Moses, shall be Aaron's God, I set you as God over Aaronem. For Moses guides God's word. He who despises Moses despises God, for he guides God's word. As the Lord Christ [Luc. 10, 16.] also says, "He who hears you hears me." God cannot speak otherwise, for He wants to speak through people, through me and you. And even if he speaks through a stone or wooden pillar, it is still God's word. If it is despised, then God Himself is despised, and whoever despises Moses in God's place, who guides God's word and is God's witness, despises God Himself. Thus, God rules His Christians, thus He praises and honors them. Now this is the calling of Moshi. And he goes there. He was not led on hung chariots, because he was not rich. You have heard what he commanded and what he said to the king.
(vv. 18-26) And Moses went, and returned unto Jethro his brother in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, that I may return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see if they be yet alive. Jethro said unto him, Go in peace. The LORD also said to him in Midian, "Go and return to Egypt, for the people who sought your life are dead. So Moses took his wife and his sons, and carried them on an ass, and returned into the land of Egypt, and took the rod of God in his hand. And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, when thou comest again into Egypt, that thou do all the wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put under thine hand. But I will harden his heart, and he shall not leave the people. And thou shalt say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son: and I command thee to let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse, 1) I will send your firstborn son to Israel.
1) In the original: the.
Strangle his son. And when he was come to the inn, the LORD met him, and would have killed him. Then Zipora took a stone, and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched his feet, saying, Thou art a bridegroom of blood unto me. Then he departed from him. And she said, Blood bridegroom, for the circumcision's sake.
015 Now there is a little piece of it: When Moses departed from his brother Jethro the priest in Midian, he went into Egypt, having the staff to make signs, and to say to the king, Let my people go; I command thee, that thou let my firstborn son Israel go. How is your poor man on the way? A new history falls into place. For while Moses was going to Egypt, he met with an accident or death, so that he was taken ill quickly and suddenly, and his wife, Ziporah, thought he would die, as the text says, though not explicitly. And this was the cause that Moses, of the tribe of Abraha, had not circumcised his son.
016 And when his wife perceived that this was the cause of her husband's death, that the son was not circumcised, she took a sharp stone for a knife, and circumcised the son, and being wroth and angry, as women are wont to be, said, Thou art a bridegroom of blood unto me; as if she should say, It cost blood that thou wast my husband, and I am thy wife, therefore blood must be shed. Therefore she calls him a blood bridegroom, because of the circumcision of her child, which was a disgrace among the Gentiles.
Why does Moses describe this jiggery-pokery? Why does the Holy Spirit mix this foolish, mad thing with such great, important and high trades? Was Moses drunk in any way? You have heard that Abraham is the first patriarch who was ordered to circumcise the infants. This was a shameful, disgraceful, foolish and nonsensical commandment before reason, that they should circumcise themselves, and in the place that one may not like to name and hear. But Abraham is obedient to God, and allows himself to be circumcised, whether it be
is a shameful and disgraceful thing. But it happened because God wanted to break our mind and turn human wisdom into foolishness. Because of this, the Jews have heard much scorn and ridicule from the Gentiles. They mocked and scoffed at them and considered circumcision a foolish thing. Therefore, many did not want to tolerate or suffer the evil gossip and did not allow themselves to be circumcised.
(18) Just as among us Christians there are many who cannot bear the blasphemy of the world, since we are called sects and heretics, and would rather abandon Christianity over it. Moses' wife did the same; since he was a guest with her in a foreign country, he would have liked to have his son circumcised, but he could not; his wife did not want her son to be circumcised, but rather she wanted him to live as a Gentile; she did not want this click and stain. For circumcision was a disgrace among the Gentiles. There Moses must suffer what is to be suffered, and take the child uncircumcised with him. But on the way God attacked Moses and wanted to kill him, because he followed the stubbornness of the woman and did not have his son circumcised. And the woman was wroth, and would rather that her son were put to death than that her husband were put to death, saying, It cost me nothing but blood that thou shouldest be my husband. [So she was ashamed that she would not go away, but returned home with the children; as it is written in chapter 18, v. 1 ff., that Jethro, Moses' brother-in-law, heard what God had done through Moses; therefore he took Ziporam, Moses' wife, who had gone back, and his two sons, and came to Moses in the wilderness. But that she circumcises the child here, she does it only to save Moses.
