Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying: I will sing to the LORD, for he has done a glorious thing; he has cast horse and chariot into the sea.
We have just heard of a great miracle and wonder that God performed for the people of Israel, when He led them through the Red Sea and drowned King Pharaoh and his warriors in it. This was an extraordinary miraculous and terrifying work of God, and was done so that the people of Israel would believe in God, trust in Him, and give thanks and serve Him for such an unspeakable great good deed. For he snatched them out of the jaws and teeth like death. But such a story is also described so that we should recognize from this wonderful deed who God is, namely, who can help even in the midst of death. As the 68th Psalm, v. 21, also says: "We have a God who helps, and the Lord GOD who saves from death. Therefore one should trust in him that he will do all things well.
(2) For this purpose we are to make good use of this history. For as the children of Israel received help from the Lord, so he will be our helper in time of need [Rom. 15:12]. The children of Israel see the Egyptians on the shore of the sea all dead and drowned; therefore the people fear the Lord, and believe in him, and
From that time on, they recognize what kind of God they have and learn to fear and obey Him. Such devotion was great among the children of Israel if it had lasted long; but it does not last longer than a dance and high mass.
3. now follows Mosiah's and the children of Israel's song of joy or praise, as they thank God for these great benefits; which psalm was sung in Israel afterwards for years and years. For it has been the way and usage to sing of God's miraculous work, or, as they used to say, to set up a play to sing and say about. For God acts with us in such a way that we have both ears full, and everywhere cause and incentive enough to praise, extol and honor Him. We have an example of this here in Moses, whom David also followed and made many wonderful psalms and songs. After that, other fathers did the same when God performed a special miracle on them, as when some honest battle took place and God gave victory, they sang about it afterwards. And it is right to do God's work by preaching and singing, so that the ears of the whole world will be filled with it.
I will sing to the Lord.
This is the summa of this psalm, that Moses and the people will sing and praise God. It shall be a psalm of praise, when they sing
and want to say about God's omnipotence, seriousness, power, and also about his grace and goodness, that he has done a miraculous work on them. They have no song to sing on account of themselves, for there is nothing in this deed of which they could boast; but they were terrified and also half-dead because of the cruel danger to life and limb in which they were when they were to be laid in the grave. But that something good has happened, they have to thank our Lord God; to Him they also sing praise and praise for it, and thank Him.
(5) Therefore, these are joyful words that burst forth from the heart that has recognized God and now wants to praise and glorify Him. For it has been a great, praiseworthy work, and this deed may well be seen and come to light. God has shown a masterpiece here; it has been a delicious, excellent and great victory; the fact that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea is a sign of God's power and might against His enemies.
V. 2. The Lord is my strength and praise 2c.
6. we could not do it; the six times hundred thousand men would not have been so strong to wipe out Pharaonem with his war power 2c. Now whoever can say to God: You are my strength, he is differently equipped than we are lazy drops. But how does God become our strength? In the things that God encounters, and not only in these, but in all things, we must despair of ourselves, that we are unable to do anything. So they give Him glory and confess that they had no strength nor powers, and that what had happened was arranged by His power and might, it was not their work, but God's grace and blessing, He was the right man of war who had overthrown their enemies.
7 This is a haughty defiance, that one can say, "The Lord is my strength. And have sung the words of them much, but understood them little. But they want to say: This is God's work; defiance is commanded to anyone who harms us or bends a hair [Rom. 8, 31. ff.] Therefore, if God is my strength and power, what is my strength and power?
ow will God's strength be able to break anything off from me? For I can say: Even though I am a poor little worm, I have God's strength with me [Ps. 22:7, Is. 41:10 f.]. Item, even though I am nothing, and on earth weak and sick, and so weak that I could not even ward off the flies that sting me, yet I am strong, for God is my strength. This is what the children of Israel have had to learn from experience, that they despair of them, and say: We know nowhere to beat the Egyptians but with faith and trust in God. And in this trust I take hold of God's strength in me, and God's strength then takes hold of me, since God does not abandon those who trust in Him.
My hymn of praise.
This is my glory. As if to say: I know nothing to praise, extol and sing but of this.
And is my salvation.
(9) My victory, my salvation in this matter, with Pharaoh the king; my salvation, which overcometh the enemy, which maketh me bold by trusting in him, and destroyeth the enemy. This is said of the power that fights against adversity and death. Would to God that we could also meet this verse when we are defeated, that we could say against sin, death and the devil, and everything else that tries to harm us, "I have a victory, strength and salvation greater than thou art; despite which I grieve. This is how one overcomes death and the devil and everything unpleasant. This is a great thing, that a poor, weak man should feel that he has such strength with him that he may overcome even death and the devil. The Israelites did not fall into the sea with the sword of Pharaoh and drown, but because they clung to God through the faith and trust of their hearts. Therefore, faith is a divine strength, a divine work and thing 2c.
This is my God, I will praise Him, He is my Father's God.
(10) For the great joy of the Spirit, which the Christians have from the works of God, they speak of the same thing in many ways; since
The mouth overflows with special words. When the heart is full of joy and has well considered a thing, then it follows that the mouth speaks much about it [Matth. 12, 34]. For the heart teaches the mouth to say, "Here is God, in whom I hold fast my faith, and with him I will abide.
I want to raise it.
11 That is, I want to adorn him. Some have interpreted it as if he wanted to build him a delicious temple. Thus the Jews interpret it as if he wanted to build God a tabernacle, that is, a dwelling place, since God would be close to them. But the little word "raise" here means to adorn, to decorate. For the Jews did not build the tabernacle or the tabernacle before God, but God wanted it from them and told them to build it, as he later told David to tell his son Solomon to build the temple [2 Sam. 7:12, 13].
