The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for Numbers 14:26–35, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). This passage is not assigned as a reading for any particular Sunday. However, St. Paul references this even in the Epistle Reading for Septuagesima, 1 Corinthians 9:4–10:5. Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.
III. Moses’s intercession for the people, and what he thereby accomplished. (v. 13–35)
Annotated Text
26. And the Lord spoke with Moses and Aaron (what God had recently said to Moses only [v. 20–25], He repeated with more detail in the presence of Aaron), and said:
27. “How * long will this evil congregation murmur against Me?1 For I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, that they have murmured against Me.
* Psalm 106:25
1 Hebrew: “How long shall I overlook this evil congregation, which (still) murmurs against Me (incessantly)?”
28. Therefore, say to them, ‘As truly as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘I will do to you, that which you have said before my ears (since you have clarified that you would much rather die in this wilderness than cross over into the promised land, v. 2).
29. Your * bodies shall decay (and not be buried in the promised land where your forefathers, the patriarchs, lie) in thiswilderness (that is so unpleasant to you); and all of you who were numbered1 from twenty years old and above, you who have murmured against Me (as well as your wives who likewise murmured, all of you together),
30. You shall not come into the land over which I have lifted up my hand (sworn), that I would let you dwell therein; except * Caleb, the son of Jephunneh and Joshua, the son of Nun (and others from the tribe of Levi, who did not concur with your murmuring).
* Numbers 26:65, 32:12
31. Your * children, of whom you said, ‘They will be prey’ (v. 3), I will bring them in, that they shall know (and occupy) the land, which you have despised.
* Deuteronomy 1:39
32. But you, together with * your bodies, shall decay in this wilderness.
* Numbers 14:36
33. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness (tending livestock; indeed, even themselves wandering about as a herd of cattle in the wilderness) for forty years (the two years that have already passed being included, Deuteronomy 2:14), and they shall bear * your harlotry (to repay your wickedness and unfaithfulness against Me, your faithful God, and to fully make you partakers of your spiritual harlotry, namely, the idolatry and murmuring against Me), until your bodies are all in the wilderness (until they are altogether ground up);
* Psalm 95:10–11; Ezekiel 4:6; Hebrews 3:17
34. According to the number of forty days in which you had scouted the land, for each you shall count a year (as many days as you spent scouting the land of Canaan, so many years you shall still remain in the wilderness), so that they2 shall bear your misdeeds for forty years (and not only your children, but also you yourselves, inasmuch as within such time you shall be decimated and die), * so that you (experience in fact and) become awarewhat it is when I withdraw2(and, in addition, oppose myself to them in My wrath) the † hand (My grace, protection, and assistance from stiff-necked sinners).
1 Hebrew: “You shall”
* Jeremiah 2:19
2 Hebrew: “when one makes Me turn away (that is, hinders My purpose, as you have done).” See Numbers 30:6, 12; 32:7, 9.
† Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Psalm 74:11
35. I * the Lord have spoken that I will also do so to all this evil congregation, who have rebelled against Me. In this wilderness they shall all be, and there they shall die (and thus remain).’”
* Ezekiel 5:17
Useful Applications
III. DOCTRINE: Concerning God’s righteous judgment against impatient doubters. (v. 26, 35)
The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Epistle Reading of Septuagesima, 1 Corinthians 9:24–10:5, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.
1 Corinthians 9:24–27
II. Concerning Paul’s lifestyle, that he lives moderately and that he still is of the single estate; but especially, that he preaches the Gospel without pay, etc. (v. 24–27)
Annotated Text
24. Do you not know,1 that those who run in the race (Luther: “In or around the competition”) all run, but (only) one obtains the (set forth) prize? (namely, the one who first reaches the goal) Run now thus (carry out your run in Christendom in such a manner), that you may seize it (that you may obtain the promised heavenly reward out of grace, so that you do not run in vain).
1 † Here follows the conclusion of all the preceding admonitions to right use of freedom, and therein rests the greater part on the little word “abstain” [ἐγκρατεύεται] (v. 25), which here signifies so much as “to exercise self-control” [abbrechen sich], as that upon which [the right use of freedom] continually depends.
