I. We have heard in the fifth and sixth chapters of this book how God the Lord strengthens and comforts these two, Moses and Aaron, so that they accept the office of speaking to Pharaoh and leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, and gives them miraculous signs, such as that the rod becomes a serpent, and the water in Egypt becomes blood, and the leprous hand becomes clean again. All this happened so that they would be brave and bold to attack this mighty, great work and not think that it was done by their power, but that it was God's own work, since he wanted to be present with them. Also, through these miracles that Moses performed in Egypt, it became known to everyone that Moses was sent by God, and that the execution of the people of Israel from Egypt was done by God's command and assistance, and not out of recklessness or recklessness.
in a cheeky and rebellious way. These miracles led and pointed everyone to God, as the founder, originator and beginner of this execution, that he wanted to redeem his people from the house of Egypt.
For this reason God often has His saints and instruments perform miracles or wonders in the church, so that He may receive honor, praise and glory from them. As God says in this chapter [v. 5]: "The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and lead the children of Israel away from them. The miracles are to serve that we recognize the true God. Just as the miracles that the Lord Christ performed revealed His glory, so that people believed in Him [John 2:11]. For they were divine miracles, as Nicodemus confesses [Joh. 3, 2].
he says, "Master, we know that you have come a teacher from GOD, for no one can do the signs that you do unless GOD is with him."
Item 3: Through the miracles of the saints of God, the true Christian doctrine is confirmed. The apostles perform great miracles in the New Testament, as Peter did in Acts 3:8. 3, 8. heals the lame in the name and power of the Lord Christ. This convinces us that the doctrine of Christ is true, for it is not only taught in words by the apostles, but Christ also confirms it with miracles [Marc. 16, 17], which are not done by human strength.
Finally, through miracles the true worship of God Himself is established, assured and confirmed. As, through Eliä and other prophets' miracles, the people are assured and confirmed in the right worship, and led away from the idolatrous, Baalite worship.
Now, in the seventh chapter, we hear how Pharaoh becomes more stiff-necked and obstinate, answering them that he will not let the people go, but he weighs them down even more with labor and brick-laying, so that the people of Israel also begin to cry out against Moses.
The LORD said unto Moses, Behold, I have set thee a god over Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: but Aaron thy brother shall speak before Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel out of his land.
With these words it is shown how wonderfully God leads His things, when He wants to put them into work and carry them out, so that our faith is fed and nourished to trust Him and to believe firmly that He can lead it out [Matth. 4, 4. 5 Mos. 8, 3]. For God speaks to Moses here that he should be a god over Pharaoh, and Aaron should be Moses' prophet. The Latin text has shied away from speaking this way; but it is written there. And so that you will not be offended by it, when such a way of speaking falls into disuse, we want to deal with it a little bit. For there are more such sharp pieces to come.
7. your love has often heard that among all the works of God, so God with us and all
The most glorious and greatest work is his word, by which all things are sanctified and named after God. Just as the church is usually called a place of worship, not that God is there, but that God's word is heard and preached there. And even if it were preached under a green lime tree or a willow tree, the same place would still be called God's dwelling and place, for God's Word reigns there [1 Tim. 4:5]. Not that we have consecrated the place, or adorned it, or beautifully painted it, as our bishops do their idolatrous churches, and smear them with their oil and other belongings, but from the divine word, which I do not bring there, but it comes there from divine order. Where this is, there is also his house, and there God wants to be honored. For God's word not only makes the place holy and God's place and house; it also makes gods out of people.
(8) And this is also the reason (as indicated before [Cap. 3, § 25 ff.]) that the Lord says to Moses, when he wanted to go to the fiery bush: "Take off your shoes, because this place is holy", because God's word has been there, God has spoken there. Therefore those who have the word of God, and it is given to them to do the word of God, are called gods. Therefore, the Lord Christ Himself introduces a saying from the 82nd Psalm, v. 6, John 10:34-36, and concludes against the Jews: "You say that I blaspheme God, because I said that I am the Son of God; yet the Scriptures call gods those who hear the Word of God and to whom the Word of God is spoken"; how much more am I the Son of God, who am sent to you by the Father? Therefore, he who speaks the word of God must also be God and belong to God.