He is my father's God.
012 As if he should say, He is my God, and the God of my fathers; yea, we mean this God only, who spake unto our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and revealed himself unto them, and promised their seed and seedlings that he would not leave them, but multiply them as the sand of the sea, and as the stars of heaven. But we thought that we were poor, that we were in the throat of death and the devil, that we had no God, but now, because we have passed through the Red Sea, we have experienced His strength. Then Moses will say, "This is the God who spoke to my fathers and promised them that He would bring their children out of the house of bondage in Egypt; and this He has now proven in truth, therefore I will praise and exalt Him. Of this exaltation, how Mary also sings in her hymn of praise [Luc. 1, 46.]: "My soul exalts the Lord"! Moses does it wonderfully; he gives God many names, so that he will praise him, praise him highly, which the Hebrews call "exalt".
13. these are the right works that please god, that we may honor, adorn, adorn, and make god beautiful, that he may be more beautiful than the sun, and that nothing else may be beautiful against him.
is [Ps. 104, 1]. He may not be exalted, for he sits above all heavens in the throne of his glory [Isa. 6:1]. But if I shout Him out with my sermon and with my praise and preach about Him, how mighty and fine God He is, then He will be exalted and made known [Ps. 145:1, 2]. Otherwise God is unknown to men, he is of no use to them, and stinks to them. Therefore, when he is lifted up and adorned, so that through my mouth, my preaching and confession his praise comes to the people, so that God, who before stank, is now preached and held holy, then it is the most beautiful wreath that one can put on him, and the prettiest skirt that one can put on him, yes, the prettiest house that one can build for God. This mouth does much when I adorn God in such a way that people think much of Him, that He comes into people's hearts, and do not get any other evil thought from God, or hold Him suspiciously out of giving in to the evil spirit [Jac. 3, 9. Ps. 34, 2. 9.].
14 Here Moses is a master of speech, and there he does not stammer, as we have heard above [Cap. 4, 10]. Other fools may always go and build temples for him, erect images for him and give him beautiful clothes; but this is the right adornment, when he is recognized in his wisdom, that one thinks much of him; as that God is faithful, true, almighty, just and wise, that is a beautiful adornment. As one otherwise says of a man: This is an honorable man, because he leads a pious, honest life. And in Proverbs it is said that discipline adorns a woman's image more than all her clothes. Solomon also says in the book of Proverbs [Cap. 11, 22]: "A lewd woman who is beautifully dressed is no different than a sow with a gold ring in her nose"; but whichever woman is virtuous and honest has the highest adornment. For though a harlot be adorned with pearls and precious stones from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, yet is she a harlot; whereas another woman in a garment, pious and chaste, outweighs and disguises all her harlotry. 1)
1) disguise - to put in the shade.
(15) Of this, says Moses, I will preach; this shall be my work. You cannot do a more pleasing work to God than to preach about Him and praise Him. You must not fast to him, build churches, or torture yourself to death; with these I can be adorned and made beautiful; but God's adornment is when I give the sacrifice of praise, that I preach of him and bring him among the people, and make known his power and strength. That is what I am to do; that is to exalt rightly.
V. 3. The LORD is the right man of war, LORD is his name.
I mean, he could get it. How foolish is he who relies on armor, spears, swords and guns for comfort, and on fortresses for honor and glory? [If you want to wage war, seek the right, cheap war that is done with a good conscience. Other people war, like swine with dogs. God alone is the mighty Lord who gives happiness and victory in wars, as is said in the 144th Psalm, v. 10: Qui dat salutem regibus [who gives victory to kings). He has commanded the children of Israel to come out of Egypt with armored hands, as they have six times a hundred thousand fighting men. Now the power and might of the Egyptians is also great, all of whom are arrayed against the warband of the children of Israel. But what happens? The armor of the Egyptians is destroyed in one fell swoop.
(17) The Israelites could not have slaughtered and killed so many calves in eight days, even if they had been bound, as the Egyptian men of war who were armed here were killed; for there was a mighty king who set himself against this people here. But God agitates and brings him into the field, but let it be proved that he is a true man of war; he knows well where he should meet the armored man. When the hour comes, he throws everything into a heap, so that not one remains of those who have sat down and rebelled against him or his church. This is powerfully proven by this deed to Pharaoh and many, many other stories testify to it.
(18) This LORD is to be trusted, who has such power; and who would doubt him? Moses describes this battle in many long words, and tells how it happened. It was not child's play to see that Pharaoh had so many beautiful, glorious men with him, so many princes, lords, and wise, active, pugnacious men and heroes, that he might devour the whole world; but when it comes to the battle, they all go down and sink like lead in the water, and are drowned, so that it may be seen that God is the right man of war.
(19) God would still do this today if we had the right faith. If a king stood up, as is said in the 7th Psalm, v. 2, I would say: God, in you I will trust. If they want to surround my flesh and kill it, they do not have to harm me. For I will trust in God more than in my strength and ability; for glorious and mighty is his hand. Moses says here: You are my salvation and strength, you, you have done it [Acts 9:5]. How the children of Israel boast here! They blame the Egyptians for doing against God, for fighting and contending against God.