(19) Now why is this written? When our Lord God wants to lead his cause out, he does it in such a way that the world becomes fools about it, and that it cannot be believed, and neither I nor you can think that it should go out. For we are always thinking that God will make it as we want it, and if it does not go out, then it will go out.
So let it be wrong and unjust; we cannot break ourselves in it. I also often think that I know much, but it is not true. And many spirits still boast of this today, but it is in vain. God has called Moses with mighty signs and excellent words so far, that he could not do more, will also be in his mouth; nevertheless, when he wants to start things, God wants to kill him. This is just as if God would have me kill the emperor, and before I came to Prata, 1) to the village, God would kill me. Isn't that a foolish start?
20 Thus he calls Moses to do a good work, and yet he wants to kill him first. God did the same with Abraham [Gen. 22:1]. He gave him the promise that his seed would multiply like the sand on the seashore; then Abraham was quite sure that his son Isaac would live long and have many children. But not long after, God told Abraham to sacrifice and slay this son Isaac. How can you put these two things together? When reason looks at this, it says, "Let God be mad; the devil speaks thus, and not God; for let God be true and keep His promises. And what is commanded in this way is not a small, bad thing, that is, to have property, honor, and friends taken away, and sometimes the body as well. This could still be done, but when God gives us his word and promise and takes it away again, this is a great thing.
Twenty-one: It is not a small trial, but one that affects even the highest and most learned spirits, who think that all is well with them and walk safely through it, as they think. But God soon makes them fools and they have to flee. God makes them bold, that He may be feared by them, and that they may know that one should not depart from His word; and yet He tempts His own so high that they must often depart. Mosi's senses were as if he had to die, and he thought, "Where are the words that God spoke to me before? Item: Where are the miraculous signs, which I have
1) Prata or Pratau, also Brate, is the next village near Wittenberg, beyond the Elbe.
to have received? Still it must remain firm that he would be the man who should deliver such, and would have to rise again from the dead before this Moses. Therefore he must conclude: God promised me that I should lead His people out of Egypt: if I now die, then I must come out of the grave again, and yet come to life again. For before God would lie, a hundred Moses would have to come forth instead of this one.
(22) This torment comes to Moshe in the time of death, so that he thinks, "I am to die, yet I have God's word and His sacraments that I may live. God puts Moshe in this predicament, that he must die and live again in a moment. Who can grasp this? But one should always stand on the first promise, and look to the first command of God, even if a thousand deaths come after that, one should still say: death to me, death to me, God does not deny me, I will live.
23 And this was done so that Moses would become a paragon of a Christian man, who would actually know that God could not lie, and that the first words of God would become effective in him, and he would be made a hero and a strong man in faith and full of the spirit.
24 Thus God deals with us when he wants to bring his word to power in us, which nevertheless hurts us. So whoever can trust and rely on the first promise and word of our Lord God, good for him! For what follows, he can let go as it goes. He has promised us eternal life and His grace. If now such thoughts occurred to us and came into our minds: Do you hear that you are to die and be damned? Then shall I go to his first promise, and by his word and work penetrate and fight against God's word and work. For the word and work that follows is to try our faith, whether we will hold fast to it.
25 For to Abraham God promised Isaac, and so many offspring and children,
2)' Eislebensche: to the first.
than sand on the sea; nor does he say to him [Gen. 22:2], Kill my son and slaughter him 2c. This is contrary to the first promise. But it is a tentation, since God wants to test whether Abraham will also hold fast to his word in faith. So Moses is also sure that he should overthrow the king in Egypt and lead the people of Israel out; this should and must certainly happen. Now God is trying Moses whether he will keep his word or not. His wife could not resist, therefore she gladly went back. For she remembers: "Oh, I hoped to have become a great wife, to have experienced joy, honor and glory in my husband's married state; now it is vain death and misery, [I] go with him out of my fatherland into misery. O roll yourself back to your father in Midian.