9. God is our Father; therefore, as He is Father, so are we sons. Thus the Holy Scripture gives a name to the saints who have God's word, so that they also inherit God's name. Therefore also in the [first] epistle of John [Cap. 3, 1. 2.] we are called sons of God; and just as we are heirs of all the goods of God, so also we have the divine name, that we reign over
Death, the devil, and all calamities, and be partakers of his goods; but by faith. From this we have the comforting, excellent title that we are called gods.
(10) Such is the power and authority of the divine Word, and thus the Scriptures highly esteem the Christians. Notice that it is such a great thing to have God's word pure and righteous, that God himself calls one "God"; as in this place Moses Pharaonis should be God, for he had God's word over Pharaonem. So are and shall also be called all Christians who truly believe in Christ. For this is being God's son, if we have God's word and stick to it. Therefore, Christians cannot be praised enough for this honor we have, nor can we understand it enough [Ps. 139:6]. But by faith it is tasted a little [Ps. 34:9], and in the next life we shall see it. Therefore we should love and honor the divine word, and not despise it as if it were a word of man, on which nothing would be done [Ezek. 12:22]. For all good things come from God. So let us open our eyes and see what we receive and have when we have God's word.
(11) If the word of God is not with us, we are in the kingdom of the devil, and are young devils and children of the devil. Thus says the Lord Christ [Matth. 16, 23.] also to Petro, when he recanted that he should not go into Judea: Do not hinder me, devil. But he who has the word of God is a young god. He who does not have the word of God, but has the devil's mind and word, that is, false doctrine and error, these are all young devils.
(12) Thus the Scripture speaks powerfully, praising, honoring and glorifying the divine Word, for from it we boast that we are sons of God. And down in the 21st chapter of this book, v. 6, Moses calls the judges "gods," that is, those who sit in God's stead, having Moshi's law in their hand, and judge according to the divine word, ruling not according to reason but according to God's word; as God has ordered such people for this purpose.
(13) Therefore it is unusual speech and language that it is said here: I will set you as God over other people.
But one must get used to such a way of the holy scripture, so that we learn who is called God. It is said: Above Pharaoh I will set you as God. This is a consolation. For before God made Moses to fall, and Pharaoh to be a scorn and a mockery, and the children of Israel to be made worse, and Moses to stand naked and despondent. He told Moses that the people of Israel should go out of Egypt, and he, Moses, should carry it out. But the more Moses says this, and says that he will carry it out, the more bitter and furious Pharaoh becomes, and the more despondent Moses becomes. But when Moses thus becomes weak, God comes and comforts him, saying, "You shall be Pharaoh's God," and do with him as you will. But this shall be done by my word which I give thee. By this word you shall have dominion over him, and he shall fight and resist as much as he pleases; yet you shall do with him as you please.
14 Thus it is with him who has the word of God and is the Son of God, who has authority over all things. For a Christian is such a mighty man that all creatures must be obedient to him; though this does not appear, yet in truth it is so. What on earth is more powerful than death, more terrifying than sin, and more bitter than an evil conscience? [Nevertheless a Christian says that he is master over them all. But we turn a deaf ear, gape and open our mouths to the miracles of the apostles, when the Lord Christ says: "The signs that I do, a Christian who believes in me will also do, and will do even greater works than I do. As if to say, It is a great work that I should make the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak; but he will do them also, and much more than these.
(15) Tell me, is it not a great thing that I, a poor sack of maggots, should strike a cliff against death, and defy the devil, and put to flight the tyranny of all princes, and rule over consciences, and over all things? If I make a man straight and healthy, it is a miraculous sign, even if I make him see; but he must die, and leave all this. But God
Word shows, and says: I will give you such power, which is not to be found elsewhere.
(16) Therefore, if a man is clothed with the word of God, and has the word of God, he, as a Christian, can make the blind see and the lame walk; for the word of God is in him, and he is the Son of God, and we do by God's gifts and grace what God does by Himself; that is another thing. So it is a great thing that a Christian should eat death and the devil; item, when his head is torn off, that he should think that death is nothing but a sleep, and that he will soon get his head back.
17. above all this, we are also called kings in the holy scriptures [Ps. 68, 13. 3O.]; not that we have a sword and a high crown full of emeralds and other precious stones as big as this church pillar, but because we can defy death, the devil and hell, so that they do not have to harm us [Rom. 8, 1. 1 Cor. 15, 55.]. This crown should be very fitting for one.
018 Thus saith God unto Moses, Go, and despair not; I will not forsake my word which I have spoken: Lead out my people, and I will stand by thee. Though it be a little delayed, yet thou hast the word of God; thou shalt smite them, and deal with them as any god.