(20) So we should also learn and become accustomed to entrusting the matter to God, saying, "They have not fought against me, but against you, O God. I am your weakness, you are my strength; I am vain sin, you are pure righteousness; I am your filth, you are my adornment and adornment, so it will be better for us. The devil sees us as weak, powerless and feeble, but when it comes to the meeting, God says: I am all here. Then it is the same as with a poor little worm that sticks to a fishing rod, which the fish wants to eat and devour, but it is caught. So God also lets us be weak, and yet is with us with His strength, and sustains us. Then the enemies troll along and want to destroy and devour us, but soon they lie on the ground; even if they think they want to devour us in one bite, they are still lacking. For God's strength is hidden in our weakness and overcomes all danger.
021 I shall say unto GOD, I am thy servant; thy faith and thy word have been in me; and because I have had thy word, they will oppress me: but behold, how fine they shall run, that will oppress GOD; it shall be unto them as it is unto the Egyptians here. They are here and want to eat me, but they do not know that they want to eat you, God; they will not lead them out. May God grant that we may also boast of this one day.
V. 7 For when you let out your anger, it consumed them like stubble.
(22) In these words Moses relates the great earnestness of God against His enemies, how the persecutors of His church and Christians shall perish immediately. For just as straw or stubble cannot withstand or resist a great fire and blaze, so it is when men fight and fence against our Lord God [Isa. 40, 24. 41, 1. 2.]. There could not be more arrogant and defiant words that Moses and the children of Israel used here, since they were saved from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, to say that God's wrath is a consuming fire, and God's enemies are straw or stubble.
023 Here they have a much different spirit, and mind, and tongue, and speech, than they had before. At first the children of Israel thought they were like water bladders against Pharaoh and the Egyptians. But now they see that if anyone trusts in our Lord God, his enemies must be as straw and stubble against a fire, since stubble does not harm a fire, but makes the fire greater the longer it lasts, and finally is consumed by the fire and turned into dust and ashes.
(24) One could not speak of the great power of Pharaoh and the Egyptians more contemptuously or more disgracefully than Moses and the children of Israel do here, that they call this mighty, powerful, splendid king, so many princes, the core and the highest fortune of his whole empire, stubble and straw. If someone were to call the Roman emperor, the princes and rulers, the whole empire stubble, would he not be said to be mad and foolish? But Mosi's heart is full of
divine help and power, of which he rejoices here and thanks God for it.
(25) Let this be a comfort to us, so that all that troubles us and weighs us down, even though it appears to be great and wants to devour and swallow us up, will not frighten us. For if we look at such things with faith, and feel our weakness, and also look at the great power of our adversaries, we can still take comfort in God's strength, and despise the power and authority of the adversaries. For they are equal to nothing against God. Yes, the world, heaven and earth and all creatures are against God like a drop of water against a bucket of water [Is. 40, 15].
26 This can be seen from the history given, where Moses explains how after their passage the sea fell through one another again, as if heaven and earth were about to sink. For the water stood as far apart as a great city is long or wide. Now that it has suddenly come together again, what do you think must have been the roar and clatter? It will not have done otherwise than as if everything wanted to fall over a lump. If one is frightened by the roaring and rushing of a water, what should not have happened here? Before that, God made the water stand still, as Moses says here [v. 8]: "By your blowing the waters were opened, and the floods came up. The waters were opened, and the floods were heaped up." Spirit and wind are called one thing by the Hebrews. He let a fury come, or he snorted once, then I saw your power and might, so all the strength and power of the Egyptians (as fire consumes the stubble) has destroyed.
27 Moses describes not only how they were minded, and how they felt, that they were fainthearted and despondent; for there are high mountains, they thought, whither shall we go? there is nothing but death before our eyes; but he also reports the safety and glory of the enemies, because they have determined the children of Israel, as when swine are brought together into a stall. Therefore they cry, Won, won; and with them is strength and might, and a certain hope of victory. But the Israelite
The multitude must groan and say: O we are of death, and all are lost 2c. God is not seen with his strength and power, but he is in great weakness with the children of Israel; yet he sustains them, and overthrows Pharaoh, and inspires the children of Israel with courage.
These are excellent examples and words of sincere faith, that when an enemy rages, rages and struts, and makes himself believe that heaven is full of violins, but you are powerless and powerless against it, that you can then conclude and say: Dear Lord God, you are mine and I am yours. And this is God's work, this is what He delights in, as also the 73rd Psalm, v. 18, sings, that God raises some high, so that He may bring them low again and overthrow them, and the Virgin Mary also sings it in her hymn of praise [Luc. 1, 52.]: Deus deposuit potentes de sede etc. [Deus deposuit potentes de sede etc.]. [, he pushes the mighty from the chair, and raises the miserable]. For even if I want to bring a thing down hard, I lift it up high; on hard blows one saves high. Therefore God lifts up the enemies, that they may fall hard. So he lifted up Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as if they had the children of Israel in their hands; but when they were too sure, the waters closed their gorge and ate them up; so Pharaoh lay in the Red Sea, and Sennacherib lost his people before Jerusalem [2 Kings 19:35]. Antiochus, the tyrannical king, also perishes miserably in Persia [1 Marc. 6, 8. ff].
29. From this we are to learn that God is such a man: whom He lifts up, it is dangerous with him; but what He lets fall, that means something good [Ps. 113, 7. Sir. 3, 19.]. The lifting up is terrible, because he also breaks it gladly, and makes that out of it, which it was not. Such things belong to the Creator alone. That is what he does; namely, what is high and great he brings down, and what is nothing he exalts. Just as the Lord Christ himself says to the Pharisees that what is high and great in the sight of God is an abomination in the sight of men. Therefore, when they think they are all things, and stand on firm feet, they lie down. Again, what is despised and rejected, God takes care of [Ps. 10:12]. This is the way of our Lord God.
