The whole exodus of the people out of Egypt, which took place under divine guidance, was a type and image of the exodus of the church that should take place from among the Gentiles; and for this reason he leads [the church] out at last from this world into his own inheritance, which Moses the servant of God did not give but which Jesus the Son of God shall give for an inheritance. And if anyone should pay close attention to those things that are stated by the prophets concerning the [time of the] end and to those that John the disciple of the Lord saw in the Apocalypse, he will find that the nations [are to] receive the same plagues universally, as Egypt once did particularly.

The inevitable outcome of the divine command is here revealed. However, also revealed is that authority which the church especially merited to receive by divine inspiration, namely, to inflict judgment upon those who are to be damned and to grant mercifully absolution to those who have changed their ways.

From this we are led to think that until the divine vexation with the wicked distinguishes who the righteous are, the saints in no wise obtain the lot of the Jerusalem above or the priesthood in the temple of God or the [final] rest. It is necessary, it says, that the plagues be completed. By way of the plagues the wages of sin are brought to light for those who are worthy to receive them, and these obtain the judicial sentence that has been determined for them. Then the habitation in the metropolis above will be awarded to the saints. I think that no one who considers each of the plagues in relation to those persons who are found at the consummation shall make an error concerning what is fitting and right. For being beneficent to humankind, God will determine that the unending torments in the coming age be lessened, but that in the present life the avenging scourges be brought upon those who deserve them, either through the prophets, Enoch and Elijah, or through the change of the elements or through the sufferings which occur from wars. Through such scourges there will be a moderation in the payment for sins. However, let us pray that we be chastised in a fatherly manner and not be scourged with harsh treatment by the wrath that comes from the Lord—for there is no health in our flesh because of his anger^[1]—so that having cleansed through the tears of repentance our robes which have been stained by sins, and being dressed as for a wedding, we might enter into the bridal chamber of Christ, our God, to whom belong all glory, honor and worship together with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

We can interpret these things in a twofold manner. Either these events will occur literally at the time of the consummation, or they are to be understood allegorically. When the Lord addressed his disciples about the signs of the end, he spoke openly about the evil events that will happen at that time, saying, And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; and nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes in various places. All of this is the beginning of the birth pangs.^[1] And a little later he said, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.^[2] As each of the seven bowls is poured out, the events said to have occurred in the present passages should be interpreted in the light of those things [the Lord said]. In this case, the sores that come from the first bowl would symbolize the tribulations and distresses that vex the souls of people at that time because of the rumors of wars.

The character of a mortal wound is such that the smaller the area on the body that is infected, the greater the likelihood that the remaining healthy part of the body can serve for the restoration of the health of the person. And although the preaching of the Lord, Jesus Christ, assists toward the salvation of those who believe yet is a witness of condemnation for those who do not believe, it is possible that from this spot the terrible wound is regarded as inflicting the whole body of those who are lost. For we read about Christ, Behold, this [child] is set for the ruin and resurrection of many, and for a sign that is spoken against.^[1] This is especially true of the people of the Jews, from whom it is said the antichrist is going to arise. By this one sin they lost the righteous ordinances of the law, if they were able to obey them, and they themselves perished without recourse to cure. For they did not wish to accept the Christ whom had been promised to them, and representing them the elder brother says to his father, Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends, and following.^[2] He represents a people who despised the Lamb, disdaining as it were what is more on the right, for the place of the lambs is on the right, and who favored the kid goat, deviating as it were to the left to be damned, which is to say, they despised the Christ and accepted the antichrist. Therefore, it probably means here that a huge and terrible sore has come upon those persons who have the mark of the beast’s name and who worship its image, so that confounded by the singular guilt of this wound, they are sentenced to the punishment of eternal torments. Concerning this sin, as if of a most terrible sore, the Lord said, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.^[3] This is an incurable sore. To be sure, [the Jews] will have many who follow them by a most wicked imitation, and therefore he has spoken indefinitely about those persons who have the mark of the beast’s name, lest someone think that he was speaking only about the people of the Hebrews. For in a good sense the law calls those peoples the sons of Abraham who imitate him by faith, not that they were born of him according to the flesh but because they confessed Christ, who was from the tribe of Judah and who had victoriously resurrected from the dead. So, in a similar yet bad sense the Jews will have disciples from the nations who by accepting and following the antichrist, who will come from the tribe of Dan, will be marked as their accomplices by the mark of their transgression and will likewise be their partners in the penalties of an eternal damnation.

All of these plagues are spiritual, and they occur in the soul. For at that time the whole people of the impious will be unharmed by any plague of the body, because they were undeserving to be chastised in the present age, and it was as though they had received all the power of causing pain. However, spiritually all who are impious and haughty are going to suffer, for their sins of will and their mortal sins are sores in their souls.

