Susanna and the Two Elders

Verse 1. “There will be a time of trouble.” For at that time there will be great trouble, such as there has not been since the world was founded, when some in one way and some in another will be sent out through every city and every country to destroy the faithful. The saints will travel from the west to the east, and will be driven by persecution from the east to the south, while others hide themselves in the mountains and the caves. The abomination will make war on them everywhere and cut them off by sea and by land by his decree, and will try by every means to destroy them out of the world. They will no longer be able to sell their own property or to buy from strangers, unless a man keeps and carries with him the name of the beast, or bears its mark on his forehead. For then they will all be driven out of every place, dragged from their own homes and hauled off to prison, punished with every kind of punishment, and thrown out of the whole world. Verse 2. “These will awake to everlasting life.” That is, those who have believed in the true life and have their names written in the book of life. “And these to shame.” That is, those who are attached to the antichrist, and who are thrown with him into everlasting punishment. Verse 3. “And those who are wise will shine.” And the Lord has said the same thing in the Gospel: “Then the righteous will shine out like the sun.” [a]

Verse 7. “For a time, times, and half a time.” By this he indicated the three and a half years of the antichrist. For by a time he means a year, by times two years, and by half a time half a year. These are the “one thousand two hundred and ninety days” that Daniel prophesied. Verse 9. “The words are shut up and sealed.” For no one can tell what God has prepared for the saints — no eye has seen it and no ear has heard it, and it has never come up into the heart of man, these things that even the saints will then long to look into. So he said to him, “For the words are sealed until the time of the end, until many are chosen and tested by fire.” And who are the ones chosen, if not those who believe the word of truth, so that they are made white by it and throw off the filth of sin, and put on the heavenly, pure and glorious Holy Spirit, in order that when the Bridegroom comes they may go straight in with him? Verse 11. “The abomination of desolation will be set up.” Daniel, then, speaks of two abominations: the one of destruction, which Antiochus set up at its appointed time, and which stands in a certain relation to the abomination of desolation; and the other universal, when the antichrist comes. For, as Daniel says, he too will be set up for the destruction of many.

For when the iron legs that hold the sovereignty now have given way to the feet and the toes, according to the picture of the terrible beast — as was also signified in earlier times — then the stone will come from heaven that strikes the image and breaks it. It will overturn all the kingdoms and give the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is the stone that becomes a great mountain and fills the earth, and about which it is written: “I saw in the visions of the night, and there was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came to the Ancient of Days. And there was given him rule and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations and languages will serve him. His power is an everlasting power that will not pass away, and his kingdom will not be destroyed.”

We may well marvel at the words of the three young men in the furnace — how they counted up every created thing, so that not one of them might be reckoned free and independent in itself. Gathering them all up and naming them together, things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, they showed them all to be the servants of God, who made all things by the Word, so that no one might boast that any of the creatures was without birth and without beginning.

What is told here happened at a later time, although it is placed before the first book. For it was the writers’ custom to tell many things in their books out of order. We find in the prophets, too, some visions recorded among the first and fulfilled among the last, and others recorded among the last and fulfilled first. This was done by the arrangement of the Spirit, so that the devil might not understand what the prophets said in parables, and might not set his traps a second time and ruin man.

Verse 1. “Called Joakim.” This Joakim, a foreigner living in Babylon, takes Susanna in marriage. She was the daughter of Hilkiah the priest, who found the book of the law in the house of the Lord when King Josiah ordered him to purify the holy of holies. His brother was Jeremiah the prophet, who was carried off into Egypt with the remnant that was left after the people were deported to Babylon, and who settled at Tahpanhes; and while he was prophesying there he was stoned to death by the people. “A very beautiful woman, and one who feared the Lord,” and so on. For a tree is easily known by the fruit it produces. Men who are devout and eager for the law bring into the world children worthy of God — such as he who became a prophet and a witness of Christ, and she who was found chaste and faithful in Babylon, whose honor and chastity were the occasion of the blessed Daniel being made known as a prophet.

