Valerius, One of the Greatest Devotional Writers

Valerius Herberger (1562–1627) was a German-Polish pastor in the city of Fraustadt, Silesia, where he was born.  His church was confiscated and turned over to the Catholics by the Catholic king of Poland, Sigismund III of the Swedish house of Vasa (his cousin would be Sweden’s  King Gustavus Adolphus, the Lutheran hero of the Thirty Years War).  When that happened, Valerius reconstituted his little congregation in his home.

He was a prodigious writer, publishing sermons, a commentary on Revelations, the hymn “Farewell, I Gladly Leave Thee” (in the ELS hymnal), and his magnum opus The Great Works of God, concerning Jesus as the Core and Marrow of Scripture.  According to this useful survey of Herberger’s contributions in this the golden age of Lutheran orthodoxy, this 12 volume work was designed to show how “Jesus is the Center and Substance of the Old Testament.”  He began with Genesis and intended to work his way through the entire Old Testament, though he only got as far as Ruth before a plague, a Cossack invasion, and his death prevented him from completing the project.  (See this and this for more on his biography.)

Concordia Publishing House has published two volumes on Genesis (I don’t know why the second volume isn’t on Amazon, but you can get it here), and Emmanuel Press has published the one on Exodus and Leviticus.  These meditations have never before appeared in English!  For this we must thank the translator Matthew Carver, who has translated from both Latin and German a wealth of books and hymns, mostly from the 17th century, the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy but also including Walther’s Hymnal.  (Translators don’t get enough attention and appreciation.  Note to Concordia universities and seminaries:  Give Carver an honorary doctorate and any other kind of award you can come up with.  His service to the church is unique and extraordinary.)*

I’m going to give you samples from Valerius tomorrow.  Right now I’d like to draw your attention to his way of handling scripture.

Most conservative Protestants today, reacting against the liberal historical-critical approach to the Bible (which starts by denying its supernatural origin and presumes to study the text “scientifically” and skeptically), uses instead what is called the historical- grammatical approach.  This takes the text as authoritative and explores its historical context with much attention to the original languages.  The goal is to find the original meaning and intent of the divinely-inspired authors.  This is good, though sometimes, if not done well, it can make the Bible come across as an interesting history lesson, rather than a revelation that is sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).

Lutherans, while usually practicing the historical-grammatical method, also apply the distinction between Law and Gospel to unlock the text and to trace how the Law makes us repent of our sin and drives us to the Gospel of grace and forgiveness through the work of Christ.  In doing so, the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to create faith in our hearts.

Furthermore, we are told by Jesus Himself, referring to the Old Testament, that “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39).  And “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 22:44).  And “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46).

Of course, there are many prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.  There are also events and details recorded in the Old Testament that the New Testament says point to Jesus.  For example, the lambs used in sacrifices direct us to “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and Moses healing the people by lifting up the Bronze Serpent signifies Christ being lifted up on the cross (John 3:14).  This gets us into the realm of typology, which sees in the Old Testament foreshadows and symbols of what becomes fulfilled in the New Testament.

Now we mustn’t turn the Bible into a mere allegory.  What seems to be revealed in typology must be in accord with what is affirmed elsewhere in Scripture directly.  For example, some Catholics defend their view of Mary by saying that Esther, who intercedes for her people, is a type of the Virgin Mary.  But Mary as intercessor is nowhere taught directly in the Bible, so the example of Esther can’t be used to support Catholic Mariology.

Valerius, though, does see Jesus throughout the Old Testament.  He offers what we would see as typological readings.  But with a difference.  I would describe his approach as typological-historical-grammatical.

Every chapter heading of his massively-long project begins with the word “Jesus,” presenting Him as the divine actor in the text being considered.  Thus, “JESUS speaks with Moses from the burning bush (Exod. 3:4).   “JESUS says to worried Moses, ‘I will be with you’ (Exod. 3:12).”  And even the somewhat comical, “JESUS, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, punishes Pharoah with frogs (Exod. 8:2) and “JESUS plagues Pharoah with lice through the finger of God (Exod. 8:16[-19]).”

But Valerius believes that the Son of God’s involvement in the events of Exodus is not just a symbol.  He points out that the word for God in Exodus is nearly always Elohim, that plural construction in Hebrews that functions as a singular.  Herberger construes this plurality and unity as signifying the Trinity.  Thus, when Elohim speaks in the burning bush or sends the frogs, he translates that as the Triune God intervening in history.  And thus, because of the Lutheran doctrine of the communication of attributes, we can say that the Son of God–that is to say, Jesus–is doing all of these things.

Jesus is also the “Angel of the LORD,” something I had heard but never fully understood until Valerius explained it to me thoroughly.  And when God says as He often does in Exodus, “I will be with you,” that is a name for Jesus: “Immanuel, (which means, God with us)”  (Matthew 1:23).

Furthermore, Jesus is identified as the Word of God.  Here is one of Valerius’s startlingly pointed statements:  “Moses says, ‘The LORD said,’ and it is in this word ‘said” that Jesus Christ is present” (p. 151).

So Valerius believes Jesus was historically involved with Moses in Exodus, which he establishes by a grammatical analysis of the Hebrew word, justifying his typological insights.

The other thing Valerius does in his treatment of Scripture is to connect passage to passage, detail to detail.  Thus, when he cites how Jesus delivers His people through the Red Sea, this calls to mind the “Red Sea” of Jesus’ blood, the water and the blood that came from His side on the cross, the water of baptism and the blood of Holy Communion.

Such a tour of Biblical imagery leaves the reader dazzled by the consistent message of how Jesus delivers us from our own bondage to sin, resulting too in a meditation on the unity of God’s Word and its saving effect.

This reminds me of George Herbert’s poem “The H. Scriptures II,” in which he marvels at not only individual passages of the Bible, but how they all combine and fit together, like stars that form a constellation:

*Thanks too to the Master of Divinity Class of 2018 of Concordia Theological Seminary, which raised the money to commission the translation of the Exodus volume as a class gift, both to the seminary and to the church.

Illustration:  Valerius Herberger by Unknown author – Datenbank Tripota in der Wissenschaftlichen Bibliothek der Stadt Trier/Stadtarchiv, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97344584