So Moses is not a lord over Pharaoh, over death and the devil according to his person, but according to his office, as he also proves with his signs. God has given us this treasure and power that we Christians should be such lords. But we reject it and despise it. Our deeds and good deeds do not bring us there, so the devil always leads us into deeds, so we do not get them, because only through God's word do we become gods.
20 Moses did not become a god by his deeds; indeed, the Lord says to him, "Moses, you are fallen and despondent, but I will make you a god. It comes freely from God's command, and he will have it without works, which shall stand before God. Works are against men, and shall serve men, who are satisfied therewith; but God is not satisfied therewith, he wills faith and its
Have word. God wants to have something higher, and says: Preach my word to me, which is worth as much as I am; what shall I do with your grindy, scabby, shabby and stinking works?
And Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
(21) A prophet is called one who has his understanding from God without means, to whom the Holy Spirit puts the word in his mouth. For he is the source, and they have no other master than GOD [1 Cor. 14:1, 2]. No one can make a prophet by human preaching and teaching [2 Pet. 1, 21.], and even though it is God's word, and I preach the word in the purest way, I do not make a prophet; I can make a wise man and a man of understanding. In the third and twentieth chapters of Matthew, v. 34, wise men are called who draw doctrine from the prophets, for God speaks through men and not without means. But prophets are those who have the teaching of God without any means. So it is said here, "Aaron shall be your prophet." Just as I, God, also make prophets without any means when I speak to them; so you are God, and Aaron is the prophet, for he shall learn from you without means, as you have learned from me.
22 Therefore Moses is God's prophet, and Aaron is Moses' prophet. But I would rather be God's prophet than Moses', for where God is not, there is evil. And this emblazonment, or this power and authority, we have from God's word against good works, that one should condemn and reject them, if one wants to act with them before God. People cannot do without good works, or they would even have to perish. For God has arranged it so that these are sick, and that often an eye in the human body, or the hand, or the mouth is infirm, and needs help and counsel. So the mad whore, reason, plunders here and wants to bring it up before God, cut off the hands and tongue, gouge out the eyes, and thereby earn something; but it counts for nothing before God, only faith.
23. This is the prophecy that God says, "I will indicate to you what you shall say to Pharaoh. You shall be his god." GOD is
nor about him, he also speaks through us, but we do not see him. Therefore, St. Paul also says [2 Cor. 5, 20], we carry Christ's message, we are His mouth messengers, whom we entreat the world to reconcile with God; this is our advertisement, 1) that we say: "Let yourselves be reconciled to God." GOD, who sits in heaven, has commanded us to conduct the word thus, just as Aaron conducted Mosiah's word.
V. 3. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart.
24. Mosi is given the command or instruction, namely, "Aaron shall be your mouth, and you shall be his God." But what finally follows this? How does Pharaoh stand and hold himself against this divine message and advertisement? Not otherwise, because as it is also said here, he will neither see nor hear, neither yield nor 2) obey. Therefore, out of righteous judgment, God decrees that Pharaoh's heart is hardened and remains hardened. He will not listen to Moses nor grant this request and miraculous sign.
(25) There is a deep hole here, where one should preach much; but I do it unwillingly, for the sake of the shameful, forward nature, which always has a desire to know something strange and new, which I then gladly avoid where I can. To this vice God is very hostile, and He can ill suffer it if one wants to boast, defy and be seen apart from the holy Scriptures, if we create the thought that we know the holy Scriptures very well, and give glory to man, and not to God; go into the thought that we have God's word, are God's children and gods. But if we make a strut out of it, God will let the devil enter, take away his word, and make a devil out of God.
(26) I have seen many of them, and those who are still alive today, when they see something that we did not teach before, they taste it as sugar and pretend: O this was not taught before. Our Lord God is also hostile to this, and such a one falls from one thought into another thought, until his head is torn off, and he falls to the ground and perishes. One gapes at it, like
1) Advertising - Message.
2) Eisleben's: or.
that one may always know something strange and new; for the old is the manna, or the daily bread. But is it not strange and unheard of that we have, yet 3) it is meat that one is weary of eating. Then God will also give only questions, as He gave in the high schools, when the world was overwhelmed with books, and the consciences were well tormented and troubled therein. This time will come again. This is the reason why I do not like to do such things; for the forward devil and our flesh do not cease in this piece.