Verse 4. “Now Joakim was a great rich man,” and so on. We must look for the explanation of this. How could men who were captives, and had been made subject to the Babylonians, meet together in one place as though they were their own masters? Here, then, we should note that after the deportation Nebuchadnezzar treated them kindly, and allowed them to meet together and do everything according to the law. Verse 7. “And at midday Susanna went into her husband’s garden.” Susanna was a figure of the church; and Joakim her husband, of Christ; and the garden, the calling of the saints, who are planted like fruit trees in the church. Babylon is the world, and the two elders are set out as a figure of the two peoples that plot against the church — the one of the circumcision, the other of the Gentiles. For the words “were appointed rulers of the people and judges” mean that in this world they hold authority and rule, judging the righteous unrighteously.

Verse 8. “And the two elders saw her.” The rulers of the Jews want these things struck out of the book now, and they say that they never happened in Babylon, because they are ashamed of what was done then by the elders. Verse 9. “And they perverted their own mind.” For how indeed can men who have been the enemies and corrupters of the church judge righteously, or look up to heaven with a pure heart, when they have become the slaves of the ruler of this world? Verse 10. “And they were both wounded with love for her.” This word is to be taken exactly as it stands. For the two peoples are always wounded — that is, driven on — by Satan working in them, and they try to stir up persecutions and afflictions against the church, and look for ways to corrupt her, even though they do not agree with each other.

Verse 12. “And they watched diligently.” This too is worth noticing. Right up to the present time both the Gentiles and the Jews of the circumcision keep watch and busy themselves with the affairs of the church, wanting to plant false witnesses against us — as the apostle says: “and that because of false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.” To be eager to give the mind to women is itself a kind of sin.

Verse 14. “And when they had gone out, they parted from one another.” Their parting from one another at the hour of the midday meal signifies that in the matter of earthly food the Jews and the Gentiles are not at one; but in their opinions, and in all worldly business, they are of one mind and can meet each other. Verse 14. “And questioning one another, they admitted their lust.” So, in revealing themselves to each other, they foreshadow the time when they will be tested by their own thoughts and will have to give account to God for all the sin they have done, as Solomon says: “And scrutiny will destroy the ungodly.” For these men are convicted by that scrutiny.

Verse 15. “As they watched for a fit time.” And what fit time, but the time of the Passover, when the washing is made ready in the garden for those who burn, and Susanna washes herself and is presented to God as a pure bride? “With two maids only.” For when the church wants to take the washing according to custom, she must of necessity have two handmaids to go with her. It is by faith in Christ and love toward God that the church makes her confession and receives the washing.

Verse 18. “And she said to her maids, Bring me oil.” For faith and love prepare oil and ointments for those who are washed. And what were these ointments, but the commands of the holy Word? And what was the oil, but the power of the Holy Spirit, with which believers are anointed as with ointment after the washing? All these things were set out in figure in the blessed Susanna for our sake, so that we who now believe in God might not think what is done in the church now is strange, but might believe that it was all set out beforehand in figure by the patriarchs of old — as the apostle also says: “Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” Verse 18. “And they went out by the side doors” — showing in advance that whoever wants to share in the water in the garden must give up the wide gate and go in by the narrow, hard one. “And they did not see the elders.” For as the devil of old was hidden in the serpent in the garden, so now too, hidden in the elders, he set them on fire with his own lust, so that he might corrupt Eve a second time.

Verse 20. “Look, the garden doors are shut.” You wicked rulers, filled with the devil’s workings — did Moses hand these things down to you? You read the law yourselves; is this how you teach others? You who say, “Do not murder,” do you murder? You who say, “Do not covet,” do you want to corrupt your neighbor’s wife? “And we are in love with you.” Why, you lawless men, do you try to win over a chaste and guileless soul with deceiving words, only to satisfy your own lust? Verse 21. “If you will not, we will bear witness against you.” This wicked boldness you begin with comes from the deceit that has lurked in you from the beginning. And there really was a young man with her — that one of yours — one from heaven, not to sleep with her, but to bear witness to her truth.

