Grace and Peace in the Lord!

Dear Sir and Good Friend:

I have received a treatise of a Jew carrying on a conversation with a Christian in which the Jew has the audacity to pervert and misconstrue the passages of Scripture (which we use for our faith, of our Lord Christ, and of Mary, His mother) whereby he means to overthrow the foundation of our faith.

To this I give to you and to him this answer.

It is not my intention to quarrel with the Jews or to learn from them how they interpret and understand the Scriptures. I have known all that before. Much less do I intend to convert the Jews. For that is impossible. Nor does it do any good among the Jews everywhere, and they have generally become worse. Also, because they became so hardened to visitations that they do not want to become conscious of the terrible dilemma, that they have now been in exile for over fourteen hundred years, and cannot yet set an end or a definite time (of relief) through fervent, eternal crying and screaming to God (at they suppose). (I say) If visitations do not help, we might as well figure that our talking and interpreting will help much less.

Therefore, a Christian should be satisfied and not quarrel with the Jews. But if you think you must or desire to talk with them, do not say more than this: "Do you hear, Jew, do you know that your principality together with the temple and priesthood are destroyed now for 1460 years? For this year, as we Christians write after the birth of Christ 1543, it is exactly 1469 years, and is thus going on 1500 years since Vespasianus and Titus destroyed Jerusalem and expelled the Jews from it." On this little nut let the Jews bite and dispute among themselves as long as they want to.

For such terrible wrath of God is sufficient proof that they certainty must be in error and doing wrong; even a child can grasp that. For no one should think of God so terrible that He would punish his own nation so unmercifully and keep silent by neither comforting words nor indicating the duration or end of such misery! Who would want to believe in such a God, hope in Him, or trust in Him? Therefore, this wrath leads to the conclusion that the Jews are certainly rejected by God and are not His people anymore, and He also is not their God anymore; according to the passage, Hosea 1:9 "Lo, Ammi: You are not my people, so also am I not your God." Yea, they are in a terrible dilemma. Whatever interpretation they may place on it, we see the thing before our eyes, it does not deceive us.

And wherever there should he a spark of sense and reason in them, they would certainly think to themselves thus: "O Lord God, things are not right with us, our misery is too great, our exile too long and too hard, God has forgotten us," etc. I, of course, am not a Jew, but I seriously do not like to think about such terrible wrath of God over this nation. I shudder so much that it penetrates my body and life. What will be the eternal wrath of God in hell over all false Christians and unbelievers?

Well, the Jews may regard our Lord Jesus Christ as whatever they desire; we see the fulfillment, of Luke 21:20-23: "When ye shall see Jerusalem. compassed with armies, then know that the dissolution thereof is nigh - for these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." [King James Version, Chapter 21:20, 22].

In short, as was said: Do not dispute much with the Jews about the articles of our faith. From childhood they have been brought up with poison and hatred against our Lord, that there is no hope until they arrive at the point where through their misery they become soft and compelled to confess that the Messiah has come and is our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise it is altogether too soon, yea, altogether in vain to dispute with them . . . In order to strengthen our faith, we shall consider a few instances of foolishness in their faith and interpretation of the Scriptures, because they slander our faith in such a mean way. Should it bring about the improvement of a Jew, that he become ashamed, so much the better! We are not talking with the Jews, but of the Jews and their deeds, which our German people well know.

They hold one principle on which they depend and in which they trust so much. That is, they are born of the highest people on earth, of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, etc. We (Goyim) heathen are not human beings in their sight, but hardly worthy to be regarded as worms. For we are not of that high, noble blood, birth and descent

This is their argument, and in my opinion the foremost and strongest. Therefore, God must suffer them in their schools, prayers, songs, doctrine and entire life; there they stand before Him and pester Him (that I may speak of God in such human manner). He must hear how they exalt themselves and praise God for separating them from the heathen, and permitting them to be born of the holy fathers and chosen them for His own, holy nation, etc. And there is no end of boasting about blood and bodily birth of the fathers.

In order that their raving, frantic and foolish nonsense might be perfect, they praise and thank God, first, that they are human beings and not animals; secondly, that they are Israelites and not Goyim (heathen); thirdly, that they were created as Men and not as Women. Such foolishness they do not have from Israel, but from the Goyim. For thus the historians write that the Greek Plato daily gave such praise and thanks to God, if such blasphemy and haughtiness could he called the praise of God. For that man also praised his gods for these three things, that he was man and not animal, a man and not a women, a Greek and not a non-Greek of barbarus. Such is the praying of a fool and the praise of a blasphemous barbarus; just as the Mals, imagine that they alone are human beings and all the rest of the world nothing but inhuman beings, ducks, or mice.