(27) I will let anyone play with allegories and act as he pleases, but you must take care not to abandon the main theme, but to practice and exercise it. For we have the devil for an enemy, who does not rest; he soon snatches away the main thing, and gives you strange questions, so that you ponder and rummage. Therefore, cut it down and draw the Bible to Christ, and do not follow the questions. For the Bible and God draw near to Christ, how he alone makes us blessed. Others have strange thoughts, and lead themselves away from Christ, wanting something new. But the holy Scripture does not want to know about anything else, nor does it want to present us with anything but Christ. And whoever thus leads the Scriptures, or is thus led to Christ by the Scriptures, remains well and walks on the right path.
V.3-5. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will do many signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh will not hear you. That I may prove my hand in Egypt, and bring my army, my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, through great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out mine hand upon Egypt, and bring the children of Israel away from them.
(28) Here it is asked: How is it that God will harden the heart of Pharaoh, why did he send the signs? Moses will later always write thus: Pharaoh did not hear him 2c., as then
3) "is" is taken by us from the old edition of Walch. The meaning is: Although what we teach is not something strange, it is a wholesome food of which one is tired.
God had thus spoken. And on this saying it follows, as God tells him beforehand. It came to pass just as he had said and promised, says Moses. But St. Paul interpreted this point to the Romans in the 9th, v. 17, 18th, and 11th chapters, v. 7-10, and the following chapter in the Exodus, and reason is very surprised about it, and wants to ponder inside, and seek God, which is what it has to deal with. Then one question comes after another, and when it enters, it thinks: Is God hardened, and is the guilt different from his? But these are frivolous spirits.
(29) Thus shall one begin, that he may speak: I will begin from the lowest, and know the grace of God and His word. And when we come into God's word, that same word shall be comforting and sweet to us. As this has been the highest comfort and defiance for Mosi, and he can take and draw no greater courage than that God has hardened Pharaoh. Another would not have drawn comfort. Moses stood in the trap, that he led God's word, that cost him life and limb, and that he carried out the people, that cost him his honor. Now it is a great work that a man should not take into his mind. But this backstop does the best, it will lead God out.
(30) Just as we now have many foolish princes against the gospel, who murmur and grumble, as Pharaoh did here. So we are weak against them, and our defiance, courage, and throbbing is that it will go as God wills; their necks and ours are in his hands, and we have the advantage that it is God's word that we have; then, when they purr and murmur, we stand the firmer.
Just as St. Paul complains to Timothy that he did not have a good day, he says [2 Ep 2:9, 10]: "I must suffer and bear all pain for the sake of the faithful, so that they may attain faith. And this arrogant title, that he suffers for the faith of the elect, is also used by St. Paul to Colossians [Cap. 1, 24], which he wrote before his end. He had to recognize many a fool and a knave. This one used him and was his adversary;
That one has accepted his preaching, yet he has remained a false brother; that he says [Gal. 2:4 ff] that he was not allowed to trust anyone, but now he rejoices and boasts about the faith of the elect. As if to say, "Let us take comfort in these things, though some fall and fall away [Matt. 12:14, Luc. 6:11, Phil. 3:18, 19], yet some will stand firm. For those who are to have faith have it, as he says to Timothy. Demas and the Galatians fell away [2 Tim. 4, 10], so they were angry, and it made St. Paul afraid that he would rather have died. He also laments [2 Tim. 3:1-8] that in the last days there will be terrible disruptions, because there will be people who think highly of themselves, who are stingy, proud, hopeful, blasphemers and abusers; who have a veneer of godly conduct, but deny its power: they learn forever and never come to the knowledge of the truth. And naming Mosi's adversaries, says, "In like manner as Jannes and Jambres resisted Mosi, so do these also resist the truth."
But let it go, God's reason stands firm, and He has a seal, which means: "God knows His own" [2 Tim. 2:19]. Now it will still go as God wills. New prophets will come, I and others will then have died, so the lamentation will be made. There is gone; let run what runs there. God is thus playing his game; what remains is what shall remain. A man could not give comfort to this multitude; but God wants to say here: My Moses, be content, it will go as I want it to go, hold fast, I want to harden Pharaoh's heart; you know that I want to do it, you have God's word, item, the children of Israel also; what will not go, that will stay behind.