V. 10. and sank like lead in the mighty waters.
(30) Just as when one throws a piece of lead or a block into the water, which soon sinks to the bottom, so also the Egyptians were drowned in a hui, so that in a moment there is neither man, horse nor chariot, and they can no longer swim or move a finger [1 Thess. 5:3].
V. 11. Lord, who is like you among the gods?
(31) The Holy Spirit is full of words; he overflows with praise, as a cask in which a must pours, (1) so Moses foams with other joy and thoughts. There have been many gods on earth, but no god has done such a glorious deed as the right God. God imposes and allows other gods to be raised up as well; as St. Paul [1 Cor. 8, 4. 5.] says about the devils pretending to be God and wanting to be worshipped, but there is only one God over the wicked and over the godly. But this is the difference, that the service and office are unequal. For this one wants to serve God in one way, that one in another way, and all lack God. But just as there is only one God, so there is only one way to serve God. For the others also want to serve our Lord God, but they serve the devil.
For this reason, because of many idolatries, cruel sins and abuses, for which the devil is very quick, undaunted and willing, God decrees that one people shall subdue and destroy another. For Satan is the god of the world; he has many angels who serve him. So, in this chapter, King Pharaoh and his princes are slain, but God does it through the devil. Although the wicked often force the pious among themselves and win a battle, Satan also helps and sometimes protects his servants and people. He has this power, but it is nothing compared to the strength of him who has built one heaven above the other; therefore he is a god above all gods, he has one heaven above all gods.
1) yaw --- yaw,
mel built over all the heavens. We call this one heaven as far as we can see it; above these visible heavens it has other heavens.
So there is only one Lord and God, although people dream and invent other gods for themselves. In Hispania they have St. James as their patron, there they honor and serve the devil under the name of St. James. In Rome they have St. Peter; elsewhere St. Catherine, St. Barbara and St. Nicholas have been invoked as emergency helpers. The devil is a god and prince of the world; therefore he is powerful and mighty. He can sometimes help, and God thus decrees it; for God's counsels are wonderful. That is why Moses wants to say: It is nothing with the straw men 1) and gods, against you. He confesses that they are called gods, but he says, "Who is like you among the gods, who is so noble and holy, terrible and praiseworthy and wonderful?
34 This is the conclusion of the first part, since in this psalm of praise Moses praised God's power and earnestness against the persecutors and enemies of his word, because he wants to say: There is none. There are many gods on earth, but there is none so excellent in holiness as you. For all other gods, which are invented and pretended, profane themselves; but he that honors this God becomes holy, and he also sanctifies God. The monks have honored St. Bernardum, Benedictum and Franciscum; but served the devil under the name of the saints, and under these saints' names only disgraced themselves; but this people has the right GOt and the right spirit; and as GOt is holy, so they also walk in holiness. Other gods are inwardly foul and unclean; there is none so terrible, praiseworthy and miraculous as you.
V. 12. When you stretched out your right hand, it swallowed up the earth.
35 That is, they were under heaven; but when the sea and the water fell together, they were submerged, and fell into the earth; both parts smote together, and the Egyptians are in the midst of the water, therefore they are sunk into the abyss of the earth.
1) Straw pots - popanz of straw.
V. 13. You have guided by mercy your people whom you redeemed, and have led them by your strength to your glorious dwelling place.
Here he gives thanks and praise to God for his glorious blessing, grace and mercy, that he not only led and redeemed his people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, but was also their escort, and governed them on the way out of Egypt to the Red Sea, and also brought them through the Red Sea. The angel of the Lord went before them by night in a fiery pillar, and by day in a white cloud 2c. Which cloud was set before the Egyptian highway 2) between the Egyptians and the children of Israel, that they might not come together.
(37) This is what he means here, that the Egyptians did not do as they pleased, but God stood with the Israelites, so that they would be sure not to go out or move away, unless it pleased God to be with them. Moses says: "It was due to your goodness, not to our merit or good works. For if you had acted according to our merit, you would have left us unguided and unguided.
(38) You may think that from the great and terrible deed there was a great cry in the surrounding countries, who heard of the miracle, that all the power of the kingdom of Egypt was drowned in the Red Sea, and that the children of Israel were the people who went through the sea dry, and all the countries thought: Help God, who will remain before this people? For if the Turk were to enter these lands and pass through the Elbe with dry feet, what a great cry would go up through all the lands? How would everyone's heart fall out? Much more has happened here than this glorious miracle has taken place. But the same countries were still not converted to God, but thought it had happened by magic. For there was much black magic and sorcery in use at that time, and idolatry was used extensively. Whether Israel
2) Thus taken over by us from the old edition of Walch. Eislebensche: Straf.
served the right God, the pagans thought: One God is stronger than the other. Although the God of Israel succeeded in one thing, the God of Egypt must not be wrong.
V.14. When the nations heard this, they trembled; fear came upon the Philistines.
39 That is, the surrounding countries, as, the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, Cananites and others were afraid, they staggered, ran together, there was a rumor, because this happened. The Philistines were the nearest neighbors, therefore he remembers them, and the Philistines were a strong, mighty people, dwelling toward the evening of the land, where they were to go. The children of Israel went in from Egypt as from the evening toward the morning, as if they were going to the land toward the north; which was the right way and road to the land where the Philistines dwelt, which land had many great cities, and princes, and giants; but God led them astray for a long time, guiding them around the mountains because of their sin. These Philistines were also afraid of the cry. The people of Israel have never been able to completely dominate the Philistines, so that they would have been subservient to them; they have been interest-bearing to the children of Israel, which is as far as David was able to go [2 Sam. 5, 17. ff. 1 Chron. 15, 8. ff.].