Well, no one can deprive them of their boasting about blood and the tribe of Israel. In the Old Testament they lost many a battle on that account. (No Jew understands this.) All prophets have chided them because of it, for it is a proud, carnal assumption without spirit and faith; but they have also been murdered and persecuted because of it.

Our Lord also calls them "Vipers." In John 8:39: "If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham", Verse 44: "Ye are of your father, the Devil."`

This was unbearable for them, that they should be the children of the Devil, as they cannot bear it yet. For if they would have to give us this foundation (Abraham’s children), everything they have built upon it would have to fall and be different. [In the following this self-praise is refuted from Scripture as unfounded assumptions. These dissertations then close with these words:] But this will I say for the strengthening of our faith. For the Jews will not let this pride and this glory of their nobility and blood be taken away from them, as said above. They are hardened.

Our people, however, should be on their guard against these hardened, condemned people (who accuse God of lying and proudly despise the whole world), that they be not misled. For the Jews would gladly entice us to accept their faith and do so wherever they can. For if God should be gracious toward the Jews, they first would have to do away out of their schools, out of their hearts, and out of their mouths, all such blasphemous prayers and songs, and the hoisting and pride about their blood. For such prayer constantly increases God’s wrath upon them. But they will not do this, nor humble themselves, except a few individuals whom God draws especially and redeems them from their terrible destruction.

The other boast and superiority, on account of which they exalt themselves above all other people and despise them, is this: that from Abraham on down they have circumcision. God help, how we heathen here must suffer in their schools, prayers, songs and teaching! How ugly we despised people stink before their noses because we are not circumcised, etc.

[Here follow lengthy theological treatises based on numerous passages from Scripture.] They are pictured in it in a masterful manner before all heathen; for they are the very people who always practiced such ungodly manner of idolatry, and false doctrine, and have had uncircumcised hearts as Moses himself, and all prophets lament over them; but at the same time have endeavored to please God and for that reason killed the prophets. They are the wicked and hardened people who did not suffer themselves to be converted from their evil to good deeds through preaching, teaching, chiding of the prophets, as Scripture testifies everywhere. Yet they want to be God’s servants and stand before Him! They are boastful, proud fools who to this day can not do more than to praise themselves because of their nobility and blood; praise themselves alone and despise and condemn the whole world in their schools, prayers, and teaching; yet they imagine themselves to be standing before God as His dearest children!

They are the real liars and bloodhounds, who have not only perverted and falsified the entire Scripture from beginning to end and without ceasing with their interpretations. And all of the anxious sighing, longing and hope of their hearts is directed to the time when some day they would like to deal with us heathen as they dealt with the heathen in Persia at the time of Esther . . . . O how they love that book Esther, which so nicely agrees with their bloodthirsty, revengeful and murderous desire and hope! The sun never did shine on a more bloodthirsty and revengeful people as they who imagine to be the people of God who desire to and think they must murder and crush the heathen. And the foremost undertaking which they expect of their Messiah is that He should slay and murder the whole world with their sword. As they at first demonstrated against us Christians and would like to do so now, if they only could; have also tried it often and have been repeatedly struck on their snouts. But of this perhaps later.

[Here Luther uncovers the deepest cause of the ever-recurring persecution of the Jews: their own fault and overbearing pride. Luther now enumerates more references of which the Jews boast, in addition to circumcision; the Mosaic Law and the Jewish self-righteousness based on it, cites the multitude of Bible passages which lament over the falling away, unbelief and unrighteousness of the Jewish nation and speaks of the Devils with whom he compares the Jews.]

How much better it would be for them if they did not have God’s Commandment or did not know it. For if they did not have it, they would be uncondemned. They are condemned because they have God’s Commandment and do not keep it, but act against it without ceasing . . . .

In like manner murderers and whores, thieves and scoundrels and all evil men could boast they are God’s holy and chosen people, because they have His Word and know that they should fear and obey Him, love Him and serve Him, honor His Name, do not commit murder, do not commit adultery; etc . . . Since, however, they are sinning and are condemned, it is certain that they have the most holy and correct Word of God against which they are sinning. Let them boast, like the Jews, that God has sanctified them through His Law, and chosen them before all people as His peculiar nation.