The bowl here, just as the cup, is to be interpreted as a tormenting activity that, when poured out by the angel, produces an evil sore, which here is symbolic of grief that throbs in the heart even as puss oozes from a sore. This grief occurs in the hearts of apostates, for since they are punished by plagues sent from God, they receive no healing from the antichrist whom they have made their god. Perhaps also their bodies are physically wounded as a reproach to their souls, which have been wounded by the arrows of that deceitful rogue, the devil.

Those who preach pour out the bowls of the wrath of God in a twofold manner. By a spiritual judgment, they inflict the punishments [given out by] the impious upon those very same impious, as Peter said to Simon, May your money perish with you.^[1] Or they reveal [the impious] to the church by preaching, as Peter said, From of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep.^[2]

The blood in the sea suggests those who are killed in naval battles, while the blood in the rivers and streams would refer to, most likely, the deaths of those who were killed in battles while encamped alongside such waters.

[It says that] water turned to blood. It is easy to turn the soul from spiritual matters and think after the manner of the flesh, which we knew without difficulty to be symbolized in that first of the plagues that we read was inflicted upon the Egyptians.^[1] For then it reports that the fresh waters were turned to blood, whether the rivers of Egypt or the rain waters, as some translations have it, saying, And their rain waters [were turned] to blood. . . . However, the present passage raises a question, because here it says that the second bowl was poured into the sea, that is, into waters that are bitter and salty. And [the waters] became blood, it says, and every living thing in the sea died. It seems to me that this passage signifies those among the Jews who did not interpret the law spiritually but understood it in a fleshly manner, and therefore they could not discern Christ in it. As the apostle says, Had they recognized [him], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.^[2] But in addition to this, they are led by the burden of their deserts to such an extent, as though struck by the second wound of an even worse plague, that they desire the image of the beast and, possessing the mark of its name, think that they ought worship the beast rather than Christ. And so, perhaps in this passage what is described in the exodus to have happened in the first plague is placed in the second bowl, in that from the sterile waters [of the sea] they also move to the filth of blood, through which it says that every living thing in the sea, that is, [every soul] in this world, has been killed,^[3] referring to the part from the whole, as in this passage, There is no one who does good, no, not one.^[4] To be sure, those are characterized by a manifest sterility of whom it is said, I looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded thorns.^[5] And these are those whose tongues became so enfeebled^[6] that they said to their own condemnation, his blood be on us and on our children.^[7]

It is not surprising that to expose the weakness of the antichrist and the light-mindedness of the deceived, the divine power would through the holy prophets, Enoch and Elijah, change the sea into blood as of a dead man, that is, as of one who had been slain, and would effect the corruption of all in it, just as long ago in Egypt he worked through Moses to expose the hardheartedness of Pharaoh and to demonstrate his own power. And therefore, those who were of secure faith were strengthened and the unstable were made fearful, seeing the creation arrayed against those who fought for the honor of the destroyer. It is also possible that through these words the slaughters that will happen in wars at the coming [of the antichrist] are indicated. For when Gog and Magog will move against each other in the four parts of the world and, in addition, the kings who had not obeyed will be annihilated with their whole armies and there will be slaughter in every place, then the sea will be defiled by sea battles, and the rivers will be mingled with the blood of those who were killed there.

Those who are marked not only by the sign of the beast but also attack the steadfast servants of Christ by the waves of persecution will be punished by a spiritual revenge, which here he calls blood. And those who boasted that they are alive will be proved to have served the author of death.

[This bowl] contains all of the other nations who have been so overcome by natural error and enmeshed in impure lusts that they even think of divine things in a carnal manner. And so, by these waters one may understand the teachings of the Gentile nations. Therefore, it says, They became blood, just as it says in Genesis, My spirit shall not abide in these people, for they are flesh,^[1] and also in the book of Wisdom, stirred up by filthy blood for rebuke.^[2] In addition, the apostle says, To set the mind on the flesh is death and the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God.^[3]

Those who feign to offer that which is sweet so that they might pour out their poison upon the unaware will be smitten by the deserved revenge of continual plague.