25. But * everyone who competes restrains himself in all things (that might hinder him in the attainment of the victory); those (those who run or compete in the race) such that they receive a perishable crown (or wreath, for the most part of leaves or herbs), but we (all of us together who as spiritual combatants must always be at war against the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh; if we overcome, we will obtain) an imperishable one (an incorruptible eternal crown, 1 Peter 5:4).
26. Now1 I run in this way, not as uncertain (as those who do not know that they will reach and will win without fail, and thus have striven for nothing and in vain); I fight in this way, not as one who strikes in the air (as swordsman at times make many failing strikes in that they do not hit their opponent, but rather, strike the air; rather, I have set before myself a certain victory in my spiritual race and combat, toward which I direct all my doings, namely, God’s honor, the conversion and salvation of men, and my own eternal welfare. Luther: “Just as a combatant who runs out of bounds must miss the goal and one who strikes and makes failing strikes, swings vainly into the air, in this way it goes with all who indeed do many good works without faith, for they are uncertain how they are with God, therefore, they are mere missed runs, failing strikes, and false works”).
(2 Timothy 1:8)
1Greek: “Therefore, I also run (as you previously heard) …” [ἐγὼ τοίνυν οὕτως]
27. Rather, I * subdue (and overcome) my body and tame it (through moderation and fasting; I also do not indulge in my fleshly lusts and desires that want to hold me back from right course and combat, but rather I subdue them and guard against them so that they do not break out into works), that I not preach to others (and that they would be saved through the preaching of the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 4:16), and disqualify myself (that I do not make myself unfit for good and give an evil example to others).1
* Romans 8:13, 13:14 (Galatians 5:24)
1 † Because the apostles has previously spoken about restraining oneself and exercising self-control out of love toward others in the use of middle things [i.e., adiaphora] and also about taking pay, so this also must without doubt be understood as abstaining from various things of the like to avoid offense, even if became hard upon his flesh and blood. For properly speaking, the discourse here is not concerning fasting.
Useful Applications
II. COMFORT and CORRECTION: It is a great comfort for Christians that their running finally brings a glorious crown; however, each must see to it that he does not forfeit it with loveless self-will. (v. 24–27)
1 Corinthians 10:1–5
I. Paul counters the objection of the converted Corinthians, since they supposed that, by virtue of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, there would be no distress with them in the rest, even if they made use of idol sacrifices; there, Paul holds before them certain types from the Old Testament, with proof, [namely, that] just as the Jews misused those same signs of grace and yet finally were harshly punished, that God also in this way will visit those who eat of idol-sacrifices. (v. 1–14)
Annotated Text
1. But I do not want to hold back from you, beloved brothers, that * our fathers (our forefathers, the Israelites in the Old Testament, in whose stead you have been received as the people of God in the New Testament) were (indeed) all under the cloud (under the pillar of cloud in which the Lord went before them by day so that He led them on the right way; the cloud which also stood over them, Numbers 14:14, and which overshadowed them), and † all went through the (Red) Sea (and thus were rescued from the hand of Pharoah who pursued them with a great army).
* Exodus 13:1
† Exodus 14:22 (Nehemiah 9:19; Psalm 78:14)
2. And they were all baptized under Moses1(who led them through the Red Sea and through the wilderness) with the cloud and with the sea. (This passage through the Red Sea and this covering by the cloud was a type of Holy Baptism, which has been instituted in the New Testament. For in the same way that God the Lord assured the Israelites of His gracious presence and His help against enemies through these wonderful blessings, in the same way Holy Baptism is a powerful seal of the divine promise and a certain testimony of the grace of God. Just as the Israelites were rescued from the bondage of Pharoah by such passage, but Pharoah with all his hosts was drowned in the Red Sea, in this way Holy Baptism is the saving bath of renewal and regeneration [Titus 3:5], by which we are redeemed from the power of the devil and the bondage of sin, that the old man with his evil lusts be drowned, and the new man may arise [Romans 6:4, 6]. Just as the Israelites by this blessing were obliged to believe the doctrine of Moses, in the same we are baptized into Christ and are thereby obliged to believe His Word and follow His commandments.)
(1 Peter 3:21)
1 Greek: “into Moses” [εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν], that is, into that church polity [German: Kirchenverfassung] that was set by him before the people from Sinai as a covenant.