Verse 22. “And Susanna sighed.” The blessed Susanna, then, when she heard these words, was troubled in her heart and set a guard on her mouth, not wanting to be defiled by the wicked elders. Now it is in our power too to grasp the real meaning of everything that happened to Susanna. For you may find this fulfilled in the present state of the church as well. When the two peoples conspire to destroy any of the saints, they watch for a fit time, and they come into the house of God while everyone there is praying and praising God, and seize some of them and carry them off and keep hold of them, saying, Come, agree with us and worship our gods; and if you will not, we will bear witness against you. And when they refuse, they drag them before the court and accuse them of acting against the decrees of Caesar, and condemn them to death. “I am hemmed in on every side.” Look at the words of a chaste woman, one dear to God: “I am hemmed in on every side.” For the church is afflicted and hemmed in, not only by the Jews, but also by the Gentiles, and by those who are called Christians and are not really so. For they see her chaste and happy life, and they try to ruin her.

“For if I do this thing, it is death to me.” For to disobey God and obey men works eternal death and punishment. “And if I do not do it, I cannot escape your hands.” And this indeed is said truly. For those who are brought to judgment for the sake of God’s name, if they do what men command them, die to God and will live in the world; but if they refuse to do what men command them, they do not escape the hands of their judges, but are condemned by them. Verse 23. “It is better for me not to do it.” For it is better to die at the hands of wicked men and live with God, than to consent to them, be delivered from them, and fall into the hands of God.

Verse 24. “And Susanna cried out with a loud voice.” And to whom did Susanna cry out but to God? As Isaiah says: “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer you; while you are still speaking he will say, Look, here I am.”

“And the two elders cried out against her.” For the wicked never stop crying out against us and saying, Away with such people from the earth — it is not fit that they should live. In the sense of the Gospel, Susanna despised those who kill the body, so that she might save her soul from death. Now sin is the death of the soul, and adultery above all. For when a soul that has been joined to Christ abandons its faith, it is handed over to perpetual death — that is, to eternal punishment. And in confirmation of this, in the case of the breaking and violating of marriage bonds in the flesh, the law decreed the penalty of death. Verse 25. “Then the one ran and opened the gates” — pointing to the broad and roomy way on which those who follow such men perish.

Verse 31. “Now Susanna was a very delicate woman.” Not that she had the ornaments of a prostitute about her, as Jezebel had, or eyes painted with different colors, but that she had the adornment of faith and chastity and holiness. Verse 34. “And they laid their hands on her head” — so that by touching her they might at least satisfy their lust. Verse 35. “And she was weeping.” For by her tears she drew to herself the Word from heaven, the one who with tears of his own would raise the dead Lazarus.

Verse 41. “Then the assembly believed them.” It is fitting for us, then, to stand firm in every duty, to pay no attention to lies, and to give no fawning obedience to the persons of rulers, since we know that we have to give account to God; but if we follow the truth and aim at the exact rule of faith, we will be pleasing to God. Verse 44. “And the Lord heard her voice.” For God hears those who call on him from a pure heart; but from those who call on him in deceit and hypocrisy, God turns his face away.

Verse 52. “You who have grown old in wickedness.” Now, since at the outset, in the introduction, we explained that the two elders are to be taken as a type of the two peoples, that of the circumcision and that of the Gentiles, which are always enemies of the church, let us mark the words of Daniel and learn that Scripture deals falsely with us in nothing. For in addressing the first elder he censures him as a man trained in the law, while he addresses the other as a Gentile, calling him “seed of Canaan,” although at that time he was among the circumcision. Verse 55. “For even now the angel of God.” He shows also that when Susanna prayed to God and was heard, the angel was sent then to help her, just as happened in the case of Tobias and Sarah. For when they prayed, the petition of both of them was heard on the same day and at the same hour, and the angel Raphael was sent to heal them both. Verse 61. “And they rose up against the two elders” — so that the saying might be fulfilled, “Whoever digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it.”

To all these things, then, we ought to pay attention, beloved, afraid that anyone should be caught in any transgression and risk the loss of his soul, since we know that God is the Judge of all, and that the Word himself is the Eye that nothing done in the world escapes. So, always watchful in heart and pure in life, let us imitate Susanna.