Such is also the glory of the Jews when they boast in their schools, praise and thank God that He has sanctified them through His Law and made them His chosen nation, while they are well aware that they are keeping none of those things, are filled with pride, envy, usury, avarice and all meanness, and most of all those among them who act very pious and holy in their prayers. For they are so blinded that they do not only practice usury (that I should he silent about their other vices), but teach it as a right which God had commanded them through Moses, in which as in other ways also, they lie about God in a miserable manner, about which there is no time to speak now.

If the Ten Commandments are not kept, what is the keeping of other commandments otherwise than jugglery and trickery, yea, a real mockery in which God is treated like a fool? Just as if a mean Devilshead among us would march along in robes of bishop or preacher, and keep all the laws and ways of such persons outwardly, but under that spiritual decoration were a real Devil, wolf, an enemy of the Church and a blasphemer who would tread under foot, curse and condemn both the Gospel and the Ten Commandments: O what a wonderful saint that would be before God.

Or if in this world a beautiful woman were to parade in a wreath (token of virginity) and follow all manners, rights and behavior of maidenly modesty and virginity, but underneath were nothing but a nasty, shameful whore transgressing the Ten Commandments, what would her fine obedience help her if outwardly she observed the rights and ways of virginity? This it would do to her, that people would despise her seven times more than a free, public whore? Thus God always chided Israel a mean whore through His prophets, because they practiced all manner of idolatry and wickedness under the show of outward commandments and sanctity. As Hosea especially laments Chapter 2:4,5: "I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceiveth them hath done shamefully: for she said I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink" It is nice indeed to find a maiden or woman who is pious, cleanly and decently dressed and outwardly behaving in a modest manner. But when she is a whore; the dress, decorations, wreath and trinkets would appear more honest on a sow in the mire. As Solomon says: "A golden braid on the nose of a sow is as a beautiful, silly woman."

Therefore, they might as well keep from boasting about outward obedience to the Laws of Moses without true obedience to God’s Ten Commandments. Yea, it makes them sevenfold more unworthy to be the people of God than the heathen.

Let them, alone! And let us remain with those who pray the miserere, the 51st Psalm, that is, who know and understand what the Law is and what is keeping or not keeping the Law.

From this, dear Christian, note what you are doing when you permit these blinded Jews to mislead you. In such an instance the proverb certainly is fulfilled. "Where the blind leads the blind, both will fall into the ditch." More you cannot learn from them. To lack understanding of God’s commandments and yet be proud and overbearing towards the heathen who are much better than they are before God, because they do, not have such pride of holiness, and yet do much more of the Law than the proud saints and condemned blasphemers and liars.

Therefore be on your guard against the Jews and know that where they have their schools there is nothing but the Devil’s nest in which self-praise, vanity, lies, blasphemy, disgracing God and man, are practiced in the bitterest and most poisonous way as the Devils do themselves. Wherever you see or hear a Jew teaching, do not think otherwise than that you are hearing a poisonous Basiliskus who with his face poisons and kills people. (Medieval legend.) Through God’s wrath they have been delivered to believe that all of their boasting, vanity, lying to God, cursing all men, are right and a great service to God, something well becoming to such noble blood of the fathers and circumcised saints (no matter how mean they otherwise might know themselves to be in gross vices) which service they think they have rendered hereby. Look out for them!

They brag and boast that they have had the land of Canaan, the city of Jerusalem and the temple from God. Although. God has overthrown such boasting and vanity many especially through the king of Babylon who led them away and destroyed everything, like the King of Assyria had before led away and destroyed the entire Israel. Finally they were rooted up and devastated by the Romans, now almost 1400 years ago, that they might comprehend how God did not consider, nor will He regard country, city, temple, priesthood and principality, that He should consider them His own chosen people on that account; yet their iron neck (as Isaiah calls it) is not bowed, nor has their iron forehead become red with shame. They constantly remain stiff-necked, blinded, hardened, and immovable. Still hope that God will bring them home again and give everything back to them.