V. 1s. Then the princes of Edom were terrified, the mighty men of Moab cried out, and all the inhabitants of Canaan became cowards.
040 The Edomites dwelt on the left hand, and came from Esau Jacob's brother: and the children of Israel went about their land almost forty years. Moab was a little farther toward the east. Edom was better situated toward here. Above these nations lay Canaan. These countries all at once, which they had before them, were astonished at this marvel, though they were mighty, great, powerful, and strong nations. Nevertheless they thought how they would smite and subdue the children of Israel. This is what happened to the children of Israel and how they were redeemed. Now he closes the hymn with a prayer, saying:
V. 16. Let terror and fear fall upon them by your great arm, that they may be frozen like stones.
41 As if to say, From the cry of this great miracle let them be cowardly; press on, dear Lord God, press on, they are troubled, afraid and terrified, and we must pass through and shall pass through. We have overcome the Red Sea, ei, so let us also smite and overcome this multitude of Philistines, Edomites, Moabites and Cananites. O help us to do it soon, and you do it; for you alone are mighty. You recently drowned Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea, so we hope you will destroy other nations before us and bring us into the Promised Land.
But how shall he do it? Take away their heart! For God has this art: He does not cut off a fist or a leg, but takes away the manhood and the courage, so that the heart falls away, so that there is no courage or manhood. As the 76th Psalm, v. 12, 13, also says: "Bring gifts to the terrible one, who takes away the courage of princes, and is terrible among the kings of the earth." When the courage is gone, one stands like a fool, yes, one can hardly stand on his feet, arms and legs become trembling and powerless, that one lies there like a block, lets himself be cut and stabbed, as on a block or wood. A boy can strangle a man. So our Lord God leaves a man's fists whole, his harness and spear and knife undrawn. But he gives a despondent heart when one is to strike with the enemy. Therefore it is not in the fist, nor in the sword, but in the courage that does it. When a man takes a thing into his mind that he may do it, it is already half done. For beware of him who means you in earnest; for when it is thus resolved in the mind, the fist goes soon after.
43) This is our Lord God's agility, his art of war, his advantage and best armor, namely, that he takes away the courage of the harassers and the devourers of men; then one becomes less than a child and more stupid than a woman. Therefore Moses says here: Take away their heart and their courage, and give it to us; let terror and fear fall upon them, so that
they will freeze like the stones. Then we will overcome them; if manhood escapes them, they will be dull and half dead, so that they will not be able to lift a finger.
Until the people come through whom you have purchased.
44 As if to say, "It is your people, you care for them, so that you may be honored and praised; therefore take away their courage and give us a heart. So our Lord God fights against his enemies; so let whoever wants to fight, I will be satisfied with this warrior [Ps. 108:12, 13].
Bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance.
45 That is, bring them into the land of Canaan, drive out the heathen. "Your inheritance." For the land is yours, so we are your inheritance; therefore you, God, will set up a dwelling place, temple and seat there, where you will be found.
46. for God has always done this, that He has given on earth a bodily sign, a person, a place, and a place where He will surely be found. For if we are not bound and caught by a bodily, outward sign, each one will seek God where he desires. That is why the holy prophets wrote many things about the tabernacle, about the dwelling place and the tabernacle where He wanted to be present. God has always done this. In the same way, he has built a temple for us Christians, where he wants to dwell, namely, the oral word, baptism and the Lord's Supper, which are bodily things. But our false prophets, the spirits of the wicked, and the enthusiasts despise them, and cast them away as if they were worthless, saying, "Yes, I will sit and wait until a flying spirit and a revelation come to me from heaven.
(47) But beware of this. We also know that water, bread and wine do not make us blessed; but how do you like it that in the Lord's Supper there is not bad bread and wine, or even in baptism pure water; but God says that he wants to be in baptism, that it should cleanse and wash us from sins? And in the Lord's Supper, under the bread
and Mine, the body and blood of the Lord Christ is given. Will you then despise God and His sign here, and look upon and hold the water in baptism as the water flowing in the Elbe, or as the water you boil? Or, wilt thou esteem the word of the gospel as the words or speeches of the peasants of the Kretzschmar or the Tabern? For God has said: When the word of Christ is preached, then I am in your mouth, and I go with the word through your ears into the heart.
(48) Therefore we have a sure sign, and know that when the gospel is preached, God is present and wants to be found there; there I have a bodily sign, so that I may recognize God and find him. He is also present at baptism and the Lord's Supper, for he has joined himself to be there. But if I go to St. Jacob's, or to the Grimmethal, 1) go to a monastery and seek God elsewhere, I will lack Him. And if now the red spirits preach: Just as monastic life, invocation of the saints, mass and pilgrimage are nothing, so baptism and the Lord's Supper are nothing; that does not work by a long shot. For there is a great difference when God orders and establishes something, or when people establish something. Yes, you are to believe God's ordinances and endowments, worship them and hold them in great honor; so He also commanded Mosi.
49. "Bring them into the land," that is, arrange and name a certain place, so that whoever cannot worship you there in person may turn his body here, and turn his face there and pray. So I also have God in a certain place, namely, here in the Word and Sacraments, so that even if someone is in Rome, or wherever else he may be, if he only turns his face to the Word and Sacraments and worships, he will find our Lord God there, and even if he wants to be found in a straw, he should be sought and honored there. Therefore the prophets said, "We will come to his footstool, for he is holy; there we will worship him.