And I heard the angel of the waters saying, it says. To be sure, God is all-powerful and provides for his creatures and is sufficient for the beneficial care of all things, and so he has need for no one to assist him in this task. For since his willing a work is for it at the same time to be effected, and since by the movement of his will all things were brought into being, how is it that he should be in need of a coworker and an assistant for his providential care? But since he is good, he wishes that also the holy angels be benefited through the succor which goes to those in need—for the one who aids another in need benefits not so much the other as he does himself, and there is none in the angelic ranks who is wanting for and in need of the aid of any other. And so God has ordained that the holy angels provide aid and succor to those on the earth who are in need of every good thing. For indeed, in earlier sections we noted that angels were placed as benefactors of the churches, and the all-wise Daniel wrote that the leader of the angels, Michael, looked after the race of the Jews.^[1] And now the Apocalypse explains to us that an angel is set over the waters. For although the world is constituted out of the four elements of air, fire, earth and also water—although some think that the heavenly things are established from some fifth element that they say is ethereal and moves in a circle—the three elements of fire, earth, and air are richly abundant for the purpose of breathing and for other common necessities, . . . water alone is not present to everything in abundance, whether it be fresh water in wells, springs, cisterns or rivers, or that water of the air that moves in the sky in clouds and gives to us timely rain by the command of God and nourishes every living thing on the earth. Therefore, since water is not everywhere abundant, one of the holy angels is set over it, so that when sufficiently abundant for what is needed he might provide to those who are in need of it that water which often is sparse and lacking due to our vices, causing drought and famine and the sickness that follows them. Most certainly it is this angel who is placed by the providence of God over the waters whom, he says, I heard saying, ‘Righteous are you, who is and was, the holy One.’ The phrase who is shows the endlessness of God, and who was that he is without beginning. The Holy One refers to the fact that he is righteous in all things on behalf of all things. For it says, You have judged these things, so that those who have spilled the blood of the saints might drink blood. And it is necessary that those who encamped and fought by streams and rivers drink the water polluted by the blood of the dying being carried away downstream.

The angels of the waters^[1] are the messengers of the peoples who by an affection of the heart raise up together loud praises to God. . . . To be sure, both the Jews and the nations have in a bodily manner shed the blood of the saints, which the Lord says must be exacted from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah.^[2] However, this plague might also be interpreted as a plague of that blindness so that they might even recognize that they have shed the blood of the prophets.^[3] For while they were abusing them [the prophets], they turned their minds to other things. It is as though he said, whoever understood the spiritual law in a fleshly way, they are justly handed over to the corruptions of the flesh and of blood when both the sins and the punishment for sins is recognized. Therefore, the apostle said, For they did not receive the love of truth so that they might be saved; therefore, God shall send upon them a work of error to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had consented to iniquity.^[4]

Here also it is shown that angels are placed over the elements. One of these, who is over the waters, sings a hymn to God for the just condemnation that has come upon the transgressors. For since they soiled their hands in the blood of the saints, God has given them blood to drink. By means of these words, it is shown either that at that time many are accounted worthy of the prophetic grace because of their remaining steadfast in faith, those, namely, who are killed by the henchmen of the devil, or that those who turn from the preaching of the prophets of God and justify their murder at the hands of the hardhearted Jews, become purposefully participants in their slaughter, as the Lord said to the Jews, for although you build the tombs of the prophets, you consent in their murder.^[1]

Those who stand around the heavenly altar send up a thanksgiving in agreement with that of the angel, for when he says, I heard the altar saying something, it signifies thereby those who minister at the altar. May it be that, being delivered from all the sufferings described above, we send up to Christ a hymn of thanksgiving, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Sometimes the altar signifies Christ, for in him and through him are brought to the Father our spiritual offerings and living sacrifices, which the apostle has instructed us to render.^[1] At other times the altar signifies the angelic powers who, we read, are sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation,^[2] and so they carry upward our intercessions and spiritual sacrifices. From this ministering altar, it says, a voice proceeded, commend-ing as just all the judgments of God that surpass both thought and expression. We have learned from the Gospels that the intellectual powers are glad and rejoice over the salvation of those who turn through repentance but grieve over those who leave the straight way and yet give thanks to God for the punishment of those who transgress the divine commandments. So let us hasten to bestow upon them joy and gladness for our repentance, recognizing that a divine angel attends each one of us and by a certain unutterable word implants in us what must be done, in as much as his mind imperceptibly converses with our mind and he intends to rejoice over that which is heeded, but like God to grieve over that which is disregarded. And so from this converse that profits the soul we should understand that the angel, sad and from afar, follows a person who has been darkened by many sins and enters into the church. But if this person has been made contrite and confesses from the heart to him who delights in mercy that he has rejected his former life and has converted to a better one, when he departs [from the church], the angel leads the way cheerfully and joyfully, while the wicked demon, having been shamed, follows behind at a distance. May it be, then, that our holy manner of life give cause for dejection to the demons but cause for joy to the angels, so that together with them, rejoicing with a shout of gladness and the sound of confession, we might give thanks to Christ, our God, for his victory over the evil powers, with whom glory is due to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.