This does not belong to the idle spirits who fall with questions. God did not speak this way with Adam, Eve and Abraham; therefore, it should be considered where the Scriptures require it. In Moses there are no more proud or arrogant speeches than here. For since the people of Israel are in the greatest distress, and Pharaoh is with
If Moses is driven by cruel force and tyranny, he shall have no other comfort than to let it go as God wills. We must also sing this little song: Mitte vadere, sicut vadit, quia vult vadere, ut vadit. The wrathful princes, the false prophets and the rotten spirits are hardened, God has thus willed it. Why does God do so? If we want to place our will in his will, then there is no other God, nor does he have any other will; he also has no other kingdom above him, his will is supreme, and if the same will goes, I also want it to go, so let it go.
(34) Now another question is: Why did God call Moses to preach, since God Himself said, "Pharaoh will not hear you? Is it not a foolish thing for one to say to another, Preach to Pharaoh, and know that he will not hear you; I will harden him? I would throw the keys at someone's feet and say, "Preach yourself. But this is the answer: We are commanded to preach, but not commanded to make people justified and devout. Let all preachers and Christians be confident, and let each one follow his calling and do it faithfully. Most is commanded the word of God alone, and is not commanded to preach Pharaoh softly or hard. The word is commanded to him, that is God's will, and that is what he is to lead, even if no one wants to hear him. It is for his comfort, so that he will not be frightened if no one wants to follow him and be obedient. If I should think that my word and my preaching are despised, I should stop preaching. But you go on, Moses, you preach; if you are despised, let me be commanded to do so. One should only see that God wills it so, and will have it preached so.
(35) I say this, therefore, that you may beware, and not go too high in questions, but let yourself go down, and come to know Christ, and see every man to his profession and to his thing, which God hath commanded him, and be not troubled with questions. You are not commanded to inquire such things; you have not yet taken off your shoes, you come too early, you let this happen to you.
You stand by what you should know, and do not pay attention to what you should know and ask. Moses does not ask God here, nor is he concerned why God has hardened Pharaoh's heart; he does not dispute with God here because of this.
(36) Nevertheless, the fact that God wants to harden him is not without cause. For God will perform many miraculous signs when Moses is to lead the children of Israel. In the ninth chapter [v. 16] it is said: "I will harden you, that I may prove my power in you, and that my honor and glory may be known to the world. There they serve that death, the devil and the angry princes make God's honor high. - If the mad princes did not rage in this way, and death and sins did not weigh down the conscience in this way, but went along peacefully, then the power of faith and the divine word would not be recognized by anyone. But while the devil and the princes rage, faith shines and shines, and the divine word comforts me and makes me courageous, and the conscience experiences that there is an emphasis and power in your divine word. That a poor heart, flesh and blood should have the courage and joy to defy and despise the raging princes, the devil and death; as can be seen in the holy martyrs, also in the virgins, St. Agnes and Agatha: such would never happen if the world and the devil did not so powerfully lay down against the Christians.
(37) "Obstinate" does not only mean to despair, as we say, but also to be princes who rely on their power, on the land and on the people, and who gain courage as if they wanted to eat God. This courage, this certainty and boldness is called hardening or obduracy. God lets a poor little group of Christians go along, which they soon intend to "subdue". For what are Moses and Aaron to be counted against us? We want to eat it all in one gruel, the Egyptians think, it is a small group. So they boast as if all power were theirs [Ps. 73, 6-9], their courage grows, that they are as puffed up as the hop sacks. This great courage is called obduracy. Although it is not only the goods and riches that make them so, but also their inner courage, so that they think, "We want to eat them," or even "We want to eat them.
sink. They will have a great following, and nothing will be between you and the adversaries but God's word. On your side will be poverty, on theirs wealth; on your side weakness, on theirs power and strength; and shall fall upon you with all splendor, and yet lack. With this I will show the power of my divine word in the midst of persecution, in the midst of death, in the midst of sin, and in the midst of the devil's wrath.
V. 10-12 Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and did as the LORD commanded them. And Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh called for the wise men and the black kiin tigers. And the Egyptian magicians did likewise with their conjuration, and cast every man his staff from him, and became serpents.