They do not see and hear that God had given everything for the purpose that they should keep His Commandments; therefore they should be His people and Church. Just as they boast of their blood and nobility, but that they should keep His Commandments, on account of which and for which purpose he had chosen them, that they do not see and regard. They boast about their circumcision, but the purpose for which they were circumcised - to keep God’s Commandment - does not mean anything to them. They know how to boast of their Law, Temple, Divine Services, city, country and principality; but disregard the purpose for which they had it. The Devil has possessed these people with all his angels; that they always boast of outward things, their gifts, their accomplishments and deeds, which is to offer up the empty shells without the kernels. Those He is to look upon and on their account take them (the people who offer them) for His nation, exalt and bless them above all heathen. But that they should keep His Commandments and keep Him as their God that they will not accept. The saying of Moses applies to them: "They do not regard Me as God, therefore I do not regard them as my people," as also says Hosea 1:9.

If God had not permitted the people of Jerusalem to he torn asunder and driven them from the land, but had let them keep it after as before, no one could convince them that they are not God’s chosen nation. Because they would still have the temple, city and country, regardless of their wickedness disobedience and stiff-neckedness. Although many prophets would daily cry out and a thousand Moses’ be standing here and exclaiming: "You are not the people of God, because you are disobedient and rebellious." Even now they cannot give up their insane raving boast that they are the chosen people of God, after they have been dispersed and rejected for 1500 years! Still they hope to get back there because of their own merits. There is no promise for that on which they could lean for comfort, except what they smear into the Scriptures according to their own imagination. ... Thus the Jews at last continue in their willfulness, and knowingly want to err and not leave their Rabbis, and therefore we also must leave them to their poisonous blasphemies and lies, and disregard them.

I have also had this experience... Three learned Jews came to me in the hope of finding a new Jew in me, because here in Wittenberg we began to read Hebrew. They also pretended that things would soon improve because we Christians were reading their books. When I disputed with them, they acted according to their kind; gave me their interpretations. When I compelled them to remain with the text, they fell from the text and said they had to believe their Rabbis, as we had to believe the Bishops and. Doctors, etc ...

Then I had mercy on them, gave them a recommendation for safe-conduct to the guides, that they should permit them to pass for the sake of Christ. Later I was informed that they called Christ a "Tola," i.e. a hanged malefactor. Therefore, I do not care to have anything to do with any Jew. St. Paul says they are given over to wrath. The more you try to help them the harder and more wicked they become. Let them alone! [Here follow many proofs from the Bible which are accompanied by detailed theological, scientific, and therefore in general not understood, citations, which cannot be restated here because of their volume, although -they are powerful and correspond with Luther’s German essence and often strike the nail on the head in a preciously forward manner. From the wealth of striking Scripture passages, only the following are here cited: Haggai 2:6,7: " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: yet, once, it is a little while and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come." - ("All nations" is equal to "heathen"). Under the "Desire of Nations" the ancient people designated, the " Messiah.")

The Jews deny that He came when the temple was still standing and claim that He shall still come, as they now have been waiting 1568 years after the destruction of that same temple - and cannot be called a "little while," because they do not yet know the end of such a "long while."

He will never come, for He has missed the "little while" and has gotten into the great, long while, which will never come to anything. For the prophet speaks of a "little while," not of a great, long while!

But here they squirm out of it in this way: Since they cannot deny the "little while," they take the expression: "Desire of Nations," in Hebrew "Hemdath" by itself, and crucify it. Say it should not designate "Messiah," but should denote all gold and silver of the heathen. Because the word "Hemdath," according to the grammar, really means "Desire and love for," as that which the heathen desire and love. And now the text shall read thus: "After a little while the desire of all heathen shall come." What is that? What do the heathen desire? Gold, silver and jewels. You may be inclined to ask why the Jews insert such interpretations here. I will say: Their breath stinks for the gold and silver of the heathen since no people under the sun always have been, still are, and always will remain more avaricious than they (the Jews) as can be noticed in their cursed usury. They also find comfort with this: "When Messiah comes, He shall take all the gold and silver in the world and distribute it among them (the Jews)." Thus wherever they can direct Scripture to their insatiable avarice (desire for money) they wickedly do so. You would think that God and His prophets did not know of anything else to prophecy than how the fathomless avarice of the Jews could be satisfied with the silver and gold of the heathen.

Since childhood they have devoured such poisonous hatred against the Goyim from their parents and Rabbis, and still devour such without ceasing, that according to Psalm 109 it has gone over into their flesh and blood, bone and marrow, and has become their life and being. And as little as they can alter flesh and blood, bone and marrow, so little can they change such pride and envy. They just have to stay that way and be ruined, if God does not perform a special miracle.

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