3. And * they all ate the same spiritual food (namely, the Manna, which is therefore called a spiritual food, because it fell from heaven in an wonderful unnatural manner, and because it signified the spiritual soul-food, Christ Jesus, John 6:32–33, who feeds us with His flesh in the Holy Supper);
* Exodus 16:15ff. (Psalm 105:40)
4. And * they all drank the same spiritual drink (namely, the water that flowed from the rock, which is called a spiritual drink because it sprung forth from the hard rock in a supernatural manner, and because it signified the spiritual soul-drink, Christ Jesus, who quenches us with His blood in the Holy Supper); but they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, which was Christ. (As our fathers altogether, both the wicked as well as the pious, drank from the same water which flowed from the rock, so they also, according to the figure and type, drank from the spiritual rock which led them through the wilderness, which spiritual rock was no one other than the Son of God, Christ Jesus.)
5. But with many of them (among those same Israelites) God had no good pleasure; for * they were struck down (and all those who were over twenty years perished altogether when they were led out of Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb excepted) in the wilderness. (From this, it sufficiently appears that God has no pleasure in them.)
* John 6:49 (Numbers 26:65; Psalm 106:26; Hebrews 3:17ff.)
Useful Applications
I. WARNING: Because Paul warns his own of idolatry, fornication, tempting God, and impatient murmuring on the basis that the end of the world had come upon them, how much more ought we allow ourselves to be warned, we who live seventeen hundred years afterward and who have fallen into the last sludge of the evil world? (v. 1, 11)
The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Holy Gospel of Septuagesima, Matthew 20:1–16, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.
I. An explanation of the nearest preceding words [from v. 15], “There are many who are first, etc.,” with a parable of the laborers. (v. 1–16)
Annotated Text
1. “The 1kingdom of heaven is like a House-father, who went out (first thing) in the morning to hire laborers into * His vineyard. (In this parable, by the kingdom of heaven is understood the estate of the Church of God, or the kingdom of grace here on earth, not only with regards to the call of God into the Church, but also the transfer of men out of the kingdom of grace into the kingdom of glory and majesty. By the house-father is understood God the Lord, the heavenly House-Father, John 15:1, who immediately from the beginning of the world has called men into vineyard of His Church through the preaching of His Word and continues this calling until the end of the world in such a form that at different times of the world He calls men to His Church and kingdom of grace.)2
1 Greek: “For…” [γάρ] — One should note here this little word, which provides the occasion [v. 15] and the key to the parable, which most German editions have omitted.
* Matthew 21:33 (Isaiah 5:1ff.)
2 † In particular, He calls at all times laborers as stewards (that is, teachers) into His vineyard of the Christian Church, whom He does not allow to labor vainly, but rather He kindly divides His gifts, bodily benefits and provisions, necessary relief, internal consolation, and the like in His order and measure.
2. And when He came to agreement with the laborers for a groschen[1](concerning the value of a groschen, see Matthew 18:28) for a day (when He made a promise to those who had been called by Him into the spiritual vineyard that their labor shall not remain unrewarded), He sent them into His vineyard (to carry out their labor in it according to estate and calling of each person).
[1] A groschen was a silver coin that was often issued as part of a daily wage. The Greek word here is denarius (δηναρίου).
3. And He went out (by this going out is signified that God, out of the hidden light of His majesty, as it were, has stepped forth and revealed Himself in His Word) around the third hour (when it was already three hours of the day) and He saw others in the market (in this world) standing idly (who had not yet come into the spiritual vineyard of the Church, and therefore, were not rightly serving God),
4. and He said to them, ‘You go out (as the previous workers who were called before you) into the vineyard; I will give to you what is right (I will thus make it with you that you should have no cause to complain about me, as if I wanted to allow myself to be worked for and served for free).’
(1 Corinthians 15:58)
5. And they went out. Once more, He went around the sixth and ninth hour (the sixth hour is the time of midday, the ninth hour is the time of vespers, three hours before the setting of the sun) and did likewise in this manner (He called those whom He saw standing idly in the market, likewise to go into the vineyard in order to work).
6. But around the eleventh hour (when only one hour was remaining until sunset, John 11:9) He went out and found others (by which the Gentiles can be understood, as those who were called in the last part of the world) standing idly and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idly the entire day?’