(38) Here we see that the devil, through his servants and instruments, or false prophets, can also perform miracles. For the sorcerers also make serpents out of their staffs; item, that the rivers of water in Egypt become blood; that they bring frogs out of the water. The Scriptures also remind and warn of this. As Deut. 13, 1. ff. it is reported that false prophets can also perform miracles. And the Lord Christ Matth. 24, 24. says: "Many false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders. Item, Paul 2 Thess. 2, 9. 10. says: The future of the Antichrist will happen according to the work of Satan, with all kinds of lying powers, signs and wonders, and with all kinds of seduction to unrighteousness.
These are the devil's miracles; for the sorcerers perform such miracles out of God's decree by the devil's power and effect, so that they hinder Moses' miracles, which were divine miracles, and blind and harden Pharaoh, so that he does not accept the divine truth, but remains stuck in error, and lies down against God and His people with his raging and fury. The two sorcerers in the stories of the apostles, Elymas and Simon [Apost. 8, 9-11. 13, 8.], also perform miracles. Item [Cap. 16, 16.], the maiden who has a spirit of divination. But they do it by the power of the devil, by God's decree. Thus
1 Sam. 28, 11-14. The soothsayer brings out of the grave a ghost that was similar to the prophet Samuel in shape and clothes by the devil's blinding and deception. Therefore St. Paul [2 Thess. 2, 10.] calls the devil's signs and wonders also lying powers and seduction. For the king Saul was quite deceived by the devil's deceit, so that he did not know otherwise that it was the deceased Samuel, when it was not Samuel who rested in the Lord, but a ghost of the devil, which Saul was punished by God for having otherwise despised Samuel's teachings in his life and having thrown them to the wind.
And Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
40. The devil is put to shame with his miracles by God's miracles. For when God's fingers or miracles and the devil's deceitfulness collide, the devil is driven in with his miracles by God's miracles. For when God's miracles and the devil's deceitfulness collide, the devil with his miracles is put to shame by the word of God.
19-21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch forth thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon her brooks, and upon her rivers, and upon her lakes, and upon all her marshes, that they may become blood, and be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, and took up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river before Pharaoh and his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood. And the fishes of the river died, and the river stank, that the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 2c.
(41) So the first sign was that God made the land of Egypt full of blood, so that all the waters that were there, when the pools of the rivers were, flowed with blood. This was a terrible sign by which God wanted to drive them to His obedience, to provoke and entice them to repentance. How then God
He has his plagues and punishments come upon the wicked, not to destroy and destroy them, but to help them, just as a father beats his child, not to put it to death as an executioner or baton twirler, but by the shilling 1) of its wickedness, naughtiness and mischievousness, and the child becomes righteous. For the rod takes away the foolishness from the heart of the child [Proverbs 22:15]. Nevertheless, it is taken in the wind; for Pharaoh saw that his sorcerers did such signs.
Forty-two: This plague lasted seven days, so that it would not be thought to be an accident, but would be considered a miracle. And Pharaoh had to look for other waters; for they looked for waters beside the rivers, because there were no rivers before. Is not this a hardness, that men should be so hard and obdurate, that such a sign is visibly and tangibly presented, and the human heart should still say: No, it is nothing? But it so happens that God's plagues and blows do little for the wicked; the longer they remain, the worse they become, and they are like the stubborn horses, the more you beat them, the less you can drive them away, but only give way behind them. As Isaiah also says about this and says [Cap. 1, 5. Jer. 5, 3.] (which we may let be said to us as a warning): This people has not turned to the one who struck them.
1) Shilling - Ruthe, penalty.
Here Moses and everyone had to learn that it does not help how much one preaches or how glorious one has God's word, if God does not cooperate and turn the heart, so that it lets the word enter and grasps it. For He must give the flourishing to that which is planted, set and watered [1 Cor. 3:6, 7]. God is the one who hardens, and if he hardens, no one can soften. Again, if he softens something, no one can harden it 2c.
Heaven is too high and hell is too low. When God shines with His word, the sun, moon and stars rise brightly in the sky, and shine above all measures, above all teachings of the law, above all good works, and bring us such light that we may not remain in darkness, as we have now. Again, if God sinks his word, he puts us so deep into hell that there is no end to it. Just as we have also become fools in the temple, because we have been involved in foolish works; what we have touched has been darkness and gloom, and we have always sunk into it. So it is either too highly enlightened, or too deeply sunk; therefore it has no measure. So that he indicates that it could not otherwise be that such miraculous signs should not move the human heart, but it is God's work and miracle that thus hardens and hardens a heart.
(45) Now we have the first sign, that all the waters of Egypt are turned to blood, and yet there is none that turneth back.