So Moses is tested and tried with this little piece, so that he would become firm in the faith. And this is also the reason that this text was described by the Holy Spirit. It is indeed inconsistent and strange enough that God should deal with us in this way, but we must be accustomed to it. For God does it so that we alone may look into His hand.
27 So Moses went with Aaron, and did all the signs before the people which God commanded him. And the children of Israel believed, though they were weak, and were glad, and thanked God that their salvation should now begin.
Allegoria or spiritual interpretation of the fourth chapter.
In the fourth chapter, Mosi is commanded to lead the people out, and he is assured of this beforehand with the vision of the fiery bush, which we have said signifies the Lord Christ. Now, when he has the bush, that is, this Lord Christ with him, the law is fulfilled. The law and the Lord Christ must come together.
29 There follow further other figures. Moses is said to have miraculous signs so that people will believe him; he has a staff in his hand, which he throws away and it becomes a snake. Item, his hand becomes leprous, and the water becomes blood. These are three miraculous signs,
by which he is to persuade the people and assure them that they believe him.
30 I do not know whether I will hit it or not with these allegories. For I have said before that it is not a noble art to lead everything on secret interpretation; therefore I would like to have resisted with it the shameful interpretations of Origen, Hieronymi and others, which are put into the heart and conscience by the good works, so that on the other hand all sermons would be confirmed by the divine, certain word. If this cannot be done, it is much better to leave the allegories in place. For Origen and other allegories are unrhymed and pagan.
The fact that he throws away the staff is to be understood from the preaching office, if one does not have God's word in the fist, so that it does not go in the swing; then such teaching is not different, but like a horrible poison, which has a snake with it. Moses himself must flee from it. So it is between the law and the human heart when people do not have God's grace and the Holy Spirit to keep the law. Then the law is a death and a snake. I then have no heart, desire nor lust for the law, it does not please me, and the harder it is insisted on and the more it is preached, the more hostile I become to it [Rom. 7, 23]. For my heart is much differently minded; the more one drives the law, the less one creates. The heart says, Oh, that the law were not given, Thou shalt not commit adultery, then would I be free, and go to and fro, and commit my adultery. If the law were gone, Thou shalt not steal, how I would be covetous, how I would be usurious.
32 But when the law comes, as the rod from the fist, it terrifies, for it says: Stipendium peccati mors [Rom. 6:23.] Now Moses also comes into the gospel, that one may hear not only the law according to the Scriptures, but also the gospel; and when the gospel also meets, one is made merry again. The heart must at first be afraid and flee away; but if the gospel also meets rightly, it becomes pleasant to him. For it comforts the sinner and proclaims forgiveness of sin, as Christ said to the gout-broken man [Matt. 9:2]:
"My son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven."
The leprous hand means the hypocritical life one leads in the world. For leprosy is false doctrine and humanity. When men do not believe rightly, and are either led to eternal life by their powers and abilities, or are directed to their own good works by the laws of God and man, the hand is leprous; and with men Moses should deal. But when the leprosy is healed, and the hand is put back into the bosom, it becomes clean again; that is, when the law is first misunderstood, that the Holy Spirit comes and preaches it rightly, namely, that we are not able to do anything and sin.
and that we must be helped through Christ alone, then we will become pure and holy.
(34) That water also becomes blood is the doctrine of men and the law, for they kill and bleed. Since the law does nothing but strangle and murder. This has been well proven by our teaching of human statutes in the monasteries, which has been no different than the water of Egypt, which has become blood, since the innocent consciences are murdered by it. For the more one is caught in it, the more one dies. With this, Moses wants to indicate that pure, righteous doctrine is necessary among the people of God, so that the conscience does not build or trust in any other doctrine or work, but only in Christ. These are the four chapters.