1) "in Grymthal zu Franken," Jäger, Carlstadt, p. 188, note.
(50) But our prophets (who are so much wiser than those in whom the Spirit of God is manifest) say: Do you think that this wood, water, bread and wine is holy? I myself know that without the word and its nature it does not have holiness. But if God wills to give holiness and power to these things by His word, they will not lack it, but God, who sits on it and sanctifies these things, is in His word. If he only says, All here I am, and there is my word, there is found GOD; by him it is sanctified. Therefore, if he will be here, I will not despise him or the outward sign.
051 Moses therefore saith, Let them be established, and take root in the land, and dwell therein continually, and not sojourn there as sojourners, eating and drinking, and having only a lodging place there, and departing thence; but let them increase and grow, that they may be planted therein, and be established or remain.
On the mountain.
(52) He called the whole land mountains, and Moses spoke of it as if it had already happened, when it had not yet happened, but God intended to build His tabernacle and tent there. The land was otherwise not so delicious because of its fruits, but because God wanted to dwell there. And God's dwelling place and tabernacle are not to be counted according to wood and stone, but that God speaks there, as the 60th Psalm, v. 8, also says: "God speaks in His sanctuary; I am glad." And so it is also where God speaks in His word and in His sermon, which Moses praises highly, that it is a delicious land, and says: Plant it in the place where You have made Your dwelling.
Therefore also another Psalm [Ps. 122, 1.] says: "I rejoice that it has been said to me, 'We will go into the house of the Lord'; not where there are organs and pipes, but where the Lord our God speaks; there we go to life, blessedness and mercy. Thus the prophets had God, that they were sure by a bodily sign that God was there; otherwise we run here.
and there, and know nothing certain of God. Therefore this one has run into a barefoot monastery, that one has become a Carthusian; one gropes here, the other there. For God does not sit there, does not speak in the same place, does not entice to Himself, as He otherwise does where His word is preached.
O! the great spirits do not want to suffer this. But let all the nations rage and rage; he will establish a kingdom that will last forever, as he concludes this hymn of praise, saying [v. 18]: "The Lord will be king forever and ever." For he also alone is a true, eternal, almighty, earnest and merciful, gracious King and Lord; Pharaoh in the Red Sea taught Mores and drowned, but let us Israelites go through the sea with dry feet and redeemed. Now follows a new chapter, which should be distinguished from the others.
V. 20, 21: And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her out with timbrels and dances. And Miriam sang to them: Let us sing to the LORD, for he has done a glorious thing, having cast both man and horse into the sea.
55 Miriam was Mosi's and Aaron's sister, and according to the languages the names are changed, as, Hans in German, is called otherwise graece John, Claus is called graece Nicolaus. So we have to reckon them; the new spirits do not pay much attention to that. Mary, the mother of the Lord Christ, is also called Miriam 2c. This Miriam, Moses' sister, takes an example from her brother Moses and from the other men, and also sings a song of thanksgiving to the Lord with timbrels and round dances, in gratitude that she and the other women also praise and glorify God because of His good deeds and miracles that He performed on them, thereby wanting to lead and entice others to God's knowledge and service.
vv. 22-25 Moses sent the children of Israel out from the Red Sea to the wilderness of Sur, and they wandered three days in the wilderness, finding no water. Then they came to Marah, but
They could not drink the water of Mara, for it was almost bitter; therefore the place was called Mara. Then the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? He cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree, which he put into the water, and it became sweet.
So far we have heard the mystery of great, glorious deeds, demonstrated in the children of Israel when they were brought out of Egypt, and how they praised and thanked God for these great miracles. Now let us return to the story and hear how they fared; and this text is the end of the fifteenth chapter. God brought them out of Egypt by a great miracle; therefore he still continues with miracles, and does not cease to perform miracles, the whole journey, for forty years, while they are in the desert, until they come to the promised land, and performs one miracle and wonder after another for this long time.
(57) But here we are also given an example of those who see God's miracles, think them great, praise and glorify them, and yet soon fall back and forget all God's benefits, in that they murmur against God and become impatient that they have not had water to drink in three days. Shortly before, they had seen and experienced the unspeakable miracle of how they were led out of Egypt and brought through the Red Sea. This should have been a great thing in their eyes, for the Red Sea was not as narrow as the Elbe or the Rhine, but eight or ten miles wide. They were miraculously rescued from it, and Pharaoh's enemy was sunk and drowned in it with all his people.
But what happens? For more than three days they forget everything, they despise the previous divine help and assistance, they wag it in the wind, they have set themselves against God, as if He were no longer with them, and they know Him no more. Is this not sin and shame? When they come out to the wilderness, to a heath and grove, where no people dwell, nor lands, nor cities, where there is not a flat field, and yet this wilderness goes straight to the promised land, there they find no water. But when they came to Mara, there they found
found water, but could not drink of the same water, for it was almost bitter; therefore the place was called Mara, that is, bitter or bitterness; so the people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
(59) They can never stop here; their patience is too short. They have lacked water for a day or so, for otherwise they would have carried water with them from the Red Sea; but when they are thirsty for a day or two and do not have water soon, they grumble and are not devout for more than three days. But God has tried and tested their faith by sending a new trial, trouble and tribulation among them, like thirst. They did not think, "Behold, if God has brought us out of death and out of the Red Sea, then He will also give us drink," because they believed and trusted that He would control this thirst. After that, they saw the pillar of cloud and the fire going before them day and night, which they followed as a banner, which was a public sign that God was visibly reigning before them as a duke and supreme commander, both by day and by night. Which is a glorious example of the presence of God with His people. Nevertheless, it does not move them.