7. They said to Him, ‘No one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go out into the vineyard, and whatever is right, shall become you.’ (cf. v. 4)
8. Now when it had become evening (),1 the Lord of the vineyard (the heavenly House-Father, who is Lord over all) said to His Steward (to Christ, His Son, whom He has set as Lord over His house, Hebrews 3:6), ‘Call the laborers and give to them the wage and begin with the last, until the first (thus, that you give to each a groschen, to the last as well as to the first).’
1 † Others understand by the evening not precisely the end of the world, but rather the time of the promised reward of grace in general; since some, especially the reward-seeking Jews, according to the nature of their special covenant shall receive only a temporal reward, but others, [namely,] the right-believing in Christ from the Jews and Gentiles shall receive the eternal reward of grace by faith, according to God’s promise, certainly, but none from merit.
9. When they came who were hired around the eleventh hour, they each received a groschen.
10. But when the first came, they thought they would receive more (because they had labored longer in the vineyard); and each of them also received his groschen. (By those who were hired around the eleventh hour are understood those who at the preceding calling willingly entered into the vineyard of the Christian Church, labored faithfully therein, and in their labor did not look to the reward, but rather to the goodness of the heavenly House-Father and to His promise. In particular, this refers to believing Gentiles, who do not rely upon their own righteousness and upon the merit of their works, but only upon the grace of God in Christ. By the first are understood those men who indeed followed the call, came into the fellowship of the Church of God, and labored therein; but only sought the reward, and therefore relied upon the merit of their works and in their hearts exalted themselves over the laborers of grace. In particular, this pertains to the Jews who were called to the Kingdom of God first, that is, before the Gentiles; but they sought to establish their own righteousness, Romans 10:3, and placed the trust of their hearts in the merit of their works. These receive their groschen, that is, the promised reward, which they have already received in this life in the manifold temporal blessings, Matthew 6:2; but they neither have any share in the eternal reward, nor anything for which to hope.)
11. And when they received it, they murmured (from impatience and seeking a better reward) against the House-Father (who, in their opinion, maintained no equity).
(Luke 15:28ff.)
12. And they said, ‘These last have only labored for an hour, and you have made them equal to us who have born the burden and heat of the day (having labored throughout the entire day with great hardship).’
13. But He answered and said to one among them (namely, one who elevated himself before others), ‘My friend, I have done you no injustice. Did you not agree with Me for a groschen?
14. Take what is yours and go away. But I will give to these last just as I gave to you. (This must not be understood as if even the murmuring work-saints, who build and presume upon their own merit, will obtain eternal life, since by the groschen is not to be understood precisely eternal life, but rather, in general every kind of reward, whether it be here temporally in this, or there eternally in that life; and thus indeed these murmuring work-saints also receive their reward, namely, temporal blessing, but not the eternal reward in heaven.)
15. * Or do I not have the right to do what I want with that which is Mine? (Should it be forbidden to Me to deal with that which is My own, and which no one can earn from me, according to My gracious will?) Do you therefore see askew (are you therefore so resentful and envious), that I am so kind (free-giving)?’
* Romans 9:21
16. Thus (all servants of God, especially Church ministers, should not to look for temporal gain, honor, and the like in their work, much less should they envy others; but rather, in faithful and honest purpose toward God’s promise, they ought to persevere in their duty and call with true godliness, so that they do not deprive themselves of God’s grace and eternal blessing with pride, envy, and murmuring. For) the * last (the laborers of grace, who rely only on God’s grace and do not insist upon their merit) will be the first (will be preferred to the first), and the first (those who are murmuring work-righteous men) willbe the last (that is, will be rejected). For many (that is, all, all men) are called (through the Word to the Church of God); but few (reckoned contrary to the great heap of the damned) are chosen (by God to eternal life because they seek righteousness and eternal life not only and solely in the grace of God and in Christ, but rather in the merit of their own works and exalt themselves over others).”
* Matthew 19:30, 22:14 (Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30)
Useful Applications
I. CORRECTION: That we, by impatience and grumbling, shall not overcome [or become master of] God in His governance and in the rewarding of good, but rather ought to leave everything to His holy will and allow ourselves to be content with that which He bestows upon us with thanksgiving. (v. 11–15)
PATTERN OF SOUND WORDS 