They ask nothing about the previous miracle and salvation, which should have strengthened and comforted them, that the God, who had helped them before, was still alive and would still help them, as 1 Sam. 17, 37. David also says: "The God, who helped me from the lion and the bear, will also save me from the uncircumcised Philistine. And 2 Cor. 1, 8-10, St. Paul says that God helped him in Asia out of his weakness and death through their intercession, and will continue to help him, and thus says: "We do not want to keep you, dear brethren, from our affliction, which 1) happened to us in Asia, when we were overburdened beyond measure and overpowered, so that we were considering losing our lives and had decided that we would have to die. But this was because we did not put our trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead, who
1) Eisleben's: our tribulation, the.
has delivered us from such death, and is still delivering us daily, and we hope that he will also deliver us hereafter, through the help of your intercession for us."
61) So the children of Israel only look at the belly, how the gorret 1) wants to have and to drink. They are gluttons who pay more attention to the belly and the lack of water than to God's miracle, word and promise. So they fall down and care only for the body. Just as if they do not have water, they no longer have God. They want to have the belly taken care of, let God remain in heaven, or be where He wants. Let this be a warning to us, and do not put our eyes into the present distress and danger, but look to God's word, to His previous miracles and examples of how He has helped others; for thereby faith is strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
Now God is somewhat silent about this, and lets them be as they are. And notice here that they did not all murmur at the same time, as follows in the text. For some of them still stood and waited for God to perform miraculous signs among them, and also used the previous miracles correctly, and hoped that God would not abandon His own. For when God performs miracles, he sends some first, or one at the least, who has faith. For He does not perform miracles unless there is faith first, for which He performs miracles. That is why there were still some here who believed, like Moses, Aaron and others. For Moses cried unto the Lord for water: as there were also found later two other godly men, Joshua and Caleb, which came into the promised land, when all the rest were dead. So there are still a few pious men here, for whose sake he gives water, and the wicked peelers enjoy the good deeds of the pious; and the pious must pay for it all here, because the wicked peelers and the boys have murmured because they are among them, just as the wicked often enjoy the good deeds of the pious.
63. god could have made a spring-
1) gvrren - growl.
But he will not do it. For he acts miraculously; just as here, that water stands unnaturally in the rock, and it still goes on daily, that all water sources go out of the mountains and stones. Moreover, it is no less a miracle that the clouds give water. Where does it take it? There can be nothing thinner and softer than a cloud, for it is nothing else than air; how then can it make water and rain out of air; or, how can it make stones out of clouds, but when it rains and hails? Is it not to be wondered at that in half an hour the whole sky is covered with rain? But nobody thinks about it, everything is despised because it is mean.
(64) But all things come to pass, and so they come to pass, that God may gladly stir up and build up faith in us, that we may put our trust in him. For he will not let us lack. And even if we were to sit in the clefts of stone, he could still make water and all necessities out of it. Item, what is bitter, he can make sweet, and again, soon sweet also sour and bitter. So, what is soft, he can also make hard, the creatures must be obedient to him alone [Ps. 135, 6].
(65) So the water here was bitter by nature, and so created; but now that they are to drink it, the Lord calls for a tree or wood to be thrown into it, and it becomes sweet. Not that this wood had such great power, but it was a miracle that God willed to do by His word, without any action on Moses' part, and soon the water was not bitter as before; indeed, He can make it remain bitter and taste sweet 2c.
(66) All this is written and done so that we may learn faith, its challenges and trials, and know that we have such a God who makes all things from nothing [Rom. 4:17]. Nothing is too small for Him, nor is any thing too great; and they that believe shall have all things.
V. 26. There he set before them a law, and a statute, and tried them, saying, Wilt thou obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do that which is right in his sight, and come unto him?
If you keep his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will not put upon you any of the diseases that I put upon Egypt; for I am the LORD your physician.
God often gave them laws, as in the 12th chapter above, when they were to eat the paschal lamb; item, how they were to borrow gold and silver utensils from the Egyptians. So now he gives laws, orders and rights through the man Moses, and not through himself; as he will give the ten commandments again through himself by great miracles on Mount Sinai.
68. At the hour when the bitter water was made sweet by the tree, he preached a sermon on the miracle, and Moses took this miracle as a reason to preach a strong, good sermon on it, as if to say: You have seen God's miracle as before; therefore I say to you, stop your grumbling, do not be so impatient after this miracle, which you saw the other day; submit yourselves, obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right. The land is promised to you; he will not let you go. If thou wilt obey his voice, he will be thy physician, thy helper; it shall be well with thee, he shall preserve thee yet: as thou hast now known by the miracle of the bitter water, which was made sweet.
69 This was the cause and opinion of the sermon and other speeches of Moses to this people. For he exhorted them and raised them up to believe that they would obey God and let him be right, that he would not leave them, even if they had to suffer a little. For God tempted them and made them weak and sick, so that He would be with them and heal them again: He wants to be their helper and physician. This is the part where they wandered in the desert for three days.
Allegory of this story.
70 Now follows the mystery or allegory of this text, for many have interpreted it wonderfully. But what you want to interpret spiritually, you should always draw on faith in Christ and the gospel. Some have interpreted it in this way,
that Mara, the bitter water, means all kinds of crosses, sufferings and misfortunes that may befall a man. But that Moses throws a wood into it and makes it sweet, is that one throws the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the body and blood of Christ into it, and one remembers the suffering and death; then all cross and suffering taste good; then no suffering is so bitter and bitter that it does not become sweet and sweet. Let these be Christian and good thoughts; though they are childish enough, yet they are drawn to the suffering of Christ; but to point rightly is to the spirit, to the conscience, and to faith.
Mara" is the law of God, and "walking in the wilderness" is the heaviness of life, which is led under the burden of the law and good works, since there is never rest nor peace, but the spirit is even killed, and through the laws everything becomes the longer the worse. For the law makes an evil conscience, and only causes wrath, and increases sin, Rom. 4:15. Therefore, the more the law is preached for the conscience, the more man must be frightened by the bitter water; this makes everyone sad, it judges people to be melancholy; as then those experience who are under your law.
Now, there arises a grumbling and impatience against God, which naturally happens [Matth. 20, 11]. For the heart cannot do otherwise than to become hostile to God. I am now speaking spiritually of the law. For outward, coarse people must be forced with the outward law [1 Tim. 1, 9], but the tender souls (that is what I am talking about now), who belong to the Gospel, God leads them on a three-day journey and tortures them, and brings them into great thirst, fear and distress, to the bitter water, which they must drink, that is, that they have a bitter conscience. The grumbling that follows is of the conscience that is secretly angry with God; with the mouth it says it loves God, but the heart denies. For it does not want to be so severely tempted, and is hostile to all punishments that go beyond sin.
73) Punishments make a bad conscience, hurt it and are quite annoying for the old Adam; but if there were no punishments, then a sinful life would be nothing but a sin.
fine thing. Because they are hostile to the laws and wrath of God, they are also hostile to God, and this for the following reason, that it follows irrefutably: He who does not approve of the punishments does not want God's justice, and invents for himself alone such a God who is merciful (as the world is now in the habit of doing, and knows how to make masterly use of it), therefore he does not want to have God Himself either. Therefore, within the conscience there is a secret resentment, blasphemy and grumbling against God, since the heart would like there to be no God or punishment. Therefore, the conscience must always tremble and quake, even fearing and being terrified of a rustling leaf.
Now this is a secret sin, that one covers up such things, of which not many people know [Jer. 17:9]. Should they love God and be favorable to Him? They would gladly flee and disown God, and would that there were no God; as is seen in those who are to die, or suffer something for their iniquity. And in the last day they will prove it much more clearly, when God will drive away from Himself the hearts laden with the sin of impatience and wrath, precisely because they were impatient and grumbled against God; which God hears very well, so everyone who can judge and judge spiritually also sees it; but those who do it do not recognize it in this way. But all who are frightened by the knowledge of hell and the law do so before they receive the Holy Spirit and their hearts are softened. Therefore, that we may become favorable to the law and be held, this is what the tree does, which is shown by God to Mosiah; whatever kind of tree it must have been, for here it is not expressed by name.
(75) Now two things are signified here: first, that the water, which is the law, is not made sweet without the help of Moses, who by the terrors of the law makes a man hard and weary, and so afflicts him with bitterness that he longs for help; and secondly, when the Holy Spirit comes, it soon becomes sweet. But our red spirits want to have the Holy Spirit without the divine word. So this tree is the dear gospel; the bitter water is the law, or the erudition.
knowledge of sin. The tree of life [Gen. 2, 9] is the dear gospel, the word of God's grace, mercy and goodness; when the gospel is immersed in the law and knowledge of sin and touches the heart, where the law causes sadness, fear, terror and grief, it tastes. Moses does his outward service; so here also. It does nothing without the outward gospel, for through it follows sweetness and desire for the law. One recognizes from it that Christ died for us, and receives the Holy Spirit, and gets pleasure and love for God, to whom one was otherwise hostile before. If God pleases him, and this desire has begun, then there is peace, and what God means and commands, and also the law wants, comes to pass. It is pleasant and fun for him, and he likes to hear about it, because the law has been fulfilled by someone else; he has even become a different person.
Thus it should be applied to the ministry of preaching; and therefore I am practicing the young theologians who are studying the holy Scriptures, guiding them freshly and driving them to the Word of God, and founding their faith on the Word of God. The other, previous interpretation [§ 70] is too weak and too childish, does not attain the reason and spirit.
When the bitterness is taken away and the heart is cleansed, it does not grieve. Then it is recognized that God has given them the law to obey the voice of the Lord. He did not want to put a disease on them, as he had put on Egypt, but he wanted to be their physician, since they would immediately be attacked with disease; this is when the gospel is given, which makes even death sweet, yes, a gentle sleep. Then the foundation is laid, and this is the right doctrine, where one must persist, urge and exhort that man turn to Christ and learn how he helps us from sins, law, death and the devil. Stay with it and learn to trust in God. Whenever you are tempted with bitterness, always keep the word, and God will be your physician and protect you from all sorrow.
78 For in these two things is the ministry of preaching: first, to teach that which is not known;
To admonish and urge them to keep in mind what they have learned and known, and not to leave it or forget it [2 Tim. 4:2]. We are flesh and blood, so it cannot be preached enough. This is also seen in the Holy Scriptures,
who preaches the same doctrine in different words all the time. God knows that the old rogue, the old Adam, is lazy and indolent; he soon lets him take away the pure and righteous doctrine, and after that he is persuaded by erroneous, seductive little human beings.